Tastes

Arran is one of my favorite distilleries. Most of the different expressions I had were really awesome. I also really am digging the new design and the direction Arran is heading to with their own variations and experiments as well as with their sister distillery “Lagg” that is only producing peated whisky. (The Machrie Moor already was a really nice peated bottle.) So after I had the 12y I immediately got a bottle of the 18y and 21y each, which are more different that I was expecting. It has the very likable nose of Arran with a great fruitiness that is based in the sherry finish. There is dominantly dried apricots, some raisins but also a nice earthiness like wet clay. Then cranberries, black currant, banana peel, light vanilla. It also has some green tea qualities. And to top it all off: a great spice mix, which I realized is what generally makes a whisky great for me - a balance of sweetness and deep spices. When it hits the palate you immediately get nice oak soaked in dark red fruits / sherry. You can’t really tell if it is sweet or sour or even slightly bitter. It is right in the middle of these tastes and that balance makes me really like this whisky. There is dark berries conveyed in a woody syrupy texture, candied nuts (“gebrannte Mandeln” that are very popular in Germany) and then only in the end a spicy heat like cooked chilis. Later the nose become very chocolaty. But in the end it all finishes in a long and ongoing spicy fruitiness with great sherry oak. Man, what a good whisky and noticeably different to the 21y. This is a whisky you don’t wanna miss. It has many sides and a lot to discover. It also develops very nicely over the course of a dram, where it starts of fruity and sherry sweet with nice spices and near the bottom of the glas it becomes more deep, smooth and rich and loses a lot of the sweetness and becomes much more spicy almost savory. I also got this bottle on sale for only 70$ but I would pay more than this without any hesitation.

I previously had bunch of different Highland Park Whiskies with obviously a lot of their themed NAS bottles since they have so many of them. I liked the regular 12y and loved the 18y but when it comes to the various NAS expressions there wasn’t a lot of stuff that I really liked, with the exception of “Twisted Tattoo” which I actually liked quite a bid. After I finished a bottle of the 18y I wanted to get my hands on one of the even “better” releases but couldn’t really decide on which one. I heard a lot of good things about “The Dark” but weren’t able to find a sample of that. But then there was the “Triskelion” that I finally found as a sample. When I first heard of it it really spiked my interest. Basically three master distillers from Highland Park (two of which are retired by now) with over 100 years of experience in the whisky business got together to create this special release. Each of them picked one extra ordinary HP cask style and then they sat down to make the perfect blend of those. The result were first fill Spanish oak sherry casks, first fill American oak sherry casks and first fill bourbon casks. It is around 200 $ but does the idea, cask types and the final result justify that price or is it yet again one of those many NAS bottles just fancier? It is swirling nicely in a Norlan glass with its 45,1% ABV in a reddish umber color. Nose: it doesn’t explode in your nose but is intriguing you with subtle but very nice aromas. First candied orange peel, nice dry spices (cumin, cinnamon), vanilla, then also a bid of molasses and chocolate and hibiscus. The longer you nose it the more smooth and creamy it becomes. A bid like like warm cocoa with a winter spice mix and orange oil. The peat is just very much in the background and not really relevant. Later in the vanilla takes the leading aroma on the nose - like fresh French madeleines with vanilla custard. Palate: The palate takes a while to develop but it becomes very nice after you let roll around your tongue for some time. Not too sweet what I like. It feels a bid young but not in a bad way. Flavors are melted chocolate, fresh lemon juice, heated spices (a bid oriental almost), cooked plums and also dried plums as well, strawberries, cloves and nice mature oak. These mixed spices though - very nice. Finish: vanilla predominantly, also lightly acidic and very nice oak flavors, apple and pumpkin seeds, a little bid of smoke. So yeah here we are. Nice whisky for sure. The ABV feels right but that 45,1% is kinda low which really makes this look like quite young whiskies they used here. The nose is great, the palate satisfying the finish interesting. The sherry influence isn’t even close to what the 18y or 16y for example deliver. Hence it is less smooth. It for sure is good stuff you are getting here but I wouldn’t and won’t buy a bottle for 200$. Hard to put a price on this one really. The idea is nice but in the end you pay for the limited amount of bottles made for this one-time special release. If they would put it in their core range (where I could definitely see it up there with the 18y) I think it should have around the same price as the 18y. That price I would be buying it for. Worth a try if you like HP but I already payed 20$ for this sample. It was worth it though but it isn’t THE Highland Park bottle I want yet.

Very welcoming Kilchoman peat on the nose which takes the traditional Islay peat spirit one step further. I must say - the ruby cask influence is nicely delivering some deep and fresh dark red fruit aromas. It is berries galore, pineapple with a fruity barbecue sauce, ginger, minerals. On the palate very peat forward with burned matches and cold barbecue-smoked food. But also nicely sweet with cotton candy, caramelized almonds, fresh saw dust, a fresh sourness. The finish is deliciously thick and chewy. The peat smoke is intense across all stages and also dominates the finish really nicely. What a nice accident.

One of my absolut favorite whiskies is the BenRiach Curiositas (10y peated). So I had my eyes on this one for some time now and finally managed to get my hands on a sample. Just in time because BenRiach just a few days ago officially transitioned to a complete new line up where the Curiositas and the Septendecin (amongst every other names bottlings they had) are gone for good. Baked apples and pears, peanut butter, raspberries, peaches and only a little peat on the nose. The palate is very creamy, vanilla cookies, nice but slight peat, fruit bars, some spices and chilis. The finish is sweet with a little bid of ashy peat. It is likable and enjoyable. But I like to compare and it isn’t getting close to what the new post 2018 Curiositas has to offer.

This is a 50 ml sample of the Germany edition, that was distilled in 2006 and bottled in 2019 at a whopping 64.7 % ABV. (Cask No 6824 with 658 bottles) First you get creamy condensed milk, banana, orange oil. Then a bunch of vanilla, blue berries, caramel, roasted nuts, nougat and a bid of peat. Hot and strong on the palate. The nearly 65% ABV is crushing. With water you get a nice smokey peat and some sweet and nutty trail mix. Also vanilla and citrus fruits. The tastes of the finish are really nice. Sweet caramelized dried fruits, dark honey, oaky sherry cask big time, the peat is much more prominent here as well. Nice whisky that only becomes drinkable with water bringing it down to around 50% ABV. Interesting and exiting but nothing for relaxing evening dram - it will challenge you but once you get behind it, you get something like a regular 12y Highland Park but on steroids. The ABV is insane though.

Nose: the peat is typical smoky iodine and soft rubber, also juniper, strawberries, currants, peppermint, damp reeds, the port finish gives it some thickness and smoothness with oily orchard fruits. Palate: coal and ash at first, then it slowly gives way to a nice fruity part combined with peppery barbecue spices while being enjoyably sweet, really nicely balanced peat - spice - fruit ratio working great together. Finish: medium long with the peat smoke remaining smoothly and not as ashy probably because of the port finish. You sure need to be a fan of the very unique Laphroaig peat but when you are, this whisky is really good. The port finish gives it a nice secondary yet really defining character.

Nose: a cool but thick peat, a wooden aroma that reminded my of a very old wooden grandfather clock, then some polished leather, overly ripe red grapes, caramelized carrots, lemonade, the sherry influence is noticeable but very mild, still a great addition to the standard Caol Ila bottlings. Palate: acidic and dry with charcoal and slightly sweet, nice bitter and aromatic spices, grape seeds with both the bitterness and mouthfeel you have when you bite those seeds Finish: very characteristic Caol Ila, the sherry influence is barely noticeable here, wooden tannins, hot white pepper, dark apple peel The nose is really nice and really comes across enriched with that sherry part to it. The palate gets better after a few sips. The finish although quite long is fairly simple and a bid to bitter and alcoholic. But over all a nice whisky for sure.

The Glengoyne 25y is the favorite whisky of a lot of people. I couldn’t find shops selling samples of that but I found the 21, which supposedly is also very good. Well, the nose for sure is indeed very good. Super intense and rich. Also very unusual in a positiv way. Sugared black & red currants and strong strawberries, vanilla custard, waffles with butter. Behind the creamy sweetness there is a deep savory part as well - like breakfast-eggs, good warmed up olive oil. Then back to the sweet part again - now with berry ice cream and also nice gingerbread spices, milk chocolate covered raisins, hazelnut nougat. Man that is a good nose - not too sweet, what I like a lot. The palate arrives spicy and dry. Then it slowly release heavy and deep oak tannins and just a mild sweetness. Raw dried cocoa beans, roasted coffee beans, grapefruit peel, bitter chocolate. Really awesome. The finish is medium almost short and not as intense but that doesn’t surprise since the palate was super intense. The aftermath is characterful remnants of the super rich palate. A great whisky indeed. I can only imagine how good the 25y could possibly be. And I can see what the fuzz is about.

A nice orange sponge cake, Christmas baking spices, caramelized nuts, raisins, chocolate and lemon-peel form a very smooth and intensely deep nose that has a very sherry heavy background. The palate is expectedly sweet but a lot less oily than anticipated. It is spices cooked in maple syrup with strong orange oil and fresh lemon. Then some cold liquid chocolate. The sherry influence dominates here too and also defines the medium long finish. Nice and spicey with a lot of sherry cask influences to explore.

(Ardbeg parallel tasting of the An Oa, the Uigedail and the Corryvreckan.) Vanilla, quite a bid sulphuric, a good bunch of brine and salt, it has some malty fruitiness but the focus lies more on the peat and bourbon cask notes which are very upfront and dominating. The sulfur is interestingly placed on top of it all and takes a dominating places - and that makes the nose very likable and unusually interesting. Nice and dry palate. A caramelized honey sweetness. Then some very characteristic Ardbeg peat nicely bracketing it. The finish on the contrary is very smooth and oily without any hint of the high ABV.