Tastes
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Ancnoc. Have you tasted anything from them? Because i recently discovered it after 900 whiskies, and believe me, it was one of the most important discoveries i have made lately. After a couple good expressions i wanted to step up my game. That is why i have picked the 18yo, which is one of the reddish whiskies i have seen, and we are talking about natural color here. Bottled at 46%abv. On the nose, it starts slow. Red fruits, Spicy prunes; Cigarrettes and Madeira wine. It is like a Cigarrette with a cherry infusion. On the palate, it is fantastic. Red fruits: Strawberries, Port wine and Prunes. It is so syrupy, red fruit syrup. Fresh farm fruits. It is like a strawberry marmalade. Aftertaste is very well delivered. Acid prunes and very astringent. Winey with mild ashiness. Strawberries. Overall, i have to say that the nose lost some points, but after that, this was a memorable whisky. I loved the mixture of peaty notes and the port wine red fruitiness. Amazing, enjoyable, elegant, complex, delicious dram. I would buy a bottle, and the price is not out of this world. My score for it is 90 over 100.
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Bunnahabhain Toiteach A Dhà
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed May 31, 2022 (edited November 8, 2022)I have seen this unpronounceable Bunnahabhain a lot of times and i actually never had it, but it is one of those cases where you think you have tasted a whisky till you are invited a glass and you check your notes and "Voilá", a new review must be added. Toiteach a Dha means "SMOKY TWO", because it seems this is a spin off of a best seller malt called from "Bunna", called Toiteach ("smoky"). Bottled at 46.3%abv On the nose, peaty notes! Cotton socks, cloth softener, fresh towels. A super citric lime, and the trademark chocolate from Bunnahabhain. A second sip gave me humidity and wet sticky pages of an old wet book. On the palate it is good, but too simple. Chocolate, a pair of Socks and Gooseberries. Aftertaste is all about Pepper, cotton and a fresh can of new tennis balls. Not too complex but fun. Overall, this is a winner. Peaty / chocolate dram will always be a winner for me. Not overly expensive and definitively flavorful. A nice single malt, my score for it is 86 over 100. -
I am not sure if this is my first Tamnavulin, but what i am truly sure is that i haven't had the chance to proper analyze this distillery that belongs to "Emperador.Inc" which are the nowadays owners of Whyte & Mackay, a company that in whisky has one great brand: Dalmore. The other ones tend to be not to appealing to the general public. This is the review for the Double Cask, their first official bottling after some decades. Finished in sherry casks. Bottled at 40%abv. On the nose, lots of fruits and sweets. Citric, chocolate. Grapefruit, gooseberries and other fresh farm fruits. The toffee note here is out of this world. On the palate, it is a little simple. Lots of toffee, gooseberries and an acid feeling like a lemon peel. Aftertaste was dull. Sawdust, standard oakiness and bitter new wood. Overall, for a cheap single malt, which comes from a very sub-par distillery, this was not as bad as i could have guessed by only looking at the bottle, which is not my cup of tea. Enjoyable dram with a dissapointing, young finish. My score for it is 79 over 100.
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Arran Barrel Reserve
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed May 27, 2022 (edited November 14, 2023)So, i came back to the Scotch Whisky Museum on Edinburgh, and my favorite part is where the tour ends and they let you go into the majestic bar for a free tasting and some other paid jewels. One of the whiskies i have never tried, was this Arran Barrel Reserve, from one of my favorite distilleries, The Arran Malt. Bottled at 43%abv. On the nose, it was very floral. Heather, citric, spicy and chocolate notes. On the palate, it has toffee notes but also the classic pineapple heart from Arran. More sips revealed impalpable sugar. Aftertaste follows the same floral, heathery path, with some pepper spiciness. Overall, a very simple yet good expression fro Arran, i believe this might be one of their cheapest expressions and they still manage to deliver something enjoyable. Nothing to fancy though. My score for it is a solid 80 over 100. -
Tomatin 14 Year Port Casks
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed May 26, 2022 (edited May 27, 2022)A 14yo Tomatin, matured in Port Casks, is this surprising expression that i really never heard or seen before i had it in an scottish bar in Edinburgh. Bottled at 46%abv, this have been partially matured in bourbon casks and finished in tawny port pipes. On the nose, lots of red fruits, caramelized apples, cherry syrup. A second sip gave me a very citric like grapefruit and starfruit. On the palate, it was very sweet, like a cherry syrup overload. Then it changes to a nice acidity like a cabernet sauvignon wine. It is a little rough. A second sip gave me honey for a second, and coconut. Aftertaste has a nice burnt hay with some burnt tobbacco notes. It is like a ashy / peaty finish that came out of nowhere. Nice. Overall, this one might not be the most memorable dram ever, but is far from been bad or off-putting. I would normally pick any other dram over this if given the chance, but i would not hesitate to drink it if i am invited a glass in any occasion. My score for it is a fair 84 over 100. -
Would you believe me if i tell you that after having tasted 931 whiskies, i realized that i have never had a Naked Grouse from the Famous "Famous Grouse"? Well that is no longer an issue for me since i had it already. And guess what, i liked it a lot. Bottled at 43%abv. On the nose, it is very bourbonish; Banana and fancy, very fancy red fruit syrup. Caramel and floral. Cherry syrup, this is so syrupy. Thick Honey and Apricot peel. Some prunes after a couple of sips. On the palate, Honey, peaches and mild saltiness. Fruit spices if that even exists. Apricot peel. Aftertaste, it had a wonderful stack of hay, best hay/tobacco leaf note ever. Very cowboy. Western. Very interesting aftertaste. Refined hay. Overall, i dont think this one is expensive, nor rare, but man, it was very rewarding. It is the most "bourbonish" scotch ever. I dont usually tend to like this type of drams, but Naked Grouse is so well delivered, that i truly enjoyed it. My score for it was a solid 86 over 100.
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The standard Hazelburn, the flagship of this pseudo-distillery (because it actually is Springbank Distillery) is this 10yo single malt, that has become one of the most acclaimed whiskies in Scotland, sharing that popularity with its sisters bottlings Longrow and Springbank. Bottled at 46%abv. On the nose, creamy and full of chocolate. Red fruits; it has this milk cream that is used in coffee. On the palate, whipped cream, a little grainy. Chocolate and fairly nutty. Lots of vanilla, grain, malted barley and chocolate. Aftertaste is Salty, and very mineral. Coffee beans notes. Overall, a nice, straightforward whisky, with clean flavors which are very well delivered. Mostly creamy and sweet, it has a salty spin-off here and there. A nice offering for a core range, my score is 80 over 100.
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Tormore 1996 20 Year Cask Strength (Gordon & MacPhail)
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed May 26, 2022 (edited May 27, 2022)I've just returned from the holy land of Whisky, Scotland. I had a mission and it was to reach my whisky review number 1000, and i started that journey with only 71 whiskies left to taste to achieve that goal. My first dram of the trip was a lovely Gordon & MacPhail bottling of one of those bottles you don't tend to find that often, a Tormore. To ve precise, a 20yo Tormore, Cask Strength at 57.4% abv, distilled in 1995 from a refill bourbon barrel. On the nose, quite beautiful. Lime and salt. Slight chocolate. Creamy; some hay and sulphur saltiness have risen. Metallic. Tequila light feeling. Very fruity, lemon, citric. Very aromatic. On the palate, it mantains a good offering. Toffee, lime and salt. Very nice, sweet dulce de leche, slightly sulphuric. A second sip was way lighter, still a chocolate note infused with salt. There is a ghostly lemon behind the chocolate. Aftertaste was a little straightforward, but still delicious. Toffee, metallic notes. Lemon, salty, chocolate, hay. Overall, this one was a nice opening for such a trip. I will be visiting a lot of distilleries in the mainland, and i will finally achieve my dream of going to Islay. This one is a fine, elegant single malt, worthy of 90 over 100 points in my books. -
The Dalmore 1263 Custodian, Milllenium Reserve
Single Malt — Highland, Scotland
Reviewed May 13, 2022 (edited May 14, 2022)Critics always say, that Dalmore has a low abv and that is why it fails. I am not one of those critics since i have long loved Dalmore since the day i first tasted it. Having said that, this expression is the one critics have been waiting: a Distillery release Cask Strength. Bottled at 57.7%abv, Dalmore 1263 The Custodian Millenium Release is a 12yo Cask Strength bottling, distilled in the year 2000 with that same amount of bottles ever made. Matured in part in matusalem sherry, i believe this is going to be good. It was only available to Dalmore Custodians, a group you can be a part of. On the nose, oh my god what is marvelous aroma!!! Coffee, cocoa, nutella, waffer. It is like coffee with milk. Toffee. Cherry syrup, prunes, dates and candied fruits. It is the most powerful, dark and lovely aroma ever in the world. On the palate, it was out of this world. Chocolate, hazelnut, Nutella; crazy winey. Dates, raisins and dulce de leche, but everything super powerfully delivered. Amazing. Aftertaste was CRAZY. Acid prunes, Grassy; wine and.... VINEGAR? OLIVE OIL, olives. It has this Martini feeling, it is very strange and interesting. Super weird. Fantastic. Well, let me tell you this: i shared this dram in a tasting event with 15 other people. 8 of them gave it the title of Whisky of the night, the other 7 hated it. They all recognized it as the best nose ever in whisky, but the vinegar aftertaste was the part not everyone liked. For me, it was proper for an amazing and interesting dram; it offered me something completely different and inappreciate that. The olives and vinegar were fantastic in my books, but i can see how this can be a love-or-hate dram as any Laphroaig when you taste it for the first time. My score for it is not 100. It is 102, if that is even possible. Slàinte! -
There is nothing like drinking a good whisky that has been discontinued, because you can say "i was responsible for its extinction of this world, and it was great". I felt exactly that when i drank this marvelous GlenAllachie 25yo, matured in Px and Oloroso Casks, distillery release. Actually, GlenAllachie, since Billy Walker bought it, has became the king of Speyside whiskies, with emormous flavors and aromas. This was no exception. Bottled at 48%abv, lovely chesnut color. On the nose, it is exactly as sweet prune that got stuck in you nose. Incredible. Very winey, rum and raisins, dates. It smells like ice cream, it actually smells cold. Chocolate, hay and glazed pork. Dark chocolate. Perfect score here. On the palate it was divine. Red wine, Red fruits, gooseberries and Tobacco. Oily but fancy. Cuban cigars Aftertaste continues the greatness of this dram. Salty, sawdust, winey, sulphur and Cigar. It felt citric everywhere. Overall, this was majestic. I don't know about you, but it is not like i am drinking 25yo whiskies everyday, and what really impressed me, is that older drams normally tend to be a little overly oaked, but this was so perfectly crafted that you are given the proper amount of oakiness to make this dram an oustanding whisky. My score for it is 97 over 100.
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