Tastes

I’ve really enjoyed the limited edition whiskies from Canada in the last couple of years and this one was no exception. It’s creamy nose leans more towards bourbon than rye, but the taste is firmly in keeping with the mash bill: black pepper mixed with orange syrup and a hint of dairy. The spices linger, dancing on the tongue. A very good example of what Livermore is capable of producing and excellent value if you can find it.

I’m drinking this tonight in London with my father, who bought a bottle after Whisky Exchange crowned it whisky of the year. Benromach is near the top of my bang-for-your-buck list and this is perhaps the best I’ve had from them. The nose is a little shy but the taste is a beautiful mix of butterscotch and peat, not too sweet or too smoky. The finish goes on and on, the caramel flavors twisting with the spiciness of the smoke. For 50 pounds, a bargain.

Post- Thanksgiving drink at a bar in MA that turned out to have a pretty good whisky selection. I always enjoy these Reds even if they never quite reach buy-a-bottle territory. This one has a lovely oily texture, mouth-puckering red berry flavors (cranberry even!) and a satisfying puff of smoke on the finish. A delicious end to the day.

The final bottle in the series builds on the Glen Elgin single malt of M&L II by blending in a couple of peaty whiskies. In other words, we’re back in traditional Compass Box territory. And indeed, the nose is as well composed as a typical bottling from the blender: aromas of a sweet, light peat with a menthol tinge mingle with green apples. The taste begins with a silky minty smoke and then takes a turn into crisp, dry and malty flavors. The finish is pleasantly yeasty, like crumpets. Compass Box often weaves magic with peaty elements and doesn’t disappoint here. Indeed, the peat is so transformative that the DNA from the second bottle isn’t immediately obvious, although my notes show it’s there in the fruity nose and the dry flavors on the palate. The transformation might seem remarkable given that the Caol Ila and Highland Park comprise just 15% of the blend but such is the power of peat. This was my favorite of the three after my first tasting of each, only knocked into second place after the complexities of the first bottle became apparent on a repeat tasting a night later. Still, one can’t overlook the other limited edition peated whisky that Compass Box is offering currently, No Name 2. It’s around $20 cheaper and from my brief taste at least as good. So if you have more money, storage space and liver cells than I do, buy M&L I and III and stick No Name 2 in the middle of the sequence. If you can only buy one, the first M&L makes for a unique treat.

The second bottle in this series is also a single malt, and like the first one from a distillery I haven’t tried before. This Glen Elgin has a nose of freshly cut green apples and eucalyptus and tastes of Fruit Gums, black tea and a dry white wine. Different, interesting and tasty, but in a lesser class to the first bottle.

I had the chance this weekend to sample all three of the whiskies in this new Compass Box series (which seems contrived to persuade you to buy them all). Unusually for Compass Box, this one is a single malt rather than a blend, a 15 year old Balblair if we’re to go by the youngest whisky in the bottle. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a Balblair. There’s a lot to explore here. The nose is bright, sharp and breezy, with lemons, satsumas and jasmine. The taste starts dry and savory, like a Pinot Grigio, then perks up with a burst of oak spice, limes, tart Granny Smith apples and a touch of salt. It finishes on a gentle peppery spice, with limes and grapefruit. All this citrus makes for a very different profile from the Scotch I normally drink, and I like it a lot. I’m not sure it’s something I’d reach for every day, but I’d be very happy to have a bottle.

My girlfriend and I have been working our way through a bottle of Evolution that we were given at a BenRiach event earlier this year. (We were given one each, actually, though I imagine the other one will end up in a Dirty Santa gift exchange before the end of the year.) As free bottles go, it’s hard to complain. The nose belies the Tennessee casks that incubated the whisky, with rich and creamy notes of toffee and butter. The taste is spicy and creamy, with rich chocolate biscuits of the Bourbon genre and a streak of caramelized sugar. At its bottling strength of 50%, it’s best drunk in small sips to fully appreciate the concentrated flavors. Unfortunately the finish is disappointing: the alcohol overpowers the other flavor components, perhaps belying a youthful nature to this NAS spirit. Water harms more than it helps, tempering the finish but muddying the nose and palate. Evolution’s name suggests it’s a work in progress; let’s hope future batches improve under the intelligent design of master blender Rachel Barrie.

A slightly funky nose with aromas of bacon and burnt matches. In the mouth it’s oily and syrupy, with a blackberry-infused smokiness. The finish is fruity and feisty. Not much complexity but very enjoyable.

The one member of the 2017 Northern Borders Collection that I did not yet review here was the Lot 40 Cask 12-Year-Old Cask Strength, the standout of the series for many people. I did enjoy it at a festival tasting but never got around to the sample I had stashed away, an oversight I corrected after a recent visit to Canada. There’s lots to explore on the nose: butterscotch, oranges, ginger and baking spices. It starts oily and peppery in the mouth, with classic rye flavors like cardamon and caraway seed. A big burst of Seville orange marmalade mid-palate transports the whisky though to a long creamy finish with a hint of milk chocolate and more orange. A great whisky, though of the 2017 releases I preferred the JP Wiser’s 35. If only more of these annual releases were available outside of Canada.

I didn’t find much of a nose, but the taste is rich and malty, with dark chocolate notes. The finish is the best part - very long flavors of oak spice, dark chocolate, black tea and dark honey. Best of the four whiskies I’ve reviewed from this distillery.