Tastes
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The Irishman Cask Strength (2022 Release)
Blended — Ireland
Reviewed December 14, 2023 (edited December 16, 2023)Another Irish, another Cask Strength. Another whisky that is alright, but I would never spend that kind of cash on a bottle of it. Nose is shortbread biscuits, vanilla, honey, caramel. All the nice, mellow notes. Like a Speyside but more bready. Some baking spices in there and some fruit. Cherries. Mostly the same on the taste, with the cherries being replaced by a pretty clear apricot not up front. Honey, vanilla, biscuits, bread....classic Irish flavors. Not bad, but....I kinda find this one boring for some reason. It just doesn't really wow me, especially for a cask strength release. It is by no means bad, but also nothing special. Short, sweet and not very impressive finish. Decent sipper if you need something to just drink without thinking too much about it, but there are cheaper scotches that do that a lot better.125.0 EUR per Bottle -
Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength (Batch 15)
Single Malt — Scotland
Reviewed December 13, 2023 (edited December 17, 2023)Allright, today's entry is...and aquired taste. My dad didn't really like it, and doggo insisted on sniffing....he regretted that. Never seen him jump back that quick. I on the other hand am in love. I already prefer Laphroaig over Ardbeg and Lagavulin, but this just gives it the extra push. And for a cask strength bottling, this is mild as anything...I had mid 40% sherry bombs that burned more than this. Nose is brine, pepper, fresh moist moss, with a bit of underlaying sweetness of black currants, and all in all, salty, charred spareribs. Maybe with cranberry sauce? Taste is sweet, honey glazed ham, with a generous load of salt and herbs. There is some basil in here, sea salt, pepper, salted fudge and a very heavy sweetness of stewed prunes, lukewarm, not quite hot anymore but still not yet cold. Those, not too sweet, basil and pepper instead of cinnamon, go very well will charred, roasted meat. And that is what I am getting here. This is a main course, not a dessert. The aftertaste is earthy, salty and slightly herbal, with still quite a bit of sweetness, and it stays for a bit. I once again find that while I like a wide variety of whisky, my heart belongs to Islay.90.0 EUR per Bottle -
Second shot for Wales, and this one is a hit. Madeira usually helps a lot, as this one proves. On the nose there are a lot of dark fruits, cherries, plums, the sort. Various baking spices and a bit of oak intermingles with the fruits to give it a surprising amount of complexity. The taste is straight up chocolate with raspberries. There is also some malt in here, along with various nuts and spices. Bit of black pepper...this would make for an amazing cake btw. Aftertaste goes from a more dark chocolate into more of a lighter milk chocolate taste for me, together sitz some baking spices and honey. Quite lite and refreshing, stays without being overly sweet or clingy. While the first Penderyn did not do it for me, this one I like quite a bit. Seems the Welsh can do something else besides sheep ;)40.0 EUR per Bottle
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Back to Ireland. I seem to develop quite a bit of an attachment to that green island, be it in whisky, pipes or tobacco (looking at you Peterson). I knew I liked the Redbreast 12, I have a bottle of the 12 CS, but this....dayum. And for a 21 year old 150€ is not too bad honestly. On the nose you get fresh, crisp cereals, some orange zest, the expected vanilla and oak notes, and also some cinnamon. The smell reminds me of a bread that is currently in the oven....not quite finished baking, but somewhere in the middle, and probably still gooey on the inside. Perfect to put honey on. The taste is amazing. Stewed fruits with a hint of honey and spices, that typical irish barley foundation, and shortbread. Sweet, but not too sweet, just enough spice to make it pleasant, and that long, warming aftertaste after you swallow make this something very special. Speaking of the aftertaste, it is a sweet, slightly spicy, warming fruit cake. I think I taste some dates in here, but I am a bit torn about that. Could be dates, could be generic fruity stuff. Whatever it is, it stays with you for quite a bit. This one is a winner folks.160.0 EUR per Bottle
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I was wrong, there was another Rum in the calendar. One of the "throw something in to get budget for higher end stuff". (Like tomorrows sample...21 year old Irish) For a 30€ bottle, this ain't bad. Very sweet and not much complexity. The nose is typical brown sugar with vanilla, and some cinnamon beneath that. There is an interesting chocolate taste up front, with baking spices and vanilla..some nuts? Think brownies but with a bit too much sugar. Not bad by any parameter, but even for someone like me who actually likes the occasional sweet treat, this is a bit too much. The sweetness lasts for quite a bit. Bit clingy. I picture this in a nice hot chocolate...the dark chocolate ones that you need to add sugar yourself, not the ready made mixes. The bitterness from that would dull the sweetness quite a bit, and the spices would make this ideal for the current season. All in all...average to decent.30.0 EUR per Bottle
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Talisker 25 Year
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed December 9, 2023 (edited December 11, 2023)Talisker 25. I am a sucker for Talisker, the 10 is a mainstay in m collection, the 18 is amazing, and the 25....goddamnit I want more. On the nose you get a waft of sea air, clear, bit salty, bit briney. There is some moss, in the morning when everything is a bit wet. Some vanilla and oak are present, barely but they are there. Some honey sweetness up front on the taste provides a solid base for all the salt, brine, ham and herbal notes to stand on. Liquid BBQ, steaks, ribs, all the good stuff. And surprisingly mild. Guess that 25 years in a barrel will do that to you. The aftertaste is sweet and briney and lasts for quite a bit. Very nice, something to enjoy on a cold evening. The only thing that prevents this from the full 5/5 is that there could be a bit more intensity for my taste, but it is close to perfection. Not too peaty, not too friendly or sweet, just complex enough to dive into and relax. Just a bit out of my price class, but the 18 is looking more and more enticing. Cheers.450.0 EUR per Bottle -
Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength
Single Malt — Islands, Scotland
Reviewed December 8, 2023 (edited April 23, 2024)Machrie Moor Cask Strength. Talk about whiplash, from a sweet Rum to this. Now, I like peated scotch. But out of 100 times, 80 times I'd grab Laphroaig 10, 18 times Ardbeg 10, and 2 times something else. And this would not get too much rotation in those 2 times. It's not bad, but I had better. Nose is salt, ham, pepper....berries? Fruity ham. The normal peat notes are also there, bit of honey maybe. The taste is just sweet honey with loads of pepper, salt....Charcoal and grass. No real complexity, just "here, have sweet and peat and also here is a bit of unpleasant burn from the proof". For a lazy "sipping while gaming" whisky it just burns too much (which is weird, yesterday was higher proof with no burn), and for an exploration whisky there just is not enough there. Sweet peaty aftertaste for a short while. Nothing to write home about I am afraid. Now, tomorrow we enter a different league. Let's just say, tomorrows offering has spent more years in a barrel than this century is old.50.0 EUR per Bottle -
Another Rum. I think this is the last one....not sure. There is some Mezcal in the calendar, but the rest should be whisky. I think. This one is weird. In a good way. I never had anything like this before, and I like it. The nose is up front with spices. Cloves, cinnamon, orange zest, then later a bit of vanilla and some faint hints of oak. Also, it smells like goddamn cola, which makes sense given cola is a citrus drink, technically. Why this smells like that, no idea. It also tastes like that. There certainly is some vanilla in the taste, but it is somewhat faint. Bit of oak spice and pepper (that's probably the 57%, which you do not feel otherwise. For a proof that high it is surprisingly easy to sip. Also after a while I figured out what it reminds me of. Sour gummy cola bottles. You know the ones I am talking about. Citrus, sweet but still sour enough to burn a bit. Just awesome if you love stuff like that. The aftertaste is faint zest, oak and cinnamon. Stays for quite a while. This is another bottle I need to get....I am kinda lucky that it's the cheaper ones that really do it for me. Or at least, the ones that are available. Going to enjoy the rest of my dram. Have a good one folks...3 day weekend ahead, time to relax a bit (now if only steam would finally release Rogue Trader...I need my 40k and CRPG fix....)50.0 EUR per Bottle
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Discarded Banana Peel Rum
Flavored Rum — Scotland, Scotland
Reviewed December 6, 2023 (edited December 7, 2023)Day 6. Banana Peels. To be honest, I threw this one in to fill a spot with something cheap so I had more budget for higher end stuff. I did not expect much of this. I was wrong. I might even prefer this over yesterdays Appleton 21, and I will most definitively get a bottle of this. I think this is my favorite of the calendar so far, and I did not see that one coming. On the nose it has exactly what it promises. Warm, freshly baked banana bread. crusted in brown sugar with a hint of vanilla and a load of cream. I want dessert now. The taste pretty much keeps what the nose promises. You can almost feel the dense bread when you sip this. It is sweet, very much so, and very dessert like, so not really for every day, but when you have that sweet itch, this is near the top. You can actually taste the banana, and some cinnamon and brown sugar with it. For a 30€ bottle, this is amazing. Not really for purists though, if you like your Rum clear and pure, this ain't that. Cinnamon and sugar are the things that stay for a while together with a warm, pleasant feeling. For 30 bucks, try it, if you like sweet Rums.30.0 EUR per Bottle -
Appleton Estate 21 Year Limited Edition
Aged Rum — Jamaica
Reviewed December 5, 2023 (edited December 6, 2023)Day 5. Something completely different. Rum. Old Rum. Appleton is in general a good pick for a sipping Rum. The 12 year old is perfectly fine, but the 21 year is a lot more interesting. On the nose, you get typical vanilla and brown sugar notes. There is also a lot more spicy oak than on younger variations. Fruit notes come through in the form of stewed, dark fruits. Think plums, cinnamon, that in warm and with a shot of rum added while cooking. Perfect for this time of the year. On the taste you find a lot that the nose promised, with oak and vanilla being on the front end. There is also some brown sugar, but it is a lot less sweet than I expected. That is a good thing, Rum has a tendency to toe the sweetness line, and sometimes just breaks through it. This one is in shouting distance of that line, still there, but nowhere near going to far. The dark fruits on the nose also change into stewed apples and such, a bit lighter and more "aerial". There is also something in here that reminds me of ginger, but that might be the oak in combination with the brown sugar notes. Very nice. The aftertaste is of medium length, mostly oak and fruit with a bit of bitterness. This is a Rum that you can enjoy neat, but it would also work in some of the sweeter cocktails to balance out the sweetness of other ingredients. All in all, I like this one. Kinda unfortunate that it came before tomorrows offering (yes, I peeked), because tomorrow we have another Rum, on the opposite end of the spectrum. We will see hot it holds up. Cheers.120.0 EUR per Bottle
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