Tastes

This is a blended malt containing 40% Laphroaig, 20% Ledaig, 13% Caol Ila, 26% Ardmore, and 1% Clynelish, Teaninich, and Dailuaine. It is bottled at 46% ABV and is not colored or chill-filtered. The unfortunate name “Peat Monster” will disappoint Islay lovers looking for a peat wallop, and will scare away newcomers looking for an introduction to peat. Peat Monster would have been better named “Peat Puppy.” It is young, it is cute, it is unpredictable, it is energetic, and it is ultimately harmless. NOSE: Ardmore and Ledaig wins over Laphroaig and Caol Ila. Immediately, this is earthy rather than maritime. There is grass, soil, and wood chips from the Ledaig; campfire and fruits from Ardmore. Medicinal notes from Laphroaig are secondary. Some zesty smoke from Caol Ila are barely detectable. The nose is complex and vibrant, but delicate. PALATE: This is a handshake, not an attack. The arrival is as light as the “I-stay-well-hydrated-urine” color. Intensity and complexity builds over a few seconds. A Speyside fruitiness from the Ardmore, with pears, peaches, and melons, wants to assert itself, but is surrounded by layers of different flavors of peat: heathery, smoky, fishy. Citrus and a lovely taste of slightly burnt lard imparted with the flavors of a smoking iron skillet develops with repeat sips. FINISH: I sucked on a few pennies. I used mint flavored floss, and my gum is bleeding. I smoked a cigarette. Copperiness and ashiness. The younger ingredients can’t hide. I suspect the younger stuff in this blend is from Islay. The mainland earthier peat provides tastier, more mature musings: soot-covered dandelions. Peaches dropped into tar. Mmmmm… VERDICT: Delicate. Complex. Balanced. Don’t add water. I have moved on, but this is a great introduction to peaty whiskies. This is a Peat Puppy! Flaming Heart is the “Monster.” MARK: 85/100.

Economy single malt! Never had Tomatin until this $30 bottle I bought on a rainy day several months ago. Let’s go. NOSE: Granny smith apple after you dropped and bruised it and hesitated for 2 days on whether or not you should eat it. The sourness continues… and I smell grape peels and lemon. Sherry is there, but this is unbalanced sour. PALATE: Indecisive and watery arrival. Yeasty and, at its best, apple pastries. Orange peels after a few seconds. Oloroso is in the background contributing maybe a raisin and a half. FINISH: I can really taste the sherry influence now. There is a lingering raisiny jam aftertaste that is pleasant, if not forgettable. The apple flavor becomes bitter, which is forgivable given the price point. VERDICT: It’s worth it at $30. I won’t be buying a second bottle, but it’s got enough character to be a guilty pleasure when you feel like you’ve done nothing to deserve a dram, but you want one anways. MARK: 76/100. I usually translate this to 3 stars, but because it is an economy whisky, I will add one star.

This represents everything I hate about scotch, and I regret buying this bottle. OBSERVATION: The stores that sell this for $300+, move this product, and sell out. The stores that are slashing prices still have 10 of these on the shelves. The price that got me to bite is $225. Macallan clearly appeals to those who feel the value of the liquid inside is affected by how much they spent on it. That is to say, the more you spend on this bottle, the better it will taste. Which is ridiculous. Secondly, fancy packaging is not welcomed. The rare cask is an eyesore, both in the information it provides and in the ridiculous 20 pound bottle. “Only 1% of the whiskies made the cut and were chosen for their color and depth of flavor…” STFU marketing prats. There are bad casks in here - it’s obvious. At $50, they aren’t bad casks, at $200+, and when you’re Macallan, these shouldn’t be present. The arrival is quality, but then there are sulphurous notes that aren’t intentional in the Macallan profile. It’s NAS because it probably contains substandard casks that are younger than 12 years. WHAT I LIKED: It’s also obvious that there are good casks in here. This is better than the 12 year, for sure. Is it better than the similarly-priced 18 year? I don’t know about current bottlings because I haven’t tried them, but the arrival for the rare cask is reminiscent of the glory days of Macallan, when 18 year olds were vintaged, and I would sweat about paying $20-30 for a pour out of bottles that today cost over $1000. There is nutmeg, sultanas, and dark chocolate. Followed by red oranges, slightly burnt coffee. The spiciness is just right with hints of cloves and cracked peppercorn. There is a good deal of smokiness for a Macallan, not from peat, but from alligator staves. VERDICT: There is quality present, but it is polluted by cheaper casks, which is almost as distracting as the baroque presentation. Stop inflating the price with visual appeal. Minus $50 for the bottle, minus $50 for the ridiculous marketing blurb… $125 is a reasonable price for this product. Call this buyer’s remorse, but HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN GET INSTEAD: Ardbeg Uigeadail and Aberlour A’bunadh are the twin pillars of value in the peated and sherried NAS world, respectively. You can buy both and still have change. If you want to stay within the Macallan house, you can buy both Edition No. 1 and No. 2. Number 2 happens to be the best Macallan I’ve had this decade, and I think is guaranteed to soar in value after bottles run out, similar to the vintage 18 year olds bottled in 1999-2007. If you want to try how Macallan 18 used to taste 10-15 years ago, get the Glendronach Parliament instead of Rare Cask. If you want to spend $100 more on a sherried whisky that, I’m afraid, is worth the ridiculous price tag: Balvenie TUN 1509 Batch 2. MARK: 86/100. Yes, that’s a high mark, and is based on the quality of the liquid; but like I said, this is overpriced and I hate what it represents, so I’m going to give it 2 stars.

6.1 is probably the introductory Octomore. It is the cheapest (I purchased my bottle for $136) and most easily found. Caviar analogy: if Islay whiskies are fish eggs, Octomores are from the sturgeon, and the Octomore x.3 is the Beluga sturgeon; if you only have the funds to splurge on one bottle, you may as well go for the 6.3 or the 7.3, which are in the $200-250 range. Octomore 6.1 is solid, but a mere gateway to an expensive and heavenly range. NOSE: Sweetness, smoke, and brine in perfect balance! It is glued together by a rich buttery oiliness. This is what Corryvreckan wants to be. It literally smells like caviar. Campfire embers and gasoline are in the background. This is a tamed 167 phenols. The numbers are a gimmick, and are probably measured right after malting. It does not reflect the smokiness of the distillate. TASTE: The peat explodes. Bruichladdich believes in terroir, and it shows in their Octomore. Strong heathery, earthy flavors. There is smokiness, but also there is a taste of unsmoked soil. A good youthful profile of fresh barley and lemon zest emerges and lingers into a long finish. A long chestwarming feeling and aftertaste of hydrocarbons make you feel like you can light candles with your breath. WITH WATER: Nose gets sweeter and fruitier. Caviar and grape jam. Palate loses the explosion of peat, but you get more subtlety and iodine on the arrival, with a drying earthy ash taking over after a few seconds. VERDICT: Octomore publicity is based on extreme phenol levels and an “I-dare-you” variety of word-of-mouth. It is actually as sophisticated and luxurious as an Islay whisky gets, with so much more to offer than a proverbial peat-punch to the face. MARK: 94/100.

Tried some ‘Murrican whiskey the other night! This one rescued me from the atrocious Maker’s Mark, but was not as good as Baker’s 7 Year Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon (review pending, because now I might pick up a bottle). Blanton’s original was just inoffensive and bland. Welcoming, and sweet on the nose. Vanilla, caramel – typical of bourbon. Chocolate-covered oranges on the palate. I hate that red liquorice taste in young bourbons! Blech. But very silky smooth to swallow. Not much of a finish. Toffee, caramel, vanilla. In a bar without a quality scotch, okay for $8 I guess, but I’m not interested in getting their fancy grenade-shaped bottles. MARK: 62/100.

I had this at a company event at a bar that only had Glenlivet 12 and JW Red for scotch. I decided to try some American whiskies, and one of them was a pour of Maker’s Mark for $5. This was bad. I immediately got a Blanton’s afterwards to rid myself of the memory. Nothing on the nose, except a foreshadowing of how much it’s going to suck in the mouth. Harsh youth. Cinnamon and vanilla without purpose. Red liquorice, and did they already put Diet Coke in there without me asking? I gulped it and moved on. MARK: 39/100.

Laphroaig 10 is the end of scotch evolution. You want to introduce a timid Jack and Coke guy to the world of single malts? Maybe you start with a nice blended like Dewars, move into some real juice like Glenfiddich, get a touch of complexity and inkling of peat with Highland Park, get some real peat with Lagavulin, and then at last Laphroaig is the beast at the edge of the world. There is nothing after that. If you don’t believe me, put Laphroaig 10 cask strength side by side with an Octomore. Phenol level schmenol level, the only smoke you are smelling is the burnt bandaid notes of Laphroaig. I have previously tried Batch 5 at 57.2% ABV, and now have 3 bottles of Batch 8 at 59.9% purchased at $67 each. This is stronger and better. Rather than go into notes, I’ll just tell you about my favorite experience at a bar in Maryland with my wife, after which I decided to purchase 3 bottles of batch 8. MY POOR WIFE: So, we each have our own whisky. I knew I would like my CS, but it was even better than expected, and I made the perhaps hyperbolic statement, “This is the best shit I’ve ever tasted.” She wanted to try it, and I warned her she wouldn’t like it. She went for a sip, and her whole drinking night was ruined. She was on smoke street, and couldn’t taste her soft flower of a whisky anymore. POOR BALVENIE 21 YR PORT WOOD: This was a $30 pour that my wife could no longer enjoy, and so it was mine. How did it hold up after Laphroaig 10 CS? I thought it lacked complexity and lacked a spine. Several months later, I would try the Balvenie 12 double wood, on a cleansed palate, and thought it was so much better than the 21 year old. Terrible comparison, I know, but sorry Balvenie, I won’t be spending $200 on your 21 year old. POOR LAPHROAIG 10 YR STANDARD BOTTLING: I have not bought a bottle for years. It’s on sale now for $39, and I skip it every time. Add enough water to the CS - it can take a lot - and you can turn down the alcohol intensity to levels comparable to the standard 10, but you get a wonderful basket of tropical fruits and smoked fish as the CS opens up. POOR TASTEBUDS: Try this neat, and you will taste nothing except ash for a while. POOR PREGNANT LADY BESIDE YOU: you should not have this inside within 10 feet of a pregnant woman. Secondhand smoke is bad for the fetus, you know. In fact, best not drink this indoors at all. MARK: 95/100.

I picked up this bottle back in September 2016 coming back to the US from Canada. It was around $60 for 1L, and came highly recommended by an elderly employee with a Scottish accent. I should’ve known better! Affordable (and most unaffordable) travel retail exclusives are disappointing, as a rule of thumb, and recommendations by people with Scottish accents do not override this. At least my wife liked it. We finished the bottle because she drank most of it. She’s a Macallan fan, and actually preferred the Robur cask to Macallan 12. I definitely prefer Macallan, but wouldn’t call myself a fan of Macallan. WHAT THE HELL IS A ROBUR? It’s Latin for Oloroso sherry, apparently. Forced exoticism, another clue for a disappointing dram. This is NAS and 40% ABV. Another clue. NOSE: Underdeveloped Oloroso. Dark berries, but not too sweet. Cedar. Maybe a little vanilla. Something’s a little off, like sourdough. Not a fan. PALATE: Sourdough pastry is actually more pleasant in the mouth than on the nose. Nutmeg wallop. Dry prune juice. Watery mouthfeel. FINISH: Short and unremarkable. Same flavors from the palate, dissipating quickly. Maybe vanilla and toffee giving a late introduction. VERDICT: The sourdough aspect was the most interesting for me. Aside from that, this is a watered down generic Speyside that I would skip next time. 74/100.

Who wants Lagavulin 16 flavored with PX sherry? Oh, did I say flavored? I meant finished. When you take a younger whisky like Laphroaig’s NAS, and you finish it in PX sherry, you add sophistication. When you take something that’s already been aged 15 years, is on its way to becoming a canonized whisky, and you finish it in PX sherry, you are doing subtraction. I have a 2015 bottle that I’m struggling to finish, favoring heavily the original Lagavulin 16. With it being almost a year opened, this bottle evolved from being a PX dominated profile to a castrated Lagavulin 16 with only hints of sherry. NOSE: From a fresh bottle, PX sherry and oak are definitely present, but enveloped by smoke. The smoke is definitely lighter and fruitier than the standard LV 16. With time, the PX influence disappears. I can’t smell the sherry anymore in my bottle. PALATE: Salty raisins and plums. It’s heavy PX sherry flavors. The smoke emerges from the sweet arrival to add some dryness. The smoke is shy, while the PX is what’s bold. This reverses with time for an opened bottle. My wife, who cannot stand peat stronger than a Talisker 10, and absolutely hates the standard Ardbeg/Laphroaig/Lagavulin, actually gets upset if I pour myself the DE without pouring her some – that’s how I know they castrated this Lagavulin. FINISH: Raisins and plums return. It is delicious at first, but PX for me is one of those things that start out welcoming, but then outlasts its welcome, and then it’s like, get the fuck out of my mouth you raisins. With the long-opened bottle, the raisin flavors aren’t nearly as strong, and all I get is a dilute sweet smoke, which just makes me miss the original Lagavulin 16. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good whisky that deserves a respectable rating, but it is PX contaminating the legendary Lagavulin 16. 85/100.