Glenlivet 18 year old Nàdurra Triumph

I've wanted to try this whisky ever since I first saw it at a whisky bar nine years ago. It sat on shelves around the country for another three or four years at a high, but not unreasonable by today's standards, price. And it wound up in my cart a number of times before I declined to buy it. Though the Nàdurra Triumph always seemed interesting, blind buying has never a pleasurable experience for me.

So I didn't buy it.

And now I regret that.

Regarding the whisky itself: Glenlivet 18 year old 1991 Nàdurra Triumph is a single malt made from one barley strain, or varietal, Triumph, that is no longer used by Scottish distillers, possibly due to inefficient alcohol output. It was a single release, sort of before its time, and Glenlivet hasn't joined the "_____ Barley" release shuttle that has since launched. Instead they sell a lot of NAS mystery meat (named Alpha, Cipher and Code) for 150+ dollars.

Distillery: Glenlivet
Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Age: 18 years (1991-2010)
Maturation: American oak casks
Barley varietal: Triumph
Alcohol by Volume: 48%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(from a purchased sample)

The nose is radiantly fruity. Kristen said she could smell it from across the room. There are lots of in-season apples, pineapple, guava and limes. Yes, barley. Then anise and roasted nuts. Hints of brine and vanilla bean. The palate is creamy in texture and character, with graciously minor levels of vanilla and sugar. Key lime pie, roasted barley, pineapple and a touch of herbal bitterness. The lime note expands with time. It finishes with key lime pie and lemon bars, both with extra zest, as well as a hint of fresh peach.

What a treat this was, especially next to Glenfiddich's Fire & Cane. The 48%abv felt like the optimum strength, and I refused to add water. Refused! To reproduce this whisky would be an undertaking, and possibly not that lucrative, but it would be a hell of a lot better than the majority of the official range. And it would fit nicely with some of the fruity mega-batches of the regular 18yo.

If an opportunity to try this whisky comes along, I recommend you do not pass it up, as I regret having waited so long. (Note: I wrote "try" not "buy". Recommendations for purchases are not made on this site.) Though it's not the most complex thing, the whisky is fruity and creamy without being weighed down by sugar and vanilla, which is in itself a ...... wait for it ...... triumph!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Glenfiddich Fire & Cane

Can I assume this single malt's name references James Taylor's Fire and Rain, a song about depression and suicide? If so, at least Glenfiddich is being honest about the whisky.

ZING!

Of Glenfiddich's Experimental Series, the IPA Cask and Project XX whiskies have been reviewed here, and I liked them both. I even bought a bottle of the IPA Cask and finished it. But no, I will not review Winter Storm. Not for that whisky's price. And not after Fire & Cane.

Let's get this over with.

Distillery: Glenfiddich

Ownership: William Grant & Sons

Region: Speyside (Dufftown)

Maturation: From the official site: "By marrying peated whisky and malts matured in bourbon barrels, and then finishing in Latin rum casks, we created an exquisite whisky with campfire smokiness and toffee sweetness." I have a number of issues with this sentence, but there are bigger problems in this world.

Age: ???

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

Colored? Yes

Chillfiltered? Yes
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose seems fine, in fact, it's exactly what one would expect. Young peated malt meets sugar-doped rum. There's melon liqueur, vanilla, lemon and berry-scented lotion in the midground and a lingering seaside note in the background. Very candied. And then the palate. Soap. Sugar. Also soap. Hay and peanuts. Bitter oak. Oranges and mild smoke. Soap. The finish is soapy, sweet and bitter, with a hint of smoky ham.

I had trouble drinking more than three sips of this. Even though, at 43%abv, it was already watered-down, I hoped this would improve with a little more dilution.

DILUED TO ~40%abv, or ½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Straightforward peat and orange oil notes in the nose, then melon liqueur, milk chocolate and fading embers. Perhaps the palate is 10% less soapy? It's also grassier and bitterer. It's become very tangy, while the smoke a receded to a mere residue. It finishes with a citrus-scented soap, fresh ginger and a whiff of wood smoke.

SOAP SOAP SOAP
I don't think I've seen the soap note prominently referenced in other reviews of this whisky. What keeps me from thinking my sample was corrupted is that the nose is perfectly reasonable. There's nothing screwy with it. But the palate is just awful. Even when digging through to the other side of the soap, one finds aggressive sweetness and brutal oaky bitterness. Dilution reduces the soap one tick, the sweetness one tick, while the bitterness goes up two ticks. Soap aside, this is what happens when ultra-sweetened oaky rum meets very young oaky whisky. Bleh.

Availability - Most whisky specialty retailers around the planet
Pricing - $40-$60 worldwide
Rating - 66 (with water, 5-10 point lower without)

BenRiach 12 year old Sherry Wood

The third Ben!

I cannot say I've enjoyed the Billy Walker-distilled Benriach single malts I've tried up to this point. But I am curious to see what happens when Walker takes a Seagram/Chivas-distilled release, then updates it with his own whisky. Of course, Brown-Forman is blending it now, but the spirit and the casks are Walker Era. At the very least this 12 year old Sherry Wood has a good presentation: 46%abv, no chill-filtration and no added colorant.

According to the official website, the whisky was matured in sherry casks and then finished in sherry casks. Yo Dawg, I heard you like sherry.

Distillery: BenRiach
Ownership: BenRiach Distillery Company (now owned by Brown-Forman)
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: at least 12 years

Maturation: "full sherry cask maturation, combined with Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry cask finishing"

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colored? No
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose begins with an amusing combination of earth, leather shoes and Fruit Loops. Then it transitions to dried cherries, grapefruit and floral perfume. The palate leads with fizzy cream soda and ginger beer notes. Then there's vanilla bean, tart citrus, almond cookies and brown sugar. With time it develops toasted oak and savory notes. Though alcohol is the longest lasting element of the sweet finish, there are small notes of tart citrus and vanilla.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv, or < 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose becomes fruitier at this strength. Peaches, brown sugar and cinnamon (sort of a crumble). Familiar raisin and prune sherry cask notes. Orange oil and barley. The palate's sweetness calms down, and is met by a soft bitter note. It's maltier and has a toffee note. Less vanilla, though the cream soda remains. A mineral note sneaks in, providing extra depth. The finish is less sweet and less hot. Minerals, oranges, raisins and cream soda.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I was reluctant to add water this 12yo at first. It wasn't nearly as hot as Ralfy had said in his review. But I had 2 ounces of the stuff on hand, so what the heck. And it turned out to be a good decision, because the palate and finish improve considerably at 40%abv.

This brings to mind the current Tamdhu 10yo. They're different whiskies, but they both swim very well and are good alternative options to the usual sherried malts. The liquid presentation is sexier here, but Tamdhu has the prettier bottle. Though the Tamdhu is $5-$10 more expensive, they're parked in the same price range as Macallan 12, Glendronach 12 and Glenfarclas 12.

The thing that surprised me the most about BenRiach 12 year old Sherry Wood is that its quality matched that of this week's cask strength Ben Nevis and Benromach, and actually topped them at comparable ABVs, which is comforting because I can actually find this whisky in the United States.

Availability - Many whisky retailers around the world
Pricing - $50-$65 in US, Japan and Europe
Rating - 86 (with water)

Benromach 12 year old 2006, cask 99 for Van Wees

I just saw it's been more than a year and a half since my last Benromach review. That's too long! Since that last review was for a Van Wees-selected single cask (#333), this one will be for a Van Wees-selected single cask. Cask 333 was excellent and has set my expectations high for cask 99.

Distillery: Benromach
Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail
Region: Speyside (Findhorn)





Age: 12-ish years (2006 to 2018)
Maturation: first-fill bourbon barrel
Cask #: 99
Outturn: 193 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 59.2%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose begins with sugary peat and buckets full of citrus peels. Then quieter notes of cinnamon candy and flower blossoms. The peat gradually turns farmier. It all feels very close to new make, though good new make. The fruity, sweet palate is hotter than the nose. It's loaded with pineapple and lemon juices, cinnamon candy and big (but not farmy) peat. Then basil leaves, ginger and horseradish. It finishes with citrus and cinnamon. Moderate sweetness and heat-ness. Mossy peat.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or 1¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose has become noticeably different. Pears and green apples. Mint leaves and smokier peat. The palate is all sweet and peat at first. Then a few lemons roll in, some herbal bitterness. It becomes much too sweet for my palate. The finish is sweet, smoky and bitter.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Previous to cask 99, I'd tried three other single bourbon cask Benromachs and found them all to be very hot. Thankfully that's not the case here. Otherwise the first-fill bourbon cask doesn't do a whole lot. The whisky reads very young, half its age or less. And it's very peaty. Those two aspects are why I kept thinking, "This reminds me of Kilchoman." Which is a quirky, but positive, experience with even this peated Speyside malt.

The key to this whisky is caution with dilution. At 46%abv it becomes a generic peater that's missing something to balance out all the sugar. The palate sings at full power, possibly even topping the nose. All that being said, I don't think this tops anything from Benromach's regular range. So if you missed out on this release, no worries. Just chase down an easier to find Benromach and all will be well.

Availability - The Nether Regions, though it's mostly gone by now
Pricing - $100ish w/ VAT
Rating - 84 (when neat)

Ben Nevis 10 year old 2008 Cask Strength batch 1

There is a remarkable-if-true interview by "Kolomon" with Ben Nevis Distillery's Managing Director on Whiskybase's page for Ben Nevis 10 year old 2008 Cask Strength batch 1, that I recommend you read.

What's potentially remarkable about the conversation isn't the way Nikka chooses to do business, but rather that Colin Ross would be so candid. Still the Nikka-Ben Nevis relationship is worth considering. Nikka has been using most of Ben Nevis's malt in their "Japanese" blends and blended malts for some time. Considering just the logistics of that, it seems prohibitively expensive. In fact, at some point I'd imagine that building a new distillery in Japan would save the company considerable expense in the long term. This seems even more obvious considering Ben Nevis 10yo vaporized off the shelf at $60-$80 a pop, while the Nikka whiskies using Ben Nevis malt are considerably cheaper. Yet the Ben Nevis brand gets punished by this process. Nikka clearly needs a malt source, but there has to be a wiser, more profitable solution than the current one.

I'm certain there are unknown factors involved, but the above was just my two cents.

This cask strength 10 year old was released when the regular 10 year old stock ran out. Bottled at a bruising 62.4%abv, it's a mix of bourbon, sherry and wine casks. It costs twice as much as the regular 10yo. Even Ross says in the if-true-interview that this pricing is unfortunate. Luckily for me, local Ben Nevis lover, Whiskysite was selling samples of it, so I was able to try it.

Distillery: Ben Nevis
Ownership: Nikka Whisky Distilling Company (part of Asahi Group Holdings)
Region: Highlands (Western)
Age: 10 years (2008-2018)
Maturation: first fill bourbon, sherry and wine casks
Alcohol by Volume: 62.4%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
(from a purchased sample)

NEAT
The nose starts with prunes, black raisins, honey and soil. There's also a machine shop / hot engine note in the midground. Maybe a hint of cabernet sauvignon? The nose simplifies with time, focusing on honey, lemons and soil. The palate has a gorgeously silky texture and is very drinkable considering the enormous ABV. There's a lot of cask action here. Dried berries, berry jam and nut butters. Very little peat. Honey, orange candy, hard toffee and salt. Dark chocolate, raspberry jam, raisin bread, honey and orange candy in the finish.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or > 2 tsp of water per 30mL whisky
There's honey, hot fudge and black raisins up front in the nose. Then mint candy, lemons and dates. With time it tilts heavily towards gunpowder. The palate is all cask: wine and wood. Very sweet, jammy and loaded with raisins. An earthy note reads more like sulphur than peat. Eucalyptus. Sourness. The good texture remains. The finish is very winey and sugary, with some eucalyptus and pepper.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
If scotchwhisky.com is accurate, then Ben Nevis goes into the cask at 63.4%abv. This 10 year old is 62.4%, so the angels went for water rather than alcohol. They were telling us something. And that was, "Keep water out of this whisky". Really, they said that.

So on the plus side, this is best when neat. On the other hand, it's aggressively cask driven. That's great for folks who are not fond of Ben Nevis's character. It's less sexy for those of us looking for a solid Nevis hit. The whisky's texture helps rescue the palate from being just another sherry bomb, and the nose does have the odd industrial stuff some of us enjoy. It's still a good winesky, but it isn't worth 2 bottles of the regular 10 year old.

Availability - European specialty retailers
Pricing - $120-$140

Rating - 85 (neat only)

Killing Whisky History, Episode 25: Old Grand-Dad 86 Proof Bourbon, bottled 1970

Hey look what I found. A video! Of whisky!


For all the old grand-dads out there, here's some 86 proof Old Grand-Dad bourbon from the gloriously glutty National Distillers years. This one, distilled in 1965 and bottled in 1970, appears to have had some cap tampering but, VERY luckily, the whiskey is intact. So get out yer bottle of OGD at any proof, from any year, and join me in some bourbon tasting! But always drink responsibly. Especially with bourbon.

High West Rendezvous Rye Barrel Select for T5C, barrel 4469

And then there was the Rendezvous. Bottled for the militant mavens of T5C, this barrel selection has one of the highest ABVs of all Rendezvous releases. No quirky finishes to it, just full-powered Rye. It needs no further introduction.

Product: Rendezvous Rye
Producer: High West
Distilleries: Barton and MGP

Type: Blend of Straight Rye Whiskies
Region: Indiana (MGP) and Kentucky (Barton)

Mashbills: Barton - 80% rye 10% corn 10% malted barley
MGP - 95% rye 5% malted barley
Maturation: American white oak

Barrel #: 4469
Bottle #: 124

Alcohol by Volume: 63.5%
(Thank you to Secret Agent Man)

Remarkably, the nose needs no water. There's lots of chocolate and cookie—actually, it's Twix. I'm smelling Twix bars. Then toasted oak, saline, lemons and blossoms. Roasted almonds and berry candy. With 30+ minutes in the glass, it gains coffee and malt notes. The palate is big but not hot. Lots of oranges, peach cobbler and honey. RYE. Very little vanilla. It has a fresh herbal side, think mint, basil and thyme leaves. Tart lemons and a whiff of smoke. It sticks the landing with unending waves of rye, rye, rye, rye. Mint, saline, rye bread, sweet lemon and wood smoke. Enormous.

As handsome as the boys of T5C (*voice cracks* Hi guys!) are, this is the dark lord of Rendezvous Rye. Thunderous in style, but remarkably easy drinking for the abv, this barrel has more complexity than anything else I've had from High West and a finish that adheres to the senses for a very long time. There's not a single weakness to be found in this, one of my favorite ryes.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 90