Hi folks. Due to personal circumstances, I will be unable to post a WTF Is This? this week. But the series will indeed return next week.
The WTFs have been really fun to do and I hope you've enjoyed them too! I have added another three weeks' (Fridays') worth of them to my schedule. I'll try to keep it going as long as possible, as long as I have WTF-type whiskies at hand. I haven't really been soliciting samples since I cleared out the last Dram Quest list, but if you have whiskies that are the weirdest, worstest, mysteriously magnificent, or just generally unknown and you want to send one over for a WTF post then drop me a line. Thank you much. Back to more reviews next week.
Here is a water buffalo eating a watermelon.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Single Malt Report: Bowmore 12 year old 2001 Signatory (K&L exclusive)
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Monday's Bowmore was aged in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. Today's was aged in a refill ex-sherry
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Retailer: K&L Wines
Retailer: K&L Wines
Age: at least 12 years (September 2001 - July 2014)
Maturation: refill ex-sherry butt
Cask number: 1371
Bottle count: 565
Region: Islay, Scotland
Cask number: 1371
Bottle count: 565
Region: Islay, Scotland
Alcohol by Volume: 59.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(Thanks to Florin for the sample!)
NEAT
Its color is gold. The nose begins with a mild plum wine-like sherry note that dovetails with a strong mineral (lots of rocks) character. A campfire the following morning. Clover honey, oranges, and again more plums than prunes. After some time in the glass, there's a little note of struck matches but it's just a hint, a seasoning. Lots of charred meat with a honey glaze in the palate. Honey pepper sauce. It's a sweet sherry but not cloyingly so. A vibrant sugar→peat smoke→sugar→cayenne pepper progression. Great thick mouthfeel. The moderate length finish is a little ocean-y. Then there's the honey, pepper, and peat.
WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose seems peatier now, almost hotter too. Still a very well integrated peat + sherry combo. Maybe some more nuts now, hazelnuts and walnuts. Orange zest and cinnamon. That hint of sulphur. Moss and char in the palate. Salt, pepper, and honey. Some peppery bitter lettuces. Less sweet now, still well balanced. The sweetness also calms down in the finish. The smoke note builds with time, as does the black pepper note.
Richer and more complex than Monday's Bowmore, this might have a better peat and sherry combo than the current iteration of Ardbeg's Uigeadail. Of course Oogy is engineered using hundreds of casks while this is just a single cask, so they're very different whiskies.
Unless my sherry receptors were hyperactive during this tasting, this refill sherry cask feels like a first fill.Perhaps that's due to how much smaller a hogshead is than a sherry butt [Ed. note: this was actually a sherry butt]. Yet the sherry hasn't smothered the spirit; and the spirit hasn't overwhelmed the cask. The parts work very well together. And now I wonder what they did with the cask after the whisky was dumped. Fill it with Bowmore spirit? Or another Islay? Or maybe toss a fruity Speyside in there to create something fun?
In any case, another great cask from Signatory, one of my favorite bottlers. This whisky is on sale at K&L via their Insider's Advantage program. As of mid-July there are a number of cases of this stuff left. I might just pick up a bottle.
Availability - K&L Wines only
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No
(Thanks to Florin for the sample!)
NEAT
Its color is gold. The nose begins with a mild plum wine-like sherry note that dovetails with a strong mineral (lots of rocks) character. A campfire the following morning. Clover honey, oranges, and again more plums than prunes. After some time in the glass, there's a little note of struck matches but it's just a hint, a seasoning. Lots of charred meat with a honey glaze in the palate. Honey pepper sauce. It's a sweet sherry but not cloyingly so. A vibrant sugar→peat smoke→sugar→cayenne pepper progression. Great thick mouthfeel. The moderate length finish is a little ocean-y. Then there's the honey, pepper, and peat.
WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose seems peatier now, almost hotter too. Still a very well integrated peat + sherry combo. Maybe some more nuts now, hazelnuts and walnuts. Orange zest and cinnamon. That hint of sulphur. Moss and char in the palate. Salt, pepper, and honey. Some peppery bitter lettuces. Less sweet now, still well balanced. The sweetness also calms down in the finish. The smoke note builds with time, as does the black pepper note.
Richer and more complex than Monday's Bowmore, this might have a better peat and sherry combo than the current iteration of Ardbeg's Uigeadail. Of course Oogy is engineered using hundreds of casks while this is just a single cask, so they're very different whiskies.
Unless my sherry receptors were hyperactive during this tasting, this refill sherry cask feels like a first fill.
In any case, another great cask from Signatory, one of my favorite bottlers. This whisky is on sale at K&L via their Insider's Advantage program. As of mid-July there are a number of cases of this stuff left. I might just pick up a bottle.
Availability - K&L Wines only
Pricing - $79.99 if you're signed up for their Insider's Advantage
Rating - 89
Monday, July 20, 2015
Single Malt Report: Bowmore 12 year old 2001 Hepburn's Choice (K&L exclusive)
Today's generalization: With two exceptions, every independently bottled non-FWP Bowmore I've had has been very good. Now, let me clear away all of the qualifiers in the previous sentence: Independently bottled Bowmores are very reliable.
(Those two mentioned exceptions were reviewed here and here. Though they were both by David Stirk's Exclusive Malts/Casks, that same company also released an excellent Bowmore when Stirk first brought his whiskies to The States.)
Over the past few years, K&L Wine Merchants have gotten into the indie Bowmore game by picking five or six single casks to sell exclusively through their stores. Though my previous run-in with one of those exclusive Bowmores wasn't entirely positive, I was still willing to give the others a try. Luckily two of my whisky pals gave me samples from their bottles of current K&L exclusive Bowmores.
Despite having the same age, vintage, cask size, and price, these two Bowmores are very different from each other. I'll be reviewing the first one today, the second one tomorrow.
Distillery: Bowmore
Hepburn's Choice is one of Hunter Laing's smaller brands, one that they don't tout on their site. Their releases are often bottled at 46%abv, uncolored and unchillfiltered. But the single casks that K&L picked up are bottled at full strength.
NEAT
Its color is Five Beer Piss, my favorite whisky color! The nose begins with young, though buttery, malt. There's vinyl, peat (bog as opposed to smoke), lemons, and fruity Ceylon cinnamon. Give it some time and find some VapoRub-style menthol. Then comes an herbal note somewhere between rosemary and thyme. Perhaps a hint of elephant cage. The palate is hot and raw, but in a good way. Lots of smoldering peat; the PPMs feel much larger here than in the nose. Vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and peppercorns. It finishes with burnt leaves, burnt pages, and the nose's menthol note. It gradually picks up some sweetness, salt, very green grassiness, and hint of bitterness.
WITH WATER (~46%abv)
This pretties the nose up a little. More lemons, some orange blossoms and mint. Less menthol, though the peat bog stays strong. The palate is softer though saltier. Still smoky, still sweet. Gets sweeter with time. A nice wormwood bitterness floats below. The finish gets sugarier. The bitterness and smoke mellow a bit.
More Katherine than Audrey Hepburn, this one. Though K&L says this was a second-fill hogshead, it feels like a fourth or fifth-fill hoggie. It seems half its age. I mean we're almost in Talisker "Speakeasy" territory here. But like the Speakeasy, it's really solid strong spirit. One could reasonably argue that it's one-note, but a good note it is. I'm going to score it a couple points higher than the Speakeasy because it's less of a novelty and more of a whisky one would want to consume on multiple occasions.
I'd say this was a brave pick by the Davids because it isn't exactly a crowd pleaser. But peatheads should find that it delivers. As is the case with many indie Bowmores, this one's peat levels feel far larger than those of the official bottlings. In fact this one's peat strength is reminiscent of the Islay distilleries to the south. This could be due, again, to the cask's restraint. The whisky swims very well, so if you find it too booming at full strength, watering it down will help. But it'll read as a young bold Bowmore no matter what.
Availability - K&L Wines only
(Those two mentioned exceptions were reviewed here and here. Though they were both by David Stirk's Exclusive Malts/Casks, that same company also released an excellent Bowmore when Stirk first brought his whiskies to The States.)
Over the past few years, K&L Wine Merchants have gotten into the indie Bowmore game by picking five or six single casks to sell exclusively through their stores. Though my previous run-in with one of those exclusive Bowmores wasn't entirely positive, I was still willing to give the others a try. Luckily two of my whisky pals gave me samples from their bottles of current K&L exclusive Bowmores.
Despite having the same age, vintage, cask size, and price, these two Bowmores are very different from each other. I'll be reviewing the first one today, the second one tomorrow.
Distillery: Bowmore
Age: at least 12 years (2001-2014)
Maturation: ex-bourbon refill hogshead
Cask number: ?
Bottle #: ??? of 266
Cask number: ?
Bottle #: ??? of 266
Region: Islay, Scotland
Hepburn's Choice is one of Hunter Laing's smaller brands, one that they don't tout on their site. Their releases are often bottled at 46%abv, uncolored and unchillfiltered. But the single casks that K&L picked up are bottled at full strength.
NEAT
Its color is Five Beer Piss, my favorite whisky color! The nose begins with young, though buttery, malt. There's vinyl, peat (bog as opposed to smoke), lemons, and fruity Ceylon cinnamon. Give it some time and find some VapoRub-style menthol. Then comes an herbal note somewhere between rosemary and thyme. Perhaps a hint of elephant cage. The palate is hot and raw, but in a good way. Lots of smoldering peat; the PPMs feel much larger here than in the nose. Vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and peppercorns. It finishes with burnt leaves, burnt pages, and the nose's menthol note. It gradually picks up some sweetness, salt, very green grassiness, and hint of bitterness.WITH WATER (~46%abv)
This pretties the nose up a little. More lemons, some orange blossoms and mint. Less menthol, though the peat bog stays strong. The palate is softer though saltier. Still smoky, still sweet. Gets sweeter with time. A nice wormwood bitterness floats below. The finish gets sugarier. The bitterness and smoke mellow a bit.
More Katherine than Audrey Hepburn, this one. Though K&L says this was a second-fill hogshead, it feels like a fourth or fifth-fill hoggie. It seems half its age. I mean we're almost in Talisker "Speakeasy" territory here. But like the Speakeasy, it's really solid strong spirit. One could reasonably argue that it's one-note, but a good note it is. I'm going to score it a couple points higher than the Speakeasy because it's less of a novelty and more of a whisky one would want to consume on multiple occasions.
I'd say this was a brave pick by the Davids because it isn't exactly a crowd pleaser. But peatheads should find that it delivers. As is the case with many indie Bowmores, this one's peat levels feel far larger than those of the official bottlings. In fact this one's peat strength is reminiscent of the Islay distilleries to the south. This could be due, again, to the cask's restraint. The whisky swims very well, so if you find it too booming at full strength, watering it down will help. But it'll read as a young bold Bowmore no matter what.
Availability - K&L Wines only
Pricing - $79.99
Rating - 86
Friday, July 17, 2015
WTF Is This? Forged Oak 15 year old Straight Bourbon Whiskey
A Diageo bourbon? How could I resist? When I saw that SmokyPeat (who is more optimistic than I about...well...everything) totally panned Forged Oak and concluded "This stuff is the worst," I was intrigued. Then he offered me a sample. I took it.
I'll start with the positives. A lot of effort and skill was utilized for the bottle label design. And the result is nice, detailed, textured, and metallic. Though while the muscular 7000-point deer is a striking visual, big bucks are really more in Scotch's domain. (Puns!) SmokyPeat's bottle was number 44877. Woo, limited. Wait, this was the positive section.
I'll start with the positives. A lot of effort and skill was utilized for the bottle label design. And the result is nice, detailed, textured, and metallic. Though while the muscular 7000-point deer is a striking visual, big bucks are really more in Scotch's domain. (Puns!) SmokyPeat's bottle was number 44877. Woo, limited. Wait, this was the positive section.
Since there is no Forged Oak Distillery now, nor fifteen years ago, who made the bourbon in the bottle? Despite Diageo's marketing department's enthusiastic usage of the words "Stitzel" and "Weller" for every Orphan Barrel press release, neither this bourbon nor any of the other Orphan Barrel whiskies were distilled at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Some of the barrels may have been "found" (read: aged) at the Stitzel-Weller warehouses, but those warehouses are far from defunct and Diageo has been regularly using them since at least 1992. Instead the spirit was distilled at the New Bernheim Distillery just before Diageo sold the distillery to Heaven Hill in 1999.
Thus the distillery is in regular use, as are the warehouses, and with 50000+ bottles (250+ "orphan" barrels!) the bourbon itself is not in terribly limited supply. Luckily this was the lowest priced of the Orphan Barrel bourbons to date, originally priced near $70 (though it's now selling for $100+ in California). So what it is is a 15 year old low-rye bourbon. The end.
Owner: Diageo
Brand: Orphan Barrel
Orphan: Forged Oak
Distillery: New Bernheim
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Distillery: New Bernheim
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Mashbill: 86% corn, 8% barley, 6% rye (yep, more barley than rye)
Age: minimum 15 years
Bottle #: 44877
Alcohol by Volume: 45.25%
(Mid bottle sample from SmokyPeat. Thanks!!!)
NEAT
The color is a reddish brownish gold, pretty normal for a bourbon of its age. It has one of the nuttiest (as in actual nuts, not craziness) bourbon noses I've experienced. There are hazelnuts, sesame seeds, peanuts, and a can of roasted mixed nuts. Alongside the nuts are notes of rock candy and caramel. Hints of floral vanilla bean and baby urine. It gets woodier with time; like green woody stems. Considering its age and abv, a surprising amount of ethyl burn remains. The palate? Woof. Really oaky; pulp, char, bark, roots. Tannic, astringent, and bitter right out of the gate. Gradually it picks up some sugar, vanilla milk, and pepper. Salty and a little malty. Still tannic and very drying in the unpleasant finish. Lotta heat, pepper, sugar, and Purple.
WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets a little musty. Lots of sawdust. Burnt pasta on the stove. Anise and fennel. The palate is very woody and aggressively saccharine. Slightly eggy. Nope, I'm done. Maybe some vanilla and confectioner's sugar in the finish, but it's really bitter.
Part of me, deep down, wanted to write a rave review about this whiskey, as a punkish tweaking of expectations. For what it's worth, Whisky Advocate and The Whiskey Jug loved this stuff. Then I tasted the bourbon and I did not love it. My opinion lies somewhere between that of SmokyPeat's and Sku's.
No one else lists the nut notes that I found, but then again everyone seems to have his own unique notes for the nose. And I like the nose the best, though "like" may be too strong a word. The palate is mostly oak juice with a little bit of sweetness and salt, and of zero interest to me. Adding water turns the palate into an awful slurry, so I really don't recommend going that direction.
Forged Oak? More like Forced Oak! (A forced joke.) It seems to me that Diageo had a bunch of old over-oaked bourbon of which they needed to rid themselves. The whole "oops, look what we found" story sort of makes sense here because I can't see anyone purposely letting their stock get out of whack like this. But this whiskey may appeal to those who like lots of oak effects as the spirit soaked these barrels clean through. It is absolutely not for me, so I can't compliment it on its low-for-15-year-old-bourbon original MSRP. I wouldn't pay $20 for it.
Age: minimum 15 years
Bottle #: 44877
Alcohol by Volume: 45.25%
(Mid bottle sample from SmokyPeat. Thanks!!!)
NEAT
The color is a reddish brownish gold, pretty normal for a bourbon of its age. It has one of the nuttiest (as in actual nuts, not craziness) bourbon noses I've experienced. There are hazelnuts, sesame seeds, peanuts, and a can of roasted mixed nuts. Alongside the nuts are notes of rock candy and caramel. Hints of floral vanilla bean and baby urine. It gets woodier with time; like green woody stems. Considering its age and abv, a surprising amount of ethyl burn remains. The palate? Woof. Really oaky; pulp, char, bark, roots. Tannic, astringent, and bitter right out of the gate. Gradually it picks up some sugar, vanilla milk, and pepper. Salty and a little malty. Still tannic and very drying in the unpleasant finish. Lotta heat, pepper, sugar, and Purple.
WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets a little musty. Lots of sawdust. Burnt pasta on the stove. Anise and fennel. The palate is very woody and aggressively saccharine. Slightly eggy. Nope, I'm done. Maybe some vanilla and confectioner's sugar in the finish, but it's really bitter.
Part of me, deep down, wanted to write a rave review about this whiskey, as a punkish tweaking of expectations. For what it's worth, Whisky Advocate and The Whiskey Jug loved this stuff. Then I tasted the bourbon and I did not love it. My opinion lies somewhere between that of SmokyPeat's and Sku's.
No one else lists the nut notes that I found, but then again everyone seems to have his own unique notes for the nose. And I like the nose the best, though "like" may be too strong a word. The palate is mostly oak juice with a little bit of sweetness and salt, and of zero interest to me. Adding water turns the palate into an awful slurry, so I really don't recommend going that direction.
Forged Oak? More like Forced Oak! (A forced joke.) It seems to me that Diageo had a bunch of old over-oaked bourbon of which they needed to rid themselves. The whole "oops, look what we found" story sort of makes sense here because I can't see anyone purposely letting their stock get out of whack like this. But this whiskey may appeal to those who like lots of oak effects as the spirit soaked these barrels clean through. It is absolutely not for me, so I can't compliment it on its low-for-15-year-old-bourbon original MSRP. I wouldn't pay $20 for it.
Availability - Many US specialty liquor retailers
Pricing - from $70 to $120
Rating - 71 (neat only, adding water lowers it into the 50s)
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Meditations on Stay-At-Home Fatherhood and also Glen Spey 21 year old 1989 (Diageo 2010 Special Release)
Today's four meditations:
Your child's excretory proclivities will be of boundless interest to you and your partner, but no one else.
Your arm muscles will adjust as your child gets heavier and heavier. Soon her 25 pounds seem normal, while infants who weigh 15 pounds are almost dangerously feather light. You begin to think, I'm getting so strong! Then you go back to the gym to start lifting again and you discover, no you are actually not stronger. You are weak. You only have Dad Strength, a currency useless with everything else in life. Meanwhile your back muscles are fucked. Sorry dude.
You will now treasure every time you can go to the bathroom alone. Sometimes, half the reason you go to the gym is to hand your daughter off to the child care brigade so that you can utilize the fitness club's dirty-ass latrine in semi-peace, serenaded by gray matter curdling pop-dance beats. Otherwise, enjoy the challenges faced by your own excretory proclivities at home as your infant crawls between your ankles while you are upright or attempts to climb into your lap while you are in a state of focused repose.
FACT: Every time you are unable to stop your child's weeping 10% of your soul dies. It exits the body through the sternum and vaporizes in the troposphere. The good news is that, thanks to math, your soul will never be reduced to absolute zero. Unless you run for public office.
Today's single malt:
This whisky has appeared on this blog before. I reviewed a sample of it in April 2012. It was referenced again in January 2013. And then in May of this year, I mentioned it was the bottle I opened to celebrate Mathilda's first birthday. It gets so many mentions because I enjoy it thoroughly, and also because I often repeat myself.
Part of this whisky's charm, and why it's probably difficult to compare it to other Glen Speys, is due to its creative maturation. Back in 1988, someone at Diageo for some reason thought it would be a good idea to season 20 to 30 virgin American oak casks with sherry before filling them with newmake. The mix of the new oak with the sherry and the fruity Speyside malt is a hell of a thing. I'm not sure if anyone else has released something like it since. Especially anyone named Diageo.
Distillery: Glen Spey
Owner: Diageo
Age: minimum 21 years (1989 - 2010)
Maturation: new American oak seasoned with sherry
Your child's excretory proclivities will be of boundless interest to you and your partner, but no one else.
Your arm muscles will adjust as your child gets heavier and heavier. Soon her 25 pounds seem normal, while infants who weigh 15 pounds are almost dangerously feather light. You begin to think, I'm getting so strong! Then you go back to the gym to start lifting again and you discover, no you are actually not stronger. You are weak. You only have Dad Strength, a currency useless with everything else in life. Meanwhile your back muscles are fucked. Sorry dude.
You will now treasure every time you can go to the bathroom alone. Sometimes, half the reason you go to the gym is to hand your daughter off to the child care brigade so that you can utilize the fitness club's dirty-ass latrine in semi-peace, serenaded by gray matter curdling pop-dance beats. Otherwise, enjoy the challenges faced by your own excretory proclivities at home as your infant crawls between your ankles while you are upright or attempts to climb into your lap while you are in a state of focused repose.
FACT: Every time you are unable to stop your child's weeping 10% of your soul dies. It exits the body through the sternum and vaporizes in the troposphere. The good news is that, thanks to math, your soul will never be reduced to absolute zero. Unless you run for public office.
Today's single malt:
This whisky has appeared on this blog before. I reviewed a sample of it in April 2012. It was referenced again in January 2013. And then in May of this year, I mentioned it was the bottle I opened to celebrate Mathilda's first birthday. It gets so many mentions because I enjoy it thoroughly, and also because I often repeat myself.
Part of this whisky's charm, and why it's probably difficult to compare it to other Glen Speys, is due to its creative maturation. Back in 1988, someone at Diageo for some reason thought it would be a good idea to season 20 to 30 virgin American oak casks with sherry before filling them with newmake. The mix of the new oak with the sherry and the fruity Speyside malt is a hell of a thing. I'm not sure if anyone else has released something like it since. Especially anyone named Diageo.
Distillery: Glen Spey
Owner: Diageo
Age: minimum 21 years (1989 - 2010)
Maturation: new American oak seasoned with sherry
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Alcohol by Volume: 50.4%
Limited Release: 5844 bottles
NEAT
The color is a reddish gold. The nose starts with rye and corn. Or is that my nose interpreting the oak's influence as rye whiskey and bourbon whiskey? Then there's lime peel, nutty sherry, and almonds in toffee. There's a note that exists somewhere between cookie dough and Play-doh. Then milk chocolate, pencil shavings, pipe tobacco, and roasted coffee beans. Vanilla bean and incense. Hints of honeydew. The palate has a whole bunch of ripe fruits in sugar: think loquats, apricots, and tangerines. Wood spice, like an oaky old rye. Baklava with rose water syrup. It gets more floral (definitely roses) with time. Cigar tobacco. A subtle bitterness appears, but I'm not sure if it's from the spirit or oak. It finishes floral and sweet, citric and toasty (both grains and oak). Vanilla, halvah, toffee, tangerine-ish citrus, and a hint of tropical fruits. Some drying tannins.
WITH WATER (~43%abv? I don't know, I had a foot cramp mid-hydration and lost track of how much water I added but I never add water to this whisky anyway and run-on sentence.)
Lots of maple and vanilla in the nose. Some tropical fruit, but also a bit of wood pulp. The palate is very tannic, bitterer. There's tart grapefruit, vanilla, some nuts, some pencils. The finish is woody.
At times it's as if someone mixed a little old rye or high-rye bourbon into well aged Speyside. Not only does it work, but damn this thing sings. The oak, the sherry, the spirit all combine into something that's both pretty and muscular. BUT, I concur with MAO, do not add water. Neat only.
Also, this was released back when Diageo's annual special releases didn't cost as much as a mortgage. In fact, this one went for $150ish in some areas -- I found it for $120ish in the UK -- but it still stayed on many retailer shelves for 3-4 years. Considering how many lesser whiskies sell out much quicker while being more expensive and less limited, and considering how many great reviews this got (from MAO, Sku, Murray, and Serge), it took considerable effort for the hoard-happy whisky community to avoid cleaning this out years ago. And I am thankful for it.
Limited Release: 5844 bottles
NEAT
The color is a reddish gold. The nose starts with rye and corn. Or is that my nose interpreting the oak's influence as rye whiskey and bourbon whiskey? Then there's lime peel, nutty sherry, and almonds in toffee. There's a note that exists somewhere between cookie dough and Play-doh. Then milk chocolate, pencil shavings, pipe tobacco, and roasted coffee beans. Vanilla bean and incense. Hints of honeydew. The palate has a whole bunch of ripe fruits in sugar: think loquats, apricots, and tangerines. Wood spice, like an oaky old rye. Baklava with rose water syrup. It gets more floral (definitely roses) with time. Cigar tobacco. A subtle bitterness appears, but I'm not sure if it's from the spirit or oak. It finishes floral and sweet, citric and toasty (both grains and oak). Vanilla, halvah, toffee, tangerine-ish citrus, and a hint of tropical fruits. Some drying tannins.
WITH WATER (~43%abv? I don't know, I had a foot cramp mid-hydration and lost track of how much water I added but I never add water to this whisky anyway and run-on sentence.)
Lots of maple and vanilla in the nose. Some tropical fruit, but also a bit of wood pulp. The palate is very tannic, bitterer. There's tart grapefruit, vanilla, some nuts, some pencils. The finish is woody.
At times it's as if someone mixed a little old rye or high-rye bourbon into well aged Speyside. Not only does it work, but damn this thing sings. The oak, the sherry, the spirit all combine into something that's both pretty and muscular. BUT, I concur with MAO, do not add water. Neat only.
Also, this was released back when Diageo's annual special releases didn't cost as much as a mortgage. In fact, this one went for $150ish in some areas -- I found it for $120ish in the UK -- but it still stayed on many retailer shelves for 3-4 years. Considering how many lesser whiskies sell out much quicker while being more expensive and less limited, and considering how many great reviews this got (from MAO, Sku, Murray, and Serge), it took considerable effort for the hoard-happy whisky community to avoid cleaning this out years ago. And I am thankful for it.
Availability - Still lingering around in a couple dozen specialty shops around the world
Pricing - $150-$250
Rating - 91 (neat only)
Monday, July 13, 2015
The Spring Whiskies: Old Taylor 6 year old Straight Bourbon (1991 bottling)
This particular bottle, found in a neighborhood liquor store, cost all of $12.19 before tax. The bottle itself is from 1991...
OLD TAYLOR 6 YEAR OLD STRAIGHT BOURBON, bottled in 1991
Owner: Beam Inc at time of bottling
Distilled by: National Distillers
Brand: Old Taylor
Distillery: possibly at Old Crow Distillery, some older spirit may be from Old Taylor Distillery but that's very doubtful in this instance
Location: Frankfort, Kentucky / Clermont, Kentucky
Mash Bill: ???
Age: minimum 6 years old; though it has been suggested by Michael Jackson that 10+ year old whiskey is in the mix
ABV: 40% ABV
Bottle year: 1991
Its color is dark gold. The nose leads with cinnamon, rye, and vanilla custard. Small perky highlights of dried blueberries, raspberry candy, and tangerines appear from time to time. Then there's barrel char, bubblegum, jasmine, and denim. With 30+ minutes in the glass, the whiskey picks up more rye-ish spices and a lot of caramel. The palate is charry, slightly bitter, slightly sweet. And watery. There's a hint of soap, though that's due to bottle oxidation as I've found with all of my dusty Old Taylors; if I don't empty the bottle in two months, the soap demons come to take it away. There's a very rich vanilla note which is met by cayenne pepper, tart berries, and tart citrus. Time in the glass makes it slightly fruitier and bitterer. The finish is simple but of decent length. Sweet, floral, peppery. The palate's berries sweeten up here. The soap note shows up briefly.
I didn't add water due to the palate's thin nature, but I have put it on the rocks during a couple hot weekends. With ice, it turns into a refreshing vanilla and halvah sipper.
The noses on these dusty Old Taylors leave me wonderfully prone to superb superlatives. They're my favorite bourbon sniffers, and one of my favorite whisk(e)y smells overall. (I can confirm the gorgeous aromas also show up in National Distillers' Old Grand Dad bourbons too.) I don't know if this is due to decades in the bottle, or that this stuff used to smell this great back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. I've never smelled anything like it in contemporary whiskies.
On the other hand, the palate was disappointing, even discounting the soap note. OT was excellent at 43% (and 50%) abv, but Beam seems to have broken it by reducing it to 40%. In my stash there's an '89 that's 43% and a '90 that's 40%. So it seems as if Beam tried to stretch out the last of their ND stocks during the final couple of years. A bummer indeed. It's not terrible, but it falls far short of the nose. I might just finish off the last couple ounces on the rocks the next time the heat jumps above 90ºF.
Availability - Happy hunting!
Pricing - ???
Rating - 82 (gained a couple points by working well on the rocks, but if the palate had matched the nose then this would have been near 90)
Friday, July 10, 2015
WTF Is This? Ardbeg Perpetuum.
BOOM! Almost-Relevant whisky. Yes, this is still Diving for Pearls. For those who have been reading my rambling for years know much of this Ardbeg intro, but for those who are newish...
As recently as three years ago, Ardbeg was one of my Top Five favorite distilleries. They could do no wrong with their regular range of Ten, Uigeadail, and Corryvreckan. I didn't find their Ardbeg Day events annoying and I eagerly awaited their annual special releases. But then we each went or separate ways. To adapt to demand and shortages or fiscal demands, Ardbeg changed the recipes of Oogy and Corry. The whiskies got younger, the oak/wine got louder, and the balance couldn't hold. What once was the best peated whisky on the market became just pretty good. Meanwhile, I grew up. The aggressive marketing began to read as circus barker gibberish and their special releases provided diminishing returns. For instance:
Ardbeg Alligator - Woo hoo!
Ardbeg Day - Almost as good as Oogy!
Ardbeg Galileo - Someone screwed up, right?
Ardbeg Ardbog - Not bad, but $110?
Ardbeg Auriverdes - Who cares?
Ardbeg Perpetuum - No.
Usually when these special releases come out, LVMH's marketing team buries some information about the actual whisky contents within their storytelling. But this year, they and Bill Lumsden are playing especially coy about Perpetuum's content. They say it is “inspired by the main styles, ideas and quirks of fate which have influenced Ardbeg recipes over time. It combines different styles, different flavours, different dreams and different trials, all skilfully married together in a melange of the very best Ardbeg has to offer.”
So it's mystery meat. $110 mystery meat. Thanks to the Orange County Scotch Club, I was able to try the stuff and then I pirated a sample.
Distillery: Ardbeg
Tasting Notes:
Color - Pee. Which usually means urine for a good time.
Nose - More burnt and mossy than the Ten. Then cinnamon rolls, if fact there's a lot of cinnamon (cassia) in here. New tires, ocean / seashells, and Laphroaig-y band-aids. Eggy sulfur hits first, later it becomes struck match sulfur and singed tennis ball fuzz. With 15-20 minutes of air, a new oak note develops, then totally takes over by the 25 minute mark.
Palate - Burnt and bitter (but good bitter). Black licorice, mint, sweet basil, and a little bit of white sugar. Between the burnt note and something meaty, it reminds me of Balcones Brimstone at times (though better). Moments of hazelnuts and nutty sherry. A curiously thin and watery texture.
Finish - Charred ribs, sugar and cinnamon, peat, rubber, and cheap cigar smoke.
Reflections:
1. In Ardbeg's own description they're admitting this is a garbage pail whisky. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are some very good garbage pail whiskies (see the late Longrow CV). But this is what they went with for the distillery's 200th anniversary? Really, Ardbeg? Why don't you show a little pride and release a cask strength version of the Ten? You know, "This is us now, two centuries in, at full power. Deal with it." It doesn't even have to be ten years old. Just make it all bourbon cask, bottle it at 60%abv, and even bitter old Diving for Pearls would buy a bottle.
2. On the nose, I could do without the eggy sulfur, but I didn't mind the matches. The new oak note was out of whack with the rest. The palate was good and the finish was actually better. But the very thin mouthfeel was strange. That was the only thing that stood out when I first tried it at the club event two weeks ago. I found that thinness again this time. It was so watery that I didn't feel the need to add more.
3. As decent as the good parts are, overall the whisky is nothing that Ledaig can't do better, regularly.
4. In fact, it's nothing that Ardbeg's own regular range doesn't do better, regularly.
And again, #4 is the main problem. The perpetual problem, if you will. Each year the special release comes out, and each year it fails to top their regular cheaper stuff. Exclusivity -- which is what I assume Ardbeg Day geeks are paying for -- does not equal quality. So, if you're shilling out $100-$130 in order to hoard, flip, or brag about young brown liquid, then that's your financial decision (though you may want to read this). But if you're thinking about buying Perpetuum to drink, then you can find much better whisky for less money, and some of those better bottles will still say Ardbeg on the front.
Availability - Unsurprisingly still available at many specialty retailers
As recently as three years ago, Ardbeg was one of my Top Five favorite distilleries. They could do no wrong with their regular range of Ten, Uigeadail, and Corryvreckan. I didn't find their Ardbeg Day events annoying and I eagerly awaited their annual special releases. But then we each went or separate ways. To adapt to demand and shortages or fiscal demands, Ardbeg changed the recipes of Oogy and Corry. The whiskies got younger, the oak/wine got louder, and the balance couldn't hold. What once was the best peated whisky on the market became just pretty good. Meanwhile, I grew up. The aggressive marketing began to read as circus barker gibberish and their special releases provided diminishing returns. For instance:
Ardbeg Alligator - Woo hoo!
Ardbeg Day - Almost as good as Oogy!
Ardbeg Galileo - Someone screwed up, right?
Ardbeg Ardbog - Not bad, but $110?
Ardbeg Auriverdes - Who cares?
Ardbeg Perpetuum - No.
Usually when these special releases come out, LVMH's marketing team buries some information about the actual whisky contents within their storytelling. But this year, they and Bill Lumsden are playing especially coy about Perpetuum's content. They say it is “inspired by the main styles, ideas and quirks of fate which have influenced Ardbeg recipes over time. It combines different styles, different flavours, different dreams and different trials, all skilfully married together in a melange of the very best Ardbeg has to offer.”
So it's mystery meat. $110 mystery meat. Thanks to the Orange County Scotch Club, I was able to try the stuff and then I pirated a sample.
Owner: LVMH
Age: NAS
Maturation: one would assume so
Region: Islay
Alcohol by Volume: 47.4%
Release Year: 2015
Limited Bottling: 72,000
Release Year: 2015
Limited Bottling: 72,000
Tasting Notes:
Color - Pee. Which usually means urine for a good time.
Nose - More burnt and mossy than the Ten. Then cinnamon rolls, if fact there's a lot of cinnamon (cassia) in here. New tires, ocean / seashells, and Laphroaig-y band-aids. Eggy sulfur hits first, later it becomes struck match sulfur and singed tennis ball fuzz. With 15-20 minutes of air, a new oak note develops, then totally takes over by the 25 minute mark.
Palate - Burnt and bitter (but good bitter). Black licorice, mint, sweet basil, and a little bit of white sugar. Between the burnt note and something meaty, it reminds me of Balcones Brimstone at times (though better). Moments of hazelnuts and nutty sherry. A curiously thin and watery texture.
Finish - Charred ribs, sugar and cinnamon, peat, rubber, and cheap cigar smoke.
Reflections:
1. In Ardbeg's own description they're admitting this is a garbage pail whisky. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are some very good garbage pail whiskies (see the late Longrow CV). But this is what they went with for the distillery's 200th anniversary? Really, Ardbeg? Why don't you show a little pride and release a cask strength version of the Ten? You know, "This is us now, two centuries in, at full power. Deal with it." It doesn't even have to be ten years old. Just make it all bourbon cask, bottle it at 60%abv, and even bitter old Diving for Pearls would buy a bottle.
2. On the nose, I could do without the eggy sulfur, but I didn't mind the matches. The new oak note was out of whack with the rest. The palate was good and the finish was actually better. But the very thin mouthfeel was strange. That was the only thing that stood out when I first tried it at the club event two weeks ago. I found that thinness again this time. It was so watery that I didn't feel the need to add more.
3. As decent as the good parts are, overall the whisky is nothing that Ledaig can't do better, regularly.
4. In fact, it's nothing that Ardbeg's own regular range doesn't do better, regularly.
And again, #4 is the main problem. The perpetual problem, if you will. Each year the special release comes out, and each year it fails to top their regular cheaper stuff. Exclusivity -- which is what I assume Ardbeg Day geeks are paying for -- does not equal quality. So, if you're shilling out $100-$130 in order to hoard, flip, or brag about young brown liquid, then that's your financial decision (though you may want to read this). But if you're thinking about buying Perpetuum to drink, then you can find much better whisky for less money, and some of those better bottles will still say Ardbeg on the front.
Availability - Unsurprisingly still available at many specialty retailers
Pricing - $100-$130, though much more on the secondary market
Rating - 81
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