James Eadie x5
Autumn 2021 Releases | Various ABV
It’s difficult to always hit home runs
I jumped straight into the deep with my first foray into James Eadie’s independent bottlings.
Being outside of Scotland and Europe, both myself and likely many other Dramface readers may struggle to have the variety of independent bottlers available to them and even the same selection of releases, especially single cask releases as our compatriots in Scotland.
For me, being the whisky geek and adventurer that I am, I often end up being frustrated. Frustrated that I don’t get to try these random distilleries, funky casks, or even liquid that is highly touted. I suppose reading Dramface is somewhat to blame for this. Thompson Bros? Little Brown Dog? Likely never going to get it. Dallas reviewing some Whisky Sponge? A limited selection just became available as I’m writing this but at eye-watering prices. Dram Mor? Just a few boxes of a few releases of theirs make their way to my local stores. Cadenhead’s? Only a small limited selection of their 46 %ABV square bottle range. SMWS? Sure, they’re available, but I’m not going to pay a premium entrance fee just to have the privilege to purchase some expensive indie bottles.
With all that being said and as I type this, I remind myself I shouldn’t be overly negative and complain so much. I have good access to many releases from Carn Mor, Signatory, SMOS, G&M, Berry Bros, North Star, and a few other smaller independents. So it’s not all doom and gloom.
About eight months ago, a ‘new’ kid on the block appeared in my area; James Eadie. I promptly snatched up several releases from their Autumn 2021 outturn, hoping to see what this indie is all about and if I should add another indie bottler to my purchasing watch list.
James Eadie has purportedly quite the history and backstory within the beverages and Scotch whisky industry. Rather than plagiarising their own website, I’ll give you an abridged version:
James Eadie (1827-1904, born in Scotland) began brewing beer, opening his own brewery in 1854 near Staffordshire, England
Following the success of the brewery, Eadie opened 50-60 of his own pubs across England, serving only his own brews to thirsty patrons
Sometime in the mid-to-late 1800s, Eadie had began blending his own whisky, using a recipe obtained from his father and eventually being served in his pubs, which had grown to nearly 300 establishments
The blended whisky sales dwindled and eventually stopped in the 1960s before the company and blended whisky was reinvigorated by James’ great-great-grandson, Rupert Patrick
The James Eadie brand began releasing independent bottlings of single malts around 2016
A portion of James’ exploits even included writing a historical recounting of Irish and British distilleries between 1922-1929, which has now been transcribed and reprinted with limited copies available.
In terms of James Eadie’s whisky releases, it’s a fairly straightforward affair with clear product lines: Cask finishes, single casks and small batch releases. The naming conventions for many of the small batch releases are reportedly drawn from the original names of the 300 or so James Eadie pubs. For example, the Dailuaine The Boot refers to the Boot Inn in Wharton, while the 10 year old Linkwood The Peacock links back to a pub in Kettering. It’s a cool nod to the history of the James Eadie brand.
Review 1/5
Auchroisk 12yo, Autumn 2021 Single Cask release, 1st fill bourbon hogshead, cask 811630, 55.8% ABV
CAD$135 (£80)
This was my first crack at an Auchroisk as it’s a rare distillery here in Canada as we don’t get the Flora & Fauna 10yo official bottling. In my so-far never-ending quest to try as many whiskies as I can from all corners of the globe and from distilleries not often discussed, I usually end up buying whiskies from independent bottlers, taking the risk that the barrel or bottler has not significantly altered the whisky inside. To that point, I’ll often seek out ex-bourbon barrel releases in an attempt to let the distillate and distillery character sing. I’m not sure if this particular release from James Eadie was just a poor representation of the distillery's capability or is a realistic representation of this Diageo-owned workhorse distillery (approx. 3.4M liters/annum) that supplies a large portion to the J&B blended Scotch whisky.
I have an ongoing “catch and release” system where I pass along bottles to friends with an open bottle discount for whiskies I’m not enjoying or is a similar experience to others sitting on my shelf. This bottle fell prey to this whisky carousel and is currently being enjoyed by a friend. Here’s why;
Nose
Vanilla, hard candy, unripe peaches, and a dash of woody bourbon on top. The nose takes a lot of coaxing and doesn’t easily give up much in the way of distinct notes, even with water.
Palate
The nose follows through into the taste, providing a relatively simple experience. The ABV is fairly harsh on the mouth and I detect a barrel char/bitterness note, the way a young very high-proof bourbon can sometimes be. Overall, it was so harsh that it needed a good drowning with water into the low 40% ABV range to settle into something easy drinking. At this ABV, peaches, apples, and vanilla dominated the experience.
The Dregs
Some people taste colours (I think Wally and Dougie fall into this category) but being quite colour blind myself, I generally interpret things in terms of textures or shapes. This Auchroisk firmly fell within the hard category, showing no rounded edges with maturation time and felt like swallowing a cube. I wasn’t a fan of this whisky, hence it being tossed back into circulation and being snatched up by a friend at a steep discount. I was honest with my experience and recommended this drink would be good mixed in a cocktail or best served with a few cubes of ice. The friend agreed and this bottle is relegated to summer-time backyard enjoyment with a few ice cubes. Is this bottle a fair representation of Auchroisk? I don’t know as this was my first drink from this distillery. This was also the first bottle I cracked of my newly purchased plethora of James Eadie releases so I was skeptical heading into the remaining four whiskies. It’s barely a 5/10 score-wise but given the price that I paid for this release, it lands squarely at a 4/10.
Score: 4/10 BB
Review 2/5
Caol Ila 11yo, Autumn 2021 Cask Finish release, refill Palo Cortado European oak finish for 13 mo, cask 358024, 56.5% ABV
CAD$135 (£80)
Caol Ila has to be one of my favourite Islay distilleries and yet I’ve never ponied up the cash to buy an official bottling because of the outrageous prices in my area and the plethora of good independent bottlers of this workhorse Diageo distillery. So I kept this trend going and purchased another indie, this time finished in a Palo Cortado cask, a sherry finish I’ve yet to try.
Palo Cortado is a fortified wine initially destined to be a fino or amontillado sherry which are differentiated by their maturation under a flor in the barrel. The flor is a thick layer of yeast that forms on the top surface of the sherry while in the cask, providing a biological maturation aspect to the wine. Traditionally, the fortified nature of sherry would nullify the ability of yeast to survive (too high of ABV and the yeast dies) however flor yeast have adapted to consume alcohol, producing acetylaldehyde (apple-like flavours), and living on the surface of the sherry. Without a flor, the sherry will mature in an oxidative manner, such as the ever-popular oloroso sherry. The flor does also provide some level of oxidative maturation.
During maturation, when a wine that initially was maturing under a flor (fino, amontillado) inexplicably loses its flor, it begins to mature in an oxidative manner, turning into a Palo Cortado sherry. Palo Cortado’s therefore possesses attributes of both flor-matured (bright, fresh, and dry) and oxidation-matured (nutty & darker fruits) sherries. Apparently, this accidental flor loss and formation of Palo Cortado-type sherry only happens to a few percent of all sherry produced in Jerez, making it a rare cask finishing indeed.
This purchase was a no-brainer for me, being a distillery I really like and finished in a cask that I had never tried before.
Nose
Rich and luscious. The nose is very gentle for the ABV. Pour a glass and the smell of dark brown sugar, pecan pie and gentle, rich smouldering peat fills the air. Slight lemon zest, damp forest dirt, and salinity qualities are found hiding in the background.
Palate
Rich and luscious again, with the ABV only providing a mild zip to the experience. Rich, smouldering peat leads the way, balanced with a medley of cinnamon, Demerara sugar, lemons, and a dash of cocoa-like bitterness. A spiced date chutney sometimes appears. These are all harmoniously swirled together, riding along a sumptuous mouthfeel towards a medium-length finish of cinnamon and peat, before a tingle of charcoal or ashiness pops up several minutes after your last sip.
The Dregs
This flavour combination is one of my favourites. When done well, the combination of peat and sherry is delectable and more-ish, and this release is done very well. I would personally reach for this over my Ardbeg Uigeadail any day and I’m wishing I had purchased another bottle while they were still available. That’ll teach me to pop the cork right away although, in my defence, these bottles sold out within a matter of weeks and I popped this within four weeks of purchasing.
Score: 7/10 BB
Review 3/5
Dailuaine 10yo, “The Boot”, Autumn 2021 Small Batch release, 1st fill bourbon barrel & refill hogshead, 754 bottles, 46% ABV
CAD$90 (£55)
Myself and most of my close friend circle are generally of similar age and stage of life, meaning we have a mess of kids running around at all times and there’s usually some disgusting bug or virus running rampant through someone’s household at any point in time.
It just so happened that early December everyone was healthy and luckily enough, one gentleman was left with an empty house. Well golly gee, bring on the boys night! For the first time in six years, we had enough healthy people and no kids asleep upstairs to have ourselves a game of poker. It was unanimously discussed at the beginning of the game that we weren’t really there to play poker, we were there to hang out in a manner not seen in quite some time. Also coinciding our newfound one-night only escapade was that everyone brought a few bottles of whisky to share. Some were old favourites, some were the last dregs of a bottle that were deserving of an honourable finale, some were left-fielders (I brought my Ohishi rice whisky, it was a hit), and some were fresh cracks from recent purchases. For my part, I packed along my Octomore 12.3, Glenallachie 10 yo cask strength batch 6, the dregs of my Ohishi brandy cask (RIP, it didn’t survive the night), and a half-full bottle of this Dailuiane.
A minor bit of strategy here as I wanted to gather everyone’s general opinions on it seeing as I was on the fence with this one. Of the six of us, three were not a fan of it, and three said it was OK. This made sense as most of my friends are sherry-heads so an ex-bourbon offering was not likely to rank high on their scale, however a qualitative observation of my hypothesis was still elucidated. Of the three who didn’t enjoy this two-barrel vatting of Dailuaine, every one had an immediate and resounding repulsion to it, somewhat reiterating my own views on this whisky. It sits on the fence, not offering any one particular unique feature in any direction. Between the healthy pours and six whisky drinkers that are poor imitations of poker players, this Dailuaine didn’t make the cold walk back home with me at the end of the night, so you’ll have to make due with a stock photo of this bottle from James Eadie’s website.
Nose
Simple syrup. Peach cobbler or pastry. Touch of vanilla.
Palate
Thin mouthfeel accompanied with a slight creaminess. Light caramel syrup. Vanilla and moderate dose of fresh cracked black pepper. Warm dustiness you might experience walking into a dusty store on hot day with stagnant airflow. Light-weight oil that you might find in sewing machines, watches, clocks, or RC cars. White flesh fruit mixed in. There is a slight hollowness to the mid-palate and is largely devoid of the sweetness that leaps out of your glass on the nose.
The Dregs
The nose is quite enticing, presenting as a light, sweet, and easy drinking dram and is a stark contrast to my tasting experience. I went back and looked at some of my tasting notes from when I first opened the bottle. Phrases such as “tough one to crack” and “raw” were scribbled and they summed up our experience with this Dailuiane. The dusty note was a surprise, however the other notes I felt were rather generic, earning the chameleon moniker and barely a 5/10 score given the price.
Score: 5/10 BB
Review 4/5
Linkwood 10yo, “The Peacock”, Autumn 2021 Small Batch release, three re-charred bourbon hogsheads, 1182 bottles, 46% ABV
CAD$75 (£47)
Similar to Caol Ila, Linkwood is one of my favourite distilleries. My first exposure was through Compass Box’s Orchard House, where approximately 40% of the blended malt is made up of ex-bourbon Linkwood. As we don’t receive much Linkwood in Canada, I lapped up the Orchard House, sacrificing the first bottle to the whisky gods before promptly replacing it with another. Not long after this revelation, The Peacock appeared in my area and was promptly added to my shelves.
Nose
Pop the cork and lemon zest immediately fills the air. Lemon oil. Lemon vanilla cake/muffin. Hint of raw coconut hunks and vanilla.
Palate
The lemon cake has now morphed into a buttery lemon croissant pastry, with a light drizzle of honey. Dusting of cinnamon on the lemon pastry. Has a luscious and lightly oily/viscous mouthfeel, followed by a zesty tingle. Successive sips reveal a hint of orange zest and vanilla. At the tail end of the finish is a green note I can only describe as lemongrass or fresh cut dry summer grass.
The Dregs
I had a little laugh reading some of my old notes from six months ago on this one: “for the age, hella good.” It’s delicious, simple as that. This is also the first bottle I ever purchased a backup of, breaking my self-imposed rule of saving my monthly whisky fund allocation for other whiskies that are yet to be experienced. I’ve held fast to this rule, only deviating one other time for the Tomatin Contrast Bourbon & Sherry twin bottling from 2017. That’s how impressed I was with this beautifully balanced, light, and refreshing Linkwood release. For reference, Ralfy gave a 90/100 score for a similar 2020 James Eadie bottling of 10 yo Linkwood, indicating the folks at James Eadie have a good year-over-year stock of quality Linkwood slumbering away under their care.
Score: 7/10 BB
Review 5/5
Teaninich 10yo, Autumn 2021 Cask Finish release, refill Palo Cortado European oak finish for 20 mo, cask 354546, 56.9% ABV
CAD$125 (£75)
No poker night nor fancy story here. In my adventures to try as many distilleries and whiskies as I can, I tend to jump on any that might become available. This was my first Teaninich and was finished in a Palo Cortado cask (I purchased this before the Caol Ila was available). Add to cart please!
Nose
Strawberries and orchard blossoms. Wet grass on a cold spring morning. Manuka honey. There’s a moderate ABV tingle here if you stick your olfactory sensor too close.
Palate
Strawberries and red apples drizzled with honey and generously dusted with cinnamon. The sweetness reminds me of a hard berry candy you sometimes get in a wrapper after a meal at a restaurant. There is a slight mouth-drying effect on the latter half of the experience, only serving to enhance the strawberry finish and begging you for another sip.
The Dregs
It’s deliciously drammable at cask strength and a dash of water maintains the flavour balance while lessening the alcohol impact. This being my first Teaninich, I can’t really say for certain if any distillery character remains but frankly, I don’t care. This cask imparted some beautiful flavours and in the chase for flavour, this is a good one.
Score: 7/10 BB
The Final Drop
This is already a long review and thank you for making it this far. I’ll make this quick: you can’t always hit home runs.
Some distilleries and independent bottlers can do it more often, but inevitably you’ll sometimes strike out. That’s how I felt when going through these five James Eadie releases. Some were home runs, others got out at first base, and others were struck out at the plate. In general, that’s the story of how small vattings or single cask releases may go, except for the hope that the bottler may choose to hold back a release if it needs more time.
From the limited selection of James Eadie bottles I sampled, I can’t definitively say I’ll fully trust every release of theirs going forward. That said, they’ve shown they have some excellent stuff hiding away. So I’ll add them to my purchasing radar and reign in my FOMO, likely only purchasing known distilleries or unique offerings. I realise I only have a small glimpse into their annual releases so perhaps you may have better luck or enjoy these whiskies more than I did.
I’ll finish by saying that given the enjoyment I had from both the Palo Cortado-finished Caol Ila and Teaninich, I know I’ll be chasing this unique sherry type in future purchases. When comparing the single cask Caol Ila and Teaninich, the differences between biologically and oxidative maturation between the two barrels might be evident. The Caol Ila presented more like an Oloroso sherry finish, with the darker fruits and earthier type flavours present, maybe indicating the flor failed earlier in the sherry’s life and the resulting Palo Cortado was more oxidative in nature. The Teaninich was much brighter, fresher, and drier, perhaps indicating the flor failed more recently and the biologically matured sherry notes were more present in the wood. This is pure speculation of course and neglects the potential peat phenol and vastly different distilleries in this comparison, but the potential variability in flavours makes the chase all the more interesting.
Tried these? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB