Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition

Puissant, nez de barrique de chêne. Gros poivre et agrumes explosives en bouche, beurre, avec aussitôt poire légère et miel puissant, tout de suite rabattu par le goût du fût de chêne américain. Légèrement tourbé, la boiserie et le miel viennent atténuer la fumée.

Back as a young kid sitting in rear seat of my dad’s gas guzzling Chevy Nova, I remember seeing these Cutty Sark billboards all through the Jersey Turnpiike. I always wondered what’s this bottle called “cutie shark”? I even then named my toy pirate ship The Cutie Shark. In retrospect, no decent pirate worth his salt and respect would name a ship like that, but anyway...that was the world of a 5 year old. Then much later in life, age 14, I bought my first bottle of liquor. Not to drink...but to use in my science experiment, to show how alcohol can be used instead of gas engines for cars. That bottle was a Cutty Sark. ( technically, my dad bought it). Much much much later in life, now that I have 450+ bottles of whisk(e)y, I always treated Cutty Sark like a snob. Telling myself that “why would I want a pour of this bottom shelf piss and take a hit to my liver, when I can have a single malt?’ Yeah...a snob. But I did have a pour of this recently. And I so,stand corrected. It’s actually freakin good. Granted, it’s no blend at the level of Glaser’s creations, but it’s damn good nonetheless. Cherries and red fruit complement a nice backbone of heather and honey. A tiny bit of smoke, just a whiff. I gotta say, some of these blends that I considered bottom shelf “piss” are coming out with variants that are really affordable (sub $40) and just well made...the Jack Daniels Single Barrel Barrel Strength comes to mind first and foremost. Well done my merry band of “cutie shark “ pirates ...

Lemon and black pepper. The proof shines throuhg with alcohol on the nose. Almost a gritty mouth feel. I imagine that during prohibition I would be glad to get something like this but not in midern times. Cool bottle though.

For a $30 blend, non chill filtered and 50% ABV... very pleasantly surprised. Update- On my 3rd bottle as it has now become my go to blend. Not that it means much to most of us but it just won Best Blended Scotch NAS at the 2018 SF Spirit Awards. Hats off to Master Blender Kirsteen Campbell, very well done.