Tastes

Light, golden amber. Thin. Brown sugar, apple strudel, rye spice and cinnamon roll. The palate is much the same and leans toward being almost a bit too sweet but some nice black tea and wood notes come long to prevent it from being cloying. Imagine plain Buffalo trace… then add a bit more rye. Not a lot of surprises here. I can see how this would make a fine Sazerac cocktail as the anise would bring a welcome bit of complexity. For anything else I think I would go with Rittenhouse on the part of its sharper edges and big cinnamon red hots note. This would be a fine $25 rye. And thats all I have to say about that.

Straw, lightly viscous with whispy legs. First whiff is grain - corn would be my guess? Very light. Bourbon? Very nontraditional - no way is this bourbon. Light whiskey? There’s a big ethanol component and no light whiskey is a young whiskey in todays market. There could be some barrel finishing here. Sweetness abounds - almost cloying and slightly musty. Floral notes, almond extract, muddled clove, pepper, shoe polish, green apple, prickly (French?) oak. Slight old library book that gets buried in the mix. Based on nose and color I’m going with grain whisky rather than bourbon or malt. Wow. Wow that doesn’t burn. I was afraid this would be some crazy 130+ proof light whiskey but I’m going with no. This is a non-US, single grain whisky of some sort… I think. Light feel, clean. Bits of corn syrup, white wine, French oak, vanilla, lavender, stewed apples. There might be some white pepper, maybe faint German licorice but there’s not a lot of spice to speak of. The finish is like the rest of the dram - light but pungently sweet with a distinct mustiness. I’m spinning my wheels a bit here. If this is finished then I’m thinking new French oak or some sort of desert wine (ice wine, Tojaki, etc) and less likely cognac but I’ve been fooled by cognac finishes in the past. Age? This could be 17-22 years (ie 20+/-), especially if it’s a single grain whisky. Time to see if @pkingmartin can help me out since he was kind enough to let me try this odd ball. No. No, no, no. This - is unsurprising and disappointing at the same time. For a fleeting moment in the beginning I thought to myself “this is sweet and fruity enough to be a watered down Buffalo Trace product” but couldn’t think of one that was this corn forward. Remind me never to water down bourbon again. Also - Japan we love you. I don’t know who sent you this but I promise we can do better. Seriously, we owe you one.

This is one I wish I hadn’t passed on. Brought over by a friend to go through different batches side by side. My 019 was decidedly nutty and almost pecan pie-like. I would be amazed if that KT/TN blend didn’t contain a fair amount of Beam mixed with older Dickel. This one was a very different beast. Rather fragrant but with toffee, candy cigarettes, red apples, clove, leather and oak. The palate had a nice weight to it, kind of like an Irish pot still. This was decidedly MGP with a robust array of sage, cedar, clove and other baking spices folded into toffee and oak. There is a bit of Dickel minerality but no Beam nuttiness. I don’t think I’ll pin down the KY component but suspect it’s bringing in the toffee and oak. Warm and oily, this is a winner.

Pale straw with a viscous appearance in the glass. The nose is likewise pale but pleasant. Strawberry, green apple, and honey. There’s a bit of dusty wood, white pepper. With time and some intention a bit of sulfur and salt. This will sound plain wrong, but there’s almost a pizzeria aroma in there as well - charred crust, zesty San Marzano’s and smoked meat all in one. For 58% ABV this is dangerously easy on the palate. Slightly viscous and with an unfolding palate. Sultanas, vanilla, oak, green apple, agave, ginger, coffee, a gently rising and then falling campfire smoke, bit of tobacco. There’s a salted fish element, maybe sea bass? It’s not prominent but is interesting. Oil fried plantains? This finish just doesn’t stop. This is bizarre but works. That’s lovely and really sticks around. The ex-bourbon influence gives it a bit of dark sugar character - less fruity than the nose would suggest and with plenty of earthy spice. The salt is almost a salted toffee quality. That’s all without water - leaving me to wonder… what a bout just a few drops. The mix of pizzeria and malt sweetness move forward and the strawberry note has gone. The flavors all tend to hit at once now - like a pissed off Bruce Lee. Gonna feel that for a while, in a good way. If I had any particular criticism it is that the water allows a bit of bitterness to sneak into the finish. The next criticism is the price, and really the limited availability. The variety of flavors keeps this interesting from start to finish, but no one flavor really grabs me. It’s almost a little too busy. There aren’t really any soft edges or dusty notes, but at the price point I’m satisfied. Overall this is a shapeshifting beast. I love it. Maybe an extra quarter point for the artwork.

So, how do I say this. Sometimes you get lucky. Better yet, sometimes a friend gets lucky and you undeservingly reap the benefits. Sometimes things that happen are simply a bit… uncanny. There is more to the story than can be told here but, long story short, the Four Roses distillery opened a new visitor center this year. The governor of Kentucky was one of the first to take the podium on opening day. Guests were invited to celebrate a new face for the >120 year old brand history and visitors were given the opportunity to purchase a special single barrel release. For those who have been to the distillery it is seemingly common to find single recipe, single barrel, barrel strength releases. These have flown under the radar to some extent (but sadly no more) and on this special day a number of bottles were released. All came from the OBSV recipe (high rye, yeast strain V). All had been aged for 20 year. I cannot find the exact number but something like 20-50 barrels had been marked and dumped for the occasion. So, I ask myself - how many 20 year old, single barre bottlings of bourbon are out there? I don’t really want to know the answer but if I had a hand in the greater scheme of all of creation I would say lots. I have no such say, which is for the best. Elijah Craig continues to put our 18 year single barre offerings and some guy named VanWinkel has a 23 year bottle of the same sorts. Rumor has it that clicks in around 90 proof or so. This particular bottle - 58.1% ABV (116 proof) was raised in warehouse FS and stored on the third of six floors, right in the middle - a place where air, in theory, doesn’t move much. Some 20 years later, let’s dive in. The nose is oak. Surprised? It is splendid though and reminds me of Wild Turkey’s 17y BiB Masters Keep. There is varnish. There are notes of old library books, lamp oil and dark tobacco. A sweet aroma, again akin to tobacco is there with bits of royal icing. The taste? Much like the palate, there is an immediate, gripping, tissue-penetrating tannic sensation. It is full of dark sugar but without the bitterness of molasses. There is a spice that reminds me of tasting a dark cigar wrapper before lighting up. The oak is there as well and is hard (for me) to describe but I suspect tastes like the inside of my dresser drawer that is (well over) 20 years old and has seen cycle after cycle of things that come and things that go. It doesn’t fade either. The tip of my tongue still stings an hour later. This might not be good for my health. But wow. At some point bourbon goes from grain to wood. This is past the point of grain. If I could have stolen a drop or two I and rubbed it on my hands I might have gotten corn and rye but possibly not. Possibly something closer to furniture polish. This is full of spice, tannins and a dark sugar that might be a sorghum of sorts. It is absolutely wonderful - although not for everyone. As someone who is moving more into scotch for its tremendous variety (thanks largely due to the multiplicity of barrel types used to age and finish it, as well as the smoke used to malt the barley, and the ocean, and so on) this still brings about some uncanny elements that only time, water, grain and once-upon-a-time new wood can. For most scotch, that is a no-go as many barrels are re-used or “recharged” but have lost many of the chemical components that actually, physically and chemically, wind up in bourbon. There you have it. Sorry for the rambling, and no - please don’t try to charge an arm and a leg for this if you have one and hope to profit off of it. Open if. Think about it. Consider what it is as a whiskey, and what it isn’t. Embrace what liquid wood - mingled with water and organic solvent, sugars both large and small - tastes and feels like. This is the beginning of virtually all whiskey (unless you age your malt in French Oak or ex-wine barrels) and it is pretty damn impressive to see what happens. Share it with friends - as a friend was so kind to do with me. You won’t regret it (unless, of course you wind up hating what old bourbon tastes like, in which case at least you’ve learned something about yourself). Yes, and there you have it. Cheers!

Pale straw. The nose is a tad light and starts with red apples, tar and iodine. There’s a nice splash of bacon and brine, some hey and honey, tad of two-day-old campfire logs. The character is fairly soft but decidedly Frog-forward. Beyond the Frogy notes the peat actually has a nice, high alpha acid like character. It falls short of citrus and lands in sort of a floral range. Zing!! Wow - that is a bit fiery but vibrant. That acidic character does turn a bit more citrus on the palate and the tar and iodine come stomping along. Old campfire and floral peat compete and then fade slowly. No real surprises emerge. While not spicy per se there is a hearty warmth in the chest. The finish… tar, red apples again, oak, and almost a lemongrass/ginger note. Odd because going back to the glass there is some candied ginger on the nose. Definitely feel a bit of ginger spice (and alcohol) dancing on the top of the tongue in subsequent sips. Impression - delightful, tarry blend with some bright and borderline Thai spice notes. It’s a great twist on Laphroaig, however, I wouldn’t guess this is older than the 10 year base expression. I’m not savvy enough to cypher how the other components lend character but the fruits, acidity and spice are nice. It is less rich and malty than Corry, but with similar citrus notes. Bears some resemblance to PC 10 but more tar forward with some ginger thrown in. Definitely more aggressive than GW Green and with more distinct flavors. Now to the subject of bias. We all have our fair share. Mine is that Springbank 10 and Talisker 10 (and Glendronach 15, completely different but worth noting) could be the only scotches I ever drink again and I would be fine. I personally wish this blend had some additional brine and bacon. At $145 a bottle this will be my one and only but that’s because the heavy tar and Iodine of Laphroaig just aren’t my #1 jam - more like my #3 or #4 - when I can snatch up PC10, Talisker 10 and Springbank 10 for $60-100.

It’s been a minute. I opened this bottle during a very different time. @Richard-ModernDrinking posted a beautiful review of Laphroaig 25 a year or so ago and spoke of the therapeutic effect that whiskey can have on loneliness. Spoiler - the connections and intrigue that whiskey help us build are more palliative than the tincture of alcohol itself. At the time I often sipped bourbon with family and a handful of friends. Fear was uncommon. I was perhaps more afraid of this bottle than most things at the time. It was foreign and esoteric. Recommended by a German colleague as the pinnacle of scotch whiskys, I had no idea what I was getting into. The first pour from this bottle left me swearing, mostly at my colleague. The second and third sips morphed into something less offensive and more so fascinating. My mouth was numb. Camphor numb. Phenol numb. I recall my pediatricians office. Not sterile (impossible in the account that kids are germ bags) but laden with disinfectant. There were bits of bandaid and fire. And salt. I actually gassed this bottle to come back to it. Five or so years later and 3/4 of the way gone there is not telling if my argon and parafilm preserved what is left. My mind has certainly not been preserved. Sleepless nights, long shifts, another child, a transition to a faculty position, something about a pandemic and growing inequity… something(s) along the way broke a bit. My bourbon buddies are largely out of commission for one reason or another. Recovering from COVID myself I am unsure what to trust if my senses. I’ve spent over 2 years researching vaccines to stop it and am boosted myself and should just be glad to be here. I have a job, a healthy family, more freedoms than 7/10ths of the world will ever know. And I also have this wonderfully geeky whiskey community to ward off isolation and to you I say cheers! So… right. This is a whiskey app. Or rum, or cognac, or mezcal or whatever @cascode is drinking these days… or @ContemplativeFox and @ctbeck11 with their vodka…. So what if this pour? Delightfully pale with a medium crisp cling inside the glass. Phenol, iodine, honey, heather all still there. A nice bit of earthy peat and wet ash. Wet oak and brine. Possibly some ripe red fruits buried in there as well. Medium to light in body with a wash of ash, iodine, caramel malt and slightly acidic and earthy peat. It’s sort of like drinking a Pilsner in a smoky bar - something that makes me question reality, glitch in the matrix sort of thing. Second take is more malt - heavy, sweet malt without too many frills. Then a bit of lemon zest, kelp and ash. There is a nice balance between the medicinal, malt and ash notes. Nothing about this says. I’m probably missing some nuanced, lighter notes due to age or dulled senses. I don’t get any meaty barbecue notes or any particular funk. There is nothing soft about this. It seems weathered, hardened, as though the wind and salt have taken a toll upon its face. I feel like I can relate. This will remain my brooding whisky. A painkiller - meant to take things from an 8 to a 6. Livable. Workable. Durable. While not instinctively pleasant it has its joys that you will not rob from it and it’s secrets that you will not hear. I have a hard time rating it because for me it is a bit of a “mood” whisky. I could drink it at a bar with friends, I could drink it alone in the dark. Either way it can be polarizing and context might sway you one way or the other. It is well composed but lacks nuance. Fine for $50-60. I would love to see what happens to it at 18-25 years but will probably stick with Springbank 10, Ardbeg Corry and JW Green if I want a more nuanced peat fix - albeit at $20-40 more. Now, back to brooding.