Tastes

Continuing the early bonus samples for this round of the Scottish Distillery Tour, which officially enters round 6 three days from today. Dalmore 18 was provided by Lee after he selected it to be a celebratory bottle for his birthday last month and he graciously decided to share it with the group. This Highland single malt is bottled at 43% ABV and like all standard Dalmore’s, it is chill filtered and heavily colored. I must say the color is a fabulous dark mahogany. Right off the bat the nose presents itself as well matured, rich and wonderful. Oak and spices, beautiful sherry, rich chocolate and mixed nuts. Raisins, brown sugar, honeyed dates and thick maple syrup. Dark and flavorful oranges, pears dusted with cinnamon and a nice pecan pie. For the first ounce I let the nose rest a good 15-20 minutes, but the second pour I went right in. Powdered ginger and an unexpected candied bacon note greeted me. I could nose this all day. The palate was not quite as impressive, but in no way was it bad. Sherry and light oak. Raisins, chocolate, toffee, maple syrup and a light coffee. Wood spice, light oranges and tangerines. Nutty, baking spices and more oak, toasted oak. Luxury in a glass. The mouthfeel went through some changes as the dram went. At first it was quite thin and watery. Subsequent sips revealed a nice medium body with an increasingly oily texture and it became mouthwatering. The finish is medium long. Sherry, raisins, syrup and dry. A hint of oak tannins but not bad and really to be expected at 18 years of age. I both wanted to love this one and hate it at the same time, much like my attitude towards Macallan. It’s good, no, it’s great, and they know it’s great and I hate that about Dalmore, and Macallan. Yes there are some expressions, maybe more than there should be, out there that are subpar, but you have to give credit where credit is due. This 18 deserves praise. I can’t say the price is justified, but it’s close. I believe I can get a 1L bottle at duty free for about $180. I don’t think that’s too bad, but anything more I would say no. Now, you dump the colorant, nix the chill filtration and bump the ABV to 46%...watch out because that would fly off of the shelves. Still, I’m giving this a 4.5 and I would say that on a good night this could contend with Macallan’s Rare Cask. Many thanks for the sample @LeeEvolved, it was thoroughly enjoyed. Cheers

Getting an early start on the bonus samples for round 6 of the SDT with this travel retail exclusive Laphroaig provided by Mr. @LeeEvolved. Brodir is the brother of the PX Cask but finished in port wood vs PX. Bottled at 48% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color of a beautiful ruby red with a purplish hue. The nose is sweet, fruity, wine drenched peat. Great classic Laphroaig notes. Smoke, bandages, iodine, campfire ashes, rubber and tennis balls. Sweet wine notes, mixed berry jam, grapes, plums. Maritime notes, seashore, salty sea spray, mineral like seashells. Wine soaked oak, a touch of eucalyptus. Berry pie, very confectionary towards the end with a hint of pink bubblegum. A very good nose indeed. The palate is SLIGHTLY less engaging. Strong peat smoke and bonfire ashes. Oak, black pepper. Sweet, berries, grapes and a light tobacco. More smoke and candy sweet. I started enjoying this a little too much for any further analytics, so let’s just say it’s damn good. Medium to full bodied with a light oiliness, mouth coating and dry. The finish is long, smoky, sweet, earthy and meaty. This is great stuff. The better looking fraternal twin of the PX Cask that gets all of the attention from the girls in high school. If I see a bottle at duty free I will be sure to grab one. If this is the lesser version of the 2013 Cairdeas, then I will have to pester Lee into finding another bottle to open so I can have a taste! A solid 4.5 Cheers

Tamdhu entered my life a few months ago by way of the SDT. The 10 year old Speysider old blew me away and I had to have more. I quickly went out and bought the 10 and not long after I decided to start a collection of all of the Batch Strength releases. This review is for batch 001. Batch 001 is bottled at 58.8% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color of a rusty copper typical of a heavily sherried whisky. Let me start by saying that over the multiple tasting sessions I forgot to separate out the nosing and tasting notes with and without water, so please know that somewhere between neat and varying amounts of water this is what I found. Strong sherry and spicy oak open the nose. Powerful. Red berries and maybe blackberries, caramel apples and cherry cordials. Nutty - walnuts, pecans and cashews. There was a strange detergent note but I wouldn’t call it unpleasant. Oranges, tobacco, fennel or anise, a little mint and some candle wax. Some BBQ sauce shows up with brown sugar, vanilla, maple syrup and salted caramels. Tangerines and chocolate. At times it’s malty/yeasty like buttery biscuits. Raisins, dates and some chocolate chip cookie dough. Strong spicy oak and intense sherry on the palate. Pepper, cherries and berries. Orange peel, tangerines and tobacco. A touch of almonds, some nice spiced fruitcake and raisins. Medium to full bodied mouthfeel. Hot, dry then mouthwatering. A long finish. Orange oil, sherry, cherries, oak and spices. At first tasting this was really a difficult whisky to wrap my head around. The ABV really closed off the nose and made the palate too intense to pick out the nuances. Such is the case with most cask or batch strength whiskies I suppose. Once I put my ego aside and gave in to the addition of water I was greatly rewarded with a nice robust sherry bomb. I found the sweet spot to be a 15-20% addition of water. This is enough to bring out much of the greatness that is in the 10 year old and still leave some of the batch strength power. I still prefer the 10, but this is pretty damn good. I hope the subsequent batches are just as good. Out of the bottle I’d give a 3.75. With the perfect amount of water it’s a 4.25. So I’ll split the difference and call it a solid 4. Cheers

This was one of the whiskies provides by @Telex for our hotel room tasting session the night before Whiskyfest. Once a year (for a week or two) Caol Ila switches production from their normal peated style to produce a small amount of unpeated whisky. This 17 year old is one of the results of their experimenting. Bottled at cask strength of 55.9% ABV and I’m willing to bet it’s non chill filtered. It’s Diageo so I can’t exactly say if there is colorant or not but the color is a yellow gold. The nose starts with lemons and lemongrass, not unlike the regular Caol Ila minus the peat, plus oak, salt/brine and green olives. Some sweetness comes through with honey, pineapple, grapes, berries, blackberry jam, oranges and apricots. It’s slightly herbal and earthy with a little chalky note. Some brown sugar rounds it out. Water brings out more of the oranges and apricots. Too much water brings more of the olive brine, which for me is a bad thing. A strong and powerful palate. Hot. Heavy on the olives and lemons. Some ginger, oak, apricots and dried pineapple. Water tones down the heat, but doesn’t help the flavor at all, just more of the olives. Medium to full bodied, hot and mouthwatering. The finish is medium long, vegetal, olives and oak. Well, it’s not quite bad but not quite good either. Pretty much a hot mess. Caol Ila should stick to peated, or if they are going to continue with this unpeated style they should change up the cask type and throw some sherry at it. It might add some much needed sweetness and fruitiness. The vegetal/olive notes were the downfall here, otherwise it would have been serviceable. Also, at $145 it’s not a great value for a 17 year old. 3.5 and I think that’s a fair mark. Cheers

Review #12 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. A sweet and soft nose with light port notes. Malty, honey, blackberries and raspberries. A spicy palate, much hotter than expected with pepper and oak, quite dry. This was the finale of the night for me. 2 hours into the 4 hour event I had to call it quits and head back up to the hotel room. Each sample I had I asked for half of what everyone else was getting. Most of them I nosed,but only tasted then spit out. I swallowed 5 at most and only the great ones. Still I was glad to get that many with the shape I was in. Cheers

Review #11 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. Soft and sweet nose. Strawberry Jolly Ranchers, honey and a light spice. Spices but mild on the palate, oak and weak port notes if any. This was probably the biggest disappointment of the night for me next to the Laphroaig epic fail.

Review #10 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. Of all the whiskies I’ve ever tried that had raisins in the profile, this one was the most raisin-y. Straight up raisins out of the box and then dipped in syrup and motor oil. Yes you read that right, motor oil, and it was fantastic. Very in your face kind of nose. Raisins and a sweet vermouth type of note on the palate. Wonderful. This was a very close #2 on the night next to HP The Dark. Another 4.5-5 Star dram.

Review #9 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. Sweet with port notes, nice but quite subtle on the nose. Insta-dry palate! Sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. Oak, port, then magically became mouthwatering. Good but not great especially for the price.

Review #8 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. Strong sherry, wonderful dates, raisins and earthy nose. A spicy palate full of sherry, a little peat and something I couldn’t place but loved. Excellent This was probably the highlight of the night. If I were giving scores this would be a 4.5-5. I wish it were more affordable.

Review #7 of 12 from DC Whiskyfest 2018. I was only able to do 12 because I came down with something that afternoon that really messed with my head and stomach. I should have just stayed in the hotel room but I didn’t pay $350 for VIP tickets to sample my pillow! No scores for anything sampled as I don’t think it would be fair. Heavy oak, bourbon notes, wine-y grapes, raisins and dates on the nose. The palate was heavy oak but good, raisins and quite dry. I was excited to try this one but don’t think I’ll seek out a full bottle. Good though