Tastes

So, a sample of this found it’s way to my doorstep by a new friend who wishes to remain anonymous. I was really excited to get it because I happen to own a bottle of this one and have been having a hard time deciding whether I wanted to open it or not, due to the fact it’s rather expensive. $300 to be exact. I sure hope this one blows my socks off... This blend was John Glaser’s fantastic jab at the Scotch Whisky Association’s rules regarding the proper labeling of whisky bottles. They claim it’s against the law to assign a certain age statement to a bottle if said bottle has even less than a tablespoon of a younger whisky added to it. So, this blend has 0.4% of three year old Clynelish- therefore, by law, it can’t be considered older than 3 years. Well, the remaining whisky blended in is 99.6% malt aged over 20 years. But, it’s still a 3 year old, according to the SWA. The remaining whisky is 90.3% 24 year old Clynelish and 9.3% 20 year old Talisker. All games aside, let’s see how it plays out... The nose is flat out, incredibly sweet. Bubblegum, cotton candy, vanilla, honey and floral candle wax add a crazy amount of depth to this one. It’s dessert sweet with no oak or peat. I got zero smoke because the candy-like notes were so powerful. It was still pretty incredible. The palate continued the dessert theme with lots of oily, thick honey and beeswax. It felt chewy. I remember those little, kool aid filled, wax bottle candies from when I was a kid. I used to bite the tops off and drink the liquid and had to really restrain myself from chewing and eating the wax caps. I wanted to, but I was so scared what would happen if I did, so I spit them out after a good, mushy chew. This CBW has that same mouthfeel and taste nailed down. Except, this stuff is safe to drink. Nostalgic win for me. Here’s where the train came off the track, IMO: the finish. This thing was a Talisker pepper bomb. I wondered where the Island whisky influence was going to come into play- and here it is. The problem- it’s ridiculously spicy. It was so peppery it clashed with the residual sweetness and left a very undesirable flavor hanging around. The finish is long, too. I didn’t get any smoky aspect, from start to finish, and the lingering candy/pepper mix really turned me off. It took what was assuredly a 4.5 star dram down to a 3.5 star. I couldn’t get around it. Overall, I wanted to love it- and it started out so well. I have a full, unopened bottle now that I’ll proudly declare isn’t worth anything close to $300- and I have absolutely no desire to open it in the future to give it another try. So, I’m stuck. I appreciate my friend sending me a pour, but now I’m annoyed that I have a bottle of this to deal with. I guess the safest bet is to put it away and see if time and limited numbers work to my advantage and I can recoup my money somewhere down the road. I can’t say I recommend this one, either, which is a bummer because I love 95% of everything I’ve tried from Compass Box. Oh well, I’ll be reviewing The Circus here soon and hopefully that one will be something redeeming, but at $300 too, I have my doubts now. Cheers, my friends.

Continuing on with our penultimate round of samples, we find ourselves at the Strathmill distillery, in Speyside. This distillery was originally called Glenisla-Glenlivet, but was renamed Strathmill based on a combination of Strath (meaning “shallow valley”) and Mill (in honor of the location’s previous use as a corn mill). It was founded in 1891 and is currently owned by Diageo. It’s primary use is as a blend contributor to J&B and Dunhill blends. This sample is from Gordon & MacPhail and is light gold in color and makes oily, fat legs in the glass. It’s bottled at 46% ABV. The nose was very light and restrained at first: alcohol notes, cornmeal and, as Paul noticed, latex paint. I let it sit open in a copita nosing glass for 10 minutes or so and I got a little sweetness, but not enough to save the nose from it’s big fail. The palate reminded me of cheap bourbon: peppers, corn and ultra-harsh oak. Strike two. The finish was medium length, warming and oily with a heavy oak presence. Not a full strike three, but nothing redeeming, either. Thanks to @Telex for sacrificing his hard-earned money for this one so we could tick Strathmill off the list. It’s a shame it just wasn’t much good. I’ll follow Paul’s generosity and award it two stars, but not a penny more. It’s not worth seeking this one out. Keep on truckin’.

With our sixth round of trading samples starting to reach each other’s doorsteps, it’s time for me to review another obscure, Scottish distillery: Glenturret. This Highland distillery bills itself as Scotland’s oldest distillery (yeah, it’s heavily contested by a few other places). It was officially founded in 1775, but it’s been said that illegal distilling has taken place at this location since 1717. Smugglers would take turns making their “hooch” while lookouts camped out on opposing hillsides surrounding the location, keeping an eye out for British taxmen who were always prowling the area for illegal activity. In the very early days, the distillery was actually called Hosh, which meant “foot”- named this because all the materials needed and product made were carried in and out by workers “on foot”. Glenturret is also semi-famous for its feline caretakers, called “mousers”. The most famous cat, named Towser the Mouser, is actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most mouse kills by a single feline. It is estimated that he slayed almost 29,000 mice during his tenure at the distillery from 1963-1987. The visitor center even has a bronze statue in his honor. There are currently 2 “mousers” on duty- Glen and Turret. You gotta like the quirky stories and illicit history for this small distillery. Glenturret is currently operating with only 2 stills and their annual output is only 340k liters per year. Half of their spirit goes into the single malt line and the other half helps supply The Famous Grouse blend. This particular bottle is from Gordon & MacPhail and is bottled at 46%. I don’t have the bottle in front of me, because it was supplied by a friend, but based on my tasting notes I’d say it was aged in a refilled sherry cask. It’s a pale yellow in the taster and is pretty oily while not giving up much leg action. The nose started off sherry-forward, but those notes disappeared rather quickly and were replaced with molasses and toffee with some oak. Then, an earthy funk note wandered in and made me do a double take. Wet hay and band aid funk with hints of grassy fields. It wasn’t off-putting, just unexpected. The palate was creamy, caramel toffee and mixed nuts before yielding to hints of sherry and some harsh pepper notes. The finish was medium and hot (for 46%), went from oily to somewhat dry with bits of sherry and that band aid funk coming on the very back end. Overall, it’s not anything super intense. The funkiness was a surprise, but the full creamy mouth feel and toffee influence made it mostly enjoyable. I’d like to see what this stuff tastes like with another 7-8 years on it and from a first fill sherry or oak cask. Could be great stuff, I think. This one was middle of the road IMO. A big thanks to @Telex for supplying this one. A cool, obscure distillery that I wouldn’t have ever tried if it weren’t for our little tour. 3-3.25 stars for this dram. Cheers, my friends. * A+ and gold stars for everyone that read all the way through this one. I hope it made for an enjoyable read.

This is my first sample offering for our sixth round of distillery group trading. This comes from the Speyside distillery: Dailuaine (pronounced “dal-you-aine). It translates as “green valley” in Gaelic. This is from independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail (as part of the Connoisseurs Choice line) and is 12 years old. It’s bottled at 43% ABV and was distilled in 1995. The distillery began operations in 1852 and was founded by a local farmer and banker in the town of Aberlour. In the late 1890’s it merged with Talisker before being sold to a group consisting of James Dewar, John Walker and James Buchanan & sons. It is currently owned by United Distillers and only 2% of its 3.3 million liters produced each year goes towards single malts. The rest goes into Johnnie Walker blends. This bottle only states it was aged in oak casks. No other info was found. Based on the flavor profile, I’d say it was ex-bourbon casks. It’s a champagne gold in the taster with thick oily legs. The nose is primarily faint oak, vanilla and some light florals. After a little time I detected some raisin and simple sugar notes. No heat at all. The palate followed the nose closely with florals, malted barley, vanilla and oak. There’s an oily mouth coat and no harshness, even for its youth. It’s pleasant enough. The finish is medium length and slowly drying. Overall, it’s a run of the mill Speysider with bourbon tendencies. A little more heat would’ve probably ruined it, but at the same time there’s nothing overly exciting about it. You don’t typically see bottles of this anywhere, so there’s a bit of rarity to it I suppose. Just not enough to warrant searching it out or paying more than $50 for it. I payed $78 just so we could get a sample for this distillery for our group’s goal of trying a single malt from every active distillery in Scotland. I can’t say I recommend chasing a bottle from these guys- let Johnnie Walker have them. 3 stars. Cheers.

Here’s another review from the pre-Whiskyfest, hotel room bottle share: the Caol Ila 17yo Unpeated special release. This style of whisky is distilled by them a couple weeks out of every year to show off their malt’s flavor without using peat. I had a bottle of the 15yo Unpeated a few years ago and I wasn’t really a big fan, so I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised this time, though. This is bottled at or near cask strength at 55.9%. It’s yellow gold and forms quick, long legs in the tasting glass. I don’t believe there’s color added nor is it chill filtered, but I don’t have the bottle in front of me to verify that. On the nose, plenty of lemon zest and oak, with some salty and grassy notes mingling throughout. There’s some subtle citrus notes of orange playing in the background as well. It smells light and airy provided you don’t get too far down in the glass and pick up the heat from the ABV. The palate brings out spicier notes of ginger, pepper and oak, but also some lighter notes like olives. The mouthfeel is oily and somewhat thick. It leaves the peppery notes clinging to the tongue and turns the finish dry really quickly. Between that and the high ABV it feels exceedingly hot and even drier than it actually is and for that I have to deduct some points. This one could probably use some water to tame it, but that’s not my style. Perhaps Caol Ila should’ve blended this one down to 48% and I could’ve enjoyed it more, too. Thanks to @Telex for letting me bring a pour of this home so I could evaluate it on its own, instead of having to rate it up against the big boy bottles we split in the hotel. It didn’t stand much of a chance there, but on its own I kind of enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I still think Caol Ila’s peated lines are where it’s at, but this one wasn’t half bad. 3.75 stars, rounded down to 3.5 because these bottles are rather pricy. Cheers.

We’re just over a week removed from the Whiskyfest I attended and this malt was a pre-fest sample brought down from Detroit by my friend @Generously_Paul: travel retail exclusive, Dalmore Valour. We mixed this sample in with several heavy-hitters: Black Arts 5, Laphroaig Cairdeas Amontillado, Macallan Fine Oak 21, Ardbeg 23, etc. To say it got lost in the mix is an understatement, but Paul was gracious enough to send me home with an extra pour so I can let this one speak for itself- minus all the competition. What follows is that review: Like I said, Dalmore Valour is a TRE. It’s bottled at the industry minimum of 40% ABV, has color added to make it a beautiful (albeit fake), sunset amber. It’s also chill filtered, oily and makes numerous thin legs and large water droplets in the Glencairn. The snob in me wishes Dalmore would quit all the non-sense around coloring and filtration, but Paterson Knows Best... The nose was immediately fresh cut oak and pine, slight sherry cask sweetness and an abundance of simple sugars. All the candy and fruit notes were much lighter than the oak, though. The palate follows suit with lots of soft sherry, vanilla with just a hint of bitterness on the tail end of the sip. Thank to the low ABV there’s a very watery feel to the whole sip and that shortens the flavor profile way more than it should. The finish is short/medium short with an overly dry sensation and a thin mouthfeel. Again, probably due mostly to the short finessing time spent in the port and oloroso casks along with a heavy dose of water to bring everything down to 40%. I’m not sure what Paul had to ultimately pay for this bottle, but I’m going to declare it not worth whatever the amount. This is one of the most uninspired Dalmore’s I’ve had to this point. Sadly, I seem to always end up giving Dalmore some beef over the extra harshness on the palate on most of their drams- well, this one lacks that bite and it would be welcomed with open arms here. This is a very uneventful, almost flavorless experience. I think we need to stick with the age statement stuff from Richard Paterson’s crew. Definitely skip this one- 3 mediocre stars is all I can muster. Cheers.

Here’s another interesting extra sample that found its way to me- via Paul, with our fourth round of distillery samples. It’s a somewhat local, craft distillery in Michigan. Grand Traverse Islay Rye whiskey is an homage to Scottish Islay peated, single malts. I believe they used 20% peated barley in the blend in hopes to offer up a smoky version of a rye whiskey. This comes in at 90 proof (45% ABV), is non-chill filtered and has no artificial color added (of course). It’s a shiny, new penny copper in the glass and based on the numerous water droplets that formed after spinning the Glencairn- the cask strength must’ve been pretty high and needed to be seriously cut with water just to get it down to 45%. The nose is so wacky: obviously there is plenty of oak spices, rye bread and pepper. The part that really threw me for a loop was the crazy, dill pickle brine that just shocked my system and made me a bit wary to move in for a sip, lol. There was an underlying earthy note here, too and that made me ponder what I think may have happened here. More on that below... Thankfully the pickle brine did not make an appearance on the tongue, at all. I think I would’ve gagged had that been this dram’s opening statement. Instead, it was all traditional rye whiskey notes: pepper, cinnamon, and raw oak. The mouthfeel was somewhat oily, which is something I don’t expect with a rye. The finish was all oak and rye bread, while being pleasantly hot and mouthwatering. It was medium in length and lingered for a bit. My theory- and that’s all that this is- is that the Islay barley may not have been dried using kiln-fired peat, but I’m thinking that it was just that the barley was grown in the peated soil. There was no smoke to speak of so that supports my theory, while if it was grown in peated soil that explains the earthiness found on the nose. Or hell, maybe the guys at the distillery just spilled a bottle of vinegar into the bottling line, haha. It’s hard to give this one a proper score. The taste and finish were typical rye, but that nose is so weird. I’m not a big fan of rye whiskey in general, so my score is naturally gonna be a bit low. Thanks again, Paul. It was an interesting addition to say the least. Lol, cheers.

Based on my friend Paul's scathing review, I decided to go ahead and get this one out of the way rather early because he made it sound like I'd need to extra time to erase it from memory. It's part of our distillery sample trading team and was supplied by our buddy Pranay from NJ. I read through all the bottling facts and info I could find in hopes to get a grasp of at least what the distillery and independent bottler were hoping for. Girvan is a lowland, grain distillery that makes whisky that's primarily destined to be blended into William Grant & Sons stuff. This is from a somewhat rare few casks to be bottled as a single barrel series that was finished for an undisclosed amount of time in rum barrels. It's bottled at 50% ABV and has no color added and is NCF'd. It made some fast forming, thin legs in the taster and is a light gold in color. The nose is, how do I put it, disturbing. All I could think of is high school shop class. Sawdust, wood shavings, paint thinner and cleaning solution. A slight fruity flavor also lingers, but it actually seems out of place. I made a birdhouse that smells like this whisky. The palate is pepper, oak, lemon zest with a little bit of that faint fruitiness. None of this hang around very long before the bitter oak and dryness set in and finish you off. I would say it sets in and ruins the sip, but there would've had to have been something good to ruin, lol. It's just so odd. When I think of Grain whisky I think of smooth, sweet and creamy. This has none of that. When I think of rum finishing I think of cocunuts, tanning oil and beaches. None of that, either. The overall finish- dry. Coughing up dust dry. I don't even know what I'd try to use as a mixer with this stuff. It would ruin the mixer. But, hey, our group has ticked off Girvan from our list and we will just move forward. I'm gonna give it 2 stars because of that and because it's alcohol. Thanks, Pranay. At least tonight's buzz is under way...haha."

This is Laphroaig’s attempt to take their port wine finishing up to another level. It’s a travel retail exclusive that’s actually on its second batch run. The first run was back in 2012 and was a precursor to their excellent 2013 Cairdeas release, that has become a mythical, lengendary drop over the last couple of years. In an attempt to recapture that magic, Laphroaig re-released this bottle in hopes of a return to glory. The problem is that this one falls significantly short. It’s bottled at 48%, is non-chill filtered and has no added color. The color is actually quite striking: orange/amber. It appears oily while leaving lots of droplets around the upper edge when you spin it in your Glencairn. There are very few legs that form, as well. The nose is sweet port wine, light grapes and honey with a pretty restrained smoke level. There’s little to no wood or alcohol notes present, even after 20-25 minutes. The palate is similar: Light vine fruits with hints of smoke, but it is juicier than most Laphroaig’s I’ve had to this point. It’s not so much oily as it is watery. You can tell there’s young malt at play here, but the port flavors keep the harshness at bay. The overall mouthfeel ends up feeling a little thin. The 2013 Cairdeas Port didn’t suffer from these issues, neither did batch 1 of this Brodir from what I’ve heard. Unfortunately, batch 1 bottles are even harder to find than the Cairdeas version. The finish continues the theme of restraint. Lower smoke levels than you’ll be accustomed to from The Frog, but it is really fruity with a medium length, lingering sweet finale. Overall, I was hoping for the best and wishing it was a suitable replacement for the 2013 Cairdeas, but it comes up short- especially at the price point of $107 a bottle. If you’ve had the good fortune to try the 2013 Cairdeas, and marveled at its brilliance, then you’ll see that this one is more of a tease than the real deal. It’s still highly drinkable, but I’m still looking for that elusive Cairdeas. 3.75-4 stars for the Brodir. Cheers.

** Disclaimer: This review is what I would consider a “Quick Hit”- meaning I won’t have my usual in-depth notes that I usually like to take. The reason: this sample was poured at Whiskyfest DC on 4/17/18. All of these reviews will not be scored and I am actively looking to try them again at some point to do them more justice. This is it. This was the best whisky I tasted at the festival. This is what HP should focus on- it was sherry flavors turned up to the max, a great representation of the wood cask notes that’s been missing in some of their recent, NAS Viking-themed releases, etc. The power was turned up here and the juice holds up well against the higher ABV. It was rich and creamy, sweet and smoky- yet powerful. A whisky drinker’s whisky lol. This is easily a 5 star dram and I’m really looking forward to the companion bottle- The Light. It should be a dynamic duo if they took great care like they did here with The Dark. It’s on the pricey side at $260-280, but I think it’s the best stuff to come out of HP since Odin. Find a bottle and buy it. Great stuff. Cheers. This wraps up my Quick Hit recaps from Whiskyfest DC. I’m not sure I’ll attend this event annually because the costs associated with it were just a bit too high. It definitely didn’t live up to my personal hype and wasn’t worth the $345 VIP price point.