Tastes

Winter is coming, and so is the avalanche of GoT-themed Diageo releases. I'm working on picking them up a few at a time to collect the whole set. I freely and fully acknowledge that this is the Mother of Gimmicks more than an attempt by Diageo to release great, hitherto untasted whiskey, so I'm going to do something I've not done before, and that's incorporate the marketing theme's success (or failure) in each bottling into my rating. If you're going to cash in on the biggest show on television, you'd best bring your A game to Whisky Town. This...doesn't bring its A game. The whisky, in and of itself, is fine. Not spectacular - like just about everything else ever made by Cardhu, it's a classic Speyside single malt, but a bit lacking in complexity, individuality, and memorability. Loads of sea salt-sprinkled chocolate and ripe orchard fruits to be found, with a satisfyingly round mouthfeel and a hint of vanilla and coconut cream. It reminds me almost more of Irish whiskey. It's enjoyable enough, if not spectacular. At $40, at least I feel like I came away with something to show for the money, as it's not badly priced. What I *don't* get here is why you would pick this as the Targaryen entry. There is literally nothing about the dram that says "Mother of Dragons" to me, other than perhaps the distillery's history of strong women leading its efforts. Even then, that's not present in the glass and you have to be a hell of a whisky nerd to know about the women of Cardhu...I mostly know because I've been to the distillery and took the tour. No, give me something with a little smoke for the dragon-riding dynasty and their motto of "Blood and Fire," please. I'd call this a 3.5 normally, but I'm docking some points for dropping the promo ball here.

Back a few years ago, I discovered this bourbon's forebear, the Old Ezra 7 Year standard bottling, which continues to be a heck of a bargain. When I heard that they were releasing a barrel strength version, my excitement was visceral...and became nearly uncontrollable when folks like Fred Minnick started singing its glories. At long last, it made it to Wisconsin...and I snapped up the first bottle I found. It's as good as I'd hoped. The nose is the Platonic form of bourbon nose - loads of baking spice, baked cherry, vanilla, caramel, black pepper, leather. There's a little nose hair-tweaking heat, but it's not an overly boozy nose for the abv. If the nose is good, the taste is even better. This is what bourbon is supposed to be - rich, coating, buttery, positively exploding with character. You want spices? You got it. Vanilla? Yup. Caramel? It practically oozes out of your mouth. Woody, leathery notes? Just enough to lend some complexity without hitting you over the head. Nuttiness? Present. It's like pecan pie in a glass. The finish lasts a nice, long while, too. This is good. Damn good. So damn good. And, for $40-ish a bottle? Get out of town.

Meh. This is one of the most generic whiskies I’ve had in a long time. Is there anything bad here per se? Not really...it’s a little raw/underaged around the edges, but not outright offensive. Virtually no nose (other than generically “sweet Canadian”) leads into a kind of boring, but not bad, typical Canadian blend - praline, sweetness, that hard-to-describe note that I only find in Canadian whiskies. Good for mixing drinks; pretty dull on its own.

I’m a little surprised that I’ve made it this long without having tried such a big name in the world of whisky. It ticks the boxes for middle of the road, good-not-great, easy drinking blended scotch - fresh apple, vanilla, honey, light smoke, hung on a slightly oily, full-but-not-rich frame. I’m never going to crave this, but at a bar with limited options for the whisky aficionado, I’d take this over plenty of other similarly priced options.

There was no way I was getting out of Total Wine without a bottle of this. No, it's not because I expected something mind-boggling, or because its reputation preceded it, or even because I'm an Irish whiskey completist whose approach to the ever-increasing number of bottles available over here is Pokemon-esque in its dedication to catchin' them all. Nope, it was because of the name. Slane, an Irish village along the Boyne River, lends its name to a hymn tune; you're most likely to know it as "Be Thou My Vision" (which I often sing to my daughter, as it's a favorite of mine), but it's also used for "Lord of All Hopefulness," which my wife and I used in our wedding. So, there's a sentimental attachment here. So, that got the bottle off the shelf, but how's the juice? It's a solid, middle of the road, good-not-great Irish blended whiskey. There's a sweetness on the nose - buttery croissant filled with vanilla creme patissiere, honey-drizzled apple, frosted cinnamon-y Persian bun doughnut. The palate is also on the sweeter side, opening with buttery pastry, moving into an apple fruitiness and closing with a lingering vanilla glaze quality...so, a bit like eating an apple fritter. Evidently, I have doughnuts on the brain tonight. It's not going to change your life, but this is an easygoing dram for a casual evening at home. It'll be interesting to see what comes down the road as the distillery begins aging and bottling its own product; there's at least a certain level of taste here in the blending that promises good, if not stellar, things ahead.

I've apparently got a gift for getting into the Next Big Thing just a few months before it goes big. "Dizzy Up The Girl" by the Goo Goo Dolls? Totally listening to it before everybody else in high school went crazy over it. Malbec? Discovered it during my year in South America; came back to the US and suddenly everybody was all over this exotic new red from Argentina. Game of Thrones? Read the books in the interim between seminary and starting at my first parish, mostly on the Blue Line traveling back and forth between my place in Logan Square and my now-wife's in Forest Park...right before everybody and their uncle started watching the show. At any rate, read the books and watched the show I have done...and now, I'm buying the whisky. This is the first bottle from the limited edition GoT series that Diageo is releasing this fall. I'll confess to some reservations about what to expect; this mostly seems like a chance to cash in on the last season of a popular tv series. I'm sure that was the primary motivator, but Diageo being what they are, I was hopeful that the whiskey would at least be worthwhile. This initial bottling is...worthwhile, if not life-changing. I followed the counsel to freeze the bottle, but poured myself a room temp nip, too, to compare. At room temperature, there's none of the Johnnie Walker touch of peat smoke that makes me enjoy the Black Label; it's a pretty one-note sweet vanilla affair with a tiny hint of barrel spice and citrus. Reminds me more of Dewar's than JW. Unexpectedly, there was more going on for me when the dram was cold - unctuous texture, poached pear on the nose and palate, a little spice, and creamy vanilla. As the dram warmed, the pear notes lessened and the vanilla increased. The mouthfeel, too, shifts from thick and coating to a lighter, but still round and full. I wish there were some more complexity to be found here, but this is solid whisky...and a fun way to kick off the series. Winter is coming.

You know that perfumey scent that's hard to place? The one that's a little floral, but also vanilla-esque, and a little woody, and a bit spicy, with a hint of rubber? I had to go look it up - it's ylang ylang, and it's what I got on the nose right away here. Those notes, plus the initial burst of hot alcohol, immediately reminded me of perfume, and a quick Google search later, I was able to confirm that - yes - ylang ylang was the obscure tasting note I was looking for. The palate is about as complex as a grain whisky is going to get, which is to say not very, but the notes that are there - vanilla, treacle, shortbread, baking spice, a hint of something floral off in the distance - are strong, flavorful, and hang together nicely. I was expecting the palate to come across as really hot based off the nose, but while there's certainly a little bit of nip to it, this is overall a pretty smooth, well-integrated dram with about as long of a finish as I would expect from a single grain. If this were priced at, say, $50/bottle, I'd keep it on hand permanently for those times where "simple, but good" is what the occasion calls for. Thanks, @PBMichiganWolverine, for sharing!