Samaroli Ardenistle
Blended Malt Scotch | 50% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Very young, but still very yum
The Italian Job
Scotch. Broad as it is, it is universally understood what this six letter word means and represents. For decades it would be whatever whisky was behind the bar – very likely a blend and, much to the despair of the Irish, this could just as well include something like a Jameson.
Whisky was whiskey was whisky, and words like ‘blended’ or ‘single malt’ really made little difference as long as it was either ‘smooth’ or put the proverbial hair on ones’ chest. However, long before anyone else, there was one country where they apparently did care about what was written on the label including, arguably, the Scots themselves. In fact, you could argue that Scotch single malt owes quite a bit of gratitude to the Italians, as it was them who, on more than one occasion, played a pivotal role in pushing the envelope to bring ‘Scotch’ - particularly Scotch malt whisky - to where it is today.
Italy was probably the first country to properly, fully embrace the idea of single malt whisky as far back as the early 1960’s and one distillery in particular lies at the heart of this Italian-Scottish love affair that’s been going strong for more than half a century.
When Armando Giovinetti, an Italian hotel chain owner with a fondness for whisky, paid a visit to Glen Grant in 1961 to order a significant amount of casks to be served and sold through his hotels, he probably didn’t foresee what would happen next. The Glen Grant 5 year old became an instant hit in Italy. So much so that in the 1970’s Italy became the world’s number one export market for single malt Scotch whisky - the 3d for whisky overall.
Heck, there’s so much of the stuff going about that to this very day you can easily pick up bottles of Glen Grant 5 year old on auctions that were bottled decades ago. And, because there’s still so much of the stuff about, at reasonable prices, that it’s also no coincidence that today Glen Grant is under ownership of Italian drinks conglomerate Campari. What better way to make sure Italy’s ‘adopted’ single malt of choice is readily available, than having an Italian company owning the distillery that produces it, after all? On a side note: Giovinetti later on did a similar thing with Macallan, giving it a ‘big brand’ treatment while keeping the price on par with most blends. I would not recommend anyone operating on a moderate income to try and chase these at auctions…
Italy always had a love affair with whisky, long before the 1960’s. It was one of the first and most important export markets for ‘Scotch whisky’, dating back to the late 1800’s when brands like Johnnie Walker, Dewar’s and Buchanan’s started to make a name for themselves. And while the Italian market declined during the first decades of the 20th century, in the post Mussolini era the Italian economy was thriving and whisky made a comeback. A big one. Italy’s fondness for Scotch looks almost paradoxical - why would a country blessed with the ability of producing some of the finest wines, liqueurs, spirits and brandies in the world even bother to look elsewhere? Yet, during the 1950’s and 1960’s, the amber nectar took off.
Whisky was being popularised in films and as the drink of the movie stars, a country as fashion-minded as Italy fully embraced the idea of ‘Scotch’. And while the rest of the world was still perfectly okay with Scotch being whatever (generic) blend a barman would serve, the Italians took things to another level. After all, if you’re going to have to drink it to be at the heart and centre of all things fashionable and cool, it better be damn good quality as well. A principle they seem happy to ignore when it comes to some of their own cars, but that’s really neither here nor there.
Now that the foundations were laid and the concept of single malt Scotch whisky had taken a firm root in Italy, it only makes sense someone would come by and take things to the next level. Cue Silvano Samaroli. In 1968 the then 33 year old Italian had gained knowledge and experience working in sales for a liquor store, and decided to start his own import business - founding the Samaroli Srl Wine and Spirits Merchants in Rome. Another decade later, he became not only the first non-Scotch independent bottler of Scotch single malt whisky, but he was also among the very first to bottle the whisky at cask strength.
For the next two and a half decades he pretty much had the realm of cask strength releases to himself and the Samaroli brand became a household name for anyone calling themselves a whisky aficionado. It must have been a glorious time for the company and its customers: the whisky loch of the 1980s and 1990s meant they had access to pretty much anything they could possibly wish to bottle. To this day, some of those 80s and 90s Samaroli bottlings are considered to be among the best whiskies to have ever been released. In Dramface scoring terms that would probably mean that these could go to eleven.
Review
Samaroli Ardenistle, Blended Malt, vatting of Ardmore and Loch Lomond, 1194 bottle outturn, 50% ABV
£75 paid on auction, still available but £100+
As these things go, the whisky wonderland Samaroli and his peers found themselves in wouldn’t last forever. With a renewed interest in whisky, his pioneering methods and approach were soon adopted by many others and the idea of cask strength single malt is of course common practice these days.
Silvano Samaroli passed away in 2017, less than a decade after he formally stepped down in 2008 (although he kept an active role in the business until his death at the age of 77), leaving the company to his business partner Antonio Bleve whose family manages the business until today. Another cool little thing I learned and which I feel is another example of Samaroli’s pioneering spirit and insights, is that he more or less introduced the concept of Non Age Stated Whiskies when he introduced the ‘No Age’ series as far back as 1992. While this series was discontinued in 2016, they of course didn’t stop releasing Non Age Statement whiskies, like the one we have here today.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Very young, but still very yum
Nose
At the exact crossroad between sweet and sour (citrus, coconut, gently sugary sweetness and white fruit) and mineral peat notes with an understated salinity to it. There’s smoke, but it’s shy and somewhat sweet. Not sweet as in pipe smoke, though, as it sits intertwined with and woven into the lemon and citrus notes. Above anything else, it’s light.
Palate
Again, that combo of sweet and sour, peat and mineral salinity. The smoke is now more obvious compared to the nose, albeit only just. It’s still light, but by no means thin – there's a body to this and it has ‘grip’. What’s really interesting is how this develops. Things start off with that sweetness which then goes effortlessly into the peat and smoke and then onwards into that salty-mineral touch, which lingers on into the finish.
The Dregs
I was of course aware of the name Samaroli and knew about their reputation, but before buying this bottle I didn’t quite understand where this almost mythical - and certainly legendary - aura and status came from. Acquiring this bottle inspired me to do some looking around both online and offline (the unfortunately closed down but nonetheless still immensely valuable Scotchwhisky.com and the compelling read courtesy of David Stirk are highly recommended); and to me this is yet another example of how this drink is so much more than just a drink. The moment you stop to think of it as just a beverage and start to wonder what lies beyond the liquid in the glass: it’s like walking through Narnia’s wardrobe while stumbling down Alice’s rabbit hole all at once.
When I ‘teased’ this review to my fellow writers, it was Fletcher who asked me a very pertinent question: ‘are the reports of Samaroli losing their way true?’ I couldn’t really comment as this is the first ever Samaroli bottle that’s made it into my cabinet.
While there’s probably very little doubt about the fact that those heydays of having access to absolutely stellar casks are a thing of the past (something which of course applies to just about any bottler), there’s something to be said about a company having decades of experience as to what makes a good malt whisky. Yes, this is (very) young stuff, up to the point where on the neck-pour it almost seemed underaged, but I’m growing quite fond of this.
That said, I’m also fairly certain this will not be to everyone’s liking, due to its youthfulness. And then there’s the price tag, which is hovering just north of £100 – something I assume is partly due to the brand’s name and reputation. So while I will happily admit that some may argue that it struggles to merit its price tag (and they’re not wrong), I’m also glad to have bagged this at a reasonable price and more than happy to have a bottle of this iconic brand in my cabinet. And for the record: this has nothing to do with snobbery, but everything with being able to tick another box on the journey of whisky exploration.
And should the opportunity present itself, this won’t be the last Samaroli to find its way into my cabinet, I’m sure.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
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