Tastes

Not much to add to RFEKETE’s assessment except, find-buy-pour-sip-wow!

Puni nails it! Sole means sun and this is quite sunny. Honey bees busy gathering nectar in a field of wild flowers and orange blossoms at the foot of the southern alps. Cin Cin Puni!

Arran nails a beautiful autumn-time (let’s be honest, anytime) whisky with rich sherry soaked dried fruits, baking spices, raisin bread, and a wisp of oak char all of which lingers as a fall time sunset does atop the colorful broad leaf New England forest.

Bubble gum, banana, cream soda, and flowers that smell like bananas. As a single malt whisky, Brenne is unique.

Wild west whiskey... oh yeah! Blazing sun, blazing guns, outlaws, and horse-trail camp-fire grub. These Del Bac guys have without a doubt captured part of Arizona in these here bottles of Dorado. The aromas of mesquite smoked meat and savory molasses baked beans jump out of the glass at you. Just like walking into the eatin’ joint up at Tortilla Flats after searching for the Lost Dutchman mine all day, or something like that. Also a hint of a hint of mint;) Quite nice. A bourbon-esque palate, but without the dill note I get in a lot of bourbons...but not bourbon, after all it is a single malt. I suspect the juice is laid down in charred virgin oak barrels by the profile of its rich taste and its deep red-brown-copper color. A sweet arrival of brown sugar and charred marshmallow with tobacco and dark chocolate and saddle leather balancing it out. Dorado leaves you with whispers of ashy smoke, like a dying campfire late in the desert evening. Well, many thanks to the fellas down in Tuscan at Hamilton Distillers. Mighty fine job there partner, a mighty fine job indeed.

Really? The distillers sampled this and thought “yep it’s ready”? The aroma is malty with honey. Not bad at all. Then the sip is completely out of the blue with a slightly sour bitter beer flavor. Yeah, beer. And a finish of beer. Yes beer. I don’t dislike beer, it’s just that I usually drink beer for the beer flavor and whisky for, well not beer flavor. I’ll return to this ‘single malt’ later and see if I can get behind what St George is up to. BEER?! Weird man, weird.

W.O.W. (Wicked Outstanding Whisky) $65 usd NAS, non-chill filtered, no color, 50% abv Opened on a whim and wow, just wow! This whisky...damn! Butterscotch, malt vanilla biscuit, sugar cookie...tropical fruit, hint of banana...tiny apples...flowers...coconut syrup(the kind you have in Hawaii)...touch of clay or putty way, way in the back... The arrival is sweet and syrupy with a little tang. Well balanced with its atmosphere. Development swells in intensity. I recon because of the taster preference of 50% abv. Thank you for that Glenglassaugh. The finish is of a moderate duration leaving me with pear and oak and a kind of chewy-ness. Highly recommend for the sweet seekers and also a nice break for the peat seekers. This distillery came back into production in 2008. So age statements are still pending. However if this is a sign of what’s to come...I anxiously await! And for all of that I would give this a gold medal. 94! Glenglassaugh you are onto something special. Keep up the the good work.

$45-750ml 45% abv Good efforts by Maine Craft Distilling. They make every attempt to capture Maine’s terroir. As Maine Craft puts it “Farm to flask”. Even the white oak used in cooperage is harvested locally. Did they succeed? Well at this time it appears you will have to go to Maine to discover that for yourself as the booze has only State wide distribution. As for me... It smells of cereals and honey. Loads of it, dare I say a fifty stone load. Also there are scent trails of biscuits and salted butter. The kilning process uses peat and seaweed to impart smoke but not a high enough pppm level for campfire or BBQ. Maybe enough phenols to remind you of last nights Popham Beach clam bake. In tasting I get the arrival of sweet and brine with a touch of salt. The development wanders back into a buttered biscuit and then echoes of the cereal and honey in the finish. Faintly reminiscent of Bruichladdich’s Classic Laddie. Again FAINTLY reminiscent. No informative statements on the bottle about unchilled filtering or natural color, although it seems to be a natural color. An age statement would be welcomed too. I have to say Maine as a state has many great thing to offer, seafood, blueberries, a stunning coastline, gorgeous wooded mountains, forest crowded lakes, excellent hunting and fishing. And to the ongoing list I would say Maine Craft Distilling has added one more thing, Fifty Stone.

“Hello”... “How are you?”... “Quite well, thank you very much.” On a cool humid New England evening after snacking on sweet and salty dried figs and glazed pastry, a wooden match is lit to stoke up a tightly packed bowl of rich aromatic pipe tobacco. A twinge of nostalgia echos as I realize this moment will not last. Love this whisky. Hats off and thank you to Dalmore.

The battle of the twelves! Two tasters seven whiskies. The blind tasters 1 female 1 male both of which lean toward Islay/Island, although also love Highland-Speyside-Cambletown-Lowland. The seven twelves, a selection of Island, Highland and Speyside, The Dalmore, Highland Park, Aberlour, The Macallan double cask, Deanston, Balvenie double wood, and Old Pulteney. The winner...The Macallan! Wait, what? Yes. Much to both tasters surprise The Macallan was preferred. Not that Macallan isn’t a great whisky, it is (we all know about their obsession over the quality of wood and natural color). The Macallan atmosphere is bold: fig, raisin, sulfur, vanilla, carmal, apple. The Macallan ground is rich: big sweet, salt and spice sprinkles, dried dark fruits. All of this reverberating around for a polished closing. The runners up Highland Park on one side and Balvenie on the other.