Live Bowling the Super Blog

Welcome to the first and final Annual Super Bowl Post.  There may will be profanity and a severe lack of proofreding.  I'm not sure how fast or furious the updates will come, but I will need to take breaks for food prep and bathrooming and marveling at the spectacle (often all at the same time).

As mentioned on Friday, "I'm rooting for Denver. But if I were a betting man, I would be taking Seattle (+2.5) and the over."  I just quoted and linked myself right there.  With that out of the way, here we go:

7:05pm PST - Thanks for checking in!  Now go watch something exciting!

7:02pm PST - Had I actually placed my planned parlay bet, I would have won have been have myself a payout of 13/5.  But I didn't.  Anyway, somehow Chevy Silverado had the ad of the night, mostly because I really wanted to make fun of their ad campaign, but they beat me to it.  Go 'Merica cars!

7:00pm PST - Kristen and I were so involved in this game, that we're already discussing laundry.  At least Downton Abbey's coming up in two hours.

6:55pm PST - The over/under for bathroom runs was 4.5.  If you took the under you won.  This game was just too riveting.  Or I didn't have enough to drink.

Russell Wilson isn't even sweating during the post-game interview.  I don't think he and his team even had to work for today's victory.  Complete dominance.

6:49pm PST - For all I've complained about Denver, Seattle was excellent.

6:47pm PST - Peyton didn't even get a fuck during that fumble.  I think I saw him texting Eli while his line scrambled for the ball.

6:45pm PST - Not even a pass, Peyton?  You're going to keep making your backfield suffer for what's not their fault?

6:41pm PST - This game isn't worth the dusty bourbon.  I've switched to Miller Lite.

6:37pm PST - So Fox's big surprise teasey commercial reveal was a new season of 24?  This is the shruggiest Super Bowl telecast I've seen.

6:31pm PST - Refs doing okay.  Play-by-play not annoying.  I'm so confused.

6:23pm PST - For those who follow football next year, you'll probably start hearing this Talking Piehole talking point: Can the AFC compete against the NFC?  Similar to the NBA's, "can the East compete against the West?"

6:05pm PST - The only thing that Bob did right in that commercial is shave that Vincent Price moustache.

6:02pm PST - WHY CAN'T YOU FUCKING TACKLE?  "Just terrible defense," says Aikman.  I actually agree.

Okay, I'm so bored/ashamed by the Broncos that I'm going to start rooting for the refs.

5:58pm PST - In more important news, my wife and I are feasting on Turkey Meatballs and Pastry Bites from Trader Joe's, both very awesome.  I'm still working on that bottle of stout.  And the Broncos' coaches are still working on selecting a play that works outside of practice.

5:57pm PST - Apparently Bruce Willis felt the same.

5:55pm PST - A total lack of violence, misogyny, and homophobia in the commercials.  This is the Super Bowl, right?

5:49pm PST - How terrible are the Broncos?  I'd rather listen to Joe Buck speak than watch them play.  Sadly, I have to do both if this is to continue.

5:41pm PST - DEMARYIUS THOMAS STOP RUNNING BACKWARDS!

5:34pm PST - I'm going to say this right now, even the Giants could beat these Broncos tonight.

5:31pm PST - Halftime over aaaaaaand Seattle already scored.  They are going to get the over on their own.

5:23pm PST - Mandy the puppy just dropped the ball faster than Demaryius Th---

Okay, I'll stop.

5:19pm PST - Wife just brought vegetables into the television room.  I've been told they qualify as food.  I'll take her word for it.

5:18pm PST - Enough Broncos jokes?

5:15pm PST - Loren will be joining the Denver backfield in the second half.

5:14pm PST - So far, the baby pups have shit the field less than the Broncos' special teams.

5:07pm PST - Lots of growth over the years with Puppy Bowl.  They now use the Fox Sports theme and the aforementioned deceased Muppets are advertising on the show.

And Michelle Obama.

Frankly, I'm seeing better defensive execution from the pups right now.  I hope the Broncos' secondary is watching this.

5:01pm PST - Keyboard Cat looked a little disgusted.  Was it because he's a Broncos fan?  Or because they were forcing him to playing Bruno Mars crap?

4:58pm PST - May I recommend the Kitty Halftime show from Puppy, brought to you by my former employers.  It the most watched public-access-quality content in the history of television.  Enjoy.

4:55pm PST - It's official.  Disney has somehow ruined the Muppets.  That takes some doing, but leave it to Disney to get it done.  Best wishes with Star Wars, y'all.

4:53pm PST - Go for it, John Fox, 22-3 is disgusting.

4:49pm PST - Coca-Cola, why are you exploiting American pride for your ads?  You're bigger than America, you don't need us.

4:38pm PST - Blowout alert.  Serious Serious Blowout alert.  While Seattle's defense is playing very well, Denver is playing very poorly.

What's making this bloggery most difficult is the limpness of the ads.  They're neither great nor terrible.  In fact they're quite normal.

4:33pm PST - Halfway through the second quarter and Peyton completes his first real pass.

And, yyyyyyeah, that was a burly first down.  Monte Ball, Badger alum, well done.

4:32pm PST - "Demaryius"?

4:31pm PST - The first time I shout at the television.

4:24pm PST - So, let me get this straight Bud Light is advertising screw tops and aluminum cans?  That's almost as bad as Coors Light advertising that their beer is cold.

And yes, there will be dragons and Mark Wahlberg in your next Transformers experience.  That film series has to be the most aggressive mediocrity in the history of cinema.  What alarms me is that in ten years we'll look back at the Transformers films as the peak of their genre, Big Robots Punching Each Other and Destroying Cities.

4:15pm PST - If you bet the over, you're probably contemplating something you never thought you would......will Denver actually score?

4:08pm PST - As a big U2 fan, I say "Meh".  I hope the rest of "Invisible" or "Invincible" sounds better......I'm already forgetting the song.

4:01pm PST - Opened up the stout.  Anderson Valley took their Oatmeal Stout and aged it former Wild Turkey barrels for three months.  It's good stuff, I hope they do another batch of it this year.

On the football side of things, Denver is doing well defending the run but look very shaky against the pass.

3:57pm PST - My sincere condolences to those whom put their money on Denver covering the spread.

3:48pm PST - Thank you Chevy Silverado.  That was awesome.

3:44pm PST - Good to see Maserati speaking for the little guy now.

3:41pm PST - Regarding the previous two notes.  Denver's special teams, offense, and defense looked weak all within the first five minutes (of actual time, not game time).

3:37pm PST - Wow, Denver.  Looking good.

3:34pm PST - Wow, Denver.  Looking good.

3:32pm PST - It's official, James Franco is everywhere.  He's the attendant in our guest bathroom right now.

3:28pm PST - Joe Namath wearing Suzy Kolber's fur coat?

3:23pm PST - I think I speak for many when I say, I'm glad they went with a professional singer over a pop star.

And get ready for some skull-crushing axe battles in the new "Noah" movie.  Because the End of Mankind does not provide nearly enough of a challenge for the protagonist.

3:10pm PST - I will not mock singing children.  Yet.

Robert Redford is in the new Captain America movie.  Apparently, "All is Lost" doesn't pay the bills.

These are the two beverages for today.  Got yer Old Taylor from the National Distillers era and my one of my...

Oh man, people at the stadium have to listen to Joe Buck's voice too?  I thought one of the perks behind the inflated ticket prices was that one didn't have to hear him at all.

...anyway, one of my favorite beers Anderson Valley Bourbon Barrel Stout will make an appearance too.

Also, am I the only one not understanding why Kurt Russell is playing emcee for the two teams' video introduction.  Why Kurt Russell?  Why both teams?  Why a video introduction, I mean we'll be seeing and hearing about these guys all night?

Some whisky updates and oh yeah I'm going to be live-blogging during the Super Bowl

1.  Not going to bury the lede here.  I was going to live-tweet during the Super Bowl, but realized live-tweeting is just a form of forced aggression.  My six twitter followers would have to keep seeing unfunny half-thoughts firing into their feed 60+ times in a three-hour period.  With live-blogging, a reader can choose when or if he/she wants to read my garbage.  Plus, I have the option to delete the whole post in case things go terribly wrong.

This will probably be the last Super Bowl I watch.  I missed thirteen in a row (XXXI-XLIII) when I didn't have cable, but really didn't miss a thing.  I've also been watching A LOT of football during these last three years.  Too many wasted Sundays watching people bludgeon the f*** out of each other in the hopes of witnessing a half second of derring-do.  Rules being instituted to try to curb life-crippling injuries cause issues with the gameplay itself and lead to other injuries because the sport is violent.  It's not bowling.  And it would also be nice if retired players (whom have helped make the NFL billions of dollars) received a little bit of long term healthcare assistance to deal with their broken bodies.  Both the league and the union have failed in this regard, and I feel ethical nausea watching it play out live in front of me.  But please know I'll be commenting on the gameplay as much as possible, I will check my ethics at the door.

And I love hating on advertising.  And I love hating on Sports Journalism Reporting Time-Filler Parasitic Flatulence; I hope you haven't wasted any of your life reading anything about gametime weather, Manning's legacy, Richard Sherman talking, Marshawn Lynch not talking, or the 12th Man (which won't be attending the game); do people really get paid for that "reporting"?  And I love hating on Joe Buck.

And there will be beverages, and profanity, and plenty of parasitic flatulence (for free).

I'm rooting for Denver.  But if I were a betting man, I would be taking Seattle (+2.5) and the over.

2.  I would to thank everyone for checking out my Whisky Consumer Advocacy post.  I appreciate the discussion that continues to follow.  There wasn't a single challenge from anyone in the hashtag-Whisky-Fabric community itself.  So I'm just going to assume that they were all incredibly humbled by words and will endeavor towards a higher level of ethics in the blogosphere and the whisky industry as a whole.  But if I were a betting man...

3.  Chemistry of the Cocktail posted a positive review of The Eagle Morning last Friday!  Please know that it only cost Jordan two ounces of his secret bottle of Malt Mill.

I'm thankful for all the feedback on The Eagle Morning.  There's a second full bottle of it in the cabinet.  I'd be happy to share it during swaps -- but I have to put swaps on hold for a few months because I don't have much stuff open!

And, yes, the cask is currently filled with another experiment.  It's one much less sexy than the previous two, but I really hope it winds up tasting good.

4.  You've probably heard this elsewhere, but The Angel's Share is now available for streaming on Netflix.  While one could carp about the fact that it seems like two films forced into one, both "films" are very good in their own way.  As the lead, Paul Brannigan's performance helps the script realize its intense emotional stakes.  It's a bit startling to witness comedy in a Ken Loach film, but it's also very welcome because the man continues to depict working class grit like no else.  Did I mention there's lots of whisky involved?  Keep an ear open for my favorite tasting note of all time.

5.  Finally, the full page view of the The Big Whisk(e)y List now has filters.  If Google Drive wasn't such a pain in the arse, there would be more sortable stuff.

Happy Friday!

NOT Single Malt Report: Wild Turkey Rare Breed Straight Bourbon Whiskey

The last of this week's bourbons costs as much as the previous two combined, but can still be found for under $40.  (Damn, I wish I could say the same thing about single malts.)  Like the OGD114, it's a bourbon brand owned by (Ye Gods!) an non-American company.  Yep, Wild Turkey is owned by Gruppo Campari, proprietor of Skyy Vodka, Campari(!), Appleton Estate Rum, Irish Mist, Aperol, and the Glen Grant distillery.

Their Rare Breed bourbon is a mix of six-, eight-, and twelve-year-old straight bourbons and bottled at what they call "barrel proof" in small-ish batches.  I have an issue with a piece of their terminology, that "barrel proof" part.  We see a similar descriptor in Scotch whisky: "Cask Strength".  Often times the label "Cask Strength" just means that the whisky was bottled at a higher alcohol proof than normal whisky releases.  How do we know this?  Well, major "cask strength" releases like Glenfarclas 105, Ardbeg Corryvrecken, and Ardbeg Uigeadail are always released at the same exact ABV every year.  That alcohol content consistency sounds pretty darned magical considering the hundreds and thousands of casks they've mixed together over the years to design these products, meanwhile maintaining a similar character throughout.  The same amazing coincidence occurs with Rare Breed.  Wild Turkey makes different batches of Rare Breed each year, but unlike Laphroaig Cask Strength whose ABV varies from batch to batch, WTRB just happens to hit the same exact 54.1% every time.

Look, a lot of companies push the cask strength / barrel strength half-truths on their products.  The only reason why I'm prodding Wild Turkey here is because they actually continue to spin the story on their website, saying Rare Breed "has no added water to lower the proof or dilute the flavor after it’s been distilled."  After it has been distilled.  That is not even remotely unique.  But what they neglect to include is the fact that water is added to reduce the bourbon's ABV once it's out of the barrel and before it is bottled.  Thus the whiskey in the bottle is not at the same proof as it was in the barrels.

I actually like this whiskey, but I find the use of the "barrel proof" designation and the attempt to explain it in a tricky manner to be a little silly.  Okay, enough with all the bitching.  Time for some drinking.

If you squint, you'll see that this a mini (purchased during my last visit to Arizona).  It's shaped similarly to the full-sized bottle, thin at the top, sloping shoulders, and sort of pudgy around the sides.  What the mini does not include is the batch number.  What I was able to glean from the printed code is that the mini was bottled in December 2010.  Here's what a 750mL bottle looks like:

Owner: Gruppo Campari
Brand: Wild Turkey
Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery
Location: Lawrenceburg, Kentucky
Mash Bill: around 13% rye (probably)
Age: a mix of 6, 8, and 12 year old bourbons
ABV: 54.1% ABV
Bottle year: 2010

NEAT
Its color is dark gold.  Pine needles and tree sap are the nose's most prominent notes.  There's an earthiness that mingles well with caramel candy and granulated sugar.  There's also a bit of a black cherry syrup note floating around almonds; some young armangnac too.  Men's cologne and new carpet odors swirl around in the background.  In the palate there's a solid rye bite, milk chocolate, whole wheat bread crust, and cherry Sudafed meets cherry liqueur.  Something like saline and antiseptic show up occasionally.  A corny note and some amaretto bring up the rear.  The cherry flavoring appears again in the finish.  More rye, corn syrup, and Heath Bar.  It's mild and shortish considering its strength and age.  Slightly dry and woody.

WITH WATER
The nose grows more candied.  More vanilla, milk chocolate, and caramel.  Still some pine, and now the saline.  The palate gets woodier and sweeter.  Vanilla and sweet tobacco.  The pine starts to appear here as well.  The finish is sticky sweet.  Lots of corn and wood.

The nose can be a lot of fun and much more challenging than the palate.  It's all more enjoyable when neat, but water doesn't kill it.  The finish is disappointing considering all the character that comes before it.

What I like about Rare Breed is that it establishes itself as more unique in character than most of the bourbons I've tried recently.  Though I have little interest in buying a bottle of my own, I will say that it's more complex than most single malt Scotch at its price range.  But that's more of stab at the price of Scotch than anything else.

While Rare Breed is bolder and more fulfilling than Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, the question arises: Is the addition of some 12yo whiskey and a 3.6 point boost in ABV worth paying a 100% premium?  That I cannot answer "yes" with full confidence.  If you're interested, what I do recommend is seeking out a 50mL mini as they can be found at many specialty liquor stores.  They're just a few bucks and they'll help you decide if you want to spring for the full thing.

Availability - Most liquor specialty retailers

Pricing - $3-$4 for 50mL; for the current batch: $35-$45 (750mL)

Rating - 83

NOT Single Malt Report: Old Taylor 6 year old Straight Bourbon Whiskey (1996 bottling)

I was doing some dusty hunting a couple weeks ago and spotted an old looking Old Taylor 200mL bottle on a shelf.  I turned it over to find the glass bottle's production year and thought I saw what appeared to be an '86'.  Holy moley, I thought, I've found a National Distillers era Old Taylor.  And it was $3.89.  Sold.

The following week I did some snooping around online and noticed that the label really didn't look like the National Distillers Old Taylors.  In fact it looked much like the current one.  After further staring and staring and staring, I realized the number was a '96'.

So what the heck does all that mean?

Like the Old Grand-Dad brand from yesterday's report, Old Taylor bourbon used to be owned by National Distillers.  Along with OGD and a number of other brands, Beam Inc (Fortune Brands) bought Old Taylor in 1987.  At that point, the production moved to Beam's Clermont plant using the standard-rye Beam mash bill.  In 2009, Buffalo Trace bought the brand from Beam.

The Old Taylor 6yo (OT6) distilled by National Distillers is well liked by many bourbon geeks who say that it was a big butterscotch bomb.  And, according to one fellow from Straightbourbon who quoted Michael Jackson (the whisky one), during the bourbon glut in the '80s OT6 was actually 10-11 years old.  Thus my glee when I thought I had a 1986 bottle.  Thus my tempered glee when I realized I had a 6yo Beam.

I really do not like Beam White Label (four years old) and I sorta tolerate Beam Black Label (eight years old) when on a plane.  But I do like this Old Taylor...

...which makes me wonder if Beam's current distillation and maturation processes have changed since 1989/1990.  Or perhaps they were still adding extra older stuff into the mix in the mid-90s.

As you may know, my palate is much more familiar (and happier) with single malt whiskies so this is a continuation of my bourbon education.  But let's give it a go anyway.

Owner: Beam, Inc. at time of bottling, but now owned by Sazerac
Brand: Old Taylor
Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery
Location: Clermont, Kentucky
Mash Bill: Standard 15% rye (probably)
Age: minimum 6 years old
ABV: 40% ABV
Bottle year: 1996

The color is a medium gold.  It looks a little watery and light.  The nose starts with a very rich vanilla bean blanket covering corn chips and black cherry syrup.  It's a little yeasty and bready at times.  Then there's more corn, as in corn meal and grilled cob.  With some air, a load of caramel notes develop along with butterscotch bread pudding.  It always smells like it's going to be sweet, but actually the palate remains very mild.  It's completely inoffensive.  Lots of whipped cream, vanilla, and caramel sauce.  There's a brief floral puff and a light vegetal note.  The finish is very short and mostly matches the palate.  Maybe a hint of bitterness and sawdust added in.

There it is.  A mild, light bourbon without any of the ugly off notes of Beam White and Black.  There's not much to it, but what there is is good.  I was (and am) a little shocked by how much I liked it, even going a second round without notes just to make sure.

It has none of the stamina or structure of OGD114.  It can't take water or club soda.  Its finish is non-existent.  And if you're looking for complexity, you need to go elsewhere.  But, I'd be happy to buy a bottle of this for the house bourbon.  I should match this up with Evan Williams to see who wins at this price point.

DISCLAIMER TIME:  I cannot say if the current version of OT6 is similar to this one.  In fact, I sincerely doubt it.  Even though Buffalo Trace / Sazerac owns the brand, the bourbon is still coming from Beam.  And as I mentioned above, the current Beam White and Beam Black are undrinkable compared to this.  Thus the current bottles of Old Taylor 6yo are likely to be very similar to White and Black.  IF you're interested in trying OT6, keep an eye open for the 200mL bottles.  They should be around $4 (and thus cheaper than a bar pour) at some corner liquor stores.  Before buying the bottle, take a look at the bottom and see if you can spot a two digit number beginning with '8' or '9'.  That will tell you the bottle's year.  If you find one with an older label, then that's probably made with National Distillers juice and seems to be recommended often by bourbon dorks.  Meanwhile, the current version is generally disliked.

Wow, that disclaimer was longer than my tasting notes.  I'm just trying to cover my bourbon butt in case someone buys a new bottle and proclaims that it's sh*t and it's all my fault.  Anyway, how the hell do I rate this?

Availability - More so in the Midwest, less so in the East and West

Pricing - $4-$5 for 200mL; for the current version $12-$15 (750mL), $18-20 (1L)

Rating - 80  (if it had any sort of finish it would be at least an 83)

NOT Single Malt Report: Old Grand-Dad 114 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

I was going to review a pair of Ardbegs this week, but I'm pushing them a couple weeks down the line.  Since it's the week before the Super Bowl -- seemingly the American-est week of the year -- I'd like to review a few bourbons, all of which are much cheaper than anything Ardbeg puts out.

Today, it's Old Grand-Dad 114, one of the most affordable high proof whiskies on the market.  Beam Inc., now owned by Suntory, distills and produces the Old Grand-Dad (heretofore shortened to OGD) line.  The range includes the regular OGD, OGD Bottled in Bond (BIB), and OGD 114, rising in proof (80 or 86, 100, 114) and price ($15, $20, $25 approx.).  They all utilize the same high-rye mash bill that Beam uses for (the more expensive) Basil Hayden straight bourbon and for good reason.  Mr. Basil Hayden was the old granddad himself and a distiller who preferred a higher rye content in his mash.

Some history in a snapshot (much of it courtesy of Chuck Cowdery):
1796 - Basil Hayden moves to Bardstown, Kentucky from Maryland.
1882 - Old Grand-Dad distillery is built, overseen by Basil's grandson Raymond Hayden.
1885 - Raymond passes away.  Distillery purchased by the Barber Family.
1899 - Distillery sells to the Wathen family.
1920-1933 - During Prohibition, OGD and many other distilleries are consolidated into American Medicinal Spirits.
1934 - American Medicinal Spirits is sold to National Distillers. The brand is re-released but the distillery is never reopened.  Instead the spirit is distilled at K. Taylor Distillers.
1987 - Fortune Brands purchases OGD, along with a number of other National Distillers brands, moving the distillation to their own facilities.
2011 - Fortune Brands is split up, its spirits division named Beam Inc.
2014 - Suntory purchases Beam Inc.  Much xenophobia ensues.

About 15 months ago, I reviewed OGD BIB.  I wasn't impressed by its flavor, though I liked its nose, and the bourbon made for a decent Old Fashioned.  Otherwise, I really couldn't recommend it.  Ever since then I've been pondering purchasing a bottle of the OGD 114 blindly because the price was so darned reasonable.  But luckily for me, my friend Florin supplied me with a sample to test it out first.

Owner: Beam, Inc.
Brand: Old Grand-Dad
Distillery: Booker Noe Plant
Location: Boston, Kentucky
Mash Bill: High rye, 30% rye
Age: NAS (It's not young. It's not old. I'm not helpful.)
ABV: 57% ABV

I tried it neatly, then reduced it to 50% ABV, then reduced to 43% ABV.

NEAT
The color is an orangey dark gold.  The nose leads with charred oak, bark, and artificially-flavored maple syrup.  Then lemon peel, corn syrup, and vanilla.  There's lots of young spirity stuff like chlorine and ethyl in there.  After some time, a baked banana + caramel + cayenne pepper note arose.  But overall, sawdust seems to be its main characteristic.  The palate is warm, but not as hot as one would anticipate from such a high proof.  Lots of corn syrup is backed by toffee, milk chocolate, and fresh cherries.  There's also a little bit of salt and some peppery rye spice.  It finishes with lots of caramel and Corn Pops.  Then black pepper, sawdust, and barrel char.

REDUCED TO 50% (modeled after OGD BIB)
The nose smells like a rear end, and not a clean one.  Then some buttery (yes I said buttery) oak, white fruits (mostly apple), varnish, and sawdust.  The palate is pleasant and mellow.  All toasty grains, caramel sauce, and barrel char.  The finish is brief and mostly just that barrel char.

REDUCED TO 43% (modeled after OGD)
The nose is all caramel, corn syrup, oak pulp, and marshmallows.  The palate is lightly sweet and lightly bitter.  Corn and oak.  It finishes briefer and a little dry.  Oak and banana.

Firstly, I was impressed by how flexible the whiskey was.  I don't think I've had a bourbon that withstood so much added water and still came out flavorful.  Ignoring the quirky nose at the 50%ABV level, there were times that I preferred the lower ABVs.  It doesn't have much character at 43%, but makes for very easy pain-free drinking.

While I like the 114 much more than the BIB, nothing about it knocked me over.  I kept waiting for some more rye character to show up, but all I found was a little bit of pepper here and there.  The dominant sawdust note might be a turnoff to some folks, but I didn't mind it much.  So the bourbon neither sins nor shines.  But, again, its flexibility is a big plus for me, so I'd still order it at a bar as long as its price isn't out of whack.  Speaking of price, the bottle still costs about as much as it did five years ago.  I hope it holds...

(For another take, see Chemistry of the Cocktail's review.  Jordan's OGD 114 experience held much more rye-ness than mine.)

Availability - Many liquor specialists

Pricing - $22-$30

Rating - 80

Single Malt Report: Lagavulin 12 year old Cask Strength (2011 release)

Tuesday - Lagavulin 16 year old
Wednesday - Lagavulin 1991 Distillers Edition
Today - Lagavulin 12 year old Cask Strength (2011 release)

In what is possibly this site's final Lagavulin report, I present you with my favorite from their range...

Each year, Diageo presents to the whisky world their "Special Releases".  Amongst the old Broras and Port Ellens, whose MSRPs are exponentially increasing, sits the comparatively modestly priced annual Lagavulin 12 year old.  Sorry, that was a lot adverbs and adjectives.  Diageo makes me verbose.

Let's keep it short.  I've had the Lagavulin 12 release on a number of occasions, all of which were very positive.  It was nice to be able to buy a sample of the 2011 version from Master of Malt so I could officially dig in.

Please note: there are batch differences between each year's release.

Distillery: Lagavulin

Owner: THEM!  :-\
Type: Single Malt
Region: Islay
Maturation: former bourbon casks, possibly lots of refills

Age: minimum 12 years
Release date: 2011

Chill-filtration? No
Caramel coloring? No much, if any

Alcohol by Volume: 57.5%

NEAT
The color is pee.  My favorite whisky color.  It gives me hope that the oak levels are low and the e150a colorant is at a minimum.  The nose starts with peated sugar cookies, followed by a load of aromatic herb notes (fennel, anise, licorice) reminiscent of my other favorite distilled spirit (dubbed "The Mistress").  Then plaster, vanilla beans, bread pudding, butterscotch make up the midground.  The beach is in the background.  The palate delivers one of my favorite peat volleys.  Just a big dry chunk of peat moss.  Hints of vanilla and butter and lemon cake.  A light sweetness, like a little light brown sugar.  Then a little salt and a little savory to go with a honey & orange peel sting.  It finishes very clean and fresh with a menthol glow.  A little cracked pepper and mint leaves.  Grass clippings drying in the sun.  Some salt, along with that peat brick.

WITH WATER
The nose gets maltier.  The peat goes a little farmy.  A little more oak, but not much more.  Menthol, lemon peel, pen ink(?), and soil.  The palate gets grassy, drier, and tarter.  A nice bitterness.  Walnuts and almonds.  Earthiness, bitterness, and moss in the finish.

Oh dear.  Great whisky, steep price, ugly company.  The quandary.  That's what I thought about last night while enjoying this sample.

Looking past the troublesome details, I'd say, "WOW! Go get it, peatheads!"

Bringing in the expense, I'd say, "Wow!  Go get it, peatheads with a lot of discretionary income."

Taking everything into consideration, I say, "Fabulous liquid, a shame about everything else."

Availability - Specialty liquor retailers

Pricing - (for Lagavulin 12s in general) $85-$100 East Coast, $110-$125 West Coast

Rating - 92

Single Malt Report: Lagavulin 1991 Distillers Edition

Onto the whisky in the middle, Lagavulin 1991 Distillers Edition, a sample purchased from Master of Malt two years ago to the week!

There's no secret about the sherry presence in this whisky.  With its annual Classic Malts Distillers Editions, Diageo throws a whisky bone to its customers by releasing wine cask finished versions of its most popular single malts.  As they're somewhat limited, they carry a higher price tag, meanwhile their actual quality (when compared to the regular releases) is debatable.  But again, these releases do expand the somewhat narrow ranges of the Big D's "Classic Malts".

[On a grammatical note, where the hell are the apostrophes on the "Distillers Edition" appellations? Is it Distiller's or Distillers'?  I mean, it's a possessive.  The editions are for, to, of, or by the distillers.  Right?  Diageo?  Words?]

As you may have read in previous posts, I'm not the biggest fan of wine cask finishes, especially the sort of brief sherry work done on the DEs.  But since I've been tinkering around with my own finished whiskies at home, I've been trying to keep an open mind and maybe learn a thing or two.  I've tried two more recent Lagavulin DEs and found them......okay.  Absent was the Lagavulin thunder, present was a lot of PX (Pedro Ximenez sherry) sweetness that elbowed out everything else.  But those tries were in social settings.  This one was in my usual hermetic setup.

Distillery: Lagavulin

Owner: THEM!  :)
Type: Single Malt
Region: Islay
Maturation & Age: approximately 16 years in ex-bourbon casks, then less than a year in former Pedro Ximenez sherry casks

Chill-filtration? Yep
Caramel coloring? Probably

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

To make things a little confusing, there were two releases of Lag 1991 DE: one in 2007 (4/495) and one in 2008 (4/496).  Because this sample was still available to buy in 2012, I'm leaning towards it being from the 2008 bottles.  But at the same time, I doubt that it sat in the casks for an entire additional year, as it seems like a little bit of an odd unplanned risk by the normally profit-hungry ownership.  Instead, my thought is that it was done in a second batch of bottling shortly after the first.  I could be wrong about all of this, but Serge has reviewed both bottlings and given them the same score and SGP number.  If anyone has any further information, please let me know and I'll update this paragraph.  Cheers!  Now onto the tasting.

NEAT
The color is maroon mahogany.  Lots of fruity sherry on the nose, showing up as both fresh and dried fruits.  Fresh and dried cherries, plums and prunes, black grapes and raisins.  There are also some Heath Bar, corn chip, and rum-filled milk chocolate notes.  Lagavulin's spirit takes a seat waaaaaaaay in the back.  Often the peat doesn't even peek out from under the PX blanket.  But it does appear in the palate.  More moss than smoke.  The smoke that does show is a polite wood smoke.  After some air, the whisky releases a big floral burst.  And then maybe some orange zest.  It's a bit tart and very drying.  More action seems to happen in the finish as chocolate, flower blossoms, prunes, caramel sauce, and another whisper of wood smoke arrive.

WITH WATER
The nose gets much quieter even with just a couple drops of water.  Fewer fresh fruits, more dried ones (especially prunes).  Some malt finally shows up, which is nice, but so does a garbage pail full of rotting fruit, which is not as nice.  The palate is similar to the neat one, maybe a little hotter along with some young-seeming wood pulp notes.  Otherwise, raisins and prunes register the loudest.  The finish is brief, but still aromatic with more sweet sherry.

Unlike the regular 16 year old, this one doesn't swim well.  So I recommend leaving water out of it.

I didn't mind this finished whisky that much, but I also found it sort of uneventful.  Dark chocolate was brought out as an accompaniment -- as per many online recommendations -- but the two flavors didn't dance well.  (Glenfarclas remains my favorite sherried-whisky partner for chocolate.)  Even though the whisky was from five years ago, sample oxidation did not appear to be a factor since the sealed bottle was fuller than many of my more recent MoM samples.

There are a lot of sweet sherried whiskies on the market, many of which are considerably cheaper than this one, so sherry fans have a lot of other options.  Some peat-heads may be a little bored with it, so I can't recommend it to all of them, either.  I think the sherry is much better integrated than Glenmorangie's Lasanta and more brings with it more character than Bowmore 15.  But at the same time, I prefer Laphroaig's Triple Wood because, even though its cask work is very aggressive, I can still get a reasonable hit of the distillery's character.  Of course, much of these comparisons aren't entirely fair because Lagavulin is using a completely different sherry.

I don't want to make it look like I dislike this whisky.  It's good.  The nose and finish are very good, when neat.  You're going to have to like some sweet sherry in your whisky and not expect a ton of Lagavulin phenolics.  Anticipate subtlety, not fireworks.

For more positive opinions see Serge's reviews or John Hansell's; for a moderate opinion see Jim Murray's in his Whisky Biblio; for a mix of takes see the LAWS reviews.

Availability - Specialty liquor retailers

Pricing - (for Lagavulin DEs in general) $90-$130, another wide range

Rating - 83