Tastes

Another exclusive Glendronach from the already famous Danish Whisky Retailers, this one i have seen for a long time in social media till i finally managed to get my hands on it. A 2007 vintage "Glendro", with 11 years of maturation, this one has been bottled at 46%abv and matured in Px casks. On the nose, it is very good! Chocolate Raisinets, Dr. Pepper, Grand marnier liquor and blackberries. Coffee, cocoa and hazelnut; some floral and red fruitiness. Milk powder (formula). Pretty much what you expect from a solid Px Cask matured Glendronach. On the palate it starts wonderfully. Strawberries, red fruits, chocolate and floral notes. The sad part is that every sip became thinner, watery and weak. Aftertaste was not the best. Sawdust. Very dry. Pepper spiciness. With every sip it also became dimmer. Overall, this is not a bad whisky at all, but i might be the lowest scoring Glendronach i have ever had. The reason for this is that it became weaker with every sip; it lost flavor and power. My score for it is 85 over 100.

Nowadays m all in in some Island Whiskies that flew under my radar in my first years of this whisky adventure. One of those is Tobermory, who has a sister distillery, Ledaig. Well, i managed to get my hands on a wonderful and very limited 14 year old Tobermory Marsala Cask Finish, which is one of my favorite whisky maturations; bottled at 56.3%abv; one of only 288 ever made. On the nose, it is so fruity and crazy. Starts with watermelon juice. Talcum powder; wet clothed, grapes and liquid paper. Lotion. After a couple of sips, the aroma changed into a milk chocolate; meat and a fruit market. It is so all over the place!. Merthiolate. On the palate, pure perfection. Watermelon, papaya and a pepper bomb. Simply spectacular, creamy milk chocolate. Aftertaste follows the palate, also achieving a perfect score here. Milk chocolate, watermelon, red chilli and some metallic notes. It is like a Ninja Kick made of watermelon, directed to your face. Amazing. Overall, everytime i have a whisky that is so good as this one, i regret having shared it in my tasting events, lol. Wonderful, interesting because of its crazy, not-usual tasting and aroma notes; if you ever see this bottle, you have to buy it, no matter what. An incredible single malt, my score for it is 95 over 100.

Compass Box is famous for doing bespoke whiskies to certain stores, restaurants and bars. In this amazing trend, they have worked with a brewing company to develop a very affordable blend called Transistor. Bottled at 43%abv, this has been created to be mixed or paired with beer. On the nose, peaches, wet wall paint, bread, and very yeasty. Not remarkable, but not bad at all. On the palate, it gave me a wonderful white Kit kat chocolate; heart of the pineapple and oranges. Again this yeasty note; a spongy cake. There is youthness hiding beautifully in the yeast. Butter. Aftertaste is all about sawdust, a great cuban cigar, salt and pepper. Tropical fruitiness appear along the saltiness and the tobacco. Overall, for a 50 -60 dollar whisky, this is actually very good. Not overly complex or remarkable, this is a good deal for your money. Very enjoyable, i could have this one any day. My score for it is 83 over 100.

So, i love these vintage Glenmorangies, from the 80s and 90s, and i had one myself, the Madeira wood finish. I had it for a long time till the day i drank it, because whisky is meant to be tasted and enjoyed, not to rest forever in a shelf. Having said that, i went to friend's house where he took this vintage Port Wood finish one; and i got to say i was excited to try it. The main different between port and madeira, is that, even if they both come from Portugal, they come from different zones (Madeira and Porto) where they get their name. Basically, you can say that both are pretty similar fortified wines, with lots of red fruitiness notes in them. This is a 90s bottle, natural color, bottled at 46%abv. On the nose, this is what you expect. Cherries, Tiramisu dessert, typical orange peel from Glenmorangie. "Tres leches" dessert and a light floral note. It has the aroma of coffee with milk. After a first sip, the aroma changed to a red chilli!; Port wine and maple syrup. Hazelnut. Great aroma. On the palate, it starts spicy, with red chilli. Cherries, salt and an unexpexted pepper bomb. Aftertaste is nice. Sawdust, fruit spice and macerated fruits. Overall, this was a beautiful dram that i enjoyed thoroughly. I still think the madeira was a bit better, but this one was truly easy to drink with nice combination of flavors and aromas. My score for this "oldie" is a solid 89 over 100.

I already talked about the great Arran Machrie Moor, Fingal's Cut, heavily peated single sherry cask; and now it is time to rate their younger brother; called only "Machrie Moor", with a strength of 46%abv, which is the main difference between the two expressions. Machrie Moor is the black "milk-looking" bottle, with the wolf on the label. On the nose, it starts with plastic, like a school plastic folder. Minty, pineapple, agave, ashtray. It is like a cactus. Pineapple juice; pineapple pie. Lotion for burnt skin. After a couple of minutes it smells exactly like a frosting of donuts. It actually smells cold. After a couple of sips, it gave me pond water. Milk chocolate. On the palare, starts with vanilla juice; pineapple. A pepper bomb and again this cactus note. Rose wlth spines? It tastes like that. Milk chocolate. Aftertaste is where the peaty notes appear. Sawdust, mild smoke. Scorched earth. Copper, salty, it fell a little in power after a couple of sips. On the third sip it gave me a full ashy note; amazing! It has been reborn. Overall, you just can't go wrong with Arran. It gives you lots of complexity and tropical flavors in every expression, and this "Machrie Moors" are also peaty which is always good in my books. A very solid single malt, my score is 88 over 100.

I feel like one of the most exciting releases of this last year is this Laphroaig 16yo. I truly believe that this incredibly polarizing distillery wants to challenge the almighty Lagavulin 16 with this expression, the question that now rises is: Will Laphroaig achieve this goal? Lets review the whisky! Bottled at 48%abv, golden color. On the nose, your medicinal typical Laphroaig note right away. Tangerine, Povidyn tonic, and a wet/rainy feeling that transported me to 1998 when a climate phenomenon hit Ecuador, it is called "El niño". After a first sip, it gave me tea and scottish fudge.  It smells like a lotion for burnt skin, and rainforest. On the palate, it is quite good. Toffee and plastic. I can only describe the aroma as the furry cows in Scotland, if you ever get to experience that, you'll know i am speaking the truth here. Nerf toys. A second sip gave me this overall sensation of been at a pharmacy. Aftertaste is so artificial, like something made up in a factory. I really have a struggle to define things, because i am pretty sure this is like a synthetic chocolate. It is like a plastic bonfire.  Feels very artificial and mineral. Overall, i am truly amazed on how strange my review of this whisky might sound. But it is, what it is, and this one is a rollercoaster of some very interesting, well delivered flavors and aromas that happen to be a little crazy. It is no match for Laga's 16yo, it is like a completely different monster. My score for it is 90 over 100.

Is there anything better than a sherried Kilchoman? Yes, a Px Sherried Kilchoman. The Kilchoman PX Sherry Cask Matured is a wonderful, relatively new expression from 2021. If you have tasted Sanaig, matured in Oloroso Sherry, you know that the spirit from this "farm distillery" is perfect for sherry maturation. Bottled at a nice 47.3%abv, it has the most incredible reddish color ever. On the nose, lots of Chocolate. Hints of school glue, Silicon, hay and peat. Sown land, Iodine. After a first sip, the aroma changed into a sunny beach; Coconut, smells like a beach party. Bronzer, coffee and maraschino cherry syrup. Letting it breath released a stinky peat, fishy. Super complex. On the palate, it is all about red fruits. Sherry, red wine.  Milk chocolate madness, this is SO CREAMY it resembles a marshmallow. Aftertaste is amazing. Sand and Salt. Sulphuric and metallic, but also sweet. Overall, this is a must in my books. You cant just let this one pass. The Px Sherry has transformed the Kilchoman Peatiness into crazy aroma and tasting notes, super complex and enjoyable. Full of flavor, my score for this one is 95 over 100.

There is an old Scottish poem, that tells the story of Fingal, a Giant warrior, who lived in "Fingal's Cave", an actual place in Ireland if i am not wrong (marvelous looking thing by the way), who had a wolf as a pet, and who created the "Machrie Moor" a circle of rocks, similar to Stonehenge but less good looking. For Arran distillery, "Machrie Moor" is the name of their peated expression, and "Fingal's cut" is a special type of Machrie Moor, often bottled at Cask Strength. Actually, this one has all the right words to it: heavily peated, Sherried, single cask strength. Bottled at 54.4%abv, this has a chesnut color to it. On the nose itbis crazy good. Oregano spice, bacon, cherries, lemon peel and chocolate. It has this aroma of detergent and Filet mignon. Also green prunes and chocolate. Wow, this is a Rollercoaster. On the palate it is a cherry madness. Maple syrup, plums and lemon. Sweet and sour, this is out of this world. Aftertaste is tongue scorching in a good way. Smokey, very smokey. Spicy and herbal; this is a bonfire. Burning hay,  peaty, marvelous. Overall, Arran is nowadays ranked as one of my favorite distilleries, it just never dissappoints. This is absolutely gorgeous as a single malt, super complex, full of character and flavor and it goes for less than 50 pounds in Arran's website. Of course i have paid 3 times that because i live in Ecuador and getting it here is difficult, but if you have to make an effort to get a whisky, this is the one. My score is 100 over 100. Slàinte!

Well, this one is a true rarity. Arran Royal Island is a 30yo expression bottled by Arran Distillers, which was founded in 1995, so the math does not add up. The true thing here, is that new distilleries tend to buy stock from other whisky makers, to bottle special editions to fund the investment of their new premises. This is the case of this Blended whisky, aged for 30 years in what i believe are sherry casks, since most of the labeling is unreadable to me, since this was released exclusively for Taiwan Markets. Bottled at 40%abv, Tawny color. On the nose, Super dried oranges, coffee; cherries and maple syrup. Caramelized apple and cinnamon. Incredible aroma, almost perfect score. On the palate, it was very fruity. Oranges, milk, red fruits: strawberries. More sips gave me red apples, caramel and a slight saltiness. Aftertaste is so sweet it can be cloying. Milk and sugar; Moka. Very elegant, and long. Tiramisu dessert and a hint of salt. Overall, this was a very nice, elegant, fancy whisky. For a blend, you never ever feel the grain part of it, and the fruitiness and sweetness of it is really great. A wonderful, yet very rare expression, my score for it is 90 over 100.

The young kid Anakin Skywalker was too old to be trained to be a Jedi. There was too much fear in him. He had no father, he was conceived by Midichlorians (believed to be done using the dark side of the force by Darth Sidious and Darth Plagueis), he was trained as a Jedi but never got ranked as a Master. After losing his mother to Tusken Raiders, he sweared that he will learn how to prevent the death of his loved ones... something you cannot learn from a Jedi. Darth Vader is by far, the most important villain of Movie history, he is also the main character of the whole Star Wars Saga, and has become a cultural phenomenon. If you don't believe me, "i find your lack of faith... disturbing". This time, i review the 9yo Glendronach "Darth Vader" a hiper collectible item, a wonderful whisky matured in PX casks, an bottled at 48%abv. This bottle gets its "unofficial" name from the color of the label and box and it was the third (and most expensive) release from the "unofficial Star Wars Glendronach Collection". Only 3000 were ever released, made exclusively for the Danish Whisky retailers. On the nose, the Dark side of the force seduces you. Chocolate; cocoa, hazelnut, and very "powdery". It is like a Crunch chocolate bar. Burnt hay and ginger. After a first sip, the aroma went even more chocolaty, with dates and sawdust. Perfect score here. On the palate it is very sweet. Crunch Chocolate dipped in toffee. Dulce de leche, figs and wet chocolate cake. Pistachios. Aftertaste waa incredibly fruity. Red berries, blackberries and some saltiness. Dates, figs and raisins, it can only be described as dark purple aftertaste. Overall, this was fantastic. I truly believe that you can rule the Galaxy with this dram, and that is specially good if you consider this is only a 9 year old single malt. Super sherried, this one can be considered a Masterpiece. Luckily, i managed to obtain 2 bottles... because there are always two siths, one Master and one Apprentice. My score for the Jedi who will eventually return to the light with an Ewok song, is a 96 over 100. May the Force be with you.