DuckDrams

Limburg Whisky Festival — the whisky event of the year in Germany! And how lucky am I that my friend Simon could host me in Frankfurt, and was as excited for the festival as I. The whisky experience is great, but having someone to share it with is what makes the long ride from Plön actually worth it.

Leaving Plön at 13 on Friday and reaching Frankfurt at 20 I had a pleasant evening and good night’s sleep before we arose in the morning to take the train to Limburg, about an hour and a half away. The doors open at 11, and we arrived about 10.45 to join the queue, and got inside just as the bag piper started bellowing at around 11.25. Already packed with people, we tried to get an overview before committing to our first dram.

The inaugural (half-) dram of the event for us ended up being a Dornoch, over at the Thompson Bros. stand where, indeed, the Thompson Bros. Phil and Simon were hanging out. I later also tried a sample of the 13yo Glenrothes they were selling as a Limburg-exclusive bottle (solid and fair-priced sherried dram, without fuss).

Another stand-out stand for me was Nc’Nean. I have had a lot of good experiences with Nc’Nean on this blog, especially with the Huntress series, and at the event they were launching the latest release in this series, Lemon Meadow, made with champagne yeast for a citrussy character. It went down a real treat, reaffirming my love for Nc’Nean, but at €95 a bottle at launch I’d wait for prices to come down. Maybe a future auction catch?

But Whisky Jury was the happiest discovery this festival. An independent bottler focussed on finding really fruity and old school single casks. Sells out very quickly to people on their mailing list (despite quite premium prices) which is why I’ve barely seen bottles of it. I tried a gloriously fruity 32yo Linkwood from 1988, and came a way with samples of 1995 and 1996 Ben Nevis, 1986 Glenrothes, and 1988 Laphroaig, and after a nice chat with the lad in the stand, a good discount and a free pour of a tasty and waxy Dailuaine that accompanied us to the Villa Konthor bar/restaurant for lunch: Haggis flammenkuchen!

Other honourable mentions were Ardnamurchan/Adelphi, which this year again takes the trophy of best quality/price ratio of drams, and the random (?) Dutch people with a lot of random bottles lined up (like the picture above with the guy in red shirt.)

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Over the nearly eight hours of the event, I got 15 different whiskies in my glass (1 or 2cl pours), beside Simon and I trying each others’ pours occasionally. For completeness’ sake these were:

• Dornoch, 6yo, ex-first fill bourbon octave (€5/cl) — good, but maybe a bit strong to start with
• Ben Nevis, 15yo (1996), sherry cask (€6/cl) — a bit disappointing, probably needed a bit of a calmer setting and fiddling with water to do well
• Tullibardine 16yo ex-Spanish brandy BWH (€4.50/2cl) — fine, but mostly cask influence
• Nc’Nean Huntress Lemon Meadow (€4/2cl) — a real citrussy, malty, yeasty treat
• Linkwood 1988 Whisky Jury (€7/cl) — glorious fruit bomb
• Dailuaine, 12yo (2011), Whisky Jury (free)— very nice, waxy
• Gaoling ex-Brandy Cask 51C301 (free sample) — ok, but left rather little impression
• English 11yo (€3/2cl) — allround nice, fruity, nothing special
• Benrinnes 16yo, Valinch & Mallet (free) — pretty good, but cask-heavy
• Knockdhu Valinch & Mallet (€3/2cl) — nice and fruity
• Glenrothes 13yo, PST (€2/2cl) — does what you expect; really fair price
• Glenlossie 13yo, Adelphi (€3/2cl) — really nice, crisp and fruity; best experience per euro!
• Craigellachie 16, Cadenhead’s (€7/2cl) — fine, but not so memorable
• Teeling 16yo, cognac cask (€6/2cl)— So good I’m attempting to win a bottle at auction tomorrow! [edit: I did]
• Glenlossie, 29yo (1995), Maltbarn (€10/2cl) — fantastic dram to end on, with some

Huh, seems I didn’t have any peated drams. All in all I spent €60, plus €15 on the ticket. So about the same as a ticket for the Edinburgh Whisky Fringe 2025.

For take-home samples, my only a priori goal was to try and find some samples from the few closed distilleries still to appear in my Ghost Safari series. I was very pleased with my final haul:

• Jura 10 56.2% (€8/2cl) — an old bottling that’ll make a fun Jura reference
• Johnnie Walker Red Label (€5/2cl) — a really old version I’d like to contrast with a modern one
• Laphroaig 10 (old bottling) (€10/2cl) — will appear in a special guest post!
• Toberymory 25yo (1994), A.D. Rattray (€15/2cl) — Simon took a sample in the glass, and was intrigued and delighted by the blue cheese note, despite not liking blue cheese.
• Ben Nevis, 23yo (1996), The Whisky Jury (€12/2cl) — in the end I paid €60 for all in-glass and takeaway samples at Whisky Jury. At-home tasting coming up!
• Ben Nevis, 27yo (1995), The Whisky Jury (€10/2cl)
• Laphroaig, 32yo (1989), The Whisky Jury (€20/2cl)
• Glenrothes 36yo (1986), The Whisky Jury (€18/2cl)
• Ardnamurchan AD/ Mezcal Cask Release (€3/2cl) — a complement to the rum, sherry, and sauternes finished I have for an upcoming horizontal
• Kinclaitch 16yo, Gordon & MacPhail (€35/2cl) — a rarity!
• Killyloch 22yo (1972), Signatory (€45/1cl) — the rarest of the rare!
• Old School Malt, 31yo, Signatory (€12.50/2cl) — I could not resist a second date with this lovely lady after a successful blind date
• Tobermory, 23yo (1995), C. Dully Selection (€12/2cl?) — to complete the setup for an old Tobermory tasting
• Tamdhu, 26yo (1984), Creative Whisky Company (€15/2cl) — because why not?

And what better way to end this post than having one of the drams? I’m eager to try again the “Old School Malt”, and make up my mind if I should try and get a bottle.