If you’re new here, welcome to Two Drams A Day! Each article is a personal journey where I pair two whiskies, often Scotch single malts among others, to discover the subtle differences that make each one unique and special. My approach is hands-on and intimate: I taste these whiskies side-by-side and share my real-time observations, from unexpected delights to the occasional letdowns. In the end, I choose a favourite, and along the way, I hope to learn something new and share that knowledge with you. If you’re curious about the nuanced and fascinating world of whisky and enjoy a personal touch in your reading, you’re in the right place. Stick around, subscribe, and join me on this flavorful adventure, two drams at a time!
Welcome back to another round of pairings! Tonight is a fascinating one because I am going through not two, not three, but four single malts, which I have received as part of my membership in the ████████ collective. This round is all about the Madeira influence, including whiskies that were either fully matured in Madeira casks or just finished off in some. As a refresher, Madeira is a fortified wine from the Portuguese island of Madeira, while Sherry is a fortified wine from the Jerez region of Spain. The main difference between Madeira and Sherry is the ageing process, which gives Madeira its distinctive flavour profile of caramel, dried and cooked fruit, roasted nuts, peach and orange peel. I’m pretty excited to dive right in, but first, we need music! Now playing: Max Richter – The Veil OST.
I’ve got four different samples, and I don’t really know where to begin. I think I should start with the finished whisky first and then go more towards a pronounced influence of the cask. I can then return to the first one and see if I can pick out the same notes. This is a Berry Bros. & Rudd integrity bottling of one of my all-time favourite distilleries, Ardmore, which is a 2009 whisky bottled in 2023 (making it at least a 13-year-old). This comes from a single hogshead (cask no 709317) finished in Madeira and is only one of 268 bottles presented at 54.2% ABV. It has a very pleasant nose, with some walnuts and distant smoke. We don’t know what the original hogshead was (presumably a peated ex-bourbon sourced from Laphroaig since they own both distilleries). Let’s go in for a taste! Ooh, it’s sweet – I didn’t expect that for some reason. I suppose I forgot that Madeira can range from dry to sweet. The palate gives off notes of plums, fruity smoke, and spice. The alcohol content on this is pretty high, and it kind of lingers with the finish, lighting up the top of my mouth. I’ll add some more water to it and come back.
The rest of the single malts in this roundup are either “First Fill”, “Fresh Madeira”, or “Single Madeira” casks, but I think they’re pretty much the same here unless the “Single Madeira” is a second fill. And here’s a pretty young whisky from GlenWyvis, which only opened its doors in 2015. This single malt is only 5 years old, but it’s an integrity bottling by Little Brown Dog Spirits at 56.5%! This will be punchy, and I’ll be adding water here for sure! Ah yes – this is a very young spirit on the nose, still holding on to that yeasty sweetness one can pick up in the new make. No smoke detected here, and it’s a pretty direct uniform profile with plenty of sweetness right at the front. Let’s go for a taste and see what’s inside. Here comes that new make with all of its delicious maltiness, but it’s immediately replaced with a sweet and wine-influenced profile, almost like an extremely well (!) fortified white port. I thought I wouldn’t like it this very much, being so young from a previously unknown distillery to me. But with just a bit more water, it is very tasty. With that said, it’s somewhat far from the other 13-year-old and, as expected, low on complexity.
I just realised that the Kilchoman in this set is also only 5 years old, “Madeira Cask Matured”, so let’s jump directly to that! This is still a very much integrity bottling by the distillery itself, but it’s not from a single cask, given that the label lists 17,000 bottles. So it’s a vatting of many whiskies matured in various Madeira casks, all blended and bottled at 50% ABV. Ooh, there is almost some cigarette smoke on the nose here. It reminds me of walking into a lift right after one of my co-workers had just come in from his smoke break. Somewhere far is that sweetness again, but there’s definitely smoke (and not peat, to be clear) at the forefront. Let’s go for a taste. I can tell you that it’s not as malty as GlenWyvis, and it does not have the same new make profile. There could be older whiskies in here to round it off. Again, more smoke on arrival, lingering way longer in the finish, to the point that I can still taste it on my lips. Usually, I’m a huge fan of this type of textural treatment, but I’m not sure if it’s a bit overpowering here as if it is trying to hide something behind that smoky veil. The influence of Madeira is negligent, and only on my second sip do I detect the young age and the sweetness mixed with some spicy liquorice in the end.
Let’s finish off this round with Ledaig from the Tobermory distillery bottled by Brave New Spirits from their Rebels – The Guerilla Casks series – a great integrity bottling of a great distillery, releasing this 12-year-old peated whisky at 51.5% ABV. I am a big fan of Ledaig as well, so let’s see how it compares to its younger Islay cousin. Plus, this one is also a single cask since we have a number (Cask #700102) stamped on the label, and it’s only 1 of 263 bottles. We’re back in a pretty sweet territory here. The smoke is not that present, at least not as much as it was in Kilchoman, but even at 51.5%, it’s a smoother, well-integrated single malt that definitely benefited from that extra time spent in the cask. I like this one a lot, but now I wish it had a bit more smokiness, cutting some of that sweetness. It’s a well-rounded, oily, mature single malt, and I think out of all the ones I’ve tasted so far, it’s my favourite. Let’s go back to that Ardmore. It’s sweeter and even “winy-er”, if that makes sense, and yes, the alcohol sharpness comes in at the end again, long after the finish has faded. It’s almost spicy, and I didn’t get that from any other malts here. The Ledaig is softer and more integrated without the intense sweetness and high ethanol punch.
So there you have it, folks, another fantastic tasting! I’ve actually consumed only half of the samples and returned the next day to confirm my notes. They are indeed spot on, although the Ardmore has smoothed out a bit (I tasted it last this time). I have to say that I really enjoyed the Madeira influence in all of them and loved how it integrated with the smoke. It’s not as contrasting as, say, the Laphroaig in PX casks, but is close to what an Islay malt would be like aged in Port wood. I’m happy with how this turned out, but now I have to make a call, and with that, I will proclaim Ledaig, 12-year-old, as the winner of this round, with a very close following by that young GlenWyvis.
Two Drams A Day 