Tastes

Marie Antoinette feeding you toffee eclairs in a pine forest. Nose: caramel, peat smoke, antiseptic cream, pine Taste: toffee, vanilla from the virgin oak, sweet and savoury, plays with so much of your taste buds. Tasted as part of an online four-whisky Ardbeg flight. A good deal sweeter than the 10 but the PX doesn’t overpower and I think I may like it better than the 10yo. It was second in the tasting order and at the time it seemed better the preceeding 10yo. But when I returned to both after the Uggie and the Corry I thought the 10 shaded it.

A lemon tart thrown on a campfire Nose: smoke, oil, whiteboard marker, pine resin Taste: sharp and salty, oily texture, billows of smoke to the fore in the mouth, sweet fruity notes – lemon and lime I’m gonna say something. Nothing too weird - just wanna announce my opinion on something. Most likely you won’t be startled by this disclosure. It’s a fairly standard standpoint. A predictable position that many share. This is good whisky.

Rich fruity smell with a whiff of woodshop or antique furniture store. Dry sherry and oak taste with a ping of mint somewhere in there too. A spicy tingle and red wine tannin on the finish. I like the deep oakiness but there may be a bit too much sherry for my preference. Overall not bad at all, as are other Balvenie I’ve had. I would rate the Doublewood 12yo higher so, having tried this miniature, I’m gonna pass on shelling the extra quid for a full bottle of this.

I'm prepared to swap you a half-full bottle of Highland Black, a naggin of Jameson, and my Celtic Whiskey Club badge, all for your paltry little discontinued bottle of BenRiach Curiositas 10yo. Do we have a deal? _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Scotch Deathmatch Final: BenRiach Curiositas 10yo versus Old Pulteney 12yo It’s a close run thing but we have a winner. The Benster beats the Old-timer. I’m a sucker for peat and ash and this is smokin’ Thus endeth the lengthy contest, and verily Curiositas doth smite them all! _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The unbearable angst of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through and making a decision on what to drink next is hard. Like choosing the right footwear in the morning I flip flop. So, I selected sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

You know what’s a good whisky? Old Pulteney 12 is a good whisky. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Scotch Deathmatch Final: Old Pulteney 12yo versus BenRiach Curiositas 10yo It’s a close run thing but we have a winner. Both are battle-weary but the Curiositas emerges triumphant and the Pult is pulp. When it came down to it in the final the OP’s salty fruitiness was not on a par with the BR’s smoky sweetness. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Rather than being liberated by the banquet of choice available to me I become tyrannised and paralysed by it. But before you cry me a river, I have found a solution. I selected sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Nose: winter berries, heather, school science lab, milk chocolate, honey, oak, raisin and sherry wine gum (yummy) Palate: warm spicy sherry, walnut, blackberry, cinnamon, strong black tea Finish: spice, tannin, orange, chewed matchstick _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Semi-Final 2: Glenfarclas 12yo versus BenRiach Curiositas 10yo Curiositas killed this cat. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Selecting a dram can be confusing – like Lloyd and Harry’s budgie I can barely keep my head together. So, I have picked sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Nose: smoke, coal, peat ash, heating oil or light diesel, wet pup, brine, apples and green bananas Palate: light salt and peat, grape skin, citrus burst, orange, pineapple, clove, sweet and smoky Finish: mint, red fruit, pipe smoke _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Semi-Final 2: BenRiach Curiositas 10yo versus Glenfarclas 12yo This is a quality scotch in my opinion. It is quite like the Kilchoman Machir Bay in that it charges your nostrils with a boom of fireplace ash. The ‘farclas rivals it with a very different but equally complex and more characteristically attractive fragrance. But the palate and finish of the Curiositas pull well clear. The taste holds that peatiness but it beautifully develops into a surge of fruity flavours, and the finish again holds the smoke but it is not overpowering or dry. I have already ordered a bottle of this and the other finalist Old Pulteney 12. As the youngsters say, this is totes amaze and I’m so not joking like. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Like selecting what to watch next on Netflix, often selecting a dram can take twice as long as drinking it. So I developed a plan so clever you could put a tail on it and call it a fox. I have picked sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Nose: apple, clover, frosties, sap, tile grout, orange barley Palate: malty, pineapple, a bit grainy, pepper Finish: wood, slightly bitter _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Semi-Final 1: Compass Box King St. Artists Blend versus Old Pulteney 12yo It lives up to the tagline of rich, round and fruity. It holds up well against stiff opposition and only marginally loses out tonight against OP12 based on a less complex nose. Nevertheless, I think this is a great blend and, based on some of the prices I see, great value for money. I might look to pick one up. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through. Like selecting what to watch next on Netflix, often selecting a dram can take twice as long as drinking it. So I have picked sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Nose: orange, rock pool, shortbread biscuit, lemsip, charity shop fusty musty clothes, custard cream, earl grey tea Palate: grapefruit, a little salt, wood, Russian caravan tea (but with less lapsang souchong) Finish: vinous dry and lightly tannic, salty and sweet _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Semi-Final 1: Old Pulteney 12yo versus Compass Box King St. Artists Blend From the notes above I think if this were a cartoon character it would be Captain Haddock. Though very different, the malty, fruity taste of the Artists Blend holds its own against the seafaring souse, as it likewise does on the finish. But the nose of OP12 has more about it and so with an expletive-heavy outburst the short-tempered sailor scares off the sensitive artist. Blistering barnacles! _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. Faced with a large array of samples and miniatures I can suffer from analysis paralysis - deciding on a dram can often take twice as long as drinking it. So I have selected sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Sampling from a miniature while watching the Galway hurling match. Nice but it’s nothing special and not as good as other Irishman I’ve had like the Founders Reserve or the 12yo Single Malt. Best of the lot was the Marsala cask finish Single Malt I had a year ago.