Tastes

I have loved the other two Westlands that I've tasted, and I've been astonished by how good they are after just a few years of maturation. This whiskey is part of the west coast distillery's limited annual run of peated whiskies, in imitation of the smoky scotches of Islay. It's $100 for a 3-5-year old whiskey, but that's the market nowadays. This is one of those love-it-or-hate-it drams. It's unlike anything that I've had before, and I kind of dig it. But the smell alone will put a lot of people off, as it smells a little . . . rotten. Not rotten, exactly, but like an overripe banana left out by a barbecue grill. The taste is exactly like that, with strange flavors lacing through different sips: lychee or apricot, trail mix, banana, and rubbery peat. It's tannic and has a dry mouthfeel. Same themes on the swallow, with burnt tires, sour fruit, and overripe banana. It's also long as hell.

This sherry-wood-aged whisky is one of the last of Kilkerran's "Work in Progress" lineup. The WIP line was a series of annual releases from Mitchell's Glengyle distillery, before they finally had enough mature stock on hand to debut Kilkerran 12 last year. Compared to the flagship, this early sneak peek into their lineup was matured entirely in sherry wood and is a year or two younger. It's also better. Its aromas feature a noticeably more intense, earthier peat, almost mezcal-like on some passes, along with caramel. Its well-balanced palate combines heather and cherries with smoke, sherry, spice, and syrup. That smoke stars in the finish, like a bonefire of pine smoke and meaty flavors. This isn't easy to find nowadays, but it was reasonably priced when it debuted.

I'm copying this note over from the other page because the release that I tried was this 2018 edition. Feis Ile 2018 - Kilchoman update no. 5. I grabbed a sample of this from the distillery shop and was excited to try it out. In fact, it was the one I was most excited to taste. Unfortunately, a bit of a letdown here. The port finish doesn't add what I would have expected to Kilchoman's base spirit. The nose remains dry and earthy, with little sweetness: mushrooms, rice, odd savory notes abound. The palate is sweet, but the port leans toward adding medicinal sweet flavors, akin to Laphroaig. Again, unexpected. The finish features a burgeoning sweetness that combines with cinnamon spice and barley. The port tamped down the smoke in this release but really added some wild card flavors rather than the dark, rich fruits I anticipated. It's a strange dram, not unpleasant, but too surprising in odd ways to love while drinking. In comparison, the distillery exclusive PX cask showcased the crackling synergy possible with sweet and peat flavors. I'm even more disappointed because I tried the 2014 edition of this last year, and it was a solid 4-star dram. The nose was a dead ringer for Lagavulin 16 underneath an initial, heavy layer of ethanol, with cinammon, stone fruit, creek brulee, and rich smoke. The first sips were very salty, a little too much so, but then grew into the same smoke and stone fruit combination. The 2014 Port had a mild finish given the proof, with a little astringency, charred hickory, and guava.

The Edition line may represent the peak of Macallan, and the sweet spot for value-for-money in their lineup. These no-age-statement whiskies cost around $100 and are produced by a partnership between the distillery and some master artisan from another discipline. For instance, I loved Edition No. 2, a collaboration between Macallan and the three-Michelin star chefs from Celler de Can Roca. This whisky is a blend of barrels selected by a master perfumer, Roja Dove. It's no surprise, then, that the nose is its standout feature: caramelized apple, black tea, smoke, and rich sherry combine to form a coherent and mouth-watering symphony. On first taste, its sherry-aged components come to the fore. This whisky has a creamy mouthfeel. Unfortunately, its taste is more generic than its lovely nose. The finish excels again, with sulfur smoke, chocolate, roasted nuts, and tart, dried fruit. If only they could combine this nose and finish with the palate of Edition No. 2!

This cask-strength whisky is undoubtedly young, but it's hard to tell when sipping it. The nose reminds me of bourbon right away: a clear, almost pristine scent of vanilla, gradually joined by spice and laced with honey. Its flavors, however, are more reminiscent of an unpeated scotch, which makes sense since Indian whisky also is made exclusively from malted barley. Honey and leafy, earthy tea, along with a healthy hit of spicy heat, define this dram.

This was an impulse purchase at DC's Washington Wine & Spirits, for about $85. My 11-year old single barrel is 50.9%, quite low for a cask strength spirit. Smooth Ambler doesn't actually distill this, they select choice barrels from MGP, the massive distillery that is the source of many craft bourbons. Well-selected MGP barrels exhibit a remarkably well-balanced nose, and this is no exception. Toasted oak, bananas foster, and strawberry milkshake. So much oak. The oak that threatened to overwhelm on the nose aggressively assaults on the tongue on the first few sips. This is a dry, spicy, piquant bourbon, and may be a year or so overaged because those oak spices are intense and almost minty on some sips. This bourbon features a dry, woody end, perhaps to the extreme. That wood unfortunately excludes some of the sweeter notes that I'd like to find, instead leaning toward an almost medicinal quality, reminiscent strangely of some Islay scotches like Laphroaig. A hint of black coffee lends more complexity to this dram after a minute or so. I'd opt for almost any Four Roses Private Selection over Old Scout at this price.

Still working through my notes from last month's trip to Scotland; I tried this dram at Whiski Rooms in Edinburgh. For a long time, the only distillery of note on the isle of Orkney was the legendary Highland Park. Scapa is now giving it a go, making whisky on one of the most remote and northern islands in Scotland. Unlike Highland Park, Scapa doesn't seem to peat their whisky at all, which results in a slightly more traditional Highland style of single malt. There's plenty of honey and orchard fruit here, along with an underlying nuttiness that gives this a thicker mouthfeel than I'd expect for a 40% whisky. It's OK, nothing to write home about (although I suppose that's exactly what I'm doing).

Another update from my trip to Scotland, I tried this dram at Amber bar at the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh. Caol Ila 18 is a delight. Despite my love of Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, one of the ironies of this trip was that Caol Ila was the biggest revelation from going to Scotland, even without visiting the actual distillery. I tried several Caol Ilas that just knocked me out, including this one but also the Caol Ila Distillers Edition (and you know a distillery's good when their distillers edition actually is worth drinking). I've realized that Caol Ila, which has fewer standout flavors in its youthful incarnations, matures really well and perhaps better than its more famous cousins. This 18-year old whisky starts off with scents of smoke and aged, buttery malt, before transitioning to a sweeter and fruitier palate than expected (marshmallow, lemon, toffee, peat). The finish is signature Caol Ila and remains robust, with flavors of tar and smoky peat for days. For some reason, Caol Ila has become a little harder to find in the States in the last year or so; perhaps a lot of people are coming to the same realization that I made on this trip.

It is a rare thing for a distillery to sell a no-age statement whisky for $100 or more, but it's also rare to find a distillery putting out a real connoisseur's whisky with a meaty ABV and no chill filtration. Victoriana might not have an age statement, but it doesn't lack for anything else. This may be the best lightly peated single malt that I've tasted, although to be honest, I'm not even sure that it's peated. It may just be some old sherry butts giving it a smoky edge. The nose showcases forest floor, oak, salted toffee and honeyed oats. On the palate, I get some apricot but also tobacco, with a creamy, lightly sweet texture. The finish also has some cream to it, along with that wisp of smoke that makes me suspect this is lightly peated. I really like the fact that this whisky walks a delicate tightrope between savory or bitter flavors and sweet ones, and makes it all the way across to safety.

In contrast to the Allardice, Parliament adds in some PX sherry influence into the mix of casks that compose this venerable whisky. This whisky is pure, dense, rich fruitcake, raisins or dates, and sticky, caramelized fruit. The finish features that smoke again, but with an added bitterness that bears a startling resemblance to black coffee. At $200, I would recommend grabbing the Allardice at the moment, particularly due to the fact that it too is a 21-year old whisky masquerading as a younger one (see my note on GlenDronach 18; basic idea is that it comes from pre-1996 distillate, when the distillery shut down for a while, so Allardice right now is actually older than its age statement). Nonetheless, this is another cracker of a dram from GlenDronach.