Tastes

If I could label this review I believe I would call it “A Tale of Two Seasons”. I was originally gifted an entire bottle of this malt for my birthday back in 2016, from my buddy Ryan. We both drank through this bottle over the course of a few weeks- I enjoyed the peatiness, he enjoyed the bourbon-esque heat. So, it went down quicklynand with some enthusiasm. I was in my scotch hobby’s infancy and left a cheesy, non-descript review over on Barreled. Take a look: Barreled 4/2016: I get a kick out of highland distillers trying their hand at peat smoked single malts, especially when they are done pretty well. This one is no exception- it's appearance is light, like most highland styles and it feels light on the palate, but it packs a nice, velvety smoke all the way through the finish. Reminds me of the Port Charlotte Heavy Peat. Very smooth, not too dry and really enjoyable. I imagine this would pair very well with smoked meats like pork BBQ or beef brisket. 4 stars. Man, what insight I had. Well, thanks to my Long Island connection, @Scott_E- I get to try this one again. Let’s see how well this malt held up/how well my palate has improved, shall we? This Speyside malt from Benromach was aged in first fill bourbon barrels and bottled at a robust 46% ABV. It’s peat level is measured at 62ppm and it’s a beautiful light gold in the Glencairn. It’s oily in appearance and doesn’t create many legs when you spin it a bit. The nose starts with a strong, but youthful smoke that immediately yields to a battle between oak barrel and citrus peel. The sweetness is well hidden but after a little time I get some gala and green apples. The smell is a plus, even though it’s tedious to work through. The palate is very harsh and abrasive. Very abrasive. The higher ABV may be the culprit, but I suspect age is also a problem- it’s just too young. I believe it’s approximately 8 year old stock. There’s plenty of peat smoke on the tongue- you just have to sit there and let the whisky sizzle to experience it. No thanks. The finish is desert-like: hot and very dry. I felt like I was gasping for breath. Thankfully it dies a relatively quick death. It’s not enjoyable in the least. Overall, I’m not so sure I knew what the hell I was talking about a couple of years ago because this thing is a chore to drink. I love smoke and I love cask strength whisky, but I don’t love how these two tried to bring those things together. Sorry Scott, but this one doesn’t make the grade for me. 2.5stars, at best. Let’s move on...

I found a little time for another tour group sample: this one from Highland distillery, Ben Nevis. This is their flagship offering- the 10 year old. This is also the first sample I’ve ever had from this distillery. It was provided to me by my buddy, @Telex from Maryland. This pour comes in at the ABV hot spot of 46% and is a light copper in the tasting glass. It makes transparent, long legs and forms lazy droplets after settling back down. The aromas stay pretty compact and you have to get down in the glass before they reveal themselves. When they do finally release after 5-10 minutes they are some of the sweetest fruits I’ve had the privilege to try. Honey-dipped berries and luscious chocolate-dipped orange wedges immediately come to mind. They mask almost any cask note, though, and the dram doesn’t relay much of what’s to come on the palate. The taste starts out kind of intense with pepper, spearmint and oak before settling down and letting go of it’s softer side: malted barley, creamy toffee and more oranges. There’s a solid burn as it’s going down which is the beginning of the faults I found: the finish. It’s loaded with bitter grapefruit, lemon rinds and loads more oranges. It’s relatively short, which in this case, is probably a good thing. The lack of time in the barrel hurts this dram- a lot. This also would probably benefit from blending this one down to 40 or 43%. I don’t usually suggest this, but this time I think it may help the overall profile. The orange notes need to be reduced slightly and a bit of water would certainly calm the harshness, too. I know what you’re thinking: add water yourself, idiot!, but I don’t like to do that (especially with only a 2oz pour to sample from). If I had the entire bottle I would definitely experiment with water and maybe even blending in some softer, Lowland style single malts. Overall, it’s impressive for a 10 year old and the flavor profile is interesting enough to the point I’d like to find an older bottle or even a NAS and see what time or a little experimentation can lead to with Ben Nevis. Distiller’s expert, Thijs Klaverstijn hit the nail on the head, though: there’s an abundance of oranges in play here. 3.75 stars. Thanks again for a solid pour, Jason. Cheers, y’all.

As we keep on plugging our way through the fifth round of distillery samples, I’ve stumbled upon this Highland single malt from Glen Ord: the 11 year old. It’s an independent bottle from AD Rattray and comes in at a cask strength of 58.9%. This sample was provided by my friend @PBMichiganWolverine, from NJ. It’s a beautiful light gold in the Glencairn while appearing quite oily, but making no legs when you give it a spin. The nose is oak and alcohol to the point it’s borderline offensive. There’s a hint of green apples and some other orchard fruits, but you can’t stick your nose in there for too long- it just burns too much. The palate is very dry, hot and unnecessarily harsh. I’ve read the other guy’s reviews to this point and they all said to add water, but seeing as how their impressions didn’t improve- I just said “F it” and suffered through the pain. There were hints of apple sweetness, but I didn’t worry about investigating it further. I just slammed back the last of the sample and waited out the finish. Well, the finish is blazingly hot and dry. At no point did I even contemplate ways to improve any part of this whisky. Just get it over with! Lol. I wanted to curse my friend for subjecting me to this insane single malt, but alas, it isn’t his fault. We just need to power through these abominations and keep on moving. I don’t even want to give this one a score because I truly hope Glen Ord produces something better than this train wreck. Maybe once this tour is over I’ll invest a little bit of money and seek out a different Glen Ord, but this one is truly a disaster. Cheers to drinking better things.

Another review for another distillery group sample. This is from Speyside distillery, Glendullan. Specifically the Singleton 12 year old. Funny enough, this bottle is from the 40% ABV version and not the 43%...getting greedier ‘Dullan? It was provided for the group by my buddy Scott. Thanks bro. The nose is mostly cereal malts and oak with the faintest bit of cinnamon creeping in after it sat for a little while. The fact I got a lot of oak from a forty percenter is amazing. The palate is all Speyside: apples, banana and citrus peels with vanilla and wood tannins bringing up the rear. The mouthfeel is incredibly light, but mostly enjoyable. No qualms whatsoever. The finish is short, even a bit complex: nice sweetness and rich chocolate notes hung around after the initial warmth from the alcohol. Overall, this was an enjoyable experience. When I saw 40% I was a bit worried, but there’s plenty to like about this one and not much to rail against. I’m not sure about price, but I’d guess it’s pretty reasonable as this is a readily available and easily accessible dram. Thanks again, @Scott_E. 3.5 stars. Cheers.

I’ve been working my way through this bottle for the past 8-10 weeks and I just recently finished it, while finally getting some thoughts together about it. This bottle was released simultaneously with the peated, No Name. That bottle was CBW’s heaviest peated whisky to date and it cracked my Top 6 whiskies of all time. So, I really had high hopes for this one, too. First off, let’s go over what went into this blend. Now for starters, John Glaser and CBW pride themselves on transparency when it comes to what they put in every bottle, but this time around they played their cards a little closer to the vest until well after the release. They wanted people to judge it on flavor alone and asked drinkers to guess what they thought was in the bottle. A bit of a change for them, but that was kind of cool. I guess it was late December/early January before they released the make-up: Phenomenology is 72% Glenlossie (recharred hogshead), 24.5% Tamdhu (first fill oak), 2% Highland Park (recharred oak), 1% Talisker (refilled white oak) and 0.5% Caol Ila (hogshead). So they are expecting sweet, Speyside style whisky with a hint of smoke. Sounds nice. The color is yellow gold and it’s quite oily in the Glencairn. It makes some slow forming legs while leaving behind small droplets near the rim. This hits the ABV sweet spot at 46%. The nose is semi-complex: berries, orchard fruits, bananas all dominate the opening before yielding to what I’d describe as a candle shop. The smoke comes and goes when you put your nose down in it. One minute it’s there, the next it’s gone. It’s a bit frustrating, but looking at the low percentages of peated stock I guess it’s understandable. The palate feels very waxy initially. Almost like you’re rolling melted candle wax around on your tongue. It’s intriguing, but the wax flavor tends to keep the fruity notes from making a statement. Mid-sip I got a nice spice hit and some ginger snap cookies before it turned towards a traditional whisky with oak tannins and vanilla. It’s surprisingly complex, but that waxy texture and note keeps things too separate IMO. The finish is medium length and oily with some nice florals mixing in- where did they come from? The waxy aspect is completely gone, which is great and the final bits are warming and welcome. It doesn’t linger too long and it doesn’t finish dry at all. All pluses here. Overall, I’m a bit more mixed than I expected or wanted to be. The waxy bits and lack of distinct smoke bring the score down, but the complex palate and nice finish raise it up. It’s better than a middle of the road blend, but it’s not a top tier dram like I’ve come to expect from Compass Box. This bottle has slightly risen in price as well, and now fetches $175-199 US and that’s a bit too high for something that doesn’t reach 5 star level for me. As it is, it’s a solid 4 with maybe a slight dip because of price. Cheers, my friends.

As we continue to work our way towards the distillery sample finish line, Paul graciously sent this Speysider from (ironically enough): Glen Spey. This 12 year old sample was from an independent bottler, Berry Bros & Rudd. It hits the ABV sweet spot of 46%, is American light beer, pale yellow in color and makes lots of long, skinny legs in the taster. There’s no added color and it’s non-chill filtered. The nose is seriously woody: raw, fresh cut oak or pine, baby saplings with a little bit of lemon and cracked pepper. The key adjective would be: Youthful. The palate echoes the nose and adds a bit of minerality. It’s somewhat sharp and tin-like while staying surprisingly smooth, especially for 46%. It maintains a bit of an oily feel until the finish. Speaking of finish- it’s medium in length that turns from oily to dry quite quickly. There’s no aspect of heat or alcohol burn whatsoever. Overall, it’s boring. I can see why most of Glen Spey’s whisky goes into blends, I just don’t really know what they may add unless there’s extensive barrel finishing from the other malts used in the blend. At 12 years of age I would expect something other than intrinsic smoothness, but I think that’s where this one falls short. There’s no risk taking at Glen Spey and, well- what’s the fun in that? Thanks again to @Generously_Paul for dropping down his hard earned money for the greater good, let’s just keep our eye on the finish line shall we? Cheers.

This sample was sent to me by @Generously_Paul, who is a Detroit native. I'd never have been able to source this one on my own. It is advertised as a rye-based whiskey that should work well with savory Japanese pork or possibly even sushi. I tried a small pour neat and then finished the remaining sample with a delicious and spicy tempura crab roll. It really did work well with the food, as the whiskey has a weird flavor profile that is hard to describe. There's definitely a bit of saltiness and spiciness that makes it seem a lot better with food. As far as neat, I think it reminds me of a flavored, young moonshine with a bit of peppered spice mixed in. Thanks to Paul for sending me this and I'm glad I finished the sample with sushi. It may also work well with smoked Gouda cheese and some charcuterie. All in all, it's pretty interesting and definitely different. Cheers.