1970 called, it wants its architecture back. (pic source) |
Monday, September 9, 2024
THE Teaninich Cluster
Friday, September 6, 2024
Birthday Booze: Miltonduff 26 year old 1990 AD Rattray
After I paid for my part of a bottle split of this 26 year old Miltonduff, the honorable bottle owner reached out to me saying that he'd opened the bottle and tried the whisky, finding it to be "Just straight SOAP", and offered me a replacement pour of something else. As much as I appreciated the replacement whisky, I also requested a sample of The Soap anyway. I received it and (two years later) drank it along with Wednesday's '80s Bowmore to determine which of the two was the bubbliest, saponific single malt. Yes, I do these things to myself.
Distillery: Miltonduff
Ownership during distillation: Allied Lyons
Current Owner: Pernod Ricard
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Independent Bottler: A.D. Rattray
Age: 29 years (16 Sept 1990 - 23 February 2007)
Maturation: bourbon barrel
Alcohol by Volume: 49.1%
(from a bottle split)
NOTES
The nose has so much vanilla, caramel, pound cake, and whipped cream that it reminds me more of a Canadian blend than single malt scotch. It takes at least 45 minutes before other notes, like orange peel, lemon juice, apricot jam, and baby powder, to appear.
The palate starts off like a mouthful of Werther's Originals. Beneath that caramel candy are tangy lemons, jasmine, and tree bark, with a little bit of soap in the background. With time, the soap note expands but never breaches the background, because the citrus character also grows, and silky sticky toffee appears.
Sweet caramel, lemons, sea salt, and that hint o' soap finish things off.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
I've sworn off AD Rattray on two previous blog occasions due to my experiences with too many of their wonky casks. Third time's the charm?
The good news: This is less soapy than Wednesday's Bowmore. The nose isn't bad, and it improves with time.
The bad news: Why does a 26-year-old scotch smell like an 8-year-old Canadian blend? Soap + tree bark on the palate? Not great, Bob. Soooooooo much caramel everywhere.
Though this whisky isn't broken, there was something unusual going on with the cask and not in a fun way. Again. So, yes, third time's the charm. No more AD Rattray casks for me.
Availability - Sold outPricing - ???
Rating - 75
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Birthday Booze: Peat's Beast 34 year old 1985 (Bowmore)
Owner: Beam Suntory
Region: Islay
Independent Bottler: Fox Fitzgerald
Age: 34 years old (1985 - 2020)
Maturation: ?????, then Cognac casks
Outturn: 1800 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 47.1%
(from a bottle split)
Availability - Maybe the primary market, probably the secondary
Pricing - ???
Rating - 71
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Birthday Booze: Speyburn 37 year old 1975 Clan Cask 3413
pic source |
Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Age: 37 years old (1975 - 2012)
Maturation: Pedro Ximenez cask
Exclusive to: Clan Speyburn
Alcohol by Volume: 55.4%
Chillfiltered? No
e150a? No
Friday, August 30, 2024
Birthday Booze: Coleburn 17 year old 1978 Cadenhead Authentic Collection
My first Coleburn review! In fact, before today I'd only referenced the distillery once (11 years ago) in the history of this blog. This is the second Coleburn I've ever tried, the first being an AD Rattray cask that I don't remember.
Coleburn's production lasted 86 years, starting in 1899, mostly under the ownership of DCL→UD→Diageo, with DCL officially dropping the axe in 1985 as a reaction to a bumpy era of scotch sales. It had been one of the main malts in the Usher's blend, as well as making appearances in Johnnie Walker products, until it was deemed superfluous. The distillery still stands in the town of Longmorn, and bottler Murray McDavid currently uses its warehouses for their casks.
Today's Coleburn single malt is one of three '78s that Cadenhead bottled during their eh-fuck-the-cask green bottle era. A lot of their bottles from this range in the 1990s were raw rocket fuel with zany ABVs, which is a mixed blessing. The drinker gets a chance to try some nude spirit, but also some of the tired oak vessels were crap, resulting less than pleasurable experiences. I don't foresee an opportunity to review a second Coleburn, ever, so I'm just going to enjoy this experience.
actual bottle shot |
Executioner: Distillers Company Limited
NEAT
The nose begins very perfumy, but with patience and time one finds anise, burnt nuts, hay, and strawberry jam. It improves with time as it picks up clover honey, lemon peel, and shortbread biscuits. An OBE funk, reminiscent of '50s & '60s blends, lingers in the background throughout. It's surprisingly drinkable at full strength, never scorching the palate. No perfume. Yes unripened stone fruits and lemon pith. It slowly evolves into tart apricots and limoncello with a dash of cayenne pepper. Its intense finish is full of lemons and apricots, with a sprinkle of sea salt.
DILUTED to ~50%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Went easy with water here. The perfume note remains in the nose, but actual maltiness appears, along with wet stones, brown sugar, orange oil, and those shortbread biscuits. The palate is pepperier, sweeter, and with a touch of the OBE. A mix of tinned yellow peaches and fresh white peaches highlight the background. It finishes peppery and sweet with a hint of those peaches.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
This is one of the better green-glass-era Cadenhead whiskies that I've tried, accomplishing the bottler's intentions, if they had any. It's VERY spirit forward, but never raw. I could do without the perfume, but I cannot do without the fruit! So I like the palate better than the nose, in fact the palate is excellent. At 40%-46%abv the whisky might start to resemble many of its neighbors, not a bad thing for '70s Speysides and their fans, but thusly viewed as redundant to the planet's largest scotch blender. I have a several more samples from this green glass series, and I hope they're as good this one. Maybe one for the next birthday?
Availability - Maybe secondary? Are there Coleburn bottles on that market?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Birthday Booze: WhiskySponge Blended Scotch 46 year old 1969
(from a bottle split)
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
High West A Midwinter Night's Dram in 3 Scenes
"Website Description: A blend of older rye whiskeys ranging from 5 to 19 years
95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP
53% rye, 37% corn, 10% barley malt from Barton Distillery
80% rye, 10% corn, 10% barley malt from Barton Distillery"
The transition began with the Act 6 scenes/batches (from 2018):
"Website Description: A blend of older Straight Rye whiskeys ranging in age from 5 to 19 years
95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP
80% rye, 20% malted rye from High West Distillery
53% rye, 37% corn, 10% barley malt from Barton Distillery
80% rye, 10% corn, 10% barley malt from Barton Distillery"
And in 2019, the shift was complete with Act 7:
"Website Description: A blend of Straight Rye Whiskies including 95% rye, 5% barley malt from MGP and 80% rye, 20% malted rye from HWD.
Website Description for 2019 Rendezvous Rye says that it contains 4 to 7 year old rye whiskey that is a mix of sourced and in-house distilled ryes."
As you weathered whisk(e)y fanatics can already guess, the price of the much younger rye did not go down, but rather increased. And, as Culture covers in another post, Constellation has aggressively increased the MWND outturn while raising the bottling's price.
I have no interest in tracking down a bottle of any of these Acts, but I have enjoyed the batches I've sipped (two from Act 2, and one from Act 6). So I was excited about this Midwinter taste-off in midsummer. Here are the results from the Taste Off that inspired my Google searches:
A Park City Trio
High West A Midwinter Night's Dram Act 5, Scene 8 (2017) 49.3%abv |
High West A Midwinter Night's Dram Act 7, Scene 1 (2019) 49.3%abv |
High West A Midwinter Night's Dram Act 8, Scene 2 (2020) 49.3%abv |
---|---|---|
Everything in the nose revolves around a middle ground between sticky sugary fortified wine and bold rye: grape jam, blueberry syrup, rye bread, fennel seed, black licorice, marzipan, and brine. | The nose is very winey (Moscatel!). Roses, cherry syrup, and grape lollipops keep the fennel seed in the background. | Raw rye in the nose, and it isn't MGP sauce. At least it's less winey. Mothballs, tar, and black licorice up front, with marzipan, grape juice, and ethanol in the back. |
It's a good thing that there's a lot of high-rye rye as it keeps the port casks' sweetness from taking over the palate. Fennel seeds and honey on one level, strawberry candy and grape candy down below. | There's a strong orange note in the sweet palate. Then sawdust and ginger. Tart apples and dash of salt. Not much in the way of that fennel seed note. | Again the wine is mellow in the palate. It's very peppery and spicy, full of loud oak and youthful rye. Tangy orange marmalade soaks into the toasted oak. As with 7:1, the sweetness isn't necessarily from the port. |
It finishes with rye and sugar. Fennel seeds, lemon candy, and grape candy. | Very sweet on this finish. Orange candy, lemon candy, ginger candy, tart apples, and tannins. | The finish is so very, very sweet. Fennel seed and tangy citrus try to break through. |
Final thoughts: The port casks start to tip the scales in the finish, and it's quite sweet overall, but never too much for my grumpy palate. In fact, it's the least sweet of the three. The ABV works perfectly on this one. | Final thoughts: This is a very different whiskey, and I don't think the port casks are driving all the sweetness. It's as if the spirit itself has been dosed with refined sugar. The orange note is the only thing keeping this from dipping into the 70s. | Final thoughts: I like this more brutal take on The Dram, until the finish strikes. The spirit's volume is cranked up, while the port is toned down, something I do support. But this is soooooo sugary. I'm struggling to find any MGP in here. |
Rating: 84 | Rating: 80 | Rating: 82 |