Tastes

Well well well, what do we have here. The newest Feis Isle festival release from Lagavulin. For 2018, they decided to release a special 18 year old version of their traditional, smoky malt. While I didn’t attend the event, I have a friend who had a friend that did- and he picked him up a bottle. Thanks to my buddy, @PBMichiganWolverine, I get to sample this beauty. Like I said, it’s 18 years old and bottled at cask strength (53.9%). It’s light gold in color and makes thin legs and tiny droplets in the tasting glass. It’s NCF’d and has no added color. Bottles were $200 at the distillery, but I see them selling at auction now for $400-500. The nose is typical Lagavulin smoke with a healthy dose of sherry sweetness. I get a heartier campfire nosing with hints of red berries filtering through the haze. Any trace of ABV heat or alcohol is overshadowed. It smells intoxicating. I’d theme the palate as “sweet & heat”. The sherry notes took center stage at first, but the deep, rich smoke aspects work their way around the sweetness and take over while leaving you with an oily, medium thick mouth coat. The depth of sherry flavors is incredible. I would assume these were first-fill casks because the flavor is so rich. There’s plenty of burn from the higher ABV, but you don’t really care because everything just feels perfect. The finish is long and warming and in a shocking turn of events: the sweetness lingers on long after the smoke has subsided. I don’t recall many (or any) other Lagavulin offerings accomplishing that. I’ve heard some of the older Distiller’s Editions pull it off but I’ve yet to try one that has to the extent this does. It’s truly a remarkable dram. Now, I doubt I’d chase a bottle of this at auction or on the secondary market at prices above $400, but I would’ve loved to have gotten my hands on them from the festival. Too bad I’m not a good traveler, I just have to settle for the generosity of good friends. If you have the means, pick this one up or try it at a good whisky bar. You won’t be disappointed one bit. 4.5-4.75 stars. 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 10) 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 third different batch I’ve been able to try. The other 2 were a little more fruit forward than this bottle. This one had some nice florals, but was more grainy with heavy oak notes. It reminded me a lot of a bourbon. The palate was hot and slightly abrasive. Some corn and vanilla notes crept in but this was still overly grain heavy. The mouthfeel was a bit drier than the others- which left the finish on the hotter side. It was long with some sweet, candied corn left behind. I’d have to say that this has been my least favorite of the 3 I’ve tried so far. It’s still highly serviceable, but if I’m grading it I’d say it’s holding steady at 3 stars. Thanks again, Richard. Cheers.

I got a chance to try this high end offering from a new friend in the Boston area (who wishes to remain anonymous). I haven’t had many pours from Arran distillery, but this one looked really good and was finished in rum casks. I like a good curveball every now and then. The High Seas is a special, cask strength release that uses a very cool presentation : the case looks and opens like an old book. I believe it’s meant to recreate clever ways pirates used to smuggle alcohol around the islands. It’s bottled at 54.4% ABV and is extremely light gold with thin legs and tiny water droplets left behind after a spin. The nose starts off salty with some peppery oak notes, but if you give it some time you’re rewarded with vanilla and coconut notes and even a hint of peppermint. It’s very lively. The palate brings lots of rum cask flavors and a lot of heat. Pepper and citrus add an additional layer of zing, but the overall mouthfeel is still luscious and oily. The finish is long and ridiculously hot (and I loved every bit of it). It turned dry and salty again at the very end and left behind a nice coconut note. Overall, it’s a great offering. I love the coconut and rum curveball, especially after sipping on a peaty Ardbeg. Thanks again, Mr Anonymous- I owe you a nice thank you pour for this one. 4.25-4.5 stars. I wouldn’t mind finding a bottle of this at some point. It’s a great change of pace. Cheers.

Here’s another obscure distillery we were able to add to our sample group tour: Fettercairn. This eastern Highland distillery was founded in 1824 by Sir Alexander Ramsay and loosely translates to “foot of the mountain”, based on its location near the Grampian Mountains. It was originally called Nethermill, as it was transformed from a corn mill to a distillery on Sir Ramsay’s estate. It was owned by Whyte and Mackay from 1973-2007 and used primarily for their blended whisky lines. It was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya in 2008 and he has since tried to rebrand the distillery as a luxury producer- offering 24, 30 and 40 year bottlings. The distillery produces 1.6 million liters per year. This particular bottle is a 7 year old, sourced from Duncan Taylor’s Battlehill range and is offered at 56% ABV. It’s light gold in color and produces lots of tiny legs and water droplets when you swirl it in the Glencairn. The nose is highly sulphuric and buttery. I get loads of oak, youthful spirit and heat. After a decent amount of time the sulphur subsided and I get more friendly notes of chocolate and toffee. The palate is hot and slightly harsh, but there’s some nice vanilla and toffee to be found if you can work through the heat. I actually liked this one being quite hot as the creamy aspect keeps the heat from being too overwhelming. Sadly, the flavor profile does suffer a bit. The finish is short to medium, dry and mostly bitter. The creamy aspect doesn’t last and that ends the enjoyment I was having quite abruptly. Overall, something tells me the older, luxurious bottles they are after may indeed be quite good, but I’m probably not going to shell out what they may end up asking for them. This 7yo is a tease that I’ll be happy to oblige and just move on. Thanks to my buddy @Generously_Paul for this pour. 3.25-3.5 stars. Cheers.

I wanted to take a moment to give this one a quick review. I’ve had this bottle for well over a year now and I was shuffling through unopened bottles a few weeks ago, looking for something that might mix well with Coca Cola. I had finished off the last of my cheap, bourbon mixers and wasn’t about to open an Elijah Craig 18 to make a B&C. Needless to say, this one played well with ice and cola. I ended up trying this neat on several occasions but forgot to write any notes down. I seem to recall the nose being very sweet: vanilla and sherry sweetness, with some slight port wine influence. The palate seemed to be dominated by the oak casks used while still being somewhat sweet and hot. The finish was oaky and medium in length, with some sweetness hanging around for quite awhile afterwards. It played well with the cola and worked well on its own. I don’t think I’d replace it, but I’d recommend it over the younger, standard Glenfiddich stuff I’ve had in the past. 3.5 stars. Cheers.

I had the privilege to try this 18yo Aberlour again thanks to my Long Island connection, @Scott_E. I initially had a bottle of this way back in 2016 and found it fantastic. It’s a sherry bomb that has all the rounded edges you’d expect from a quality, well-aged 18 year old. This is bottled at 43% and that’s about the perfect sweet spot IMO. It’s amber and gold in the taster and makes lots of legs and droplets after giving it a swirl. The nose is completely caramel/toffee and sherry sweetness. There’s an underlying syrupy malty-ness that makes it dessert-like and savory from the start. The palate is warm sherry, apples and pears, light vanilla and some robust oak tannins. The finish is long and has a great lingering warmth. It’s ultra smooth and leaves melted toffee notes hanging around well after the finish. Excellent. This is a solid 4, maybe 4.25 stars. I enjoyed this one much more than the later batches of the A’bunadh and the much simpler, 12 year. That 16 year offering is a money grab that should be totally avoided. I recently bought 2 bottles of the new Casg Annamh- which means “rare cask” and will be reviewing those in the coming weeks. Thanks again, Scott. This was a treat. Cheers.

It’s time for a special malt that I included for our distillery sampling team: Dallas Dhu 10. The Dallas Dhu distillery originally opened in 1899 and has been closed since 1983. The actual distillery is still in place, with working equipment, and functions as a museum. They have one operating still that produces about 5,600 liters annually- which I believe only supplies whisky for museum visitors to sample after their tour. Dallas Dhu translates as “black water valley”. This independent bottle was offered by Gordon & MacPhail and due to scarcity cost an astounding $290. It’s definitely not worth that price, but you’ve gotta pay for a piece of history like this, especially these days. Onto the tasting notes: visually it’s dark gold in the Glencairn. Thin, quick-running legs leave behind large droplets of water behind on the rim. This is primarily due to it being bottled at the bare minimum 40% ABV. The nose is heavy on the butterscotch. It’s very candied and sweet with notes of fresh oak and youthful spirit- which is kind of amazing considered this has remained in this twist-off capped bottle that had to be filled back in the early 1990’s. There’s some faint pepper notes if you let it sit out awhile. The palate is very weak- more butterscotch and sweet vanilla. It’s very, very watery with absolutely no heat. The mouthfeel is oily and candied. The finish is also weak and somewhat short, but oily. The candy notes linger on and, while it doesn’t ruin anything, it also doesn’t allow any complexity. But, then again, who expects complexity from a 10 year old, ghosted distillery. If it had more of a profile to draw from it probably wouldn’t have closed in the first place. Lol. Overall, it’s cool to taste a piece of history, but this isn’t a dram to seek out or pay large sums of money for. I was glad I could add it for the group as we wind down our tasting tour, though. 2.5 stars for that. Enjoy this one fellas, we’ll never get it again. Cheers.

I’m back to sampling pours from our final round of distilleries for the SDT and this one comes thanks to @telex. Teaninich is a Highland distillery and this is the only official bottling from the distillery itself- for the Flora & Fauna line for Diageo. Now, normally I’d try to give a little history and info about the distillery, like: they were founded in 1817 by High Munro, who occupied Teaninich Castle. It’s been mothballed twice: from 1939-1946 due to WWII and again from 1985-1991 because of poor Scotch sales around the world. It’s currently owned by Diageo and was remodeled in 2013 and...well, here’s all I really need to say: Teaninich is the primary component of Johnnie Walker Red. It’s champagne gold in the taster with oily and heavy, water droplets running down all sides. The Flora & Fauna is 10 years old and bottled at 43% ABV. The nose is freshly churned butter, light florals and weak oak tannins. The palate is rather harsh and lacking anything except mild butterscotch notes. The finish is medium with warm alcohol notes and not much else. Overall, it’s the primary component of Johnnie Walker Red- so, if you like that stuff you’ll love Teaninich. Otherwise, I’d look elsewhere...any elsewhere. Thanks to Jason for the pour, let’s score it and barrel on towards the finish. 2 generous stars. Cheers.

Ah, where do I begin with this white whale of a whisky? I’ve been a fan of Laphroaig for about 3 years now (I’ve only been regularly drinking scotch for about 3.5 years). I had to force myself to drink through my first bottle of Laphroaig (Triple Wood, btw), but since then I have been a huge fan of smoky, peaty whisky. I stumbled across this Cairdeas Port Wood at my local, high end whisky bar 2.5 years ago and the owner/bartender offered me a pour. All I could say afterwards was WOW, HOW DO I GET MY HANDS ON MORE OF THIS? Flash forward 2 years and I’ve finally landed 4 bottles through friends and European auctions- not to mention spent over $1000 to acquire those 4 bottles. When I see something I want.... This Cairdeas is from the 2013 Feis Isle festival. It was finished for an undisclosed amount of time in Portuguese wine casks and offered to attending guests. This particular batch is ruby red and makes lots of tiny, oily legs in the Glencairn. After a spin tiny water droplets form and quickly run down the oily sides. It’s bottled at a robust 51.3% ABV and is NCF’d with no added color. The nose is Laphroaig smoke with a side of salty, young spirit that releases a rich, grape sweetness that’s riddled with orange peel and almost no barrel influence. The palate is initially heavy on the smoke and campfire, slightly harsh but still surprisingly oily. The sweetness hangs back as though it’s waiting to be announced before entering the room, but when it does, boy does it come on strong. It’s thick and surprisingly delicate as it forces the astringency off the side of the stage and just settles in and puts on a good show. Excellent port notes dance around on the tongue beginning at mid sip and continue until you wash them away. The finish is medium length and (thankfully) smooth. More dark berries hang around leaving you feeling all warm and cozy. If there’s more in the Glencairn it’ll coerce you into going in for more. I had this ranked at Number 1 on my favorite whisky list for months and months. Sadly, I don’t think I can keep it there because I’ve so many great whiskies at this point, but I refuse to let it slip out of my Top 5. It’s still so damn good. 4.5 stars, maybe 4.75 when I’m feeling nostalgic about trying this back in 2016. I highly recommend trying to find a pour or a bottle. You won’t be disappointed. Cheers and thanks for reading this all the way through.

I found this newest Talisker NAS whisky about 6 months ago online out of the UK and decided I’d give it a try. Neist Point is named for the westernmost point on the Isle of Skye, near the Talisker distillery. This bottle was rather expensive for a NAS, at $114, but it looked interesting enough to sucker me in. Boy, was I glad I took the bait... It’s a nice, polished copper in the Glencairn and makes lots of oily legs when you give it a whirl. A thick, oily slick hangs on to the walls of the glass for quite some time after the liquid settles. The nose is that salty, smoke you know and expect from every Talisker you’ve had in the past. There’s fresh and vibrant oak notes that yield quickly to sweet sherry and juicy, dark fruits. The oakiness appears throughout and smells incredibly deep for a NAS whisky. The palate is smoke and sea salt up front, but sherry, raisins and rich plums really mingle well here. There’s a light, oak backbone but no trace of heat or bitterness at all. It’s mouthwatering and juicy. There has got to be some seriously well-aged, sherry-casked Talisker mixed in here- there’s no denying it. Loads of depth. The finish is medium and oaky. It steadily warms as it fades away and leaves what feels like black raspberry skins on your tongue that just make the mouth water even more. As it dries there’s a hint of youthful spirit harshness, but it in no way diminishes the overall experience. This is one of the better NAS whiskies I think I’ve had to this point. It’s not as deep and complex as the Ardbeg twins, Uigeadail or Corryvrecken, nor is it in the same league as the Laphroaig Lore- but it can hang with those guys on a tasting flight, should you choose to do one. 4.25-4.5 stars. I looked at buying another bottle and prices have risen to $125-130/bottle now. That’s a tough call when you can get the Ardbegs for $80-85 and the Lore for $95, but If you’re a diehard Talisker fan- it’s a no brainer. Cheers.