Tastes

After having worked my way through most, if not all, of Compass Box Whisky’s core range of blends I found that I had completely ignored, or just missed out on, their re-formulation of the standard Spice Tree. Now, I remember enjoying the original quite a bit as I thought the use of traditional oak casks and ex-bourbon, French oak added a nice level of complexity to CBW’s standard, sherry cask fare. The Extravaganza was released in 2016, to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Spice Tree, and it is rumored that the original blend was beefed up with older stock while utilizing first-fill sherry and special hybrid casks. What is a hybrid cask, you ask? Well, I believe it’s where blenders, and even a few distilleries, take pieces from different styles of casks and rebuild them like Frankenstein: take the ends off of a sherry cask and place them on an ex-bourbon cask or it could be simply to add oak spirals from one type of cask into a different style. Aka, Experimentation to another level. Anyway, Extravaganza utilized a lot of this while increasing the sherry-casked whisky into the overall recipe- voila, Spice Tree Extravaganza was born. The ABV was also bumped up to 46%, as was the price point. I paid $97 for this bottle and I still think it was worth every penny. The whisky is rich gold and very oily. Big, watery drops and slick legs greet you after giving yourself a healthy pour. The nose has noticeably more sherry than the spicy notes I recall from the old Spice Tree. There’s vanilla and butterscotch giving off a sweet, creamy vibe. I wish the nose was more like the old stuff, but the palate is where the transformation really takes hold. The flavor profile is much deeper than before: vanilla beans and chocolate covered almonds lead into the sherry and spicy mid point. Peppers and oak spices warm things considerably and make this thing really take off. It’s oily on the tongue, as well, and it just coats every inch of your mouth and wakes the tastebuds. It’s still incredibly rich, yet smooth. I could be content just to sit and roll this stuff back and forth across the tongue. The finish is also somewhat long and warming. The spices and sweet vanilla and sherry just linger on and on. It’s blended so well it’s hard to guess the ages of the whisky used in larger amounts. There has to be some young juice in here, but I’ll be damned if I can’t detect a weakness in the complexity and mouth feel. It’s that good. Overall, this is a wonderful departure from most of the core range and there are bottles still littered across lots of store shelves. If you find a store offering this up on clearance or even at a price below $75-80 I’d buy multiples. It’s classy and sophisticated if you need that for a special occasion to show off to some noobs, yet it’s complex enough to withstand a round table discussion with your whisky connoisseur friends. Or you could just hoard it all and spend a quiet evening on the veranda with it and a rich cigar (if that’s your thing). 4.5 stars all day long. Cheers.

I’m long overdue to sample and review a grocery store chain, Irish whiskey. Thanks to a new trading partner from the southwest US, @dubz480, I’m able to do just that: Trader Joe’s 15 Year Irish whiskey is heavily rumored to be juice that’s sourced from Bushmills and rebranded under the discount grocery chain’s nameplate. I am unable to purchase any spirits from these stores because here in Virginia liquor is controlled by the state (Boooo). No Trader Joe’s, no Kirkland or Costco brands for me. I have to trade for samples if I hope to eventually try them. That brings me to this 15 year old whiskey from Trader Joe’s: it’s rumored to from Bushmills and diluted to 40% ABV. I’m sure it’s chill filtered and probably has added color, which is a light and shiny caramel. A spin in your favorite tasting vessel will leave heavy drops and watery legs in its wake. The nose is predominantly butterscotch candies and honey, with some grassy and dried hay notes mingling about. Some floral properties appear along with typical oak barrel notes of vanilla. There’s no bite or hint of the lowered ABV, but it’s not boring by any means. The palate offers up orchard fruit and hints of Juicy Fruit chewing gum and measured amounts of toffee. It starts to feel like a creamy, post-dinner dessert with a warm and creamy mouth coat before some citrus interrupts the finale- in a good way. It cuts the sweet tooth feel just in time. The finish remains luscious and smooth, though, with soft and lingering fruitiness. Overall, it nails down a traditional Irish whiskey identity. Smooth and creamy with soft, fruit notes. I think the 15 years in an ex-bourbon cask, although maybe not first fill, has played well here. I hear price points are in the low $30-range, which is a solid deal. What you lose in complexity you certainly make up for in value for your money. I think it could benefit in a slight boost in bottling strength, to say 43%, but it’s still pretty solid for what you get. 3.5-3.75 stars. Cheers.

Those crazy chaps over at Compass Box Whisky, out of London, have released another “spirit drink” to buck the Scottish Malt Whisky Society: Stranger & Stranger. This release pays homage to the 10 year anniversary of their use of this marketing company (of the same name) that they use to design their labels and bottle packaging. This blend also contains 1% of one year old grain spirit from Girvan- so it can’t be classified as whisky under the SMWS bylaws. However, just like every other CBW release it’s non-chill filtered and has no added color. It’s bottled at 46% and currently retails just shy of $200. Is it worth that? Let’s find out... The appearance is like that of new, polished gold and it’s oily and produces tiny drops and a few undefined legs in the tasting glass. The nose reminds me of fresh sliced honeydew melon and a waxy, sweet corn. There’s a mango sweetness underlying some baked, grain bread loaf. You can also smell some of the heat from the ABV. The palate is incredibly juicy with vine-ripened fruit, faint chocolate and honey. A wonderful peach purée with some added sugar adds weight to the tongue and overall mouthfeel, but there’s a light oak backbone that holds up heading into the finish. The finish is medium length and mouthwatering- with a lingering waxy, fruity and heavy mouth coat. The mango and peach notes also hung around long after the finish and I could still notice them hours later. Overall, this is a very tasty “spirit”. Glenlossie makes up 80% of the blend here and it makes me want to search for a few independent offerings from those guys just to see if the peach and mango notes carry over into other malts. Glen Elgin (14%) and Linkwood (5%) make up the remaining whisky used. There was only a total of 4,802 bottles filled and even though the price point is rather high this is a quality product. The packaging is cool, too. Seek out a bottle or a pour and decide for yourself. I’m glad I bought a second bottle as they seem to be getting a little harder to find now. 4.25-4.5 stars. Cheers.

So, I finally got around to opening a bottle of this one for my amateur blending experiment. I figured I might as well give it a proper score. For those of you that may have read my impromptu review from Whiskyfest DC back in 2018 I have this update: This is a pretty damn good whisky. After my buddy @Telex and I sampled this during the Ardbeg seminar at the show, I was so wiped out by all the drams we sampled I just purely missed the nuances of this dram. The wine cask notes are present, even if briefly, before the heavy smoke and high ABV burn kick in. The wine cask finishing also provides a little color in the Glencairn and there’s a nice little, grape and berry hit from the cask. It’s quick, so you need to pay attention, but then the meaty and smoky Ardbeg goodness kicks in and washes the sweetness away. The finish is hot, as it should be with a Committee bottling, but the Ardbeg character carries through and leaves you smiling and glad you dropped the coinage. As it is, it’s a 4-4.25 star dram, and the Ardbeg fanboys should seek a bottle out while they are still floating around and possibly catching dust on some mom-n-pop liquor stores around the country. It’s good stuff and worthy of the CE designation. Cheers.

Everybody loves a new, Scottish distillery. Ardnamurchan is a Highland region distillery that still hasn’t offered a true whisky to this point- they keep blending 1-1.5 year old spirit with some 3-4 year old stuff that’s been aging gracefully in first fill, sherry casks. This release is called AD2018 and it’s the 3rd such release from Ardna. Why didn’t they just go ahead and release an official 3 year old whisky? Well, I don’t rightly know. AD 2018 is bottled at 55.3% ABV and is natural color and isn’t chill filtered. I picked up this bottle from a U.K. store for a rather pricy $60. Let’s peer into what could be in store once Ardnamurchan stops “blending down” and finally gives us an official whisky in the next year or two: It’s caramel and amber in color, quite oily with thin legs and heavy droplets. The nose reveals fresh cut oak from the younger portion that’s been aged for just over a year in ex-bourbon casks. Cinnamon and sherry, raspberry candies and hints of cough syrup mingle in along with the faintest of peat smoke. The earthy peat has been left behind in favor of the smoky variety. I like that here- it just needs a bit more IMO. The palate also reveals nice sherry cask notes, evidence of first fill goodness. Ripe berries and fruit followed by a hot and dry cinnamon note around the mid sip. It turns overly dry leading into the back end and leaves a bit of gasping for cool air. The ABV shows its face and really delivers the goods leading into the finish. It continues to be hot and dry, slightly salty and smoky with lingering berry sweetness. Overall, the flavor profile is astounding for such a young product. The master blender definitely made sure to use enough sherry cask whisky to leave an impression and it works overall. The fact they acknowledge using peated whisky in this blend makes me take a step back because there just isn’t enough of a peated presence for me. Leave it out or bump it up, guys. It isn’t a score buster, it just makes me pause on grading it higher. The price is a bit prohibitive for what you’re getting, age wise, but it’s still a tasty dram, no doubt. 3.75-4 stars for total package delivery with a subtraction for price point and failure to deliver the peat as advertised. So, 3.5 it is. Here’s to looking forward to their first, true whisky- whenever that may be. Cheers.

Here’s a sample pour I received from a former SDT colleague, @Telex from Maryland. The Arran 16 year was a widely released malt with a bottle count of almost 9,000. It’s bottled at 46% ABV and is yellow gold in color with watery, medium-sized drops and tons of legs in the tasting glass. This is what I’ll call “A Tale of Two Drams”, let me explain: Initially, the nose was ex-bourbon to the extreme: heavy, fresh cut oak with ginger undertones and abrasive alcohol astringency. Given a lengthy, airy rest I was able to coax some apples, pears, citrusy lime out of it, with some faint sherry notes rounding things out. Sadly, just as soon as I thought it was revealing itself I got more oak cask and ginger- those notes never fully faded away. The palate acted similarly: it contradicted itself back and forth with cinnamon and oak barrel power, yielding to subtle orchard fruit and vanilla sweetness, only to switch back to a biting citrus and ginger sting. The mouthfeel never turned soothing or relaxed. I even added a few drops of water to try and calm it on the last little bit to no avail. Spicy pepper and apple slices seemed to be the overall theme. The finish was hot and dry with pepper and woody notes. I did detect a little more of the sherry influence as it lingered, but the heat and sherry only reminded me of a cheap brandy and that didn’t leave me wanting to score this all that high. Overall, I can’t decide how much I want to punish this pour for being so mixed up. Just when I wanted it to turn the page and become a soothing, fruity dram it socked me back in the mouth with heat and pepper. I don’t know if it needs more time in the cask, more sherry cask juice blended in, or just abandon the sherry and focus on a cask strength, ex-bourbon profile. I get the impression that any one of those options would’ve resulted in a better dram. This one is kind of a mess as presented. 2.5 stars, maybe 2.75. Thanks for the pour, Jason, but I’d have to pass on buying a bottle at this point. Cheers.

This is a newer, travel retail exclusive, NAS whisky from Glengoyne: Cuartillo. It’s young whisky that was fully matured in ex-American Oloroso sherry casks. It’s light gold with undefined legs and a watery appearance with heavy drops. It’s bottled at 40% (boo) and cost me $37 from an online, UK retailer. The nose is mostly fresh apples and toffee with some faint sherry wine notes and light citrus. The oak is very contained and isn’t easily coerced from the glass. The palate focuses on orchard fruits, namely apples and pears, and there’s a little peppery oak bleeding through by mid sip. The mouthfeel is watery and weak with undertones of youthful spirit. The finish is short and vanilla sweet with some lingering sawdust. Overall, it’s pretty bland and lacks any complexity. It’s obviously another NAS one trick pony, but the cheap price and the fact it’s a liter bottle make up some points in the VFM column. Still, there’s better whisky out there- even from Glengoyne. 2.5 stars. Cheers, my friends.

I was looking through my whisky collection for something with a healthy age statement to carry with me to my father’s house a couple of weeks ago. He likes it when I bring something new that he can be the first to pull the cork on. I bought this bottle a few months back from the U.K. and had been very interested in opening it. So, here ya go dad- pop a freshie! The BenRiach Temporis is a peated offering that boasts an in-house blend of 21 year old whisky that’s from 4 different sources: virgin oak, ex-bourbon, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. This could be very good or a muddled mess- this should showcase the distillery master blender’s skill set. It’s bottled at 46% and set me back $153. It’s caramel gold and very oily in the tasting glass. Sparse legs and tiny drops form and get left behind after a quick spin. The nose opens with earthy peat, toffee chews and sherry. Some charred oak and malty fruits mingle quite nicely after you give it some appropriate time and a little agitation in the glass. There’s no hints of alcohol or heat. The palate ushers in stewed fruits: both of the tropical and orchard variety. It leans more towards apples and pears until after the midpoint, at which it gets more tropical. Once the fruitiness gives way the peat and earthy mushroom notes creep in alongside the light oak and vanilla. The mouthfeel is very impressive- the liquid actually has a very soothing, aged feel. It’s a nice balance between watery and medium-oily. Creamy is the word I’m looking for here. The flavors do turn a bit muddled heading into the medium-length finish. The ABV leaves a nice warming effect, with sherry and toffee rounding out the final oak notes. Overall, it’s a wonderful whisky. There’s a fine line where I’m not sure if the flavors are expertly blended to not make anything stand out, or if it’s just the muddled effect. I doubt any of the juice used is from first-fill casks (other than the virgin oak, obviously), but that keeps any single notes from shining and also allows the older whisky characteristics to play a predominant role. I really think a finishing cask would’ve masked the good and the bad, so cheers to BenRiach for not going that route. But, there’s something making me wish there was a cask that took the leading role here- I don’t know why, because I did enjoy this bottle. Fun note: after opening this for my dad he ended up siphoning off 2/3 of the bottle into a couple of flasks to keep in his golf bag- so, after my initial drams and 1-2 samples this bottle was dispatched in a matter of days. If that doesn’t speak volumes, nothing does. 4-4.25 stars because the price point is leaking onto the higher end. Cheers.

Well, it’s time for a little trip down memory lane with my cohorts from the Scottish Distillery Tour. We finished the bulk of this quest in the Fall of 2018, but my buddy @Generously_Paul suggested that we scour the earth for some samples from closed distilleries while we wait for the new ones to release some fresh juice. He found this well-aged, grain whisky from Port Dundas and graciously shared it with the group. Thanks again, bro. Please see Paul’s review for the history of the distillery and the deets about this particular bottle, from independent bottlers Clan Denny. This stuff was distilled in 1988 and bottled in 2017- making it 28 years old, its obviously non-chill filtered and has no added coloring and the whisky rested in refilled hogsheads for its entire slumber. It’s bottled at 50% ABV and is light gold with thin legs and medium-to-large drops that run quickly down the Glencairn. The nose, well, is nothing short of spectacular: juicy pineapple, toffee and sugarcane bring the sweetness in with an astounding “how do you do”. It shows some ginger root spice with a hint of oak bitterness to balance the nose quite respectfully. There’s a buttery undertone that wafts from the glass after a quick spin, as well. But, man, those pineapple notes really got the mouth watering. Diving in for the sip, I’m greeted with those same tropical notes, especially pineapple and ripe melon, some fresh honey and malt. Oak tannins arrive mid sip, along with that ginger bite I detected on the nose, and the oily mouth coat turned slowly dry. The ginger and bitter notes chased the pineapple away much sooner than I would’ve liked, but this is whisky we are drinking and not some tropical smoothie. The finish was medium length and oak forward. Lingering malt notes that ultimately left a dry feeling was the only let down I experienced here. The empty glass did provide some memory of the tropical fruit and I did find myself poking my nose back in there several times after the party was over. Overall, this didn’t strike me as a grain whisky- other than the dry finish. The age clearly played the key role here and the fact that even though these were refill casks there was still plenty of life left in them. Sadly, this bottling has probably long since disappeared and it would be a massive undertaking to try and find more, but I would jump at the chance to get my hands on one. It’s hard to say what it’s worth, money-wise, but this was a quality dram that any grain whisky fan would love. 4.25 stars and thanks again for the experience, Paul. Cheers.

The Kaiyo Japanese Mizunara Oak was a bottle I reviewed a few months back and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had tropical fruits and cinnamon sweetness in spades and was well presented at 46% ABV. I picked it up for just under $55 and even though it’s NAS- it was really, really good. Well, this is it’s hot-headed brother- same whisky, just bottled at near cask strength of 53% ABV. It’s not that much hotter, but it did add $30 to the price point. This whisky is non-chill filtered, but does have added coloring that makes it appear as new gold with copper highlights. It’s rather oily, with huge droplets and fast forming legs in your tasting glass. The nose begins with freshly crushed, cinnamon sticks and less citrusy, tropical fruits: think papaya and mango, instead of oranges and lemon. There’s some faint pineapple in there, too. There’s a nutty quality at play and a heavy sense of the ABV heat. The palate delivers on the tropical flavors, again before the harsher notes of youthful spirit barge in and take over. Red Hots candies supply the cinnamon and crazy good, sugary sweetness at the midpoint. The healthy dose of lingering heat is supplied by the extra ABV and it ultimately leads to a drier than anticipated mouthfeel. The finish is lingering heat and cinnamon candy with oak barrel astringency. It finishes very dry. Overall, I love the balance between tropical and cinnamon notes, but I think the regular version does a better job at presenting this in the perfect light. The Mizunara casks add a depth of flavor, but either the whisky is just too young to allow those flavors to shine or it’s just a little too strong. This was still a very enjoyable bottle, worthy of 3.5+ stars, but the dilution to 46% puts it closer to a beautiful, NAS offering. Not to mention you can save yourself $25-30. As this is presented, I’d give it 3.75 stars. Cheers.