Tastes
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Sitting in the first class lounge at Perth airport, about to depart on a six week epic. Had hoped to have a wider range of whisky options for pre flight sampling. The choices: Jameson and Chivas 12. Oh dear. Oh well, about time I made an entry for such a classic staple. N: Surprisingly soft and delicate. Vanilla and creamy toffee are the big bold canvas, upon which there are light strokes of gentle oak, banana and malt and a tiny herbal aniseed and spice. P: Slightly thin and a bit of obtrusive spirit. Very banana driven but balanced by a fairly hefty barely presence. A lightly oaky-spiced caramel with some weak willed nutty-oily emergent texture. Pretty bland though. F: Medium. Peppery heat, coconut-banana laden barely sugar. For what is basically a bottom shelf whisky there are no negative surprises. You get what you pay for on the palate and finish, a barely present and generic hit of mass produced malt with simple barrel influence. What is pleasantly surprising though is the nose; which has a little subtlety and immersive presence that is beyond the low price point. Distiller whisky taste #207 [No rock in this picture. My wife tells me no one at airport security would appreciate a “travel rock” in my carry on].51.95 AUD per Bottle
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Continuing with my concentrated exploration of Starward distillery I’ve pulled out the Starward Small Batch Chardonnay The seventh iteration in the Small Batch programme, Chardonnay Cask is a single malt whisky that has been aged in French Oak barrels, that were sourced from the esteemed Yarra Valley and Margaret River wine regions. A combination of fresh and charred barrels that once held Chardonnay were filled with Starward spirit. From the Starward website: “When it comes to maturing our award-winning whisky, Starward’s red wine barrel influence has always been at the heart of what we do. Now, we’re excited to be unveiling Small Batch Chardonnay Cask; our first ever whisky that has been fully matured in white wine casks.” N: Lightly acidic and very buttery. Peaches and toasted brioche are the star performers with just a little touch of oak spice. P: Richly creamy and full bodied. This is indeed Chardonnay; buttery oak, crisp gooseberry and light peach/apricot, a slightly woody caramel and white chocolate richness. Barrel spices of ground ginger, white pepper and cinnamon. F: Long. Creamy slightly vanilla butter, a little drying tannic presence and plenty of remnant spice notes. For Distiller whisky taste #195 I had a Tasmanian Chardonnay Cask, and it got me excited for this one. Chardonnay casks appear to be winners for me. This drinks almost the same as the Hobart Chardonnay. The only real faults that I find are the spice notes are a little heavy by the end of the pour. Otherwise this is an elegant dram to savour and well worth checking out. I have been dismissive of Starward in the past, I opened this set of tastings with a degree of cynicism also. But perhaps I have been unfair. Whilst I am still yet to get to the core range of Starward, the exploration of the small batch’s and projects have revealed perhaps a glimmer of excellence. Whilst the ambition Starward have shown is admirable, I still think they could do with calming down, and focusing on great releases rather than letting all the experiments out the door… that said, three core ranges to hunt down and another nine (yes nine) projects/small batches to sample when I get back from Europe in six weeks. Distiller whisky taste #206 [Pictured here with another shooting star for Starward. This slice of a fine octahedrite iron-meteorite has been cut from the Muonionalusta Meteorite. The meteorite fell in northern Scandinavia between Sweden and Finland some 800,000 years ago with the meteorite itself formed during the accretion of our Solar System ~4.6 billion years ago. The intricate pattern seen on these slices is called Widmanstätten Pattern, a complex mineral structure created by long crystals of nickel-iron alloys.] Starward running scores: Fortis: 3.25/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Projects, Dolce: 2.25/5 Projects, Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5 Small Batch, Sticky Toffee Apple: 3.25/5 Small Batch, Chardonnay: 4/5179.0 AUD per Bottle
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Continuing with my concentrated exploration of Starward distillery I’ve pulled out the Starward Small Batch Sticky Toffee Apple. From the Starward website: “Starward's Sticky Toffee Apple whisky is the latest release from our Small Batch program where our distillers source unique barrels or trial something new. Our distillers sourced Apple Brandy barrels from the United States and finished our red wine matured, single malt whisky in these barrels for three years. These barrels worked hard in Melbourne's 'four seasons in one day', which allowed the delicious liquid to achieve the full orchard and oak experience. This resulted in our luscious Sticky Toffee Apple whisky which is bound to please every crowd; whisky lover or not” N: Names on the bottle, sticky and sweet. Toffee apple is unsurprisingly the main player but there is a more delicate perfume and a savoury vanilla. Together, these subtle notes stop things becoming cloying. After a good 15 minutes I’m finding the smallest hint of raisin. P: Viscous and sticky with lovely acidity. The apple brandy comes through strong with a scrumpy cloudy cider character. Very warming bakery spice and pastry. A darker toffee than the nose develops on the mid palate. A slight red wine influence as a jammy plum is subdued bud adds some depth to the profile. F: Surprisingly long. Fresh juicy sweetness, apple puree, chaired pineapple and a hot ginger-cinammon. The fresh juiciness is what lasts the longest. Curiouser and curiouser. Starward is getting increasingly more interesting. This has a beautifully delicate nose interweaved with a heavyweight apple brandy that builds into a just barely balanced palate and a monster finish. The three parts of nose, palate, and finish all have that thick apple brandy essence but they are not one and the same, each brings a different aspect. The most immediate comparison I can draw is the Glenfiddich Orchard Experiment (distiller whisky taste #198), however, the gentle influence of Starwards red wine casks have added just enough extra depth to make this a more interesting apple brandy finishing. The second comparison then is the Whisky Club Exclusive Starward Cognac Cask. The Starward CC is the subtler finish, with a more rounded and varied palate, better acidity, chocolatey-creamy and velvety texture, and a brightening spritz of orange. Still, this is a valiant effort and certainly lives up to its name sake of ‘Sticky Apple’. Price is for 500 ml bottle. Distiller whisky taste #205 [Pictured here with another shooting star for Starward. This meteorite is called a Howardite, a specific type of rock ejected from the surface of the meteorite Vesta by other meteorite impacts. Vesta is the second largest asteroid in the Solar System and meteorites from Vesta hold important clues to the formation of planetary bodies.] Starward running scores: Fortis: 3.25/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Projects, Dolce: 2.25/5 Projects, Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5 Small Batch, Sticky Toffee Apple: 3.25/5 ‘Brandy’ cask running scores: Port Charlotte CC:01 - 5/5 Balvenie 16 French Oak Pineau Cask Finish - 3.5/5 Arran Rare Batch 17 y/o Calvados - 3.75/5 Starward Cognac Cask - 3.5/5 Glenfiddich Orchcard Experiment Ponoma - 2.75/5 Starward Small Batch, Sticky Toffee Apple: 3.25/5139.0 AUD per Bottle
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Continuing with my concentrated exploration of Starward distillery I’ve pulled out the Starward Projects Bourbon Cask. Starward Projects is a program that allows the Starward distillers to experiment with different whiskies and create flavour forward and unique expressions. Each release is limited and once it’s sold out, it’s gone. This release was limited to 1,200 bottles and originally proced at AUD$139, now its pushing AUD$230 if you can find it. This Projects release is apparently an ‘outrageously popular’ bottling, the first Starward not to feature red wine influences. This is a big change in direction for Starward; single malt whisky matured wholly in bourbon barrels. Specifically four barrels from Makers Mark and Wild Turkey have been working for four and a half Melbourne years, allowing the barrels to showcase Starwards spirit. N: Soft, bright, and green. A little ethanol protrudes but there is an intense delivery of green banana, slightly sour pineapple, creamy vanilla-white chocolate, and acidic crisp apple. Maintains a good balance but perhaps overall the nose is a little muted. P: Silky to creamy mouthfeel. Buttery beyond what I expected, caramel biscuit, gooseberry and grilled pineapple, toasted coconut, and a slight oily-nuttiness. The malt is quite subdued, but what is there under the barrel presence is like a buttery shortbread biscuit. As fresh and easy as this palate is there is a building peppery heat. F: Medium. Vanilla cream and coconut with honey and a little demerara sugar. Drinking this has reminded me of one of my favourite Australian distillers, Limeburners, and their American Oak release. This Starward Projects Bourbon Cask, like Limeburners AO, is approachable and appreciable as a refreshing, light, and easy pour. However, where this Starward loses ground is for the presence of underlying malt, or rather, the slight absence of it. Although there is a delicate shortbread buttery biscuit in here it is the barrels that are doing all the heavy lifting. More malt in the palate and finish would lift this to a higher level. Price is for 500 ml bottle. Distiller whisky taste #204 [Pictured here with another shooting star for Starward. This unassuming little lump is one of the most precious rocks in my collection, and perhaps one of the most scientifically important objects on Earth. This is a type of meteorite called a carbonaceous chondrite. Chondrites are so called as they contain tiny spherical droplets called chondrules, the most pristine chemical remnants of the early solar system and the building blocks of planetary bodies. The Earth is ~4.54 billion years old, these chondrules though are somewhere around 4.567 and 4.68 billion years old. This meteorite was recovered from near Erfoud in Morocco.] Starward running scores: Fortis: 3.25/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Projects, Dolce: 2.25/5 Projects, Bourbon Cask: 3.5/5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5230.0 AUD per Bottle
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Continuing with my concentrated exploration of Starward distillery I’ve pulled out Starward Dolce (coming from the Italian word for sweet), a one-off limited release made with Australian malted barley and brewer’s yeast, before being matured in Australian red wine barrels. The spirit is then transferred to dessert wine barrels, with the wine made in the Sicilian style. A sweeter take on Starward’s classic wine-cask spirit. N: Deep and sweet with dark fruits initially and drifting into a warmer Spanish hot chocolate and toasty brown sugar. Very gentle cinnamon and nutmeg. All in, this is like a black forrest chocolate gateaux warmed up and poured into a mug. P: Bold and quite astringent. Dark plum, strawberries, cherry coke, bitter dark chocolate, soft marshmallow. Quite a lot going on in here in a big, booming way, but the astringency cuts things off at the knees with every sip. F: Long. But bad long, this is very astringent and with something of a building harshness. The cherry cola and marshmallow hang around but don’t do a lot to save the finish. Interesting. Far from what I expected. ‘Dolce’ invoked images of sickly sweet after dinner wines, summery brightness, and the colour pink. Instead, drying and tannic, somewhat wintery and moody, and the colour maroon. The nose is whats best, a rich black forest hot chocolate, but everything trends down from there. The astringency gets in the way of the good stuff just as it gets going. Would have been very fun to have the cherry cola and marshmallow build to centre stage, but sadly not. Price is for 500 ml bottle. Distiller whisky taste #203 [Pictured here with another shooting star for Starward. This little nugget is a piece of the Nantan Meteorite that fell near the city of Nantan in China, likely in the year 1516. The meteorite exploded in the atmosphere scattering fragments across and areas of 8x28 km. To date 9.5 tonnes of the meteorite have been recovered. This piece weighs 0.485 grams. The fireball this would have made in the sky as it burnt up and exploded would have been incredibly sweet to see.] Starward running scores: Fortis: 3.25/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Projects, Dolce: 2.25/5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5119.0 USD per Bottle
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Starward Octave Barrels (Yalumba The Octavious)
Single Malt — Victoria, Australia
Reviewed June 3, 2023 (edited June 5, 2023)Starward are the biggest distributors and producers of Australian Whisky. They recently got massive spotlight attention for winning eight double golds at the San Fran Spirts Competition and the title of worlds best distillery 2022. They had similar grand success at 2023’s competition. However, I have found the four I have tried to date, just about average, with the exclusive cognac cask breaking up into the middle ground between good and excellent (see running scores below). I have also complained about all the experimental barrels to play with that they then peddle as special and exclusive. Starward whisky were founded in 2007. Yet, off the top of my head I can think of five core range bottlings and about 20 total releases through their experimental and small batch series. Thats a little stupefying for a distillery less than 20 years old, and it should raise eyebrows. As a relatively local (east coast Australia to my west coast Australia), and relatively well priced range though, I am eager to give them time and an open mind/palate. I want them to capture me, I really do. The last i had, the Cognac, gave Starward needed points in my ledger. I’ve lined up five more (possibly another few if I can mooch extras). Let’s see what happens. In a collaboration with iconic Australian winery, Yalumba the Octave Barrels release has been matured in the world’s only red wine aged in 100 litre octave-sized barrels (Yalumba is the only winery in the southern hemisphere to handcraft barrels in their own onsite cooperage). These freshly emptied casks were filled in 2018 and left to mature till 2021 where they were bottles at 48% ABV with the release amount being undisclosed. N: Warm and wholesome. A dry cigar box and old oak bring an earthiness to honey, flamed orange peel, and over stewed fruit. The vaguest hint of fermented banana also combines with a light toffee to make a soft profile. P: Prickly and a little cloying, not what the nose suggested. Sticky brown sugar caramel adds richness; lashings of dry red wine and fresh red chilli add interest; and red fruit and apples add some freshness. The chilli is a little powerful and pushes the balance out slightly. F: Medium-long. Lovely little perfume note, warm vanilla, some oak spice, and minced pie type bite. OK Starward, we’re getting somewhere! I like this, the only actively harsh part is the chilli heat on the mid palate. The nose, so much of my description sounds musty and acrid, but it was quite beguiling. I haven’t smelt fermented banana since I was in the Ugandan jungle where I was invited to try banana beer. The “beer” was in a hole in the ground, made by throwing banana into muddy water and covering with big banana leaves and leaving in the sun. Disgusting, but like a car crash, couldn’t look away. The nose here; not as revolting, but it held my attention. The finish though, the gentle lift of a perfume was just wonderful. Quite complex and a great start to this Australian foray. Distiller whisky taste #202 [Pictured here with a shooting star for Starward. This innocuous little lump of what is dominantly iron, with a little nickel, is a fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite that formed what is now known as Meteor Crater (or Barringer Crater) in Arizona. The meteorite fell ~50,000 years ago. Initially known and used by pre-historic Native Americans, Canyon Diablo meteorites have been collected and studied by the scientific community since the 19th century. In 1953 lead isotopes in pieces of the meteorite were used to refine the age of the Earth to 4.55 billion years] Starward running scores: Fortis: 3.25/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Maple Cask: 2/5 Whisky Club Exclusive, Cognac Cask: 3.5/5 Projects, Octave Barrels: 3.75/5 Small Batch, Hungarian Oak: 3/5139.0 USD per Bottle -
WhistlePig FarmStock Rye (Farmhouse Batch)
Rye — (bottled in) Vermont, Multiple Countries
Reviewed June 2, 2023 (edited June 3, 2023)First day of a 6.5 week holiday, four days before flying off to Europe. Time to start chasing down 300 tastes I guess. A share from my sister in law, and the second for me from Whistlepig. This blended WP is a mix of three straight ryes: (1) 15% Vermont rye aged 4 years in char 3 American oak, (2) 37% Vermont rye aged 6 years in char 4 American oak, and (3) 48% Canadian rye aged 6 years in char 3 American oak. N: Light and with a little acetone. Stewed-raisin, dusty oatmeal and an earthy something. P: Curiously juicy and rounded mouthfeel. Vanilla bourbonesque notes (barrel char presence and oak) with juicy pear and peach, lots of herbal menthol and spicy cardamon, clove and a little anise. Quite crisp but is quite overwhelming on the palate due to the heavy spice. F: Medium. Slightly astringent oak tannins and with a chocolate coated marzipan presence. Very evidently a blend with definite seperate threads. Perhaps this could have been good but it feels to cluttered. A rather conflicted mix of barrel char vanilla character, rye heavy spice and methol, and some harsh acetone presence struggle to mesh together into something balanced and well constrained. That surprises me, as it’s all rye, rye notes should mesh well with other rye notes. I suspect this would be a great and lively addition to a cocktail but as it stands it’s a little pedestrian but enjoyable enough. This is quite different to the WP 10 Small Batch Rye which gives an oily and leathery aspect and manages to balance things slightly better than this blended offering. Distiller whisky taste #201 Whistlepig running scores: WP 10 Year Small Batch Rye: 3.25/5 WP Farmhouse Rye Farmhouse Batch: 2.75/5115.0 AUD per Bottle -
Bruichladdich Black Art 10.1 Edition 29 Year
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed June 1, 2023 (edited June 5, 2023)Distiller whisky taste #200 Well that certainly crept up quickly, 200 whiskies. Cripes. Number 100 was 4th November 2022 with Port Charlotte CC:01. From the same whisky geniuses, six months later, Bruichladdich Black Art. This is the tenth instalment of Bruichladdich's Black Art series; an unpeated Islay single malt combining whiskies drawn from a secret selection of casks, known only to head distiller Adam Hannett. This is Hannetts sixth release of Black Art and combines malts distilled prior to the Bruichladdich's closure in the mid-nineties (and eventual reopening in 2001). Matured for 29 years in mystery casks. I enter this 200th tasting with some trepidation, still considering myself a rank amateur, I’m about to drink my oldest liquid yet. Something that seems to be shrouded with mystery and a borderline cult following. Black Art seems like it should be, or maybe is, beyond me. I feel I owe it to Adam Hannett and the Whisky community to unlock all this has to offer. I understand these Black Arts are to be respected. Comfy chair, check. Beethovens 9th, should work well. N: Oh snap. I love this already. In equal measure this is deep, dark, and foreboding whilst seemingly also being bright, vivacious, and enticing. We can start with the bright: apricots and pears, grape, blackcurrant, a white wine gooseberry. Next the vivacious: delicate barley sugar, honey, florals like elderflower cordial and new spring blossoms. The deep and dark: cherry cola, cedar wood, hazelnuts, toasted oak, dark chocolate, old supple leather. Half an hour into this and it just keeps ramping up. This is a foreboding and endlessly enticing nose that keeps reaching up from its own depths and dragging you further in. P: Wonderfully thick and syrupy arrival, full bodied and clings on for dear life. Sharp nuttiness and ginger spice lead the charge. Barley sugar drops with fragrant, fresh waxy orange spritz and a complimenting slightly bitter, dark orange marmalade. Orange turns slightly sweet and brightens to a jammy consistency and introduces a new raft of flavours, there is almond, a little cherry or blackcurrant, cinnamon, chocolate, and a fantastically warming toasty oak. Theres more though, so much more, a hint of a medicinal note some more traditional sherry cask flavours of dried fruits but also a fresh crisp acidity and tropical coconuty vibe. I barely know what I’m drinking anymore, there is a stupefying level of depth that whilst being superbly balanced is like driving 300 mph through a housing estate. F: Long. Soft and gentle. Toffee will guide you through the finish and introduce you to another experience altogether, there is honeydew melon, a slightly feinty touch of tobacco and vaguely herbal presence, a touch of candied ginger and maybe even preserved or candied lemon too. Oh, and then there is the toffee again, possibly the best toffee I’ll ever ‘eat’. I’ve taken 1/2 the dram and added two drops of water and given it another five minutes to marry. It doesn’t need it. Nothing happens with the nose, but the palate and finish become slightly more bitter and waxy. Take this neat. I’ve been on this for pushing one and a half hours. Hands down the most complex whisky I have ever drunk. What baffles me is that this isn’t even considered the best Black Art Bruichladdich have put out. Yet, undoubtedly this Black Art was created with some kind of witchcraft. This is a special creation and a true love letter to whisky. 200 reviews and just my fourth 5 star rating. [Pictured here with a special rock for a special whisky. The oldest whisky I’ve drunk deserved the oldest piece of the Earth available. Pictured along the Black Art is a chunk of the Acasta Gneiss from Yellowknife in Canadas Northwest Territories. At 4.031 billion years old this is the oldest intact piece of Earths crust on the planet.] Bruichladdich running scores Port Charlotte 10: 4.5/5 Port Charlotte CC:01: 5/5 Black Art 10.1: 5/5799.0 AUD per Bottle -
Highland Park Full Volume
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed May 31, 2023 (edited June 5, 2023)Seventeen Highland Parks, damn. Lowest I’ve ranked is 2.75/5, and I average out at 3.8/5. I think, I should probably shout from the roof top that Highland Park are great (marketing BS aside). Shouting from the rooftops, at full volume. See what I did there. Masterful lead in. Arguably this is one of HPs most unique liquids. Instead of the typical interplay of bourbon and sherry casks; full volume is casked exclusively in first fill bourbon casks. Allegedly this “turned up the volume on those delicious creamy bourbon notes.” N: Slightly waxy. Vanilla and fudgey depths layer with malt to make a bakery/pastry sensation. A slight mineral note contributes to a more nuanced character with a citrus peel and wood spice. The light peat is a nice backing that wafts through but it perhaps lacks the signature HP herbal-floral character you would expect. A simple nose, but it works well enough. P: Interesting. A mirror of the nose but with a little chaotic buzz to it. Some slightly sweet smoke notes build then quickly change direction to a little spicy heat. Vanilla cream is the central thread that links the chaos and amongst it all there is, toasty malt, a little brown sugar, coconut, stone fruit and some herbal-bbq notes carried in by the peat smoke. F: Medium. The malt is most apparent here, it gets quite dry and woody and maybe leans a little into the coconut, and possibly even charred pineapple. Full Volume. An interesting marketing twist from HP, away from the typical viking garb. Picking this up, I was thinking Spinal Tap and turning it all the way up to 11. I thought someone was going to burst through the wall like the Kool Aid Man and beat me over the head with an electric guitar. I thought wrong. This felt lazy. HP has a remarkable delicacy and powerful grasp of you when done well; not so much here. Rather, despite a clean and simple nose, and little buzzy palate, the rest was dull by normal HP standards. I don’t know if the 17 y/o age statement and safe/dull profile is a reflection of using up stocks or an experiment gone wrong but this isn’t HP, and it is certainly nothing you would expect for 17 years, especially compared to the 17 light and (magical) dark expressions. Sadly the best of HP, the heathery peat, is a mere shadow of its normal glory, and the richness imparted by the normal sherry casks is sorely lacking. This is Highland Park dialled down to an inoffensive 5, not a full volume 11. Distiller whisky taste #199 [Pictured here with another viking rock, as is now the norm for HP. This is a cordierite bearing pegmatite from Risør in Southern Norway. Little is known about this location with its exact position tightly guarded. The rock, as best as I can deduce is a product of very high grade metamorphism where partial melting occurred and coarse grained igneous pegmatites created. The rock is predominantly quartz and plagioclase but host beautiful sky blue cordierite crystals also. Lovely] HP Running ranking: 10: 3.75 12: 4 15: 4.25 18: 4.75 25: 4.75 Valknut: 4.25 Valkyrie: 4.25 Valfather: 4 Dragon Legend: 3.25 Voyage of the Raven: 3.5 Spirit of the Bear: 3.25 Loyalty of the Wolf: 2.75 Wings of the Eagle: 4 The Light: 4.25 The Dark: 5 Mjolner: 4.5 Full Volume: 3.25196.99 AUD per Bottle -
Glenfiddich Orchard Experiment
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed May 29, 2023 (edited June 1, 2023)Back at distiller whisky taste #100 I rediscovered a bit of a special rarity from my early introduction to whisky, Port Chalrotte CC:01. To date, it ranks as one of the best whiskies I have had. It was also pretty powerful in its ability to make me seek out similar caskings. I am yet to find a comparable cognac casked whisky, most players finish in cognac/brandy rather than mature full term in it. Perhaps full maturation in Cognac is what makes PC CC:01 special. In any case, any time I can get my grubby mitts on a cognac/brandy type cask, I’m there. Tonight, something a little interesting then. Glenfiddich Experimental Series claims to embody a family philosophy of freedom and possibilities that creates a range of ground-breaking single malts. With this, the fifth release in the experimental series Glenfiddich has combined Scottish whisky with the west countries cider heritage. Glenfiddich Orchard Experiment takes what I understand is classic Glenfiddich malt that has been matured in European and American oak, and finishes it in Somerset Pomona Spirit Casks (English apple brandy liqueur casks). A single batch was made, and I am not aware of plans to make more. N: An acidic and very crisp arrival. Tart green apple, a touch of sultana and a little vanilla toffee. Looking back, this is a slightly jazzed up version of G12; the malt notes move to the back and apple comes forward. There is, as the nose progresses, a feeling like I’m going to get stung by a drunk wasp; windfall fermented apples in the English summer time is sharply evoked. I am mindful of wasps now. P: Juicy and bright. This could be a fruit juice. Cloudy apple juice, citrus zest brightens things further and some fairly punchy spice of cinnamon and nutmeg make this feel like an apple strudel. What is missing, noticeably, versus G12 is the hefty malt and vanilla. This leans very heavily into the crisp green apple theme (unsurprisingly) and brings little else other than some english toffee along for the ride. F: Medium-short. Wait for it…. apple sweetness. Deleivered with a creamy exiting mouthfeel and a little oaky toffee. I’ve been quite critical of Glenfiddich 12 in the past, calling it ‘a bit forgettable’. Don’t get me wrong, I categorically do not dislike Glenfiddich 12. Its fine. I’d just rather drink something else given the choice. My hope with this G12 in an apple costume was that there would be something really captivating, but it suffers the same fate as regular G12. It’s so uniform and safe that it’s a bit boring. Yes, the apple presence is a little bit different to the typical ‘orchard fruits’ or ‘apple’ notes you read for other whiskies. This truly is apples through and through, but thats not enough. The toffees are great when they come through, the spices are just fine. The nose after a while though becomes sickly. I will gladly drink this, in fact; if it were summer, and I was sat in the sun. I’d happily drink a pint without thought I suspect. But this is not Port Charlotte CC:01, rather, this is my weakest brandy style casking to date. Experiment? yes. Scientific progress? not so much. Distiller whisky taste #198 [Pictured here with an apple green accompaniment to an apple green themed bottle. This magnificent rock is a 2.7 to 3 billion year old komatiite, a type of volcanic-lava flow that can no longer form as the Earth has cooled to much over the past several billion years. The rock hosts a fantastic apple green and exceptionally rare nickel carbonate mineral called gaspeite. This gaspeite formed at the Earths surface through fluid enrichment processes, concentrating nickel from within the komatiite. Not sure how old the gaspeite is, but its certainly not young. This fantastically coloured mineral is only really known from Gaspe in Canada and Widgiemooltha in Western Australia where this lump is from] ‘Brandy’ cask running scores: Port Charlotte CC:01 - 5/5 Balvenie 16 French Oak Pineau Cask Finish - 3.5/5 Arran Rare Batch 17 y/o Calvados - 3.75/5 Starward Cognac Cask - 3.5/5 Glenfiddich Orchcard Experiment Ponoma - 2.75/5 (Glenfiddich 12: 3/5)90.0 AUD per Bottle
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