Tastes

I got to try this unusual and a bit obscure malt, thanks to @LeeEvolved, as part of his official contribution In our sampling team to go through every active distillery in Scotland. Very typical Speysider: honey, cereals, bread baking in the oven aroma. Same aroma simply extends to the palette. There’s nothing spectacular or challenging to this, and it doesn’t need to be. What it does, it does quite well...which is put together a good single malt at a mature age and affordable price tag. I definitely wouldn’t seek this out or buy it for my own, since I feel what I got from it is what I’d get from a Glenfiddich 12 or Balvenie 12. But, if I want to give a nice gift and make an impression of something mature and well aged, yet appealing to the masses, this would be a good option. Thanks Lee for providing something I normally wouldn’t get a chance to try

I bought a pour of this last week during a business dinner. Was in a mood for rye, thought it would pair well with the fusion Asian entree. ( I was wrong...maybe a Riesling would’ve been perfect, and if were to be a whiskey, a speysider like Balvenie would’ve worked). You would think this packs a punch at 50 ABV, but it’s masked by really delightful baking spices aroma and palette. It’s like walking into a bake shop, just when vanilla shortbread cookies are coming out of the oven. Considering the price ( I paid $6 for a pour), it’s definately worth it. I’ve had two Whistlepigs so far, and am favorably impressed by it. Granted, it’s sourced, not made...so I can’t really call it a craft distillery. But makes me look forward to when they manage their own full development.

I am literally plowing through our round 5 of the Scottish distillery trading team. This one here courtesy of @LeeEvolved . I normally don’t drink this much, seriously. Really. I’m normally the the type of guy that wakes up 4:30, in the gym for an hour, then working my ass off making a living, till the weekend finally comes when it tae Kwon do to swimming to piano kid shuttle. And a drink only on Friday and Sunday. Rest of the days is matcha green tea. But...something about this round 5 that I’m just plowing through..,like I want to get it over with so I can enjoy the hot little tamales of bonus samples ( Macallan Rare cask and the Kilchoman Red Wine one, beckoning my name like sexy little sirens). Okay...enough ranting. Now...this here is a 17 yr old acting like a prepubescent teen. Much like today’s youth. It’s got aromas of bread baking in the oven, with a nice non-confrontational palette that is like your typical Stepford wife. Lingering finish...not bad. Like honeycombs dipped in chocolate. Not sure of the price...but it’s worthy of something you’d bring out as Balvenie 12’s older brother. thanks for the sample @LeeEvolved

I did a double take on this one. Pink hue!?!? Seriously. It’s pink. Like a rose’ wine. WTF? Looks like rose’, but doesn’t smell like rose’. This sample was provided by my friend @LeeEvolved, and he’s not the rose’ drinking type. Anything but. This is a weird little pour. Aroma of oak left out in the rain too long. Not in a good way. The palette is fleeting berries, but my god the finish is L-O-N-G and bitter. Glendronach...what the hell, man? This just ain’t right...go back to your normal sherry cask work, and leave the crazy batshit experiments to other distilleries. Like Ardbeg. They can get away with an experiment like soaked in casks that previously held snail slime, and still manage to sell out well over asking price.

Who would’ve thought that mixing 28 single malts together would actually turn out really good? I had originally thought of this as a big marketing gimmick...and maybe it is, but hell, it worked. A bowl of fresh fruit and roasted nuts for the aroma; sherry cask had a huge part here. Palette Is all over the place, but somehow ends really well. Like a football team made up of rejects and a screwed up diverse cast, but somehow winning the Super Bowl. Waxy mouthfeel, I guess Clyneish had a big part here. Mine was only a sample, but I’ll look into getting a bottle

A sample provided by @Generously_Paul for our little tasting team. Have you ever heard of a tropical fruit called durian? It’s a large green outer skin fruit with a yellow fleshy center, grows primarily in Southeast Asia. It has an absolutely horrible fungal smell, but once you get past that smell, it taste decent. This here reminded me of that. I couldn’t stand the aroma...vegetal and fungal. A bit plastic-y. Honestly had the hardest time getting by the smell. Once I took a sip, not so bad. Hazelnuts and toffee; peppery , spicy. Finish is quick and a bit bitter. Just not for me, can’t get past the aroma. Acknowledge and move on to the next sample...

Oh my god, I really didn’t expect to like this. After a run of bad to sub-par drams the last few times, I was ready for a let down. But, wow...this is good. Sample provided by @Generously_Paul as part of our round 5 trading. Tasted blind, I’d have thought I’m having cognac. Fruit salad aroma, like that sweetened type that comes in a can. In a good way. More sweet fruits on the palette. Sugared plums, sweetened cherries. Just a tinge of chalky alkaline st the finish. One of those where i’ll personally look into getting a bottle at some point. Great after dinner dessert dram.

Back in college I had this friend, we’ll just call him M. I remember this time M took me out for a drink, to talk things over when I was contemplating breaking up with this girl, who we’ll call K. You see, K was simple. A sweetheart. There was no drama, no unforeseen surprises, just straight in her lane simple. M told me that to truly appreciate K, I needed to break up with her and date a few girls he knew. I did that. I broke up with her. M set me up with a friend we’ll call A. A was fun. Batshit crazy scary fun. A few times driving at night in the pitch dark rural backways, she’d turn off the headlights and speed up, counting to ten, and then suddenly break and turn the lights back on. This excitment must have triggered some hormones to immediately engage in acts I shall not post here. Then there were other examples of such crazy risqué behavior. Like having a picnic at a graveyard at midnight, again triggering the same hormones mentioned earlier. Anyway, that was A. And I started to realize how nice it was to have the simplicity, and freedom from death, with K. This whisky here is my K. It’s simple, boring, and nice. A was my quarter cask, cask strength Laphroaig. You can have those just so many times, till you come back to these and appreciate its simplicity. Thanks to @Scott_E for this sample as part of our round 5 trade.

This was a hot freakin mess. Grass, old vegetables left in the bin, decent helping of asphalt. Part of our trading team round 5, this provided by @Generously_Paul. Note to others on the trading team: have this early in the round. On the bright side...my Girvan still holds the title of “most likely to be spat out”. This wasn’t quite at that Girvan’s level

One more as part of our distillery trading team, provided by @Scott_E . I think I’m gonna have to respectfully disagree with my internet celebrity friend @Telex. I found this hot and young, not ready for prime time. Maybe needed just a tad bit more in the barrel. Also felt as if it’s pulling it’s punch; sort of like peat for beginners. I guess if I’m gonna have a peated young whiskey, I’m going for a young Islay, not a young Speysider.