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.