Tastes
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Appearance: Walnut brown, almost black, with no cloudiness. Translucent, but very dark. Aroma: A mild but rounded aroma similar to that of a cup of sweet black instant coffee with a drop of rum. Palate and Texture: Very sweet but surprisingly lacking in coffee flavour. There is coffee, of course, but the sweetness and syrupy texture is so prominent it dominates, so you notice coffee more in the aftertaste. The profile is simple and shallow: coffee, but with little nuance. It tastes more like it is based on coffee & chicory essence than crafted from coffee beans. The texture is thick, satiny and either cloying or the best thing about it, depending on your preference. Back in the day there were not very many coffee liqueurs and, along with Tia Maria, Kahlúa was a popular standard. Nowadays, however, these old-school sweet coffee liqueurs have been eclipsed by artisan semi-sweet cold-brew liqueurs (such as Mr Black) that have a significantly greater and more complex coffee presence which makes them superior as both neat liqueurs or cocktail ingredients. "Adequate" : 71/100 (2 stars)35.0 AUD per Bottle
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Eros Limoncello
Fruit Liqueurs — Kalamata, Greece
Reviewed January 7, 2019 (edited January 13, 2019)Appearance: Transparent, with a light yellow tinge. Aroma: Lemon oil, sherbet lemon sweets. Flavour and Texture: The flavour is very simple and one-note, being straight-up lemon oil or lemon essence in a sweet syrup base with neutral alcohol. The texture is relatively thick. Probably the least interesting limoncello I've had. While it's not actually unpleasant it's very generic and seemed like it was constructed in a lab from extracts rather than produced from the masceration of fresh lemon skin. I don't know for a fact that this is how it is made, but it tasted like it. Eros is the brand name in Australia (and probably other English-speaking countries) but this is actually made by the Callicounis Distillery in Kalamata. They produce literally scores of spirits and liqueurs and have been operating since the mid 19th century, however their products have only recently appeared on our shelves. The bottle is small (100ml) and inexpensive, both of which factors I consider as positives. I've not tried any of the other liqueurs in their range, and I'm not in a hurry to do so. If you really, really wanted a limoncello and this was all that the restaurant had you'd drink it, but you'd also whine to everyone about how ordinary it tasted. "Inferior" : 65/100 (1.5 stars)12.0 AUD per Bottle -
Caol Ila Stitchell Reserve (2013 Special Release)
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed January 4, 2019 (edited October 28, 2019)Nose: Honey, lemon, green apple, white grapes, heather flowers, sea-mist. Adding water mutes the nose considerably and it takes some resting time to recompose. When it does it produces tropical fruit aromas, sweat and a little light honey. [The dry-glass aroma is lightly floral and vaguely similar to Highland Park]. Palate: A strong, forcefully spicy arrival that is completely unexpected from the nose. Sour apples and bittermelon, lemon zest and slightly overbrewed but weak black tea. Pine resin, pine needles, sawdust. Adding water tames the performance but tends to confuse everything - it creates a meld of flavours that doesn't ever really sort itself out. If adding water, don't add too much. Finish: Medium/long. Spicy, malty and grassy. A faint bitter aftertaste. Let this one rest. Give it time. Give yourself time. This is not a peated Caol Ila and it is not like any other Caol Ila you've ever tasted before (unless you've had an unpeated cask-strength IB). It's very tightly locked up by the high alcohol and it demands water, however it's a finicky malt that blooms when the right amount of water (just a few drops) is added, but collapses into chaos if drowned. This taste is based on a bottle-kill. It's probably difficult to find this malt now except through auctions - personally I won't be bothering to acquire another. Interesting, certainly worth a taste, but neither compelling nor value for money. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)200.0 AUD per Bottle -
Nose: A soft and retiring sort of smoke. Woody, a little resinous, creamy and buttery. There's an aromatic herbal touch about it almost like a very piney gin, and a grassy, earthy sweetness that reminds me of a quiet sunny day in a farmyard. The longer it sits, the more voluptuous it becomes. A very good nose with a micro-hint of the sea. [The dry-glass aroma is a soft floral fragrance - where did that come from?!?] Palate: A faintly sweet and slightly smoky entry. Grassy notes, like the nose, with a trace of oak and peat, but the peat never veers towards plastic. There's a malty character underneath everything and a touch of sweet citrus. A sooty, mineral-like smoke is blown about. Finish: Medium. Sweet smoky notes trail off into an aftertaste of lemon liqueur and tea. There's nothing bold, brash or hurried about this malt - in fact it may even seem unexciting. The younger sibling Caol Ila 12 year old is a vaery goos peated malt and much more forward, but this expression shows the distillery character in its elegant, calm maturity. The peat-reek is gentle and refined and never shows an inkling of plastic or rubbery notes (at least not when neat) and there is overall balance. I could happily sip a glass of this all afternoon. The texture is just slightly to the oily side of neutral, and is (I suspect) the thing that some people may find a foundation fault. This is not a highly textured malt and that may make it seem thin. If you approach this with the expectation that it will have a lean character then you'll probably enjoy it more than if you're expecting an oily peat monster. Don't add any water - it is delightfully balanced when neat and any amount of water upsets that. Water unleashes bitter oils and the only hint of plastic notes that I encountered. If you do add water let the glass sit for at least 30 minutes, with an occasional swirl. Some sugars will develop to balance the initial watered bitterness. "Very Good" : 87/100 (4.25 stars)200.0 AUD per Bottle
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Nose: Sweet grainy aroma, a faint vanilla note, ethanol. Palate: Sweet initially, then it builds a peppery warmth that lingers on the palate. Finish: Medium. Warm and slightly sweet. Neutral overall with a touch of sweet grain. I very seldom drink vodka but if I'm in the mood for something plain and neutral this works fine and is quite affordable, but if you're looking for a vodka with real character (I assume there is such a thing) then it probably won't please. It's a good mixing vodka (it makes a reasonable vodka martini), and fine as the base for creating lower proof homemade liqueurs, which are the only two reasons I buy it. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)46.0 AUD per Bottle
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Mozart Chocolate Cream Liqueur
Chocolate Liqueurs — Austria
Reviewed December 27, 2018 (edited April 12, 2024)Appearance: Opaque and viscous. The colour of dark drinking chocolate. Aroma: Faint chocolate malted milk. Flavour and Texture: Velvety rich chocolate with a slightly nutty, nougat-like note and the barest hint of alcohol presence. The texture is thick and palate-coating but not milky or creamy (nothing at all like Bailey's). There is a subtle powdery aspect to the texture, exactly like very rich, strong drinking chocolate made from 100% cocoa. A very pleasant chocolate liqueur that is more than anything like a cross between a Ferrero Rocher and a cup of thick Italian drinking chocolate with just a spot of grappa. The aroma is rather distant, but the palate is strong, focused and not too sweet. Hard-core spirit drinkers might dismiss liqueurs like Mozart, but it's hard to imagine anyone tasting this and actively disliking it. It's liqueur ganache in a glass - what's not to like? "Very Good" : 87/100 (4.25 stars)35.0 AUD per Bottle -
Appearance: Transparent dark amber. Clear - no particulate matter. Aroma: Orange, vanilla, coconut. Flavour and Texture: Orange curacao, vanilla, coconut syrup, milk chocolate, milk coffee. A thick, soft liquid with a slight ethanol grip around the sides of the mouth. Very sweet and lingering. This is an OK liqueur but it suffers from two faults. First, the flavours seem one-note and artificial - I'm sure they have used synthetic flavourings rather than natural products. Second, these flavours swamp the palate and there is virtually no rum character apparent. I'd wager that if you took half a glass of any bottom-shelf dark rum and added a jigger each of the cheapest orange curacao, coconut syrup, vanilla syrup, cacao syrup, and simple syrup you'd be 99% of the way to reproducing this. It's acceptable (in small doses) but not particularly impressive. At the price I certainly wouldn't buy it again, however if you have a sweet tooth and like the sound of the flavour profile you might find this to your taste. "Adequate" : 70/100 (2 stars)68.0 AUD per Bottle
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Villa Massa Limoncello
Fruit Liqueurs — Sorrento, Italy
Reviewed December 27, 2018 (edited August 8, 2022)Appearance: Transparent but slightly cloudy. Chrome yellow. Some particulate suspension. Aroma: Oily sherbet lemon, lemonade, boiled sugar sweets. Flavour and Texture: A thick, sweet liquid with a dense lemon character. You can taste that this is derived exclusively from lemon zest with no artificial additives. It does, however veer towards being simplistic and there is a very faint oily metallic note. Limoncello is very easy to make (I've made it myself) and the BEST limoncello is always home-made, but getting it perfect is hard. It's just lemon peel, macerated in alcohol then sweetened with simple syrup and cut to the desired proof with distilled water (if necessary), but you have to take great care to avoid it developing a bitter, oily aftertaste. This is a classic limoncello, made since 1890, and it's a reasonably good one. Villa Massa use only PGI-certified Sorrento lemons and their process avoids as much of the fruit pith as possible. The result is a liqueur that tastes like pure sweet lemon essence with alcohol. My main criticism is that it lacks a certain freshness, and the taste of lemon oil is a little prominent. There's also very little finish. Nice by itself in a small glass or over ice, with tonic or with soda water. Add a dash to a gin & tonic to add a sweeter lemony note and some body. "Good" : 84/100 (3.75 stars)40.0 AUD per Bottle -
Teeling Single Malt Irish Whiskey
Single Malt — Ireland
Reviewed December 21, 2018 (edited September 27, 2020)Nose: Vanilla, raisins, grapes, pineapple, floral malt, chocolate, espresso, cola, saffron, caraway. Palate: An elegantly sweet arrival - rich and full but not cloying. Chocolate, raisins, sweet coffee, warm baking spices, vanilla, almonds, black cherries, currants, dried guava, dried mango, medjool dates, dried figs. Steamed Christmas pudding in a glass. Finish: Medium/short. Malty and winey sweetness fading into an oaky sweet aftertaste. The nose is dense and intricate, but it doesn't unfold over time. It's more one solid slab of complexity (very good complexity, to be sure) than a layering of aromas. The palate is likewise dense and very full, with a rounded and mature profile. More than anything this whisky reminds me of a PX sherry - Lustau, perhaps. Not particularly in aroma or flavour, but in overall character. There is a sense of age, density and heavy fruit complexity. It's a very "black" whisky in its heart, just as Lustau is a "black" sherry in fact. "Good" : 83/100 (3.5 stars)85.0 AUD per Bottle -
Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey
Blended — Ireland
Reviewed December 21, 2018 (edited October 9, 2020)Nose: Fresh sweet apples, honey and citrus notes, and a generally floral/grassy character. Vanilla and nutty aromas. I don't detect much rum cask influence. Palate: A soft, rounded and fruity arrival. Sweet to start with then veering towards light tannin. Some vanilla and creamy notes and a very smooth, oily texture. Finish: Medium/short. Sweet and slightly tannic, like weak tea, in the aftertaste. I tasted this about 2 years ago and was not much impressed at the time, but today it made a more positive impression. Different batch? Different weather? Different me? Who knows - but definitely better than before. I only tried it again as it was part of a 3 bottle tasting set I picked up yesterday, and I'm glad to have had a second try. "Above Average" : 80/100 (3 stars)61.0 AUD per Bottle
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