Tastes

I’m a huge fan of Amrut. Yes...India is a powerhouse when it comes to IT innovation and services, pharma R&D, and, of course, the movie industry Bollywood. And Amrut put its mark on the map for high quality single malt whiskey made with the subcontinent’s barley, water, and the Deccan desert heat. This one here is a one-off (unless of course it sells well, then who’s gonna deny some more profits from batch 2?). Madeira matured, a first for Amrut. The nose is the best part in this. A few drops of water brings out some dried fruit, hazelnuts, and surprisingly a floral element. Taste carries through with more of the same. What I don’t like though is the intense heat. It leaves you with a fire burning inside. Feels as if it truly could’ve benefited from a few more years in the barrel. The other thing I miss is the cardamom...I loved the cardamom I had in every Amrut I’ve had. I just assumed that was the Amrut calling card. If you’re a fan of Amrut, this is a must try, obviously. Others...hold off for a pour.

Remember that eclipse from 2 years ago? The one which was seen fully in a straight line from Oregon to South Carolina? Well, that eclipse passed through a portion of Wyoming where this distillery is located . Not having researched this fully, I’m not sure if it was simply released that day and slapped on with a pretty label, or if there was something special done in casks, maturation or other aspects to make it truly one-off special. The pragmatist in me says it’s a label slap on. The romantic in me hopes for the one-off. Either way...this is pretty good. Classic bourbon profile of oak, baking spices, all enveloped by a sweetness. I’ve been a huge fan of Wyoming Whiskey, with a very personal bent towards all its products ever since I visited them years ago during a vacation to Wyoming. Thanks to @GeologyJack for the pour! I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now.

Here is an unusual beast. It’s a 4 year old from Sweden’s now closed Grythyttan distillery. The casks were bought by the Swedish bottler Eld Vatten. This one is slightly peated at 15ppm, and matured fully in ex-champagne barrels. About 350 bottles were ever released, making this quite rare considering it’s from a closed distillery. So, I had a few friends over last night and I had this blind ( label removed ) along with about 3 Trader Joe red wines ( each around $4, also labeled removed). The TJ wines were done and finished by all. This here was only appreciated by a whiskey drinker. She ( yes..she) guessed it was a 10-15 yr old Springbank. She had a good logic for that—-there’s a certain dusty, old library with a bit of sulfur aroma to it. The taste is smoke, honey and red apples. There’s a bit of herbal aftertaste, like thyme and rosemary. Really unusual. It’s by no means a “beginner “ whiskey. It’s different, like nothing else. She liked it enough to polish off 1/2 the bottle and ask to take the rest home.

Oh there was so much potential here. I was hoping anything finished in “Grand Cru” was worthy of at least 4 stars. The word Grand simply implies larger than ordinary. But sadly this one here is anything but Grand. This Jura is 18 years old, with some years spent finishing in French Grand Cru wine barrels. Grand Cru, as the name implies is one of the best standards for French Bordeux red wine, only to be superceded by Premier Grand Cru. Hopefully that translates to a better finishing for the whisky. But..alas, I’m proven wrong, at least for this one. The nose starts off really well. You get a salinity, briny aroma with some heft from the wine. The taste unfortunately takes a dive. It’s really rough, the wine’s weight fighting against the Islander’s saline. It’s a tug of war, that finally goes to the saline part, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory at best. Keeping in line with other Juras I’ve had, it’s just not worth the pour. Nothing to see here. Move on.

Thanks to @GeologyJack for giving a generous pour , I actually was able to do a bit of an experiment with this as well as having it the standard way. I had half of it with a few drops of water. Aroma is pretty good...circus caramel corn. Taste is a bit oaky, which I translated to a pretty decent age (maybe 5-9?). But has again that caramel corn sweetness. It’s a great bourbon to share with friends and family—-just don’t go expecting a hard punch of power like Elijah Craig BP, or complexity like a Four Roses LESB. It’s fairly one dimensional but it does it well. Now the fun part. I was making saffron cheesecake today, and I took some of the base for an experiment with the second half of the pour. I made a bit of saffron liquer ( honey, vanilla, cinnamon, saffron, peppercorn in water ) and mixed it as 3 / 1 ratio bourbon / saffron. Wow. Talk about complexity! I got a layer of sweetness from the saffron on top of the bourbon’s inherent sweetness, but a different type from the saffron. The saffron added almost an herbal sweetness, as opposed to the sugary sweetness from the corn base in bourbon. And this was then tempered by the cinnamon and peppercorn heat. I need to replicate that small batch 1 ounce experiment to a larger batch when friends are over.

There’s a few times in life you would have an opportunity to watch a grown man cry. One such opportunity would be when an otherwise relatively intelligent man does a dumbass idiotic move like trying to carry a bottle of expensive single cask fully sherry matured Japanese whiskey to his car, just so he can take it to his storage unit, as it just so happens his wife will kick him out if she sees another whiskey bottle at home. It’s relatively benign carrying a bottle to your car’s trunk. Except when it’s a snowing outside and your drive way is iced and slippery. All I can say is, out of the 1/2 ounce or so that I managed to save from the broken bottle, this is an ABSOLUTE stunner of a whiskey. A single cask sherry Chichubu, made for a Parisian wine company. Single cask Chichibu are now rare as hen’s teeth and prices range well upwards of $700+. As I lay there in the snow, holding a broken bottle, I figured now is a good time as any to maybe taste this. An involuntary pour. Can’t say much about the nose, since I was sitting there in shock for a good hour and my nose froze in the cold, but the taste is amazing. Thick viscous and meaty. Cherries and plum. Closest I can think of is a Yamazaki 18, but far better. Anise, allspice and some cardamom. There’s a lesson in this kids: drink your good stuff now, because let’s face it...your brain cells are dying as you get older and you’re most likely going to fall on ice while carrying that expensive whiskey.

I had just got to the point of firmly believing that all new distilleries quickly put out their gut puke first products at silly prices, with huge fanfare and marketing bullshit. Take for example the likes of Abhainn Dearg Eden Mill and Glasgow. Three year crap products at Macallan prices. These crap products are then flipped for double and triple in the secondary market. No one tastes them. They just flip them. Gone are the days that distilleries like Kilchoman ( which were considered new a decade ago) would put out really good 3 yr olds at affordable $70 prices. Until now. Daftmill is the newest Lowlander, but it does things differently. First off, it’s not a 3 yr old that’s been placed out as a newbie. It’s a 12 yr old. Also, it’s micro-local distillery. It grows and malts Chariot barley in its own farms. It also doesn’t do a round-the-clock distillation. Instead it’s a seasonal distillery, like the way distilleries were hundreds of years ago. It distills only in-between harvests. This makes the output pretty small, like a craft distillery. This release for example was distilled in winter 2006 and released in winter 2018. Out of all the Lowlanders I’ve had, this really takes the crown. First whiff is fruit baskets galore. Think strawberry shortcake. Oily and thick mouthfeel, more strawberries and peaches. Just really well made. Instead of rushing things through, they took their time and did things right. Only 1600 bottles are generally released each season, and prices affordably at $100 or so...but retailers are now charging well over $200, and secondary prices are insane. If you can find it for $100, it’s probably the best $100 single malt you’ll have. I got mine for $125 from TWE, but minutes later, was all sold out. 1600 bottles aren’t much and will go quickly. Don’t pay secondary market ( over $700), and anything $100-200 is all perspective.

Finally...a ‘fiddich that’s reasonably priced and good?!? At about $50/ bottle, this is a great buy. It’s a departure from the traditional ‘fiddich in that it’s lightly peated. It’s a bold departure, marrying a bourbon matured whisky with a peated whisky, and then finishing it in Caribbean rum barrels. The peat is different than what we’d normally see in Islays. This peat is from Speyside. So, you have less of that phenolic character, and more earthy instead. The peat level is only 5ppm, which is minor compared to what you see in Ardbeg ( 50ppm). So you’re getting a light earthy soot, combined with a sweet aftertaste from the rum. I found this incredibly well balanced, doing the tightrope really well between fruit and light faint smoke. If you go in expecting an Islay style, you’ll be disappointed. But go in acknowledging what a departure this is from the traditional ‘fiddich, and extremely attractively priced at $50. Solid well recommended buy. Just don’t expect a peat monster or Islay wannabe. It’s something else and unique.

There’s a few lessons you learn in life as you get older. Invest early. Save for retirement. Nothing beats a good education ( except a trust fund). Be a great husband and father, and you’ll raise amazing kids. And don’t buy first releases from brand new distilleries, cause it’ll be shit and over priced. This is one of those. This is marketed as Glasgow’s first distillery in ages ( 100 years?), and the newest Lowlander. Thankfully I only bought a sample, and not the full bottle. It’s obviously young: mild raw plastic aroma, with some shortbread thrown in for good measure. Taste has some ways to go—-all I got was Cheerios, and a weak floral taste. I totally understand the need to generate revenue immediately, but this one can benefit from a few more good years in the barrel. Since it’s the first release, it might be better suited for a buy-hold-sell strategy by collectors. For rest of us...move on, nothing to see here.