Tastes

So, thanks to @Richard-ModernDrinking I am able to try a few more variations of the Compass Box Great King St Artist’s Blend Single Marrying Cask. This is Artist’s Blend refilled back into some of the casks used to make the original blend and aged for another year, then bottled at near cask strength. This particular cask (No 68) was bottled at 49% ABV and offers a deeper reflection of what the Artist’s Blend can be if left alone a little longer. So, this is the fifth different batch I’ve been able to try. This final sample from Richard seems to ride a fine line between fruity and grainy. It is possibly the best of all of the Marrying Cask bottles I’ve been able to try. The nose has tons of lively citrus and oak cask notes. The fruit is a bit restrained, but it’s also lightly floral. A good bit of depth here if you wait out the nose a bit. The palate is lemony and citrus forward, while being a bit more lively and smooth. The flavors mingle with orchard fruits hanging around well past mid sip. It’s more oily and warming than the others and creates a greater mouthfeel. The oak cask provides a solid backbone here, too. The finish might be the longest of all 5 I’ve tried, but it still isn’t extremely long. The added length turns a bit harsh at the very end, but the sweet fruits really keep it from ruining the overall experience. This one ticks in at 3.5-3.75 stars and I believe if this one was regularly available I’d choose this over the normal Artist Blend. If this can be had for $40- it’s a great deal. Thanks again to Richard for sending me pours of 4 more of the Marrying Cask bottles. This was a fun experiment. Cheers, my friends.

""So, thanks to @Richard-ModernDrinking I am able to try a few more variations of the Compass Box Great King St Artist’s Blend Single Marrying Cask. This is Artist’s Blend refilled back into some of the casks used to make the original blend and aged for another year, then bottled at near cask strength. This particular cask (No 31) was bottled at 49% ABV and offers a deeper reflection of what the Artist’s Blend can be if left alone a little longer. So, this is the fourth different batch I’ve been able to try. The other 3 were a little more fruit forward than this bottle. This one had some nice florals and heavy oak notes. The fruit took a back seat here. The palate was peppery with some zip in the form of ginger root. Spicy and oaky with just light hints of orchard fruit. The finish is medium, but slightly hot. The ginger and pepper really combine with the elevated ABV and deliver a hotter experience. I think this one deviates from the standard Artist’s Blend more than the others I’ve had- and not necessarily in a good way. I want the Artist Blend to be easy sippin’ and highly crushable and this one kind of wasn’t. I wouldn’t lower my score below 3 stars because I think they all still ride the middle of the road in terms of flavor profile and drinkability. This one just wasn’t my favorite. Cheers

It’s time for another distillery tour sample, this one provided by my friend @Scott_E: Miltonduff 10 year old. This Speyside distillery was founded in 1824 and has been steadily used in Ballentine’s blends. They only have 2 official bottling’s- a 10 and a 12yo. They also bottled under the name Mosstowie for a little while. Those particular bottles were filled using malt made from a Lomond-style still. Basically, it’s a still with adjustable plates inside and a moveable lyne arm, and can be used to make heavier spirits. This bottle is from Gordon & MacPhail and is bottled at 43%. It’s champagne gold, oily and makes no legs in the Glencairn. The nose has light florals and grassy notes with some weak, oak undertones. There’s faint sherry and buttery aspects, but something makes this seem more like a weak bourbon. More sherry notes show up if you give it time. The palate is sweet vanilla, honey nut cereal and light sherry. There’s a harsh, wood bite at mid sip and that kind of messes with the entire profile to the point it starts going downhill. It has a thick and oily mouthfeel that lingers on and on. The finish is long, really long, with a sweet sherry note and building warmth. The odd oak astringency is the only thing keeping this from being a big hit with me. It’s just too rough around the edges. Overall, at $55 it’s a great deal, it just lacks some much needed smoothness. There’s some depth (plenty for a 10yo), complexity and flavor, but that harshness needs to be pulled from this to make it better. Perhaps some water would work wonders here, but I don’t have the time or volume of whisky to work that out. As it is, it’s a 3.25 star dram that could be higher if the few kinks could be worked out. Cheers.

It’s time for another Flora & Fauna series release from Diageo: Inchgower 14 year old. This Speyside distillery was built and founded in 1871 by Alexander Wilson- it replaced the Tochineal distillery. Arthur Bell & Sons took over the distillery in 1938 and they currently produce around 2 million liters per year. They don’t produce many other single malts that are considered distillery bottles, but they do have a Rare Malts Collection that consists of a 22 and a 27 year old. This is bottled at 43% and is light gold in color while leaving behind runny, quick legs and tiny beads around the rim. The nose is cereal grains and vanilla with a nice, light toasted oak barrel influence. The palate provides a quick, but non-lasting hit of sherry, lots of wood tannins and a spicy warmth. The mouthfeel is medium and oily, but still relatively smooth. The finish is medium-to-long in length, oily with a nice bit of warmth that hangs around for quite a while. Overall, this is a solid, quality dram. Thanks to my friend @Telex this pour. We are bringing this thing to a close and this may end up being one of the better offerings for this round. 3.5-3.75 stars and I believe the price was reasonable. Cheers.

Here we go again, with another obscure Scottish distillery that our group needed to complete a tour of Scotland: Abhainn Dearg (pronounced AV-un JUH-ruk). This small distillery is located off the western coast of Scotland on the Isle of Lewis. It was founded in 2008 by Marco Tayburn and its name means Red River. It’s a very small place that only produces around 10k liters of whisky per year. This is their Inaugural Release, which I believe is a 3 year old that’s bottled at 46%. It’s pale straw in color and makes some big, heavy droplets around your glass. The nose starts out rather interesting and non-offensive: butterscotch, boxed raisins, toffee and cereal. There’s some warm, mineral oil notes wafting out of the glass given some time, but I don’t get any barrel or alcohol notes at all. The palate is borderline gag inducing at the start. I got some ethanol and school glue type of flavors initially and almost spit the stuff out, but being a bit brave I swirled it around a bit and let some air mingle in and I was rewarded with a bit of butterscotch and caramel. The problem was that nothing mingled well- it either the harsh stuff or a quick bit of sweetness. The finish was short and pretty harsh with mostly alcohol heat and dry wood notes. It felt too thin and abrasive to let anything get past the heat. It really drove home a rough sensation. At least it’s over. I can’t really say I enjoyed this one much. Thanks to my buddy, @PBMichiganWolverine I got to try this one. I see no reason to revisit this one even if they eventually get some 10-15 stuff to market. There just wasn’t enough of anything redeeming for me to invest more time or money to find out. Let’s just rate this one 2 stars and tick the distillery off the list. Cheers.

Ah, Balven...I mean Kininvie. You got me. You got me good. In our quest to try juice from every active distillery in Scotland, I came across Kininvie here. This distillery was founded in 1990, on the grounds of The Balvenie distillery by William Grant & Sons. This single malt is primarily used in Monkey Shoulder and Clan Macgregor blends. The kicker is that Kininvie doesn’t have their own Mash house- all their Mash is piped over from The Balvenie. Kininvie only uses their own mash recipes. So, in effect, The Balvenie is a contract distiller for them. That explains a lot... This is a 23 year old malt distilled way back in 1990 when the place first began operations. Kininvie also releases a 17 year old, but everything else goes towards blend. This is Batch 3 and was bottled at 42.6%. It’s pale gold in the taster, oily with tons of undefined legs running down the glass. The nose is mostly ex-bourbon wood. There’s light orchard fruits like apples and pears and a tiny bit of vanilla. It smells like a light, American whiskey. The palate is similar on the flavor side, but it’s super smooth, a bit thick and sugary with an oily mouthfeel. The finish is medium length, delicate and woody. It’s smooth from start to finish, but incredibly boring. After trying an ounce neat, I did something I almost never do- I added water. At 23 years old there’s got to be hidden complexity or added depth of flavor to be unearthed. Not really. The nose offered up some perfume notes that weren’t there initially, but there was no improvement to the palate. Bummer. So, what we have here is a contracted Balvenie- with a price point to match. I paid $145 for this 375ml bottle. What a rip off! This dram is boring as hell and ridiculously overpriced. I saved this one for the end of our tour thinking it would deliver the goods- wrong. I got robbed. 2.5-2.75 stars TOPS. I want to deduct stars for the price, but it is incredibly smooth whisky. Avoid buying this and bum a taste off of a fool dumb enough to buy a bottle. Cheers.

Well, it appears that Aberlour is getting in on the rare cask game with this newest, NAS release. This is considered a small, limited release and this is the first batch- I don’t believe any of this made it to North America. This is Casg Annamh, which is Gaelic for “rare cask”, and is NCF’d, but has color added and is bottled at 48% ABV. It is an in-house blend of single malt whisky of undeclared age that has been aged in two different American oak barrels and European sherry oak It’s a beautiful sunset orange in the glass, while appearing very oily with heavy water droplets left behind after spinning it up. The nose is a wonderful bouquet, and probably the best part of this offering: oranges, raisins, toffee, sweet tea and sherry cask with a light oak backbone. It’s very enticing. The palate is relatively smooth with lots of sherry influence. There’s caramel sweetness in spades and a bit of a harsh, late bite on the back end. Youthful oak notes leave a bit of harshness behind and into the finish. Speaking of finish- it’s medium-long and mouthwatering. There’s leftover orange marmalade and sweet, yellow cake notes at the very end which make this feel like a dessert dram. It’s a great way to bring the tasting to a close. Overall, this fits in perfectly between the Aberlour 12 and the A’Bunadh. It’s significantly better than the 12 and cooled just enough for those that think the A’Bunadh is just too much. It lacks a little depth versus the 18, but the price point easily makes up for that. I found this online for around $80 for a 1L bottle. It’s a shame the numbers were so limited, but I’m assuming the initial numbering means there’ll be subsequent batch releases. That makes it a bit of a collector bottle now, as well. If you see one online or gathering dust on a shelf somewhere I’d say grab it. It’s a solid offering from Aberlour. 4 stars. Cheers.

This sample is from the other distillery on the island of Orkney: Scapa. These guys are less than a half mile from the superstars named Highland Park, but their whisky is miles apart. Scapa uses water for their malts that is piped in and doesn’t flow through the natural peat beds covering the island. Therefore, they aren’t a peated whisky. Scapa’s offerings are closer to Speyside and Lowland style malts and are more honeyed. This distillery was founded in 1885 and is currently owned by Pernod Ricard. They make around a million liters per year and currently only offer a 14, 16 and 25 year old, official distillery bottle. The rest is NAS, like the Skiren, or shipped off for use in blends. This NAS Skiren is 40% ABV and is light gold with oily and watery legs running down the taster. I’m pretty sure it is chill filtered and has added color, but I don’t have the bottle in front of me, as this sample was provided by my friend @Scott_E, from Long Island, NY. The nose is a wonderful fruit basket of flavors: apples, pears and melons along with some nice vanilla sweetness. There are ripe berries in here as well. I do get a nice backbone of ex-bourbon wood, too. It has an excellent nose, for sure. The palate has similar fruit notes from the nosing, but there’s serious mouthfeel issues here: it’s harsh and dry and doesn’t coat anything. My opinion is that it’s just too light. It needs a bit more well-aged juice in the mix along with a hearty bump in ABV. But then again, they probably aren’t going for that here so it’s just wishful thinking on my part. The finish is medium with a dry and salty, island-style feel. The fruits still linger a bit, but the dryness is just too powerful to make it very satisfying. Overall, this is a serviceable dram but the fact the age statement bottles are so much more expensive than not only their Orkney counterparts, but most Speyside and Highland distilleries, it’s hard to justify spending the big bucks to find out if they’re worth it. I like the fruity aspects, but I can find those elsewhere for a much better price. Why gamble? That said, this is a 2.75-3 star dram tops. It’s cool to be able to try this distillery, but I doubt I’ll be back for something else unless a great deal happens to fall into my lap. Cheers.

This is another Flora & Fauna bottling from Diageo: Blair Athol 12 year. This highland distillery was founded in 1798 and originally called “Aldour”. It closed the same year it opened (lol, not a good sign) but reopened in 1825. They produce 2.5 million liters annually for Bell’s blended whisky. This 12 year is the only aged statement, distillery release they have. It’s copper and gold in the Glencairn with runny legs and big, watery droplets forming around the edge of your spin. It’s bottled at 43% ABV and I believe it is chill filtered and has lots of added color. The nose is sherry, caramel and raisins up front with faint oak and orange peels rounding out the backbone. The palate is very bitter with lots of peppery oak notes. Mid sip you do get some relief in the form of orange marmalade and light sherry sweetness. It’s still slightly abrasive, even for a 43%-er. The finish is somewhat short, with oak and sawdust notes that start out oily but turn rather dry. What starts out very promising doesn’t materialize on the palate. It’s way too harsh with a quick finish that oaky and ultimately dry. The color is borderline ridiculous- it’s almost Dalmore-ish. A clear indicator that too much E150 has been used here. Thanks to my buddy @Generously_Paul for providing this sample, but I’m having a hard time rating this higher than 2.5-3 stars. It checks off another distillery, but I don’t think there’s a reason to look for anything else from these guys. Off to the blends with ye! Cheers.

This was an extra from @Scott_E, as a part of our final round of scotch samples. This straight bourbon is made on Long Island and bottled at 45% ABV. It’s polished gold and makes thin legs and somewhat large, running droplets on the tasting glass. The nose is fresh oak and light corn with underlying notes of cardboard. There’s no indication of alcohol at all. The palate was lightly rye spiced with some toasted banana and sweet corn. Typical young bourbon stuff. The finish was short and watery, but not hot at all. Overall, it’s a typical bourbon that was neither impressive nor offensive. It would work fine in your favorite cocktail and a great way to support local distillers. Thanks for the pour, Scott. 2.5 stars. Cheers.