Tastes

Life is often a few steps forward one or a number back, a sideways shuffle and then depending on your luck forward or backwards. My whisky rationalisation/de-escalation process is a bit like that. I've offloaded 20 something bottles to friends and auctions. In the auction I offloaded stuff to I noted a case of 1959 Mccallums Blended Perfection up for sale. They split the case into numerous smaller lots. Now they knew it was a case of 1959 as there was a certificate in it. Now I'm pretty sure the std determining what whisky hasn't changed to much over the last few decades in terms of age. In fact I think it was in WWI that to stop to much drunkenness they made a minimum age of 3 years so this must be mid 1950s stock..maybe earlier definitely making it the oldest stuff I have tried. I flagged with a couple of mates and we split 2 bottles of it between 3 of us. We picked them up for $100USD each which was a steal as they retail on whisky exchange for £500 and the last auction in the UK i saw it go for nearly a few hundred €. Benefits of small nz market with ltd demand! 1 bottle went to a mate and me and another mate split the other. It was in mint condition it seemed until I peeled the metal cap off and saw rust. The cork split from the top and I had to get a wine opener to remove. Initial tastes were meh nothing special but I let it open up for a week and definitely improved. I've had older blends before. One I think an older white horse was like pure molasses. This is similar but lighter in that aspect both on the nose and taste. Caramalised, toffee pop cigar smoke and more. Very complex and unique. Now I don't want to seem older than my age but damn the blends in the good old days definitely have more character than the current incarnations. This is easy a 4.25 on it's own..maybe even 4.25 to 4.5. Given it's a bog std blend its definitely well above today's offerings and would rate higher on that scale. Very well balanced and flavourful. I could have scored another 1960's bottling of another blend for even less...and I'm kicking myself I didn't. Honestly folks in today's stupid whiskey prices ignore the well overpriced single malts and hunt the stuff no one wants..old blends. You'll get to taste a slice of history and get something you just can't get today...a unique experience of what a good bog standard blend should be. Update: Verdict so far from other friends I shared with. The 1959 they preferred over the 1971 (and that was blind tasting as i never labelled the samples). I agree... the more I drink I'm hooked and going well down the rabbit hole..upgrading to 4.5.

One of the many bottles I offloaded recently to auction and friends was this one. An older bottling. I think I could have got a lot more at auction but i sold it cost price to my friend...not purely altruisticly as i hoped he would offer me a sample or two when he opened (answer is yes he will!). Anyhow out at a restaurant tonight I saw this for $12USD on the drinks menu and thought that's reasonable and had a crack. Usually any spirits I see on restaurant menus comprise of a limited range, all of which I've tried and they are heavily overpriced. I was thinking...hmm nice dram however if an old bottling not sad I offloaded...but given it's only a bit above average I suspect it's a new bottling. I checked and yes it was. Light fruity smoke, goes down easy but nothing special. 3.75 to 4 I'm thinking. When my mate opens the old bottling will be interesting to see how much better it will be. I'm picking 4.25...sadly all the focus on stupid viking NASs means their core offerings seem to have gone down hill as well. The 21 now sells for a mind boggling $400USD here...i think they have definitely fallen further than even Macallan...

I tried a fair few Balcones after the original founder departed and most were poop. Over pooped to be precise.. it's like they just turbo charged a couple of flavour elements and left the dram raw unbalanced and over cooked. Things started to get better with the French Oak release and this one has also matured nicely. Now I'm not a fan of tequila flavour so couldn't drink to much of it but it is a well crafted whiskey. It's like a tequila and a virgin oak casked whiskey merged together. Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine!

Number 2 on my PBM flight. All the way from Ireland to NY and then to NZ. This had the misfortune of being tasted after the Hibiki 21 and all it's ancient complexity. You could definitely taste it's youth and more simple nature but hey this thing is a toddler in comparison. Despite the slightly youthful spirit base which isn't quite integrated yet with the rest of the spirit you can taste it's potential. Oily green vanilla banana white pepper and clove. I look forward to hearing more from these guys! Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine

As I wind down my whisky drinking I was lucky to receive a few drams to extend my whisky odyssey slightly longer. All the way from New York 10's of thousands of miles it was a package which had a brilliant bunch of goodies which collectively comprised an excellent semi retirement gift. First off there was this beauty. I'm not great for putting labels to what I'm tasting..i often look for inspiration in others reviews to help me articulate what I'm tasting... so I did so with this dram. Initially I thought you can tell it's quality but does it really live up to the hype? As I read through all the reviews I realised the magic was in the complexity...it has a hell of a lot of it albeit subtly. Rose water, smoke, roasted coffee beans, caramel, papaya, icing sugar, green tea, butterscotch, toasted coconut, brown sugar, green bananas, cinnamon, orange peel, apricots, plum, clove, leather, chestnut, black pepper and sandalwood. Each time I read a descriptor I was like tick, yes, aha. And there is the magic. I had a partial sample so no doubt if i worked through a bottle it'd go higher but I'll peg at at a 4.5 Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine!

Definitely a step up from the Light. When I first tried it I thought Bunnahabhain 18..so I had a few sips of that side by side as well. The Bunnahabhain is very heavy treacle toffee dark raisin forward with a fair bit of a sulphur note in flavour even after a year open. The Dark is a mellower and more subtle (once water added) flavour wise. Raisin, prune, cacao, toffee, grape jelly. I do like it very much however the Bunnahabhain 18 is a force of nature (albeit a slightly unbalanced sulphured brutal one) and really puts the HP in its place and overwhelms it flavour wise even at 46%. To be honest after the Bunnahabhain the Dark tastes of next to nothing after a while.. which was definitely not the case when I first tried. I let my palate recover and then the lovely variety of flavours reared their head again. Anyhow the Dark is younger but double the price of the Bunnahabhain and I've spent most if the review waxing on about that so you know what my (slight) preference is! My preference order would be Ice, Fire/Dark, Light I think. 4.25 to 4.5. And that ladies and (mostly) gentlemen after having a large readily at hand pile of samples for the last few years is the last sample dram in my possession. I'd like to thank Master of Malt and Whisky exchange for contributing towards my ability to post notes on a good 400 of my tastings, Dramfest for another 200+ and various other retailers including SM whisky in Aus. I'd say my favourite bar in the world The Last Word contributed another 100 or 2. And last but very much not least various personal friends in NZ as well as Distiller comrades overseas including @PBMichiganWolverine @cascode and @LeeEvolved who via the guise of 'aromatherapy' managed to send me great drams! I think PBM has one more shipment almost with me and then my sample importation endeavours will be drawing to a close.

Not to bad but a bit head scratching as to why the high price. The Fire and Ice I definitely preferred to this one. The Dark I'll review post this. Lovely white pepper, vanilla, citrus notes going on. Need a bit of water to open up. Nice warming afterglow which lingers but slightly acidic aftertaste comes along for the ride. 3.75.

On any other day it'd be a 4.5 easybut coming after the Glengoyne 25 which has really got under my skin in a good way (man the richness and spice spice spice), this is a great dram however it's more oily toffee forward flavour and did i mention i do miss that spice. 4.25 is probably not doing it justice so I'll rate it a 4.25 to 4.5..but maybe that Glengoyne 25 should have been higher...hmmm.

On the countdown of my last remaining samples (I believe a kind benefactor in the form of one PBM will be remedying my sample scarcity plight god and customs willing)...no 4. Damn fine whisky. Very rich spicey sherried nose. Brilliant flavouring. Spice, spice and more spice from the European oak. Rich cinnamon chocolate prune and cherry and an aftertaste which lingers for eternity. Now the one fault is it's very slightly thin of body..water rather than oil based if that makes sense however the overall taste and that never ending aftertaste move it from a 4.25 to a 4.5 then by the end 4.5 to 4.75 territory. The average rating here and on whiskey base is the highest I've ever seen (for a large number of reviews). Not sure it's nirvana but it's a brilliant whisky with perfect balance and amazing flavour. I'm sure I saw it round the $250USD mark once here but now not around in NZ and overseas its closer to the $350USD mark. If you have that money to spend on whisky buy with confidence...I reckon with more time open and a number more samplings it may have had a chance of creeping slightly higher score wise into the very rare solid 4.75 territory. With a bit of water and 45 mins it really went up a notch. I had a single cask Glendronach post which I thought would best it but nope I was still pining for this one!