Tastes

Review #6 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 very different Glenmorangie, but good. Grapes, fruity and vanilla on the nose. Something else I couldn’t figure out but whatever it was I liked it. Oak and coffee on the palate. Very good indeed. I may have to bite the bullet and buy a bottle.

Review #5 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. Nice oak, floral, oranges and cherry blossoms on the nose. Balanced oak, pepper and floral on the palate. Not blown away but it was good.

Review #4 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. PX sherry, fruity, sweet, soft and elegant oak. Nice but came across as a bit younger than 25. The palate was peppery oak, sweet and spicy, not what I was expecting from a 25 year old. Quite good and recommended.

Review #3 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. Much to our disdain, this was the only VIP pour of the 4 promised by Laphroaig to actually make it to Whiskyfest and it put us in a bad mood. Creosote, Peat, bourbon notes and vanilla on the nose. Seemed mature really needed time to develop. The palate was smooth with peat and strong oak. Hard to tell if this one is worth it, but I suspect it’s better as a collectible.

Review #2 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 oak, vanilla and peat on the nose. Vanilla, chocolate, peat, oak and pepper on the palate. Not a huge promise of depth to be discovered but I could be wrong.

Review #1 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. OP 35 came across as very subtle on the nose with raisins, sherry and maritime notes. Oak, spice, salty, and sherry on the palate. Initial impressions were unfavorable but I think it’s safe to say there is much more to be discovered in this very old single malt, we simply didn’t have the time to investigate.

I’ve been wanting to try this limited release from Macallan for a while, and thanks to @LeeEvolved I now have that chance. Classic Cut is bottled at cask strength of 58.4% ABV, is non chill filtered and natural color of dark copper. The nose is powerful. Sweet sherry, heavy raisins and dates and dark cherries. Sherried sawdust...I’m sorry sir I just dropped this bottle of sherry on the floor. That’s ok ma’am, it just so happens I have a bucket full of sawdust from when I ground down my old oak tree stump. Let me just soak up that sherry...that’s what it’s like. Sherried nuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds and cashews. A touch of mint. Being cask strength I had to experiment with some water. Water releases lots of vanilla, toffee, caramel, maple syrup, brown sugar and milk chocolate. A little musty, more oak, a light malty character and some concord grapes. The palate is even more powerful than the nose. Spicy sherry. Raisins, dates and molasses cookies. Orange oil, tobacco and old leather. A bit okay but balanced. Red berries, cherries and toffee. A full bodied mouthfeel that starts smooth, then turns dry, then hot, then mouthwatering. The finish is long. Sherry, dry oak that leaves a dusty feeling in the back of the throat, cherries. This definitely feels like a cask strength version of the standard 12 year old. Strong and intense flavors that demand water. I added roughly 2-3mL of water per 30mL (1oz.) of whisky. Classic Macallan profile cranked up to 11. A good value for money at around $90 for a cask strength Macallan. I still think I would take the 12 year Double Cask over this one though as I like the higher proportion of American oak that is used. Of course the Rare Cask is better than both but who can afford to make that one a permanent member of their collection? Still I have to give it up for this one. A solid 4.25 Cheers

Review transfer from Barreled from March 2017 Taking a quick detour from the SDT to try this Jameson blended Irish whiskey. This is the typical original Jameson but finished in barrels that previously held an American pale ale from the Kelso brewery in New York. Bottled at the minimum 40% ABV, most likely chill filtered with colorant added. The color is virtually identical to the original Jameson which is a golden amber. The nose starts out as your typical Jameson. Cereal malt, lemon peel, and light butterscotch. Very quickly the pale ale makes itself known. Bright citrusy hops with notes of grapefruit and pine. It's bright and floral and crisp. Right behind those hoppy notes there is rye bread with a little mint. I don't think rye is one of the grains used in Jameson, so it may be my nose playing tricks on me. Strong grapefruit hops on the palate up front. Crisp is the best way I can describe it. Not nearly as strong as an actual pale ale but it's there. Light butterscotch and mildly spicy. Not much complexity here, just more hops. A very weak mouthfeel, thin and watery. The finish is medium length. Fairly dry with grapefruit hops throughout. This is a one trick pony for sure. It's better than the original Jameson, but that isn't saying much. I do appreciate the contrasting styles and they play well together. I could see Glenmorangie working well with a pale ale finish. I'm glad I had the opportunity to try this one as it is a regional release and only available in the New York area, so thanks to @Scott_E for the sample. 3.25, worth trying but not worth buying.

Ah Tomatin. The budget single malt. Legacy, or Dualchas as it’s called here in the US, is the least expensive of the Tomatin core range. The12 year old comes in at around $35, whereas this one is a more than affordable $25. What kind of quality can be had in a single malt for so low a price? Let’s find out. This Highland NAS is bottled at 43% ABV and is more than likely chill filtered with colorant added making it a yellow gold. The nose is ripe with soft fruits. Lots of pineapple, some oranges, tangerines, apricots and some coconut. Honey, dry grasses and fairly malty. Sanded oak, some syrupy sweetness. Apples, pears, weak cinnamon and cocoa powder. Buttery biscuits and light vanilla. A little bit of a chalky/mineral quality which is the only real blemish here other than being fairly light overall. The palate delivers as expected for 43%. Oranges, pineapple, tangerines. Grassy, hay and some faint oak. Vanilla and very light lemon and cinnamon. Pepper builds the more you drink it which really gives it the power that the nose was lacking. Medium bodied mouthfeel that is oily and very mouthwatering. The finish is medium short, fruity with a touch of oak and mouthwatering throughout. Well, at $25 this is a very solid malt. Mostly light in profile but the flavors are there where it counts. Other than the pineapple, nothing really stands out, but there is nothing really bad about it either. I think I might prefer this to the 12 year old. It may have less complexity, but the 12 has a bitterness in the finish that was hard to get past. This one does not and is $8-10 less. Factoring quality and value for money, this is a solid 3.5 and possibly a 3.75. Thanks to @LeeEvolved for the sample. Cheers

Stop number 37 on the SDT is Invergordon. Like the Girvan that I recently reviewed, this distillery only produces single grain whisky. I really don't have much info on this Highland distillery, but I'm relatively sure it's main purpose is to be used in blends as you can't really find official distillery bottlings. This 9 year old bottle comes from the independent bottlers from Battlehill. Bottled at a beefy 58% ABV, non chill filtered and natural color of a pale straw. There is an initial blast of alcohol on the nose, as is to be expected at this strength. It's very waxy, candle wax or paraffin wax. A fair amount of vanilla and grain (comes off as wheat but it could be another type of grain). Green oak and sawdust. Some honey and another hit of oak, but charred oak this time. At this point it took a turn for the worse and a very sour note emerged. Like sourdough bread. I decided to add a generous amount of water to see what would happen. More grain, oak and honey came out, but so did more of that sour note. Really off putting. The palate arrives hot with sharp oak. Underripe stone fruits like apricots and nectarines and some bitter grapes or bad grapenuts cereal. Some bitter chocolate and perhaps burnt coffee beans. The water brought out that sourdough bread in the palate as well. A weird soap like note came through as well. Not pleasant and it actually made me a little nauseous. The mouthfeel is hot, oily and mouthwatering. Actually a rather pleasant mouthfeel. A medium long finish that is sour with green oak I think I've gotten my point across that this stuff was not very good, at least not for my nose and tongue. Really unpleasant sour notes. Actually it reminded me of Craigellachie with how sour it was (I know most people rave about Craigellachie but I didn't care for it). I ended up dumping about half of the sample that Lee provided me with (sorry Lee). It was just not sitting well with me, and still isn't 30 minutes later. I can't see a time when I would buy or recommend this bottle. The initial nose and mouthfeel are the only redeeming qualities that I found. I'm giving it 2 stars and I thinks that's generous. Cheers