Tastes

I really like Kilchoman and it is my favorite peat Islay distillery so far followed by Ardbeg and Bunnahabhain. Their range is huge already although they just started production in 2005. Impressive what they managed to achieve in these few years. What made this particular expression so interesting to me was the fact that is has a slightly higher ABV with 50% and it is a red wine STR cask maturation. It is 7 years old (2012 / 2019) but for Kilchoman I think age doesn’t matter too much. I’m sure that observation will change though once we get the chance to taste a 20y old one but for now I don’t miss anything in their whisky. Nose: the incredible Kilchoman signature peat smoothly embedded in cooked berries in vanilla pudding topped with soft buttery caramel sauce - and a cold ash in the background which adds a certain coolness to the nose. Palate: exiting stuff. A lot less sweet than expected. The peat is right up front and dominates the palate from start to finish. There is barely any sweetness at first. Next to a rough ashy peat it has some very refined but limited smoothness that reminds me of a fruitbar made from cooked orchard fruits and berries. Later it gets malty sweeter with every sip. Finish: peaty, salty and briny smooth with a peppery heat that goes on forever. It is so very clean and defined. It has a lot of character and is very honest and pure. It is a quite demanding experience but so enjoyable and interesting and has a developing taste over the course of a dram. Very exiting. (I will return to this taste after I progressed into the bottle in a few months.)

Revisiting after some time and only a few drams left in the bottle. I really like this whisky. I know there aren’t many out there who share this opinion but this the kind of whisky I like if it isn’t peated. Especially for a 12y age statement this is really rich and interesting. Nose: After pouring and letting it breathe for some minutes it spreads a nice chocolate note. From the glass directly you get a super interesting and intensified nose with soft sour juicy fruits, caramelized hazelnuts and creamy fudge with some vanilla creme brûlée. It has a very sweet nose which can be off putting for some individuals but I really like it for that. It has a nice fresh sourness as well which gives it a proper young note as well, but the alcohol (from a Norlan glas) on the nose is just at a right spot. Palate: first hard toffee candy with a intense sweetness - then it gets quite hot and sharp with flavors of sour patches, fresh fruit salad, and roasted chili-nuts - after about half a minute on the palate it becomes creamy, quite malty and very nutty (hazelnut nougat creme) with a mild chocolate note as well. It isn’t too sweet at least for my taste. The alcohol with its nearly 52% ABV is prominent but leaves enough space to let all the flavors develop nicely if you give it time in the mouth. The finish is roasted cocoa nibs, really quite woody, cold coffee, nut shells, burned sugar and a chili coat in the back of the throat. After a while it leaves a metallic sensation in the mouth. A great interesting and intense whisky for its age. I always am happy to return to it. A shame not many like it really. I already have a second bottle waiting that I - once this one is empty - I will return to in a year or two and see if it still holds up.

Arran ✔ Cask strength ✔ Sherry Cask ✔ Peated ✔ Small Batch ✔ Age statement ✘ Except for it being an NAS what is not to like about this special Arran bottle? It all started with a random Instagram post that Arran distillery shared of some random whisky aficionado from Belgium enjoying a dram of this bottling. After seeing that bottle I immediately knew that I need to have it. And after texting this person it turned out he actually owns quite a big whisky store and that he is also Arran ambassador. Since they didn’t have an online store, we managed to do the transaction via mail and just a few days later the special delivery from Belgium arrived. Arran is one of my top 3 distilleries and I already enjoyed their only retail peated bottling Machrie Moor, which was only bourbon cask matured. But Arran does Sherry finishing superbly and that made this bottle a no-brainer for me. Nose: the peat is really present, but right next to it an incredible soft fruit mix with loads of vanilla and buttery marzipan, also an interesting maritime note which I usually don’t get from Arran whiskys, the high ABV is completely absent (using a Norlan glass), in the back of the nose is a vibrant fresh lemon / orange sensation, then some dark raspberries, although it has a sweet fudgy character the peat and wood mix also gives it a strong organic “maturity” which compensates graciously for it being an NAS. Palate: delicious peat amongst fruit cake that is covered with honey and roasted chili flakes, some waxy notes, the alcohol is present at first but not very intense feeling, later it becomes pure butter in the mouth with the woody peat covering the back palate. On later sips the ABV gets more challenging but still very much in the enjoyable range. Finish: like the cold pan of a honey coated roast with herbs in a smoker from the previous day It feels like the smokey peat is not inside of the whisky, but somehow surrounds it very nicely. The whisky starts of sweet then gets hot like caramelized smoked chili, almost salty and wooden and then finishes off citric sweet again with some mild herbs and spices, dark wood aromas and cold peat smoke. Water really doesn’t do anything good to it. It somehow even felt hotter after adding water and it lost sweetness as well. This really felt best undiluted. In conclusion - this is a fantastic whisky. It honestly reminds me of the Loch Gorm from Kilchoman but has a much more fruity sweet very Arran-like nose with less peat. Of course it doesn’t have Islay peat levels but the complexity and intense flavor mix integrated very nicely in the enveloping peat aromas are really well done. The enjoyment and experience is on par with my favorite Islay whisky Loch Gorm. Another whisky I wish I could share. I am really blown away by how nice Arran can utilize peated whisky.

I did it - I got a bottle of the “old” Highland Park 18. There is so much praise and gloryfication that I had to make a picture of it myself. I went through a bottle of the “new” 18 ‘Viking Pride’ earlier this year which I emptied in late summer. And that one I really liked. But I saw people claiming that the new variant also differs from the old one. So instead of grabbing another Viking Pride bottle I set out to find myself a bottle of the old version. And I finally did - for an even slightly cheaper price than the Viking themed one. So here we go. Nose: peat and sherry, berries and cookies, cold cocoa, then creamy vanilla, a fruity acidicy, later: oranges, florals, Palate: nice balance of malty sweet, fruity sour and oaky, then warm spices, a bid of fresh soil, light nuttiness (like Nutella), gets sweeter bid by bid but keeps a certain dryness Finish: the first finish I remember always being the most rewarding part of the age statement HPs - so is this. Everything comes together what on the nose and palate started to unfold. There is very prominent oak wood, a dry sensation like white wine and a prickly effervescent sensation with a nougat nuttiness in the end. In conclusion it is a really nice whisky. It has character, is very nicely balanced, it is bold with its mature bitterness, a bourbon cask dominance and a enjoyable and interesting finish. I sadly didn’t keep a sample of the previous 18y bottle from the Viking line but from my perspective I can’t really tell a difference. I think i remember the newer Viking version being a little more sherry forward but that impression can be off because it has been a while. I guess I will have to get my hands on a sample of it to compare both side by side. The neck pour didn’t fulfill my high expectations but after returning to it after some time it became an even better experience for me and I enjoyed it more. At the start of a dram it still doesn’t blow you away but after just a few sips it becomes incredibly enjoyable with its richness and boldness. I changed my 4.0 rating to 4.25

A couple of weeks ago I emptied a bottle of the 10y and liked every bid of it. I also had a dram of the 12y CS and the 18y previously but always missed out on the 15y. I finally got a bottle (which were rare for some months because of distillery shutdowns earlier this year) and also can recall @Soba45 statement “15 is a very unique beast”. Nose: herbal candy (Ricola), super intense, wet reeds, pepper-spice-mix, lots of bran flakes, a sweet and super rich Campeltown character, later strong malt and vanilla Palate: granola, not too sweet, hot fried chili peppers, but still smooth, then slowly a hard caramel sweetness with strong herbal notes and then dry spices again, then that herbal candy again Finish: medium long, like organic cola: spices, a mild sweetness, some bitter notes, in the end nice dried chili again It’s funny that the peat is not noticeable as such - but overall this whisky has a smokyness to it but I wouldn’t say it is identifiable as peat. Interesting. I didn’t expect this whisky to be this intense. It is super spicy and not too sweet at first. This will be challenging you with its richness. This is like the Benromach 15 but with a defining Campeltown identity. This will take some drams to getting used to - but I am looking forward to it.

Bourbon, sherry and marsala wine cask maturation - that already sounds intriguing. Nose: familiar young BenRiach profile with the wine influence definitely noticeable amongst the familiar peat. Sugared fruits, banana, dried fruit mix, smoother than its younger siblings, later some spices appear most prominent being caraway. Palate: malty sweet, Creme brûlée, cocoa powder, smooth almost oily but also with a noticeable burn, a slightly acidic fruitiness, dark ripe cherries, lots of wood appear later with sherry recognizable. Also ground coffee and maybe some dark chocolate. Finish: medium long, now with sweet almonds, lots of the oak cask influences, coffee remains with dried chili. An interesting bottle, but I think it would really do better with a few more years of maturation. But I’d say the VFP is right on point here.

This is the new evolution to its predecessor Curiositas, which is one of my favorite whiskies. That old version is discontinued now and so I’m hoping for this freshly opened bottle to fill its shoes properly. The nose is fresher then the Curiositas but has the same backbone. Next to vanilla and citrus notes with malty sugars and that familiar peat there also is some peppermint and roasted wheat bread. It is even smoother on the nose and has some more oak wood alongside. The nose is actually a bid better than the Curiositas. Later you get pineapple and sugared and cooked orchard fruits. The palate also a step up. Nice. Vibrant and rich with a slightly hotter but appropriate alcoholic burn. Not as sweet but still very much like burned caramel. The peat still very bright and not ashy at all. The finish isn’t as good but still nice. It is shorter and smoother than the Curiositas. The taste that remains is a bid like coka cola spices and equally sour sweet. A nice replacement for the Curiositas for sure - I miss nothing - I even prefer this new expression. Well done. For this price a really good pick.

I revisit this whisky once again. It has been one of my first whiskies I ever had and over the course of many months it has always been one of my favorites. The reason I am re-tasting it again is not only because I just opened a new bottle of it but also because I want to have it in comparison. BenRiach recently changed their design to a new but old school esthetic. With that they also heavily revised their complete core range. This Curiositas and every other bottling they had is now a thing of the past. For their peated whiskies they have two different expressions now, one being kinda exactly the same like the Curiositas and the other one being 12 years old but instead of virgin oak, bourbon and rum finish that one has bourbon, sherry and Marsala wine finish. I just opened both bottles of these new ones as well to compare all three side by side to see what the evolution of BenRiach has to offer. The nose makes me happy. It is pure and raw with a nicely balanced peat. It has a malty sweetness and vanilla but also cooked raisins and an organic / earthy aspect to it. I personally don’t know rum really well but there is an note amongst it all that has qualities of barreled rum. The palate arrives syrupy sweet with a leathery peat and canned fruits. A little bid of wood as well and all together quite smooth. The finish is medium long and next to a caramel sweetness remains with dried tobacco, a slightly bitter sourness and oaky flavors. Going back to this whisky after a couple of months makes me take a few points off my original rating. It is still a very good whisky which suits my palate and preferences really well. But I have had a lot of good peated whiskies in the meantime and that fact puts my idea of the perfect whisky - which I have yet to find - in perspective. But I also know that the Curiositas develops quite nicely in the bottle which will very likely up my rating again in a few months. But over all it is balanced really nice and for its young age quite smooth indeed. For me it is on the same level as the Springbank 10, where both of them share their main qualities.

3rd and final sample of Compass Box blends. On the nose a familiar iodine cold ash peat embedded in a melange of crispy white bread, sweet tangerines, bitter oranges / grapefruit, light apples, a salty note, a bid of lemon and vanilla. Not overly sweet and surprisingly fresh. Checking the information sheet from CB the used distilleries are not a surprise: Caol Ila and Laphroaig mainly - all Bourbon cask matured only. The palate is a bid weird in an interesting way at first but then settles nicely with wooden smoke, vanilla sweetness, a welcome smoothness and a really amazing Islay peat. The finish is rewarding really. Sweet and peaty almost creamy and quite long with a bid of oak in the end. For sure the best out of the three CBs I had (Spaniard and Spice Tree being the others). It is a nice Islay whisky expression not over-fabricated. When you are a fan of typical Islay peat this bottle is a nice addition to your collection for sure. I like it.

After The Spaniard this is my second sample of Compass Box blends. And it is very similar to The Spaniard indeed on the nose. It is bright and fresh. There is mixed orchard fruits, apple cider, white grapes, milk with honey, fresh saw dust. Are there spices though? If so it is light Christmas cookie spices if at all. Interesting on the palate. Acidic and now indeed spicey. Fresh ginger, pepper, Italian herbs, nutmeg. Also orange zest and bitter nuts. The finish is short and fruity with a slight bitter wood aroma and a good bunch of dried & roasted spices. All in all really quite similar to The Spaniard, which I liked a little better. This Spice Tree doesn’t trigger the right points to make it really memorable for me. It is still good and very well composed for what it is.