Kavalan Solist Port Single Cask Strength

Fab, such strength of flavour.

Cask O111118006A, aged 9 years, 4 months Dessert in a glass with an explosion of red berries, dried fruits, oranges, honey, and caramels. Nose: Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Vanilla, Honey, Salted Caramel, Toffee, Blood Oranges, Walnuts, Cherries, Plums, Dates, Figs, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate Palate: Raisins, Strawberries, Blackberries, Honey, Figs, Prunes, Cherries, Bananas, Butterscotch, Root Beer, Caramel, Cola, Dark Chocolate Finish: Milk Chocolate, Raisins, Pecans, Walnuts, Hazlenuts, Prunes, Violets, Blackberries, Coffee, Raspberries

Best of the best Port Cask for me. Quite amazing but super powerful even watered down to 86. Not a beginner Malt!

The nose is super rich. It doesn't smell so much like port or fruit as it does like wood and smoke. There's a strong fireworks presence on the nose. This smells like Jamaican rum that means serious business. The nose holds hints of tropical fruits with enough swirling, with mango being the most prominent. It smells super rich and I hope it tastes rich. Just before sipping, some more fruits come out on the nose. Cherry in particular, but also a hint of tangerine (though maybe that's the mango). The nose is complex, interesting, and delightful. If the whiskey tastes as good, it will be worth the outlandish price. The palate has a surprisingly light mouthfeel and a surprising dryness. The flavor is incredibly full though and it just keeps developing. Itsysrts rich with smoke skin to fireworks, but some tartness makes its way in, giving way to fruitiness, which reveals cherry, mango, and astringent pineapple quite readily. The flavors are very good and the profile is quite unique. The balance and fullness of flavor are exquisite too. The fireworks are highly indicati e of rum and the tropical fruits are too, but having the cherry rather than banana and plenty of malty notes makes this taste like a whiskey with rum influence. There's quite a bit of tartness though, so it tastes sort of like a blended grain whiskey with malt and rye aged in rum and bourbon barrels. The fact that I can describe it that way and that it has distinct flavors means that it is a very good whiskey though. It lacks that mellow, rich integration that comes with age, but its flavors stand out on their own quite well and they are all good. This is assertive, as more whiskeys need to be. The fireworks are a bit strong though. Still, I appreciate that it has to be drunk a tad at a time because that makes it easy to savor and difficult to consume all at once. It's great, though possibly not worth the price. I almost wish that it had more PX sweetness, though in actuality it is sweet enough. There's sort of a metallic flavor that comes with the tropical fruit (I think) that is a. It off-putting. A few drops of water increases the fruit, though the highly tannic fireworks remain. Watering it down by half leaves dry, rich, bitter, tannic flavors with a bit of astringency present. It tastes good, but the tannins seem too harsh. It's thoroughly drinkable and I like it, which should be no surprise given my fondness of Plantation Trinidad. This tastes markedly inferior to Glenfarclas 25, whish is far more balanced with more immediate complexity too. This is much harsher a d depends upon an incredibly full flavor with a ton of tannins (and high ABV) to attain its position. Plantation Trinidad has more complexity and less fireworks. Interestingly, I prefer Plantation Trinidad a bit. This is fascinating though and it doesn't quite fit. On a more recent taste, this is delicious! Following Foursquare Premise, it is richer with a big amount of wood, chocolate, and fruit. As long as the wood can fade into he background without smoking out the whole thing and just provide a rich backing there is terrific complexity with a lot do sweetness that does not taste out of place. It's all quite in balance as long as that smoke can be held back. It has too much tannins and a bit much astringency on the back making its drying, but it is actually very good. It actually works better for the price than would be expected because not only is the ABV high, but also the flavor is really strong. One key problem though could be that it tastes more like a rum than a scotch. There's a lot of wood present with some sawdust on the nose, but the sawdust doesn't really come through into the palate. Instead, it has more of that red wine astringency. If you told me that this had been aged in red wine barrels, I would definitely believe you. Bladnoch 17 smells and tastes (weirdly) more like a strawberry poptart, but it does have a decent amount going on. Between the two, this is a bit better, but the difference in quality is not tremendous. This seems about a couple of points higher. This isn't delicate, but it is rich with some nice complexity in it. Weirdly, it's more like rum meets bourbon than it is like scotch. I prefer Foursquare Premise, which is pretty damning given the price differential. Still, this is a really good dram. It definitely doesn't have the Sherry of Joseph Magnus. Somehow, Joseph Magnus tastes a bit like cough syrup after drinking this. Not a good use of Joseph Magnus. Wow, following Joseph Magnus, this somehow tastes better. It's still quite astringent though (and this is following a bourbon). Glenfarclas 25 offers a relief with some chocolate and malty notes (though not much else beyond that somehow, I think Joseph Magnus is more sherried, though the Glenfarclas milk chocolate in these circumstances is quite nice). In comparison, Springbank 12 leaps out with balance and scotch complexity. This is competing with the big boys, but it doesn't quite make it. There's a huge amount of quality and potential here, but it was clearly rapidly aged to add too much wood. Kavalan has a ton of potential though. This lacks the delicate nature of Port Charlotte 10. Port Charlotte 10 packs a punch, but this kicks it's ass. Port Charlotte 10 may not be the most complex whiskey, but it is quite good. This seems on par with it. The complexity here is better, but the balance is off due to that backing flavor. Rich now, this seems better. I get why this is hard to drink though. Delord 25 is lighter and dryer with flavors that are more herbal with standard fruit flavors. Delord 25 is interesting and complex in its own way, but it doesn't stand up to the punch of this dram despite its strong flavor for its ABV. This has some of that Delord 25 tartness and dryness and acidity. Of the two, I prefer this, but only when able to appreciate the complexity despite the overwhelming backing. This dram is hard to judge, like a final boss with two stages.