Review #28: Eagle Rare 17yr, OB, 2012 release, 45% abv

just in time

I've been nursing this bottle for 13 months now, which is longer than I had planned. Just when panic was setting in, I found a bottle of the 2013 release, though. And panic was setting in! This is/was my most irreplaceable bottle -- I don't have and can't get anything else quite like it, which isn't true even of bottles that I in some ways like better.

Nose: every kind of tannic flavor (leather, oak staves, assam tea, tobacco leaves) plus every kind of corn flavor (corn freshly cut from the cob, roasted corn, corn pudding, popcorn) plus creamy vanilla. The first striking thing for me was how fresh the corn notes were in comparison with the mellow old wood.  And after the first impressions, there's a beautiful old-whisky perfume: cherries, honeysuckle, peaches poached in syrup, vanilla custard, and a little cinnamon stick and barrel char -- I have an old Glen Grant a little like that but oakier.

Anyway, it holds up well on the palate -- it's a dry flavor profile but the vanilla and spices keep it all together -- and the finish lasts forever, starting with the vanilla and ending with that ethereal old-whisky flavor. When I first tried this, I thought the proof should be higher, but I think any higher might cover up some of the flavors. It's pretty close to perfect just as it is.

score: 92

Review #27: Isle of Jura 23yr 1989/2013 Heavily Peated, Signatory CS for K&L, ex-bourbon, cask #30707, 58.7% abv

should I open this? I think I should.

I might already have a few bottles open, but this came a few days ago. I think it needs to be opened. (Well, I don't have anything from Jura that's open ...)

Last time I had a Jura it looked like tartan kitsch and didn't taste like anything. But there have been a bunch of single casks from the 80's (albeit mostly '88s and not so heavily peated) around Europe, so I've been looking forward to this. K&L was good enough to ship it quickly even though my mixed-up order contained something from every location that they could have imagined.

The nose is brilliant. Intense and yet restrained, somehow. (That is, it doesn't smell like a wet tarry dog on fire in a bog, but the flavors are distinct and powerful.) Very coastal: iodine, wet briny rocks, kelp, tobacco juice and olive brine, a bit of oily smoked salmon. (There's a kind of pervasive smokiness over everything.) There's just a bit of dry grassiness and some underripe fruit: gooseberries (actually, how do you tell if those are ripe?), apple peelings, maybe plums. Some leather and a touch of creamy ex-bourbon sweetness. Plus lemon taffy.

Palate is oily and salty. So sardines and bitter herbs cooked in salty brown butter over a driftwood fire. Or maybe put the flaming driftwood and some rock salt in your mouth while you hold the sardine and squeeze some lemon over it. Something like that. Very long finish with lots more peat and salty licorice.

I've had this for a couple days now and feel confident in saying that it's good. I'll be devoting myself to further tests, but fuck, I should have bought another bottle. I think the score could go lower, but it's powerful yet mature, approachable at 57.8%, and intense while being a lot more than just a peat bomb.

score: 91

update: has a somewhat overlapping profile with this Bowmore, but that empty glass smells like farmy peat, whereas this one smells like smoky fishy candy corn. weird.

wild turkey has a high-rye mashbill

I don't think I knew that. Makes sense. I guess RR does, too.

http://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spirits-blog/2013/10/25/kentucky-day-4-wild-turkey-and-more-barrels.html


update:

this says it's 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley. so not so high rye.
http://thecasks.com/2013/11/18/russells-reserve-small-batch-10-year-old-review/


World Atlas says (in a direct quote!) low 70's in corn, so close to 30% in small grains. That's almost like both, but not quite.

wtf

I guess those private barrels are going to stay private a little longer. To me, anyway. Damn.

Review #26: Namring Estate (Darjeeling) FTGFOP1 and Imperial 1995/2013, 46%, Berry Bros. Cask #50348

I have a lot of work to do but I don't want to do it.

Namring FTGFOP1.

This is an older harvest -- I lost track of it but it was in a sealed bag, and it still seems fresh. In fact, it's very aromatic, even before steeping it. (This is a very tippy batch.) All sorts of sweet and spicy potpourri notes plus some orchard fruit (esp. peaches). On the palate it's medium-bodied. It has a nice tannic structure, with dried herbs and peaches against crushed autumn leaves. It doesn't have the extravagant fruit that some first flush darjeelings have, but it does have a nice weight and a very rich fruit profile. I wish I could pick out some individual components of the potpourri nose. Maybe if I go spend some time sniffing around the spice rack -- but I'll leave that for a day when I'm really power-procrastinating.

very good stuff! and not so pricey. highly recommended.


Imperial 1995/2013 BBR C#50348

This is Imperial, which is a dead and gone Speyside distillery, but like many dead things (e.g., the Cleveland Browns) it has the possibility of being reborn. (Of course, only the name, which is the worst part, would continue.) In any case, there have been a lot of indy bottlings of late, as if to mock us over its nonexistence.

Very nice combination of a youthful and powerful Granny Smith apple nose with some older creme fraiche, white chocolate and floral notes. Lanolin, some sharp grassiness, sawn oak, and just a bit of canned pineapple. Apple vs. creamy/floral is really an intriguing contrast.

It's softer and oilier on the palate than I expected, with some (good) yeasty bread flavors joining the party. The oak speaks up a little, but softly. It's all good. I can't decide about the finish -- it's long but the sweet flavors don't fare well against some sourness from the apples and oak. But I do like this -- it's youthful and profound at the same time.

score: 86

Glen Aldi

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2379101/Aldis-Highland-Black-8-Year-Old-Scotch-Whisky-wins-gold-medal-industry-awards.html

the Daily Mail really likes this kind of story

the glass half empty

more reasons for despair

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/glasgow-s-first-whisky-distillery-in-100-years-1-3141110

when an indy bottler spends GBP 10mil on a new distillery, that's a pretty good sign that there's not much life left in the indy bottling business. it's nice to have new (or newly revived) distilleries (thanks G&M, Adelphi, Ian McCleod, Signatory, BBR)*, but I'd trade away a whole bunch of official bottlings for unusual and exceptional single casks.**


* we'll know we're really in trouble when Whisky-Doris opens a distillery

** actually, I'll keep Benromach. I'll trade the rest of them away, however. I'll throw in Glenglassaugh, too.

Review #25: Tormore 1984/2013, Archives, 51.0%, Cask #3669

Fishes of Samoa!

I really don't have any associations with Tormore. I guess it's in Speyside (roughly in the middle), I guess it mostly goes into blends. It's a big, fairly modern distillery, but not known for a particularly distinctive spirit. Some age and a nice label should help, though.

Very nice nose -- at first it seems indistinctly fruit plus grass, but it opens up in a more particular way -- I get salty canned peaches, lilac, a tiny bit of smoke and charred wood, lychee, apricots, honey, and some sweet herbs. Maybe a little apple mixed in there. Some white chocolate, too. Has that nice old nose where fruit and flowers and creaminess sort of merge. I could smell this all day. [time passes, sun sets]

If I drink it, I won't have it any more, and yet ... sharper and oakier than I expected, but it's nice to have some weight after that ethereal nose. Same flavors, but the creamy/chocolate/vanilla ones come to the front on the finish.

That nose is worth a million, and I'm a sucker for anything old that doesn't taste like a mouthful of wood.

score: 90

Somehow still available at whiskybase.

Review #24: Vinedos de El Seque Alicante 2008, 14%

I'm pretty sure I'm missing some diacritical marks here and there.

Monastrell can be really good. I think it's the same as Mourvedre, but I don't know. This one is (a) amazing and (b) less than $10 (what I paid, anyway).

Absolutely stunning nose: brambly berries and strawberries and happy berries (not a real thing, admittedly), with some violets and gravel and stems and cherries and spices. Nice medium-body fruit-forward palate, but the nose is just stunning, if you like that sort of thing.

Monastrell, I think, usually disappears in blends with "rhone" varietals, where it's supposed to offer a little strawberry perfume to balance out the mix. But here it's fantastic on it's own -- or maybe with just a little cab and syrah -- I've read different things. I expected something heavy, rustic, and licoricey from a warm climate wine, but this was just perfect.

really good stuff.

score: 91

Review #23: Del Maguey Santo Domingo Albarradas Mezcal, 40% abv

weird to have a clear spirit with so much flavor

this is a single-village Mezcal. (I would guess it's single-estate, single-still, etc., too.) I don't know much more than that.

Very nice nose, with roasted winter squash (or maybe pattipan -- but I guess that's probably just agave), rose hips, parsley, and citrus notes before the wispy smoke takes over. Some other grassy and fruity smells, too -- cotton? dragonfruit? I can't really pick them out.

Palate is sweet and smoky, with a long, tongue-coating, smoky and squashy finish. Nice low-proof softness with intense higher-proof flavor.

very nice! not sure this is the best choice in the Del Maguey range, but it'll do.

score: 82

Review #22: Craigellachie 9yr 2002/2012, Exclusive Malts, 59.5%, PX cask, cask #80

time to ease back into things

had some nice stuff on my just-completed trip: Laphroaig 10, Old Overholt, Bulleit, and the two Jim Beam "Signature Craft" bourbons. Didn't quite manage to review anything, though.

so here's a Craigellachie. not sure when the last time I had one was -- there seem to be a lot of casks out and about, but no regular bottling and no compelling reason to find one. I assume this one will be sweet and spirity and completely dominated by the sherry, but let's see.

weird stuff. it's dark and there's some burnt sugar on the nose, but it's not obviously a sherry bomb. instead lots of alcohol, and then a weird range that moves from green and grassy (sharp, almost minty) to dry and grassy (old ropes, dry hay) and flinty rocks. after a couple minutes fair amount of sulfur comes out -- spent matches -- so I guess that's a sign this is a sherry cask. there's some jammy fruit in there, too, but it's pretty well buried.

on the palate it's bitter, which is almost but not quite made up for by the sweet.

finish is unpleasant but long. well, it ends in sweet toffee, but I'd rather have just skipped the experience. there are some merits here, but this one isn't for me.

score: 70

Review #21: Port Charlotte 2001/2013, 57.5%, Malts of Scotland, Rioja Hogshead, C# MoS13027, 358 bottles

yet another indication that I'm getting old

This is an almost 12 year old Port Charlotte -- hard to believe that there is such a thing. "Rioja hogshead" seems like a bad idea, but they probably know better than I do.

Very nice salty, greasy, and tarry nose, with some fruit in the background. I really don't know how a nose can be salty, but it's somewhere between seawater and pickled something -- plums, I think. The grease seemed a little mechanical at first, but then veers into pork belly territory. Some bicycle tire and ashes. Plus some cherries -- sour cherries smoked over the flames of a pig riding a bicycle. Some other fruit trying to poke through, but the tarry flaming bicycle pig stops them. Palate is rich and oily, with some green fruit, wet rocks, and interesting barrel spices coming in on top of everything else. Super ashy finish, balanced by sweet and salty red fruit. Very very long.

It's hard to imagine a young whisky being much better than this. I'll have to start drinking some crap so that my scores don't seem so high. (Or not.) Maybe these flavors got me in just the right mood, but they're awfully good right now.

score: 90

Review #20: Kavalan Solist Sherry, bottled 2012, OB, 58.6%, C# S060710004, 570 bottles

this still isn't imported to the States yet. oh well.

If it ends up costing as much as it does at TWE, I doubt it'll be worth it. Still, it's intriguing -- maybe they've been buying up all the best sherry casks. It's not very old, of course -- there's a bottling date but no fill date -- that and the hot weather in Taiwan makes me think it's pretty young.

It's very dark, and has a nose to match: thick, rich, sweet, with soy sauce and chocolate and some green tobacco and ripe red berries and marzipan and cotton candy and fruit gummies -- lychee above all. It's the berries on top of everything that get to me -- it's like a jar of Bonne Maman thrown into a bottle of brandy de jerez. Really appealing. There's a hint of burnt matchsticks, but not unpleasant at all.

The matchsticks scorch the palate a little bit, but then it's back to candied sweetness mixed with soy and coffee. The finish is long and sweet on vanilla mocha, red fruit, coconut, and, well, matchsticks.

So the nose is just fabulous, the palate is ok, and the finish holds up well. I thought this would be more of a pricey novelty -- sometimes things get buzz because they're new rather than because they're good, but this is definitely good.

score: 89

Review #19: Talisker Distiller's Edition 1991/2005, 45.8%, amoroso cask finish

this is the least consistent whisky I have

"Amoroso" is oloroso that's been sweetened, I think. I don't think I've ever had any. Also in the category of things that I don't feel like looking up: I think this is from back when Diageo used to give the DE's a year or two extra time in the finishing casks, not just a few weeks.

I swear the taste of this changes day by day. (Or at least season by season -- this is a liter bottle, but I've had it a while.)

On a bad day: it's generic sherry prune and cooked banana sweetness on top of peppery peat, with a slightly watery finish. Pleasant, but not exciting.

On a good day: the peat really evolves from ashes to barnyardiness -- it really opens into all kind of organic flavors -- before turning to pepper and bacon. The fruit seems spicy, with armagnac-like raisins and cloves, a bit of oak shavings, and some chalky minerality. It still seems a little light on the palate, but a dry, smoky peat lingers on the finish, occasionally interrupted by candied fruit.

So I've hesitated to drink it all, since I'm never sure what I'm going to get. It's definitely going to stop evolving soon, though, since the bottle's almost empty.

score: between 80 and 89

Review #18: Singtom Estate BPS "In-Between" and Singbulli Estate SFTGFOP1

maybe I'll get some work done tonight

or maybe not. either way, two Darjeelings bought from Upton. These are teas, not whiskies, by the way.

Singtom BPS In-Between, Organic

well, if "In-Between" is for people who can't decide between first flush and second flush, then that's for me. it costs less than either, too, although it's a lower grade. (I guess "BPS" is just the Darjeeling way of saying Broken Pekoe -- strange I had to look that up when SFTGFOP1 makes perfect sense to me.)

dry vegetal nose with some floral fruit -- like quince or apricots, very faintly. palate is much lighter than I expected -- somehow it imparts the taste of green tannins without the bite. so overall it is a little bit of first flush and a little bit of second flush, but not exactly the best of both worlds. still nice for the price.


Singbulli Estate SFTGFOP1

this one was pricey -- almost 10x as much, I think.

ah, the Benriach 1976 of Darjeeling. Not the finest nose ever, but filled with tropical fruit (pineapple, lychee) and the herbaceousness is less stemmy and more herbal (as in fines herbes). it's all very delicate, of course, and on the palate it's already a memory, but some new flavors -- almond paste, buttercups -- come in with the aftertaste.

very nice, but you could miss it all if you weren't paying close attention.

Review #17: Kilchoman 2007/2013 "Loch Gorm", OB, 46%, 10000 bottles

let's do one more

The smoke seems even drier, ashier than in #16, but it has the sherry notes to fall back on. The sherry seems like the tobacco/flinty/mossy kind, with only a little stewed fruit, but maybe that's the smoke influence. Some bacon and wood glue, too. The peat still dominates.

On the palate I get a mouthful of ash, like all that stuff (esp. moss, wool) has been left on a barbecue for a few weeks. Some vanilla fruit sweetness comes in at the finish, but then the cinders take over again. I didn't realize that ash could persist like this.

I like the other one better.

score: 82

Review #16: Kilchoman 4yr 2006/2011, OB for WIN, 60.0%, bourbon hogshead, C#252/2006, 261 bottles

not the oldest release ever

Because this is the oldest release ever -- 6 (or maybe) 5 years old. It makes me wonder about buying Kilchoman now -- since there are plenty of other things to buy -- and the longer you wait, the older the whisky that becomes available. From what I can gather, quality is going up, too ...

I wonder if at some point they'll take bigger heart cuts, too. Apparently if you want something palatable at 3yrs old, you take a tiny cut from the middle of the run. But I imagine (on the basis of pure guessing) that that takes out flavor components that would be nice to have around 10 yrs later, too.

Anyway, Serge says that very young malts are always better as single casks (he might think), because individuality > balance in those cases -- with Kilchoman in particular. So here's one.

It's sweeter and more floral than I expected. I mean, sure, it smells like an incinerator, but on top of all the soot there's a nice floral sweetness -- vanilla toffee, honeysuckle, rose water. Lots of brine and camphor, too. The peat is mostly ashy, but at least it was something medicinal and something earthy that's been smoldering for a while now. A wet and thoroughly bandaged stablehand.

On the palate it's a fistfight between malty sweetness and ashiness, with some lemon trying to break it up. The ashiness wins, taunts everyone, lingers around for while, and says a few earthy things as the others depart.

This one is a lot of fun, though I wish I heard more from the earthy side of the peat.

score: 88