2022 Year in Review
Last year I finally gave in and wrote up a year-in-review post celebrating all of the whiskies I took the time to review and share. About halfway through 2022, I started doing the same thing each month; it felt great to pause and look back at everything I had tried, to reflect a little bit on the great whiskies, the great values, and occasionally, the wild misses.
In the spirit of keeping up with a good thing, since last year’s review was so fun and even more fun to look back at now, I wrote a retrospective on the bottles and experiences that stood out during 2022.
I have included most of the same sections as my inaugural end-of-year review. A by-the-numbers overview, perhaps best viewed on the infographic I made, and then a few award categories: Worst of the Year, Best Whisky of the Year, and Best & Worst SMWS since I reviewed a lot of bottles from that label. I considered including a “most web impressions/visits” category, but when I checked the data, it was all Kirkland. No surprises there; I can often track where a new release has hit based on the spike in web traffic.
By the numbers
In total, I posted 318 reviews in 2022, a sizable increase from 2021, when I posted 234. The pandemic has continued to warp and alter life in ways I would have never expected. While in-person tastings, dinners, and whisky club get-togethers provided more opportunities to sample bottles with friends, I have continued to offer about half of my university courses online.
As a result, I have more time to mindfully sit, taste, and review whiskies when I am so inclined at the end of the day. I expect my teaching load to shift in 2023 to more in-person classes finally. It has been a slow transition with a constant push and pull between students who want online and students who prefer in-person. Still no plans for a whisky and history course, though!
Of my 318 reviews, 272 were Scotch. Only ten of those were of blends or blended malts. Broken down by region, the vast majority were split between the Highlands (100) and Speyside (68), with a good amount from Islay (56), and only a handful from Campbeltown (8) or the Lowlands (7).
I reviewed 46 whiskies from 10 countries in the World Whisky category. That included five from India and Japan, four from Ireland, two from England and Wales, and then one from Canada, Germany, Israel, Spain, and a World Blend. The majority of those world whiskies were American Single Malts from the US.
I reviewed 22 American single malts from eight different states, plus one blended malt American whisky: Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, Washington, California, and North Carolina. As the category of American Single Malts continues to grow and mature, I expect we will start seeing distilleries offer, or experimental with, longer maturations. This year the oldest American Single Malts I reviewed were 7 Years Old, a Stranahan’s Sherry Cask, and Westland Cask 775 for R/Bourbon.
My favorite American single malt this year was a 5-Year-Old Balcones bottled by the American independent bottler Lost Lantern; the malt was incredibly complex and delicious after its maturation in a refill tequila cask and then finished in a Rumble Barrel (Rumble is a Balcones spirit made with honey, figs, and sugar).
Of the 289 whiskies I reviewed with an age statement, or calculated age, the oldest this year was a tie between a Coleburn 47 Year from Gordon & MacPhail and a 47 Year “Secret Grain Distillery” from Nectar of the Daily Drams. On the opposite end, the youngest was the 16-month-old Rúa Single Malt from the Great Wagon Road Distillery. The average age across those 289 whiskies was 15.7 Years, an increase of about a year from my 2021 average (14.5 years)— a few old grains did a lot of lifting on that number!
By date of distillation, the oldest whisky I tried— with a stated date— was a 1954 Glenburgie from Gordon & MacPhail, which then spent the next thirty years in the cask. That was truly a marvel to taste— a piece of history from one of my favorite distilleries.
Worst Bottles of 2021
1. Highland Park 17 Year (2003), Single Cask Nation “Stones of Stenness”
2. Old Pulteney 28 Year (1988)
3. Cradle Mountain 24 Year (1996), Cadenhead
I rarely go out of my way to drink whiskies that I know I will not like, though I made more of an effort this year to review more widely available malts mindfully. None of those mass-market bottles ended up at the bottom of my rankings, which is about what you might expect! While very few are inspired, even fewer are downright awful. That remains the provenance of the rare single-cask whisky that did not work for me.
The lowest score this year was an abysmal two, and two malts reached that pit of despair. I have heard great things about other bottles under the “Stones of Stenness” label from Single Cask Nation, but this particular 17-Year Highland Park was filthy. Filthy enough that I understand why fans of dirty sherry profiles would love it; I did not. The other malt at the bottom of the barrel was a 28-Year-Old Pulteney which I found so off-putting that I could not understand why it was bottled.
Those were easy choices, and the mental imagery I chose for each hinted at some of the issues I had with the whisky: “Austral Guano Company: Walpole Outpost” and “Lemon Pledge Cough Drops.” Picking a third whisky for the list was more difficult as there were several whiskies I scored a 3. I decided to go with the 24-Year Cradle Mountain from Cadenhead’s, which I described as “Basement Mushroom Kingdom.” Though it was a fascinating whisky from an intellectual point of view, it was not that pleasant to drink, and everyone I shared it with acted as though I had poisoned them.
Best Bottles
1. Port Charlotte 18 Year, Dramfool “Jim McEwan Journey’s End #2” (10/Pirate’s Trove of Golden Memories)
2. Coleburn 47 Year (1972), Gordon & MacPhail (10/String Quartet)
3. Craigduff-Glen Keith 33 Year (1973), Signatory Vintage (9/The Sublime Waxsmith)
These three whiskies were all unicorn whiskies for me, a unique bottle that you encounter precisely once in your life and that you then think about for years to come. They were exactly what you want from a special occasion splurge on an epic bottle.
I gave out two 10/10s this year; the first was an 18-Year-old Port Charlotte bottled by Dramfool as part of its "Jim McEwan Journey's End trilogy." I was stunned when I tried this whisky; it was delicious and triggered a deep and sweet nostalgia between its maritime and cocoa notes. Certainly, the nostalgia heightened the experience, but even on a bad day, I cannot see this scoring lower than 8-9. It was an incredible whisky and my favorite of the older Port Charlotte that has appeared over the last two years. I have a bottle of this, and I have no idea when I might open it; a part of me would not mind being buried with it. Even better, my review of this reached Jim McEwan, who shared a touching comment and seemed moved by my nostalgic revelry.
The second 10/10 I awarded to the Coleburn 47 Year from Gordon and MacPhail. It was the oldest malt I have ever tried and tied for the oldest whisky I have ever tried. A good friend shared a bottle with a large group of us, and I saved my portion of that bottle for a few years, waiting for a perfect night to pour a little. It was my special birthday pour, and it was fantastic. My wife was slightly less ecstatic— she tried it completely blind and thought it was a touch too woody. I have no idea when I will encounter another Coleburn; the distillery was mothballed in 1985, so there is a continually shrinking amount available. It is hard to imagine another reaching the heights of this cask.
I also had three 9/10s this year, and I picked the 33-Year-old Craigduff-Glen Keith bottled by Signatory Vintage to round out my top three. Earlier this year, Pint & Jigger, one of Honolulu's few great whisky bars, reopened in a new location. My wife and I had our first date at this bar-restaurant, and it was long a favorite place to grab a beer, burger, cocktail, or whisky. The new location captures much of the original's magic, with much more accessible parking. When I scanned their whisky list, I saw this bottle and knew we would have to order it when we went. There was not much left, so I am glad we did not wait, the whisky was magical, and the story behind Craigduff and the very few casks ever released was fascinating.
Best & Worst SMWS
1. Glen Scotia 18 Year SMWS 93.163 “A knock-out combination”
2. Lochside 20 Year (1981), SMWS 92.10 “Cod-liver oil and blackcurrants”
1. Glendronach 11 Year, SMWS 96.34 “Stroll through the seasons”
2. Ardmore 13 Year (1998), SMWS 66.32 “The Roly-Poly Pudding”
The Glen Scotia I have ranked at the top position was also in line for one of my top three whiskies of the year. I adore Glen Scotia, and I thought the combination of lightly peated coastal malt and musty-rum-driven fruits was spectacular. As I said in my review, “I should have bought this whisky when I had the chance.”
In the second position, I have included a vintage SMWS malt, a Lochside that spent more time in the bottle than it did in the cask. We included this bottle during the anniversary tasting our whisky club does each year; it was the big ticket whisky, and it did not disappoint. Lochside was a casualty of the whisky loch shuttering in 1992. This fine example from the distillery was loaded with melon, wax, and hints of salty preserved meat.
On the other side of the equation were two bottles that I scored a 4/10, which is not bad at all. I ranked the Glendronach as the worst of the year, as it was entirely pedestrian and somewhat disappointing. I suspect it was the final nail in the coffin for including young ex-bourbon Glendronach in a whisky club tasting line-up. They have consistently underperformed and ranked dead last in a line-up.
I have more mixed feelings about the Ardmore. It was dirty and industrial, with a bit too much burnt rubber for my taste, but it was fascinating and fun to taste. Another whisky that was fun intellectually but not something I would be grabbing off the shelf.
Cheers to the end of 2022 and the coming of 2023! Happy New Year!
