Tastes

A good friend of mine was gifted three bottles of whisky for his birthday. This Akashi Select Reserve, a Bulleit Bourbon and a Tomation Single Malt. As he wanted to share a few drams, we decided to keep a small tasting. I suggested to keep the order I listed them above, as I suspected them to build up in taste that way. We started with this Japanese whisky without huge expectations. With a rather faint nose, the palate was fine, but nothing impressive. We found a bit of oak, some herbs but the aftertaste was short and slightly oily. We both agreed that this was a nice starter, but nothing more.

A good friend of mine was gifted three bottles of whisky for his birthday. A Japanese one, a Bulleit Bourbon and a Tomation Single Malt. As he wanted to share a few drams, we decided to keep a small tasting. The Japanese Whisky - The blended White Oak Akashi Shin Select - wasn't impressive, but the Bulleit Bourbon upped our expectations. While it reminded me a lot to the Jack Daniels Old number 7, I found it a bit softer, more likeable. The palate confirmed the initial nose of sweet cinnamon while adding some oak and butter. While I didn't found it actual comparable with a decent Scotch, I would mix JD with coke, but would rather enjoy this one neat.

This 10-year-old Glengoyne came in a 3 x 5 cl sampling box, accompanied by it's 15 and 18-year old siblings. I knew it wasn't peated whisky but wanted to try just for the sake of it, and to broaden my taste. For reviews of the other drams, looks elsewhere on this site. The nose is a bit faint but slightly sweet, while the palate reveals a slightly herbal, but fuller and creamier taste, that ends in a similar finish. Not a bad dram, but I won't buy a full-size bottle.

With Disney Land Paris closing down this weekend, our planned family trip went down the drain. While I do understand the importance of some level of self-quarantine to control the spreading of the virus, personally I'm not all too worried, but since public social life has plummeted, we make it ourselves nice and cozy with some blankets, snacks and why not... spirited drinks. My choice for today is the rather rare 13-year-old 'Inchfad'. The 'Inchfad' is - spoiler-alert - really wonderful heavily peated highland-whisky by Loch Lomond distillery. It's apparently rarely seen as a Single Malt. Bottled by Hunter Laing under it's 'Hepburn's Choice' brand, it's a single-cask release, with only 345 bottles available. Now there's one less... :). While it's color (pale straw) clearly gives away that this 'Inchfad' hasn't been finished in wine, sherry or any other special cask, it's taste nevertheless doesn't fail to impress. The nose was at first somewhat sulfury, but after a short breath, the sulfur disappeared and the nose became sweet and smoky. On the palate, the Inchfad is full and oily, and confirms the sweet vanilla of the nose, while even adding some more gentle peat-smoke and a hint of fresh apples. It's a round and full dram, but not too complicated. The aftertaste lingers on for a moderate while and first is smoky and oily and at the end slightly salty. At this price level, this seems a tough one to beat. If you come across this bottle, and you like a sweet, peaty dram that is not overly complicated: don't hesitate.

Celebrations! My 100th review is definitely a special one: a nice peaty dram called 'Scarabus'... A few months ago I was invited to a local small 'independent bottlers & limited releases' event. I tried following fine drams (you can read their respective reviews elsewhere on this site): - The Maltman (Secret Orkney Distillery) 2005 12 Year Old (Sherry Hogshead) - Hunter Laing's The Old Malt Cask Caol Ila 2009 (9 Year Old) Red Wine Finish - Hepburn's Choice Caol Ila 2009 5 Year Old (Quarter Cask). This was the fourth dram I wanted to try, but since I was by car, I didn't. Back then, I was explained by the host - importer for the Benelux area - that this NAS whisky, while being bottled by Hunter Laing, was acquired from a well known but non-disclosed distillery on Islay, rumored most likely to be Lagavulin or Coal Ila. He knew which one, but couldn't confirm either one - but nodded to my question that is one of those two. Yesterday a friend of mine wanted to share a dram with me and showed this bottle. I was instantly excited to try and tasted this dram. Would it hold up to my expectations? The nose started with moderate peat-smoke, some sea salt and a hint of vanilla, but was also a bit thin. The palate, however, showed more boldness. The smokey peat and vanilla returned, but with some added leathery and oaky notes, and an idea of sweet fruits. The finish added a surprising hint of some caramel to the peat smoke and was quite long and very pleasing. Overall, we found it both to be a very decent dram. The bottle wasn't entirely killed but ended up less than halfway. I also quite like the packaging. While not that expensive, the bottle has some luxury vibes. The gold font, the 'weird' symbols and even the name ('Scarabus' means 'Rocky Place' in old Norse) all certainly add to the mysterious atmosphere of this dram.

When dining at a local restaurant which we last visited before I started appreciating Whisky, I was happily surprised of their small, but qualitative whisky menu. Besides Talisker 10, Lagavulin 16 and Dalwhinnie 15, they also carried the Jura 10 - one I hadn’t tried before. The nose was pleasant, a bit fruity, but with a whiff of peat smoke. The taste was similar, perhaps a tad more fruits, with some slight coffee notes. Some sweet chocolate. The aftertaste lingers on for a decent while, with the sweet notes giving way for the smoky notes after a few moments. Not a very complex dram, but very approachable. I enjoyed it. The level of peat smoke is somewhat similar to the Talisker 10.