Tastes

Although this whisky has no name, it will surely be remember as one of Compass Box most exciting peaty releases. The third part of the "No Name" collection, has been bottled at 48.9%abv, and it is a blended malt from Clynelish, Mortlach, Bowmore and mostly Laphroaig. A lovely looking bottle like most from this "whisky maker", offers a well crafted dram, that you can actually feel every malt that has been used, in separate ways while they are blended together. Pale straw color. On the nose, it begins with grass, humid sown land. It smells like a Gym. Gunpowder, a fresh can of tennis balls and acid prunes. Pine tree, floor cleaner. It is too crazy to be true. After some sips, the aroma turned into plastic with condensed milk. It smells like a horse stable and milk formula powder. Super complex. The palate is a bit of a transition to a wonderful aftertaste. Plastic and gooseberries; salt, toffee and oranges. A second sip gave me condensed milk, vanilla, hay and prunes. After some sips the orange note has overcome everything. Aftertaste is ashy but very pleasant. An elegant cigarrette; gooseberries, pepper and something that i can describe as a scorching viking war in your throat. Elegant, powerful, peaty, flavorful. Very long finish. Overall, this is the true proof that blends can be a superb dram; where the individual malts can shine as a whole. So many crazy, interesting notes here have made this dram incredibly tasty and enjoyable. My score for this beauty is 94 over 100.

Ok my friends, i told you that i had two drams at the warehouse cellar at Bowmore Distillery. Both were 22yo hand filled, but this second one... was something truly special. Drawn from a single oloroso sherry cask, at 57.3%abv, this was one of the most reddish Bowmores i have had. It is important for me to tell you, that i find Bowmore spirit to be particularly perfect for sherry maturation. On the nose, FANTASTIC. Red fruits, oloroso sherry, cheerry syrup, lemon. It has this incredible aroma that i can only describe as a sherry bubblegum. Chocolate cream. The palate was quite the experience. Starts with chocolate, red fruits and... more chocolate. All the farm and red fruits you can imagine are here. Velvety, this is an amazing thing. Can the aftertaste dance to that great rythm? The answer is yes. Chocolate and ashes. Tobacco. It is a chocolate madness. I can only describe it as heaven. Incredible whisky. Overall, this is perfect. If you drink this single malt your inner organs will become gold. Forget about any medieval alchemists, Bowmore has achieved the elixir for inmortality. My score for this heavenly drink is 100 over a 100. Slàinte Mhath!

I have arrived to Bowmore Distillery. After being a whisky nerd for years, i have always believed that this is the most collectible single malts there are in Islay, but it was never my favorite. I never hated it, i just wasn't impressed with a lot of their offerings (some other ones were quite spectacular though). Well, this distillery experience has changed my life forever. I now call myself "A Bowmore Soldier". The distillery tour, premises and warehouse is just out of this planet. Nothing compares to Bowmore, not even my favorites: Lagavulin or Glendronach. They let you go in INSIDE THE KILN. You read that right, they have a back door where you go in and you become a peaty entity. Then they let you turn the barley in the malted floor, and they let you go in the room where the barley is been burn with peat smoke. The warehouse is incredible, and they let you draw from two different 22yo casks, and you try them, then you pick one for your own hand filled bottle. Then they give you two more samples of very hard, limited Bowmores in the Bar. THAT IS A PROPER CUSTOMER SERVICE. (And the round church is just up the hill, the one that gave birth to the devil's casks legend). Having said all that, one of the drams we tasted in the actual warehouse, was this 22yo French Wine Barrique matured single cask distiller's edition, cask number 2304, vintage 1999, bottled at 47.2%abv. On the nose, it is fairly good. Bananas, vanilla ice cream, thick caramel and floral. Very elegant. It is like a banana split with a slight citrus touch. Creamy. Dim very dim ashes. Orange ice cream, very aromatic. Prunes. On the palate, a little straightforward but also nice. Red wine, Citric orange peel. Elegant in mouth as well. Aftertaste was perfect. Sawdust in a fancy way, Ashy and very salty. Red wine mixed with mineral saltiness. Great stuff. Overall, this grew with every sip. The nose was good, the palate nice and aftertaste was explosively amazing. The whole experience should award more points to this, but in order to be objective, my score for this marvelous dram is 93 over 100.

A single malt, "made for mixing"? We all know that Glenmorangie has this scientific craving, where they try a lot of cask maturations, roasted barleys, outter-space maturation and NFTs. One of their craziest statements is this Glenmorangie "X", which is intended to end in cocktails around the world. Not very expensive, ready to be served with a mountain of ice in a nightclub, i had to review it, and of course i did it neat, as the Gods of whisky demand. Bottled at 40%abv, Amber color. On the nose, it starts with a peachy syrup, cotton candy and pineapple. Corn flakes, bananas and fruit salad. Milk chocolate. Not bad. On the palate, it is not your best dram. Pineapple, peaches, milk with sugar. The tropical orange notes from any Glenmo' are here. Hay has appeared. Aftertaste is where it falls apart. Spicy pepper, salty, very dry and short. Overall, i get how this one can make a great cocktail, and i also see why they are not selling you this single malt to be drunk neat. It is an under the average whisky, not bad, and better than most spirits that are used in cocktails. Cheap and easy drinkable, my score for it is 76 over 100.

On my long airplane trip to Scotland, there was a stop at Amsterdam's Airport, which is famous for its whisky shops. There, i found one that sells single malt samples, some fancy ones. I picked a rarity, that i have seen in auctions but was one of those whiskies i was never going to buy: a 27yo Bruichladdich HB 90. It says it was matured for 17 years in American Oak casks from ex-Bourbon and Tennesee whiskies followed by 10 years in casks from one of Bordeaux’s legendary Chateau. Matured for all of its life on the isle of Islay. Bottled at 49.5%abv, lovely reddish color. Only 12.000 bottles were ever released, from the "Rare Cask Series". On the nose, it is very interesting. Glazed pork, cloth softener. Very spicy on the nose. Greasy and spicy; Dr. pepper cola. After having a couple of sips, i got an aroma of cotton candy and sweet popcorn. The palate is very good. Cherry syrup, black pepper, red fruits. More sips really cleared a lots of sweet syrup and fruitiness. Very easy drinkable. Toffee. The spiciness hits after 3 seconds but it is manageable; the third sip was all about sweet popcorn! Amazing! Aftertaste is acid. Prunes, acid fruits; feels like old sherry. You get this feeling of sour like whiskies like some bourbons. Not bad, just odd. Overall, this was an interesting dram with some changing emotions on each sip. Even if it has some crazy good notes, it lacks a little soul. Aftertaste was nice, but it was the least good part of it. My score for it is 88 over 100.

My final whisky from the Bunnahabhain distillery tasting tour was the very famous "Moine" which is gaelic for "Peat". I actually learned how to pronounce it in Spanish, "moña". This was no ordinary "Moine", this one was matured in french oak casks, and bottled at 57.4%abv as a cask strength. On the nose, fairly peaty. Povidine; merthiolate, prunes, citric. Beautiful aroma although a little simple. On the palate, i have enjoyed the peaty crazy flavors. Vanilla, lotion for burning injuries, Povidine and mouth sores remedy. Prunes. Aftertaste follows the same rythm. Povidine, iodine, prunes an citric peat. Overall, i believe this is a very good dram, but it lacks some complexity. I would love it to be a little more intense in the aftertaste. Moine expressions from Bunna' are always and unexpected treat. My score for it is 88 over 100.

The third expression i had the pleasure to taste at Bunnahabhain, was a Port Pipe Cask Strength matured, bottled at 53.9%abv, 2007 vintage. Sometimes i am impressed on how whisky can be a time machine. When i see "vintage 2007" i always ask myself, where was i in 2007? What was i doing then? (I didn't even knew what a single malt was back then). On the nose: starts with a crazy "Fresco solo" note. Fresco solo is an ecuadorian artificial juice, like "Tang". Red chilli, strawberries and tutti-frutti. On the palate, it was great. Everything you expect from a Port Pipe maturation. Red fruits, strawberries with their leaf. Sulphur, salt and very winey. After a first sip, the flavor changed into chocolate milk. Aftertaste is very good as well. Red wine, sawdust; Super dry and winey. Very nice port profiles. Red fruitiness. Overall, the port maturation was fantastic on a spirit like Bunnahabhain, which has a notoriously famous and good chocolate profile, making a perfect conjuction between the two. Wonderful dram, the best Bunnahabhain from the tasting so far, my score for it is 92 over 100.

My second Bunnahabhain from the distillery tasting was an 11yo white wine hogshead matured one, bottled at 57%abv.; i believe this one is quite rare. On the nose, it starts with coffee with caramel, and coffee with milk. Pineapple, which was expected from the white wine maturation. Milk chocolate, orange peel. The milk chocolate is something very special after nosing it over a couple of sips. On the palate, it has this extremely nice white Kit Kat note. Pineapple. Very nice dram, with Coconut and super tropical profiles. Grapefruit. Aftertaste is a little simple, but passes the test. White chocolate and spices. Overall, this one was interesting to say the least. Tropical and very white chocolaty are the main things here. It was an awesome experiment, that i have truly enjoyed; having said that, it definitively could be better with a more complex aftertaste. My score for it is 86 over 100.

Well, i have arrived to Bunnahabhain, one epic Islay distillery. There i had booked beforehand, a tasting of 4 unique single malts. When we arrived, the distillery was absolutely gorgeous with a visitor centre in front of the sea, in a beach-like house. Marvelous setting i got to say, but the people working there weren't so enthusiastic to teach us about the whiskies or do the tasting with us. They actually left the whiskies in a box for us (samples) and the empty glasses. You can actually take all the time you want, and enjoy the view, but as an experience you'll get 4 minutes of info and then you are on your own. The first whisky i picked from my box was this Pedro Ximenez "NOE" 2004 vintage, bottled at 54.1%abv. NOE is a type of rare PX sherry from Gonzalez Byass, from a 30 year solera maturation. On the nose, it is quite dim and dissapointing. Pineapple, chocolate, hazelnut and sawdust. Tropical notes, arcor's "chocolatin". On the palate it was really good. Milk chocolate, very appealing. Pineapple and tropical fruits. Salt. Chocolate toffee. SUPER SUGARY CAP'N CRUNCH Cereal or Frosted Flakes! Aftertaste was great as well. Sawdust, vinegar, ginger. Actually super vinegar notes. Like the Dalmore custodian, the vinegar here is uncanny. There is this sugary aftertaste, beautiful. Very long. Overall, this should have a better score, but the nose was no match for an awesome palate and aftertaste. The rare sherry used really gave me some interesting notes here. Good whisky, my score for it was 85 over 100.

Hello friends! I have finally arrived to my dreamed destination, the ISLE OF ISLAY. Home of the amazing peated whiskies and some other unpeated that are part of an incredible whisky world. The first distillery i visited was the youngest operational one, Ardnahoe. A beautiful place, where whisky is not ready just yet. Nevertheless, i went to the distillery bar, where they had some marvelous expressions, some independent bottlings and rarities. There i found this Tamdhu 20yo Cask Strength by "First Editions", one of only 265 bottles, bottled at 55.8%abv, vintage 1998. On the nose, nice complexity. Apples, vanilla, toffee. Quite Spicy. Coffee and acetone. Very buttery; corn and recently baked brownies. There is this full toffee aroma after a couple of sips. On the palate, it starts with red apple peel, then toffee and caramel. Black pepper. Sweet and very spicy. Vanilla fondant, vanilla Cake. Aftertaste is all about creamy vanilla. Barley, hay and toffee. Very well delivered. Overall, this was a good whisky, nothing to die for, some classic flavors and aromas, but well delivered to match an enjoyable experience. Tamdhu is famous for its toffee profile and you find it here. My score for this balanced dram is 88 over 100.