Tastes

If you had tasted at least 80 whiskies in.your life, you already know that Macallan is usually overrated. In the fourth quarter of 2021, this most famous and expensive distillery released one expression to celebrate the new year. It was called "A Night on Earth in Scotland". This bottle comes in arguably the most beautiful packaging ever, made by the Visual Designer Erica Dorn, who has worked with Wes Anderson in movies. The whole idea is to commemorate Hogmanay, which is the scottish celebration of new year's eve; one incredible party. The whisky itself, is bottled at 40%abv, with a light ambar color. On the nose, the first aroma is very good, then it drops dramatically. Fancy vanilla cream, Nestle's Coffee mate, it feels very dessert like. Biscuits, almonds; it has a dim but nice citric note. After the first sip, it gave me prunes, sawdust and nothing more. It is weak. Aroma has abandoned the glass after 3 minutes. On the palate it is very watery. Starts with plain tap water. Vanilla, hints of lemon meringue and a very little sulphur. A second sip gave me coconut. Very dissapointing. Aftertaste continues downhill. Orange peel, very acid, very nice, but just for a couple of seconds; then it turns off. Meringue, very short finish. Overall, this is very expensive, not because of its high price, but really because you are not getting your money's worth. If you are lucky, you might find it around $200-250; and you might feel compelled to buy it, but if you plan to drink it, you might feel that you lost your money. After having it, along with other 20 people who agreed with this critic, i can honestly say that the only reason to buy it is for collection, and investment, because "the juice" is nothing. Go grab a glass of water in your kitchen and it is the same thing. My score for it is 71 over 100, someone give me my money back, please.

I am always guilty of not having enough Bruichladdichs. This life trend started when i tasted the Classic Laddie which i hated, (i know many people love it) because it tasted like soap, shampoo and rice candy. The bottle didn't help either, since it looks exactly as a shampoo bottle. Then, i tasted the Black Art, and it wss fantastic. Eventually i tried not much more, but the initial prejudice was always there: "here comes the shampoo whisky". I even started being skeptic about any organic whisky; luckily Waterford and Nc'Nean showed me that organic single malts can be very good (not benromach). So, i bought this Bruichladdich Rocks (2nd edition), which have wrongly advertised as a whisky you shoud drink with ice. It is really about the geological rock formations on Islay, which happen to be thousands of years old. Without any expectation, lets see how this 46%abv, golden color dram behaves: On the nose, it is quite different from other Bruichladdichs: red apples, Malted barley, Iodine, recently baked brownies and yeast. After the first sip, aroma changed into caramel and salt; hints of Honey. On the palate, it was beautiful. It has this loaf of bread note which is amazing. Yeast. Oranges. It is like the "Yeastiest" whisky ever made. More sips gave me more bread and more oranges. Aftertaste is very rewarding. Pepper, loaf of bread, yeast and Salt notes that are mild but elegant. Hay, dry burnt grass, very long finish. Overall, this is the decisive vote for this distillery, and now, after having this beauty, i pledge to taste more from the only distillery on Islay that i have had fewer than 8 expressions. Very good whisky, enjoyable and complex; delicious. My score for it is 87 over 100.

Nc'Nean is one of the few new distilleries that have blown my mind. Their first release, the organic malt, was really surprising. Now they have put away this special yearly expression called "Quiet Rebels". The Quiet Rebels are each one of the workers in the distillery, which are only a handful, and this first expression is also called "Annabel", who is the quite interesting owner of the whole thing. Annabel Thomas was the mastermind and the owner of Nc'Nean; she picked the name, which is a shorter version for the Gaelic Godess-Fairy-Queen-Witch Neachneohain, also called Nicnevin, also known as Gyre-Carling; the queen of spirits, the mother of fairies, the one that loves nature. It is only suitable for that name to be the one picked, since this is the first completely eco-friendly Distillery. Nothing ever goes to waste, and even the incredibly looking bottle is made of re-used glass. This one has a strength of 48.5%abv, and has been matured in ex bourbon, and Hungary's Tokaji wine casks. On the nose, banana bread. Pineapple, spicy. After a couple of seconds, it released a recently baked brownies note. Bee honey, wax, cake and marzipan. It is chocolate powder; like Nesquik. A second sip released yeasty notes. Very, very, very good aroma. If the aroma was good; the palate was out of this world. Chocolate, Brownies, Bee honey  and Hazelnut. In Ecuador we have this banana bits bathed in chocolate from a brand called "Republica del cacao" (translates into cocoa republic). It is exactly that. A third sip gave me marshmallows, that are bathed in a chocolate fondue. Coconut, almonds, milk chocolate. This is a dream dram. Aftertaste was very good. Salty, peppery with hints of ginger. The first sip was fairly spicy; but the second sip changed everything. There is a very mild but incredibly elegant smokey note, reminiscence of tobacco leaf and coconut. Overall, before even tasting it, I thought to myself, "this is going to be good; there is no way the distillery owner will name a bad whisky after herself"; and guess what: it wasn't good, it was FANTASTIC. I even had the Glendronach Yoda on the same tasting night and i can assure you i will remember this dram for ages and maybe ill forget about the "Glendro". My score for this wonderful single malt is a well earned 95 over 100, and maybe it deserved more and i am not been fair here. Slàinte.

There is this travel retail collection from the whisky giant Glenmorangie, that i believe it is called "the legends", where some spin offs of popular releases are available. I had "The Accord" one and was fairly good. Now this "the Elementa" is my dram for tonight. It is a 14yo single malt, matured in new charred oak casks. Bottled at 43%abv, golden color. On the nose, it has the Glenmorangie DNA; Orange peel, vainilla, chocolate and fruitcake. After a first sip, the aroma clarified into an orange leaf and pepper. On the palate, starts peppery and has strong notes of chilli, in a pleasant way. Hints of oranges and tangerine. A second sip was all about vanilla cream, oak spice and Mint fondant. Aftertaste is spicy. Pepper, aniseed; clove and oranges. Overall, for a 14yo Glenmorangie, it is dissapointing. The offered spiciness is not really impressive, the typical "Glenmo" oranges are here, some vanilla and all of the boring normal notes you can get from any other dram. I often find that travel retail exclusives are inferior, and this is one of those cases. My score for it is 76 over 100.

Beware, this is not going to be pretty. I have been a Blanton's fan since the day i tasted the beige label single barrel one. I have to be honest, i have never had any other than that one. I didn't need to. The standard Blanton's is one incredible bourbon; i even consider it the best bourbon for a normal wallet (meaning: excluding any Pappy Van Winkle). I got my hands on this "Special Reserve" (the green labeled Blanton's) and i felt excited. This is going to be great i thought... i was mistaken. The first thing that caught my attention was the strength. It was 40%abv (80%proof), which is lower than the standard Blanton's. I did not care. I have tasted marvelous whiskies at 40%abv; but it definitively made me rise an eyebrow (if you smell what "The Rock" is cooking, lol). I poured it on the Glencairn. The aroma was great... On the nose: There is a wonderful burnt caramel note that turns into an sour prune. Old bananas, that have turned a little brown but are still edible. Some sourness; oh! a red fruitiness appeared for a second. I believe the plums and sour prunes are the main note here. Vanilla ice cream. Hazelnut. Lovely sweet and sour aroma. Bananas and hay appeared after a first sip. But then... On the palate, my first impression is that the body feels odd. It is different. Caramel, a little watery, definitively a fancy vanilla. Spiciness tried to develop but it just didn't happen. Weak almost a "watered down" feeling. I can hold it for hours on my palate, all flavor has gone after 10 seconds. Easy 10 seconds. It is now 20 seconds and no flavors are here except water (i wrote all that while easily holding the whisky in my mouth). A second sip gave me banana, but then everything else was gone. A very dim vanilla. I even worried for a second, i thought i lost my sense of taste or something, but my nose works perfectly so that is not it. It is simply watered down. (Update: i ate after the whisky, my palate was fine. It was the whisky, not me). Aftertaste has a ghostly Blanton's reminiscense. It feels like i have thrown 10cl of water to it. The sourness is somehow showing itself, but very weak. Hay, a second sip gave me some tobacco leaf, bitterness. It got a little better. No this cannot be possible. I refuse to accept this. Overall, it has been a long time since my last bad whisky. This one is avoidable. It is plain water on the palate. I cannot believe the words i am writing. Completely dissapointing. You know we are living in strange times where your palate and nose can fail and that is a scary sign of something else... luckily it wasn't that thing you are thinking; It really was a bad bourbon... my score for it is 65 over 100, and that is generous, because the nose got 23 over 25 points. Terrible.

One of the bottles i bought in the beggining of my whisky adventure was this beautiful looking Glenmorangie Madeira Wood Finish, that seemed old since the day i found it, like 8 years ago. I did my research and this one was a 1990s bottle, finished in the portuguese madeira wine. Bottled at 43%abv, with a lovely chesnut color. On the nose, it was truly remarkable. Starts with the most accurate red berries note ever. Red fruits, flowers and cherries. Chocolate, impalpable sugar. After a couple of minutes, the acid typical Glenmorangie aroma has appeared. Having a sip, revealed other nice notes, like brownies, glue and maraschino cherries. On the palate, this one is full of flavor. Super sweet; chocolate, prunes, oranges and tangerines. Aftertaste follows the fruity / sweet path. Super fruits, prunes, raspberries, hints of salt and red fruits. Overall, this whisky was really incredible. I have truly enjoyed it; even if the cork almost pulverized when i took it off. This must be the definitive madeira wood finish single malt, close to perfection. A wonderful dram, my score for it is a 94 over 100.

Benromach has been a little dissapointing lately. I have had a few of their new expressions (with their new image and marketing), and it weren't as good as the old ones, with the almost flourescent boxes that showed a drop in the bottles. I have now tasted this 15yo release, that won its category on 2018's Workd whiskies awards. Bottled at 43%. On the nose, a nice mix between fruits and peat. Pears, grapefruit, stewed fruits, incense. After a first sip, i got melon, leather and hay. On the palate, starts with a chocolate; a little salty, pears and very nice grapefruit. Aftertaste was the best part. Smokey notes, hay, grassy notes. Tobacco leaf. Some sweet glazed pork finish, ginger and ashes. Very elegant. Overall, this was a little better than some of their new expressions (with the non-so-appealing white labels), specially on the aftertaste where the peatiness was right on the spot. It still is miles away from most great 15yo whiskies. My score for it is 86 over 100.

In 1972, Biawa "Byeway" Makalanga died. He was an oustanding worker in the Glen Grant distillery. He usually worked calibrating the stills of that famous speyside distillery. When he died, his body was buried in the cementery next to Glenrothes distillery, which is very famous, and is often photographed beside the distillery itself. It seems, that in that exact year, 1972, a Ghost started to appear at Glenrothes. Some years passed, the Ghost was a usual visitor. Till one day, the owners of the distillery decided to bring a "medium" to persuade the ghost to leave. It seems that this person who had the ability to speak to ghosts, managed to find out that it was Byeway Makalanga who haunt the place; And, she had a solution: it seems that Byeway wanted to calibrate the stills at Glenrothes. Some engineers were hired to re-calibrate the stills, and from that day, Byeway Ghost was never seen again. This marvelous story has been gathered in the 2019 Glenrothes Halloween edition, a beautiful "white spectre" like decanter, bottled at 46.6%abv. On the nose, it is almost perfect. The first aroma is like cutting an orange in half and putting it in your nose. Grapefruit, fondant, chantilly cream, orange juice and orange dry cake. Red fruits are also here. Very nice. On the palate, it starts super woody, like licking a ping pong table. Then it releases a milk cream, chocolate and orange peel. Aftertaste was wonderfully peated. That was a surprise. Main notes: fresh can of tennis balls, nerf toys, plastic and a cigar box. Incredible aromas. Overall, this was a very fun, super enjoyable dram. It has the perfect balance between fruitiness and peat. The peaty notes reminded me of a Laphroaig, that is why you read Tennis balls and Nerf toys. I guess the peaty, stinky (but pleasant) notes were here to resemble the ghost appearance. My score for this great single malt is 93 over 100.

It seems that the independent bottler "The Whisky Jury" had a cask from an Orkney malt, but didn't quite own the proper permits to use the distillery's name, so they try to give you a hint of the source of this spirit, by naming it "Eye-Land-Pork"... from Orkney. Lol. A 1998 vintage Highland Park, bottled 21 years later at 48.3%abv, with a white wine color, On the nose, it started very floral; with sweet plums, a little acetone, but also brownies. Fresh acid gooseberries, the Highland Park heathery peat has appeared after a couple of minutes. It is a mixture of herbal minty notes. Very fresh, a little difficult to perceive due to the excessive freshness. This is the most floral whisky ever. Mint hard candy. Fresh farm fruits, very acid. Vanilla ice cream after a few sips. The vanilla ice cream has melted with the heathery peat into a beautiful aroma. On the palate it is really sweet. Vanilla ice cream, slight dulce de leche, barbecue salt. It is quite good. The vanilla note is really well delivered and there is some ashiness but in a very enjoyable way. Gooseberries. Aftertaste was outstanding. Beautiful smoke puffs, tobacco, cigars and plain "amazingness". Very rewarding. Sawdust, new wood. Overall, this is a great whisky. I have grown fond of "the Whisky Jury" expressions, which i didn't even knew 5 months ago. They are solid, complex, enjoyable and rewarding whiskies. The aftertaste here was very elegant and not overly smoky, that makes it easy for anyone to love. My score for it is a 91 over 100. I would definitively buy it again.

Bunnahabhain is always a good single malt to enjoy. It doesn't matter which expression you are having, you are mostly going to find yourself in a "salty chocolate" journey from this usually unpeated whisky. An Cladach is a travel retail expression that means "Coastal shore" in gaelic. It has been matured in sherry casks. Bottled at 50%abv. On the nose, it starts with hazelnut, figs and burnt hay. Dry cherries, chocolate tablet. Macadamia. It has released a humid note: it is like a bodega, or an old closet. Cigar box and raisinets (chocolate bathed raisins). On the palate, it is delicious. The Bunnahabhain chocolate is here; raisins, salt. Almonds, pepper. The second sip gave me vanilla, barbecue salt and olive oil. Aftertaste was a little short and simple, butbit works. Pepper, salt and earthy notes. It seems that for a very sweet dram, this shorter finish is proper to handle easily the 50%abv, specially for a travel retail expression, intended for whisky enthusiasts, but also for not very experienced drinkers. Overall, this was a lovely single malt, that can get you a fair amount of nice sweet notes and a beautiful experience; but also it seems to be a step behind from other more complex expressions. Having said that, i really liked this one, my score for it is 87 over 100.