Single Malt Revision: Eating crow and drinking The Hakushu 12 year old

Happy 2013 to all!  I hope everyone had a pleasant extended well-earned break from the normal work week.  I am starting this year with a complete recant of a report from last year.

Last April, I panned The Hakushu 12 year old.  The whisky I'd sampled was shockingly ugly, full of notes of cheesy-beefy-flatulence and a kitchen gas leak.  I say "shockingly" because The Hakushu 12 had received raves from a number of folks I respect.  In fact the word on the whisky street was so positive that I going to buy a whole bottle of it blindly; I even price-shopped it for two months.  But the Master of Malt sample of Hakushu that I tried convinced me of the opposite, the whisky was disappointing.

But, as I ended my report, I wrote:  "I wouldn't mind giving it another spin someday......just in case."

In the late fall, I tried it again at a OC Scotch Club event.  And it was......really good.  This round of whisky came not from a sample bottle but directly from a newly opened 750mL.  President Bob of the OC Scotch Club awesomely allowed me to steal away with a 1 ounce sample of my own.

On New Year's Eve, the sampled was consumed.

Distillery: Hakushu
Producer: Suntory Whisky
Age: 12 years
Maturation: mainly Bourbon Hogsheads
Country: Japan
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

NEAT --
The color is a bright light gold.  The nose leads with doused kindling, soil, dried apricots, and light sweet wine.  There's a cleaning solvent note in there, but in a good way!  After a few minutes, a subtle green leafy note arises, possibly spinach.  The palate is a peated confection: vanillins, brown sugar, and sweet cherries.  It's very creamy, vanilla ice creamy in fact.  There are some ashes and a touch of salt.  It finishes first sweet, then peat.  Peat ashes again.  Sugared fruit, a little salt.  It's extensive and warm considering its low-ish ABV.

WITH WATER --
The nose loses its prettiness, gaining weight and malt spirit.  Some cocoa, tree bark, and vegetal peat too.  Some of the infamous gassy edge starts to peek through.  The palate becomes simpler.  Vanilla, malt, mild peat, notebook paper, and fruit cocktail juice.  It finishes briefly, with that fruit cocktail juice character, a little peat and vanilla following.

I recommend this neat.  Period.  Keep the water out, please.

This is the quality I had hoped for, originally.  The odd sample probably kept me from buying a bottle.  The Hakushu has gotten much more difficult to find since then.  My scathing review likely resulted in a worldwide recall by Suntory.  ;-)

Anyway, Hakushu, my apologies.  I was led astray.  Thou art good.

May this new year bring many more happy discoveries, especially in places we'd never expect to find them.

Availability - Some liquor specialists

Pricing - $50-$60

Rating - 86

Dusty Whisky Report: Windsor Canadian Whisky, bottled in...

Producer: Fortune Brands, with Beam Inc.
Brand: Windsor Canadian
Region: Alberta, Canada
Age: minimum 3 years
Blend: corn, barley, and grain whiskies
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

Don't tell, show, bro.

I previously reported on Windsor Canadian here, last year, finding that it had a pleasant little palate but a harsher nose.  Windsor still has no online presence, aside from its single Beam Inc page.  Beam also bottles Canadian Club and seems to run with that more famous whisky in their marketing choices.

You can find Windsor down towards the bottom shelf in most liquor stores' Canadian selections, in black plastic bottles (whether 750ml or 1.75L).  As I highlighted in an earlier Canadian Club post, whisky doesn't hold up so well in plastic bottles.  And as Jordan (of Chemistry of the Cocktail) commented: "Alcohol should leech plastic much faster than water, being a comparatively non-polar solvent."  Yum.

Happily the handle of Windsor found in the Perry's liquor cabinet was made of the classic dark thick brown glass.  Had the whisky sat in plastic over these ages, I would not have risked a sip.  As I did with the previous two dusty discoveries, I attempted to get a bottling date on this thing.

This broken pink tax stamp affixed to the top of the bottle had the notations "TAX PAID" and "DISTILLED SPIRITS", so it was pre-'82.

I like these dark bottles since they allow for the best bottle pics.  Here, we can see the "79" on the bottom.  I don't know if the "55" means the 55th day of the year, but I'm relatively comfortable in saying that this Windsor was bottled in 1979......and has likely been open ever since. 

(The sources of my dating info are here, here, and here.  If anyone has any corrections to my assumptions/conclusions, please let me know!) 

The Notes:

The color is the classic Canadian blend shade of amber-tinted urine.  The nose leads with vanilla and molasses.  Then there's something vegetal going on, along with a dose of balsamic vinegar.  A big charge of grain spirit trails along at the end.  Then it gets a little farty (or pharty, per my notes) after a while.  Nillas(!) are big on the palate, along with some brown sugar.  Otherwise it's pretty rough, with some coarse ethyl and a light bitterness.  The finish is spirity too and drying.  But there's a vanilla note that lasts for a long time.

When comparing to my notes on the contemporary Windsor, this oldie has a softer nose but a tougher mouth, while holding fast to the Nilla note.  I was already getting a bit queasy from the Mr. Boston piddle sampled earlier, so I don't think that the resulting stomach troubles were related to the Windsor.  On the other hand, just to be safe, the sink should drink the rest of this bottle.

To conclude:
J.T.S. Brown Bourbon (bottled in 1969) = Yummy!
Mr. Boston's American Whiskey (bottled in 1980) = Vile
Windsor Canadian Whisky (bottled in 1979) = Similar to current version, but getting strong on ethyl

The JTS Brown Bourbon (and also not getting poisoned) made it all worthwhile.  Who knows what treasures hide in old liquor closets everywhere??????

Dusty Whiskey Report: Mr. Boston's Blended American Whiskey, bottled in...

Brand: Mr. Boston's

Current Owner: Sazerac Company (via Barton Brands via Mr. Boston's)

Type: Blended American Whiskey

Distillery: Old Mister Boston Distillery (amongst others)

Location: Boston, MA; Owensboro, KY; Albany, GA

Age: Zygotic

ABV: 40% ABV

There's Mr. Boston, looking every bit like a young Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life.  If you've seen the movie, you know I'm not complimenting the man.

But who was Mr. Boston?  Per Modern Drunkard Magazine:

The Old Mr. Boston distillery sprang to life in 1933, founded by Boston natives Irwin Benjamin and Hyman C. Berkowitz. There was no real Mr. Boston, the icon is merely an artist’s conception of what a genteel 19th century Bostonian who liked a bit of liquor might look like. He was formally introduced to the drinking community in the inaugural 1935 edition of the Old Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide...

I really encourage you to read the whole MDM article on Alcohol Icons.  Hell, I really encourage you to read Modern Drunkard Magazine.  Bless their soggy hearts, livers, and minds.

The Mr. Boston company released very cheap flavored gins, brandies, and schnappses over 50 years or so.  At first the man was Old Mr. Boston, but then in the 1970s they dropped the "Old" (as if respect was what they sought with their Pineapple Gin).  In 1995, fake Mr. Boston and his regrettably real liquors were purchased by Barton Brands, who were in turn bought by Sazerac.

Yes, the company that releases George T. Stagg, also owns the rights to make this:

But they don't make it anymore.  THANK YE GODS.

Let's get to this bottle in particular.  Like I did with the scrumptious JTS Brown, yesterday, I did some snooping around to get a date for the bottle.

This broken pink tax stamp affixed to the top of the bottle meant it was from 1985 or earlier.  It was pre-1982 due to the strip having the notations "TAX PAID" and "DISTILLED SPIRITS".  And then there was the "80" on the bottom of the bottle.

My guess is that it was bottled in 1980.

(The sources of my dating info are here, here, and here.  If anyone has any corrections to my assumptions/conclusions, please let me know!)

I also noticed that Mr. Boston was determined to tell his buyers how grand his products are:

The "Finest" liquors of "Unequalled Excellence".  Right.

Let's go back to that last picture and zoom in a bit, shall we?

I admire the honesty.  I wish contemporary blenders were forced to show how much grain spirit fills out their blends.  Yet, I think there was considerably more than 70% grain neutral spirit remaining in this particular dusty bottle bottle of American Whiskey.

And when I say "Grain Neutral Spirit", I want you to think: "Cheap Vodka".  And when I say "Cheap Vodka", I want you to think watered-down ethanol.

No quotation marks on that last word.

The Notes:

The color is copper, with considerable floating debris.  The nose holds a little milk chocolate, a hint of sugar cookies, lots of imitation vanilla extract.  But mostly cheap vodka.  Vaguely nauseating.  The palate is ethanol heavy.  Maybe some corn syrup, light vanilla, sweat cream.  Starts sweet then ends (not vaguely) nauseatingly.  The actual finish is all ethanol/grain spirits/cheap vodka/whatever.  Perhaps the ghost of sweet cream and vanilla.

I couldn't finish 0.5oz of it, though I valiantly tried and nearly became ill.  The wallop of grain spirit was anything but neutral after a while.  The whiskey part was probably once made from corn and malted barley, barely.

Was this any better in the '80s?  Because, Jesus.

Dusty Whiskey Report: J.T.S Brown 7 year old Straight Bourbon, bottled in...

Brand: J.T.S. Brown
Current Owner: Heaven Hill Distillers
Type: Straight Bourbon Whisky
Distillery: J.T.S Brown Distillery (possibly now Four Roses Distillery?)
Location: Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Age: minimum 7 years
ABV: 43% ABV

Enjoyed by great real and fictional gentlemen like Chuck Cowdery and Fast Eddie Felson, J.T.S. Brown bourbon is one of those bottom shelf bottles you've sorta seen but generally disregarded because your better angels tell you to ignore $8 bottles of whiskey.

Fast Eddie, not Chuck Cowdery.
Or is it??????
(pic source)

Chuck writes in his great blog:

J.T.S. Brown was an early distiller and the half-brother of George Garvin Brown, who founded Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel's. The J.T.S. Brown Distillery was established by his four sons and later continued by one of his grandsons. The last distillery to bear that name is the one in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, known today as Four Roses. J.T.S. Brown Bourbon is still made, by Heaven Hill Distilleries...

I'll be honest, I'd never tried J.T.S Brown before and only knew about it from The Hustler.  But there it was sitting in the back of my father in-law's liquor cabinet, with no more than 100mL of liquid remaining.

I knew it was on the older side, due to the broken pink tax stamp affixed to the top of the bottle.

That tax stamp meant it was from 1985 or earlier.  It was pre-1982 due to the strip having the notations "TAX PAID" and "DISTILLED SPIRITS".

Measurement-wise it only said 4/5 Quart, so they weren't using metric liquid measurements at the time of bottling, so it was bottled before the '70s.

Finally, and it's difficult to see in the picture, but there's a "69" on the bottom of the bottle:

So, I'm guessing this was bottled in 1969.

(The sources of my dating info are here, here, and here.  If anyone has any corrections to my assumptions/conclusions, please let me know!)

Though no one knows how long the bottle has been opened (probably around 40 years), my father in-law, Steve, has been using three tablespoons of the bourbon in each of his awesome Chocolate Walnut Bourbon pie over the last several years.

What remained in the bottle was a very thick and cloudy orange fluid.  Of course I had to taste it.

Officially:

The color is a thick cloudy orange molasses.  Doesn't look anything like a drink anymore.  The nose leads with tons of milk chocolate, brown sugar simple syrup, orange zest, and vanilla ice cream.  Seems mostly corn and wheat whiskey.  The palate:  YUMMY!  Bourbon candy!  Corn syrup, brown sugar, a hint of rye spices, a little peppery zing.  Corn and rye reign high here.  It finishes on one enormous note of caramel sauce on vanilla ice cream.

WOW!  This the tastiest bourbon I've yet tried.  But is it still bourbon?

It was 43% ABV at the moment of its bottling.  Any hint of alcohol in the nose and palate has been oxidized into silence.  So I wonder if it's still over 40%?

In its current state, it's more like bourbon concentrate.  A bourbon liqueur.  All the edges and angles have been sanded down leaving the all the best parts in an dense syrup.  I'm bringing the last 2 ounces home with me.  Perhaps it could be poured on ice cream, drizzled on apple pie, or maybe just sipped neat, for breakfast.

What a lovely discovery!  Thank you, Steve!

Unexpected dusty treasures?

Every year Kristen and I spend the holidays with her family.  First we fly to Oneonta, NY, to spend a few snowy days at her parents' place, then we do (or her dad does) a 10 hour drive to Ohio, where we spend some time with her grandparents in Westerville and Canton.

We received a number of surprises during our trip this year.  One of them has been a VERY White Christmas.

Then there were these:

Up in my in-laws liquor cabinet sat three very used very dusty bottles of whiskey, all of which were bottled (and probably opened) before my wife was born.  I sampled them all.  And, having lived to tell the tale, I will report back on the discoveries this week...

Taste-Off: Dewar's White Label vs. Johnnie Walker Red Label

Yep.

We all knew this was inevitable.

My past experiences with these two blends have been less than positive.  Specifically the one on the left.  But it's been a very long time since either of these whiskys found their way into my glass.  With time healing any wounds resulting from those previous drinking......events, perhaps it was time to match  up Dewar's White Label and Johnnie Walker Red Label and try them side by side.  Sort out the negatives and identify the positives.

...

That sound you didn't just hear was me sighing at my misguided optimism.

Here is a picture me, mid Taste-Off:

Kristen's mom took the picture then texted it to me with the caption:

This is what happens when tasting Dewar's.

I read that and immediately thought of the spoken wisdoms of one Walter Sobchak (of Lebowski fame), and decided to amend one of Walter's meditations to fit this event:

You see what happens, Larry?

You see what happens, Larry?

Do you see what happens when you drink Dewar's White Label?!
(your hair falls out and you wear a silver bow around your head while watching the Muppet Christmas Carol)

---

I'm going to skip the usual Taste Off pomp and circumstance, and go directly to the notes. Because.

JOHNNIE WALKER RED LABEL

Brand: Johnnie Walker

Ownership: Diageo (boo)

Distilleries: 35 whiskys; though I was recently told by someone in the know that unpeated Caol Ila was the main malt element

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: at least 3 years, doubtful that it's much older
Blend: single malts and grain whiskies

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

Chill-filtered? Yes

Caramel Coloring? a ridiculous amount

JW Red Label has been around since 1906, though for its first few years it was called Special Old Highland.  The blend's recipe and quality has certainly changed over the years, as noted by some Malt Maniacs (especially Oliver, see this post!).  I used to think that it was an eight-year-old blend, but I don't know why or how that misnomer entered my consciousness.  The JWRL malt is very very very young.

Selling millions of cases every year this is the highest-selling blend in the world.  I'm sorry, world.  :(

NEAT:

Color -- For infant whisky it is weirdly dark and reddish. How much colorant did they pump into this thing?

Nose -- Generic citrus, light sherry, rotting cream, vanilla beans, and maple syrup.

Palate -- Not peat smoke but more like old used "tobacco" rolling papers, vanilla, granulated sugar, a light bitterness

Finish -- Vanilla, light bitterness, light sourness. Leaves an unidentifiable funk on the tongue.

W/WATER:

Nose -- Soil, apple juice, marshmallows, hay.

Palate -- Old peat ashes, dirt, cardboard, vanilla, and the light bitterness.

Finish -- Ashes, mouth drying bitterness, sadness.

Further comments to follow below.

---

DEWAR'S WHITE LABEL

Brand: Dewar's
Ownership: Bacardi
Distilleries: many, main malt component likely Aberfeldy
Age: at least 3 years, doubtful that it's much older
Blend: single malts and grain whiskies
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chill-filtered? Yes

Caramel Coloring? Yes

Last year at this time, I did a report on Dewar's 12 year-old Special Reserve blend and discovered that it wasn't terribly special.  But it's positively gorgeous when compared to White Label.  This quality problem is unfortunate since Aberfeldy (their main malt) is pretty good on its own.

Their website notes that Dewar's is The Drinking Man's Scotch.  Then I am clearly not a drinking man.

NEAT:
Color -- Apple juice
Nose -- Sour ethyl, apples, vanilla, fruit cocktail juice, wet cardboard
Palate -- Bitter, generic cereal grains, mild chocolate, mild vanilla, Bitter
Finish -- Bitter! Bitter. Oh so very bitter. Not interesting, palatable bitter. Instead, arsenic.

W/WATER
Nose -- Ethyl, gumdrops, generic cereal grains, a little sherry peeks out, whipped cream
Palate -- Bitter, but less so. A little maltier. Some maple syrup. Not much else.
Finish -- Just, off. A weird sweetness, like aspartame. And also bitter.

The nose isn't awful.  But I cannot imagine their blending team tasting this and saying, "Yes, this is how we would like to represent our brand."

Further comments to follow below.

---

After adding water to these two fine blends, I discovered that I couldn't bring myself to finish either of them, so I blended them together in even amounts (about 0.5oz each).  Yum, right?

BLENDED:
Nose -- citrus, sherry, Red Label dominant
Palate -- vanilla, sherry, meh
Finish -- mercifully short

Still couldn't finish 'em off, so I dumped the remainder over some ice cubes.

BLENDED, ON ICE:
Bland peat, imitation vanilla extract, aspartame, and lightly bitter

Continuing to drink this became too masochistic for me.  The sink was forced to consume the rest.

---

Final comments:

Johnnie Walker Red Label
What can I say?  It won the Taste Off.  Congrats.

The nose is more inviting than the palate.  The finish is pretty hideous, so much so that I would hesitate even recommending the use of this for mixing and cocktails.  Many of the blends at its price range are better, or for $5 more there's Glenfiddich 12yr or Tomatin 12yr.

This is light years from Black Label's quality.  But it is better than...

Dewar's White Label
Who is this for?  Seriously, who is this for?  Aside from its disagreeableness, and bitterness, it's also sort of......boring.  At its price range, I'd recommend buying anything else.  Even vodka.

If you were to receive a bottle of this as a gift, what is it good for?  Fending off home intruders.  The bottle glass is pretty sturdy and the whisky gives it some heft and momentum when braining a robber.

But the Red Label is even better for self defense with its right angles.

So, again:
Johnnie Walker Red Label  >  Dewar's White Label
Though that is faint praise.  There's not much that White Label betters.

Okay, I guess I thought of something:
Dewar's White Label  >  Tequila-induced Fire-Ass
But not by much.

---

RATINGS

Johnnie Walker Red Label
Availability - Everywhere!

Pricing - $18-$25

Rating - 66

Dewar's White Label
Availability - Everywhere!

Pricing - $17-$25

Rating - 58

NOT Single Malt Report: Ballantine's 17 year old blended whisky

Brand: Ballantine's

Ownership: Pernod Ricard

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: minimum 17 years

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

I'm embarrassed to say that I'd never tried any of Ballantines' range before this week.  I adore the old fashioned bottle and label of their Finest, but I learned long ago not to buy liquor just because the bottle looks good.  Ballantine's (the second best-selling Scotch blend in the world) has garnered considerable praise from Jim Murray, especially their 17 year old which won Scotch Whisky of the Year in his most recent "Bible" as well as World Whisky of the Year two years ago.  So upon Mr. Murray's recommendation, I bought a dram from Master of Malt.

On Sunday night I wrote my impressions of Murray's Bible.  Afterwards, I decided to continue the evening by tasting the Ballantine's 17 year.  But instead of using my usual tasting method, I decided to follow the procedure outlined on page 9 of this year's "Bible" edition.

I started the method, step by step, and then slowly......

very slowly......

I felt as if I were entering into another level of consciousness.....

something......

sort of......Murray......

......

Ballantine's 17 Years Old (87.5) n22 the faintest of peat smoke spilling from chimneys on a late October evening in the Western Highlands. A veritable orchard of white fruits. Yet aren't those the stone fruits of Q.robur blossoming back there? Rosebud. t22 old grains in a silky vanilla knee-length dress. That stretchy toffee from the town fair, handed to you by a one-thumbed carnie. Demerara sugar swirling around morning sips of espresso. Ooooh, but with time that vanilla sex bomb dress has gotten shorter and I see you licking the molasses off the wooden spoon you naughty girl. f21.5 my second cousin's wife's great uncle's pipe tobacco. Sweet puckering Sicilian dessert wine at sunset. The sweaty muscled caramelized malt arm-wrestles the grains in a grand struggle only to end in victory for us all. Peace in our time. b22 I saved Bill Lumsden's cat from a distillery fire.  43% Chivas Bros.

...

...

And then I was back.  What happened?  Where did my whisky go?  And why am I warming my whisky glass to body temperature with my hands?

Then I looked at my notes...

Oh dear.

Well, in improper English, the whisky is good.  It reminds me of the best grain whisky I've tried, along with some very mellow very vanilla teenage Speyside single malts.  Overall, it presents a very solid front, like a well edited piece of prose -- no mislaid elements and all efforts aligned in the same cause.  Uh oh, I'm getting flowery again.

It's one of the better blends I've had and would take it over many single malts.  Though at its price range there are some tremendous single malts.  As far as blends go, it's about $20 more than Chivas 18 and $10-15 more than JW Gold Label, and I'm not sure if I'd place its value that much more (especially since, at Hi Time, I could get a bottle of Uigeadail and a Buffalo Trace together for the same $$$).  It's quite good though, and would make a nice fancy gift for someone who likes the Glens Livet, Fiddich, Grant, Goyne, and Garioch.

Availability - Some liquor specialists

Pricing - $85-$90

Rating - 87