Tastes

Kilchoman Machir Bay 2013 FINAL SCORE 84/100 Vital Statistics: Distillery/Blender: Kilchoman Distillery Category: Single Malt Scotch Whisky Age Statement: A vatting of 4 and 5 year old whisky matured in first fill bourbon casks, married and then finished in Oloroso sherry butts for four weeks before bottling. Proof: 92 Mash bill/blend: 100% Peated Malted Barley Tasting Date: 05/13/2018 Nose: 17/20 Smoky, floral, and fruity. A coating of ashy char covers grilled honeydew melon, as dominant creosol tops strong green aldehydes and fruity-floral esters. Then, there’s a young and tailsy distillate smell, the combo of wet grain husk, yeast, and linseed oil. Less iodine, and more creosote ash, and oily, meaty phenolics. The deep and mossy earth and soil is also there. The charred honeydew is really pleasant and makes the green notes work. However, some may find the young, husky, meaty scents offensive. By the same token, some may find them perfectly acceptable, desirable even, like those looking for a more aggressively flavored whiskey. Initial Taste: 12/15 Straight up ash, burnt wood, iodine. It’s as if your cholera medicine were spilt down a sooty East London chimney. Aggressive to say the least, but again, “some like it hot.” There aren’t any rough higher or lower alcohols obviously noticeable, just some very in-your-face charcoal soot. The sweetness is actually noticeable beneath the heavy layer of soot, however, and sweet malted barley is clearly recognizable. The initial impression is definitely striking, and though all the necessary elements are there, it might come off a tad imbalanced. Body/Mouthfeel: 8/10 Actually both light and oily, with a minty tingle that pops at first, fades, and then shows up again later as a mentholated coolness. The smoky phenolics are so impressive that they offer a distinct astringency unlike the pucker of oak tannins and more similar to the assault of drawing deeply on a strong cigar or tobacco pipe. Certainly interesting how much the phenolics effect the mouthfeel, and though I’d never call it “smooth,” the milky oiliness and numbing phenolics are of such intrigue, working in harmony with the flavor profile, that this strange combination warrants merit. It’s definitely impressive. Taste: 13/15 Chewing it, the deep and smoky ash of burnt warm hickory and spicy mesquite wood persist undyingly, but there are whole spoonfuls of honey beneath as well as fresh peppermint. Marry Poppins delivers golden treacle by the spoonful to help the medicine go down, and it’s delightful; it makes you enjoy taking the intense and bitter, highly phenolic, peppermint-flavored medicine. The yeastiness in the nose is absent. There is no trace of fruits fresh or dry, nor evidence of any type of sherry or bourbon. Hanging out with it more, you do find the fresh grass and sweet hay that showed up as green melon in the nose. It’s also outstandingly minerally and salty, as pickle juice. I imagine there’s a late-springtime fever on the farm, everyone is taking medicine, and the villagers have to burn all of their linens for fear of contamination of pox… and they’re taking it in stride, turning the event into one giant communal picnic/cookout… with plates of smoked Scottish salmon, cornichons, and a salt-cured lamb shank being roasted on the spit. Youth shows here, but in a good way, leaving you with a “fresh,” and “outdoors,” impression rather than the warm and smoky, possibly “dingy” qualities of older products more reminiscent of furnace rooms and rack houses. Finish: 18/20 Incredibly long, the menthol, and spicy hickory and mesquite smoke persist endlessly. The finish is dry, for sure, but the flavor of malted grain is there. It’s very similar to the aftertaste of having chewed some peated malt. There’s even a bit of baked/fire-grilled apples there as a sweet component that wasn’t present in the majority of the body. A minty coolness rather than a phenolic burn keeps you interested and soothes. The fever is real and intense, but the medicine makes you feel as if you’re on a cloud of mist. You can take a sip and not return for 15 minutes easily and still smack your lips to savor the remnants of flavor. Value: 8/10 At $60, this is such a unique whiskey. Some may say it’s young, but comparing to other Islay bottlings, it’s got lots of desirable quality at a similar price point. Then again, if you’re looking for this kind of dense and effervescent smokiness, $60 is not a bad price to pay. Overall: 8/10 At first, one might opt to knock this for its aggressive ash and menthol as well as its more youthful characteristics. Yet, I’m pretty certain these qualities are very intentional. The youthfulness is not that of rough congeners, but of the freshness and presence of deep flavors that are usually lost to age and many of which we (peat-heads in particular) crave in greater concentration. I’d never describe this as rich, though it is potent. I’d never call this sweet, though it has a lot of honey and treacle as well as lightly kilned malt. I’d never call this rough, though it is aggressive, phenolic, and challenging, frankly. If you’re not ready for it, don’t bother with this bottle, but if you’re looking for a proper workout, it fits the bill. Overall, for what this is aiming for, it hits the mark and warrants merit, but objectively, considering what most look for in a Scotch whisky, it may color outside the lines just a tad too far. I’d suggest pairing it with some dark chocolate or a sweet maduro cigar with cocoa notes, as these notes are missing from the whiskey.

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel (Gates Circle pick) FINAL SCORE 82/100 Vital Statistics: Distillery/Blender: Wild Turkey Distilling Co. Category: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Age Statement: NAS, at least 2 years Proof: 110 Mash bill/blend: 70:13:12, Corn:Rye:Barley Tasting Date: 05/11/2018 Nose: 17/20 Butterfinger candy bar, sweet and rich. Jersey sweet corn. Maple, pecan praline, vanilla. Syrupy and buttery-sweet, like a sweet cornbread with bits and pieces, draped in butter and drizzled damp with Aunt Jemima. Fruity esters beneath manifest mostly as prunes, with a heady mace-like spice. After a bit, that tart corn distillate nose is discernable, with an additional waxy, candy corn top note. Higher proof seems evident, but the aroma brings anticipation and is enough to enjoy nosing on its own, though it loses points for the drift towards waxy candy corn as it sits. Initial Taste: 11/15 Spicy and surprisingly oaky-tannic, with an astringent pucker and acidic tang. It’s not what I expected. Tannic and spicy, quite phenolic. Body/Mouthfeel: 8/10 Although there’s a lot of oakiness here, there’s also a big load of both cream and spice. The combination is very exciting and satisfying, providing both a fun ride, and a long one, that delivers a very complete sensory experience without too many peaks or valleys. Taste: 13/15 After chewing it a bit, the deeply tannic and phenolic oak and tang persist, but as strong undercurrents to a wave of buttered yellow sweet corn on the cob. Exhaling through the nose, there’s a sense of deep char, as if the corn on the cob had been fire-roasted in the husk, “Indian-style” directly on the firey coals. This balance is very dynamic, nearly a clash of two intense flavor fronts, but instead, they function together as a devastating tidal wave of flavor that overtakes your palate and penetrates even into your sinuses! Finish: 17/20 Endless. There’s gumbo as the main course, and it gives a spicy cayenne and peppercorn heat that sustains, begging another bite of buttered corn. For desert, though, after the last bite of gumbo, there’s peach cobbler, skin-on peaches baked soft, and covered in perfectly bronzed lardy biscuit batter dollops with a sprinkle of brown sugar. The spice from the last bite of gumbo hangs around all through dessert. Value: 8/10 A flavor bomb, being smooth in the right ways, with enough kick, holler, and hoot to make it a party, and all for about $50? Yes please every day. I’d say the only competitor her would be the likes of KC Single Barrel, or WT Rare Breed, maybe Noah’s Mill, that I know of. Overall: 8/10 I can’t say anything is left to be desired here. It delivers, and it over-delivers. Perhaps the oaky phenolics are too much for some, especially if you’re used to the average Russell’s, or other single barrel picks. I suspect the extra-dominant oak flavor is particular to this barrel pick, but I do think it stops an otherwise butter bomb from potentially getting boring. Each sip begs another. If you want a ride, and a bit of challenge, like you’d get from the phenolics of an Islay, but nothing out of bounds or imbalanced, this fits the bill.

Nose: Burre-brune, almost burnt tea biscuit Taste: Burre-Brune sauce with light earthy cocoa undertones. Very much like a lightly peated single malt, but instead of the deep malt flavor of a scotch, there’s that light and estery, polite Irish whiskey character (think, Chardonnay). No meat, no ash, no smoke, BUT the peat is definitely noticeable in the earthy cocoa-esque and “burnt sugar cookie” flavors. Body: It’s an Irish whiskey, nearly effervescent, but without any stinging heat. And yes, there’s a smooth quality to it, without it getting syrupy or thick. It’s just short of being creamy, but the feel is pleasing, and makes sense with the restrained, yet “deep enough” profile. Finish: Light and lemony, almost coriander like with a calcium salt pucker, very similar to a colder-climate dry white wine, like my favorite Pouilly-Fuisse.