Category Archives: Whiskey

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2012

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Bourbon, 12 Years, 48.5% ABV, $50

Bourbon, 12 Years, 48.5% ABV, $50

Nosing reveals butterscotch, toffee, sweet corn, orange zest, hay, cherries, peaches and tobacco. The taste is very tangy and peppery initially. There’s ginger, white pepper, orange, lemon, dry rhubarb and mild tobacco. About mid-palate, a charred, woody characteristic appears quickly followed by fruit… apricot, cherry and apple. The aftertaste is lightly woody with a leathery feel and a mild amount of pepper and bitter toffee. There’s a lot of flavor up front, but its bold and unbalanced. The finish is fairly long but uninteresting. Whatever interest is developed when the whiskey hits my mouth, is quickly diminished by disjointed flavors that just don’t work well together. I would pass on this one.

Eagle Rare 10 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon

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Single Barrel Bourbon,
10 Year, 45% ABV, $22

The aroma is of fresh cut straw, honey, apple, tobacco, caramel and corn husk. As the aroma fades, the last thing I smell is dark ripe cherry.  The initial taste is very different from other bourbons I’ve had.  There’s a rough, earthy quality to it, yet its still delicate with a bit of sweetness. The flavors are molasses, honey, ginger, pine, candied cherry, white pepper and fig.  The finish is woody and peppery with the rough flavors following through to the end… molasses, pine sap and honey. It’s leathery and spicy, but nicely in balance.  This really is unique compared to other bourbons and I’m really enjoying it.  Further sipping reveals a bit of tart green apple and sweet tobacco.  I wish that I had tried this one much sooner.  Now, I’m looking forward to a taste of the 17 Year offering in the annual Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.

Bowmore 12 Year Old

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Islay Single Malt, 12 Years,
40% ABV, $39

Thanks to Mark E. again for the sample. He’s been sampling Islay Single Malts and sharing them with me. I don’t think that I ever would’ve ventured this far into the Islay region without his excitement and encouragement.

The sweetness is very forward with a mixture of smoke, peat, salt and grass in the background. The sweet aroma is caramel, butterscotch and just a hint of orange zest. After a while I start to smell fresh cut hay and a drop of maraschino cherry. The nose transforms to sweetly smoked peat to grassy smoke with more emphasis on the grass.

The taste is smoky orange, lemon, vanilla and ginger at first. The ginger and smoke linger through to the finish, where the smoke fades into a leathery charred oak with black pepper arriving midway through and lingering on with the wood. The tangy fruit fades quickly, while the vanilla is joined by a mild buttery toffee and fades slowly. The sweetness lasts quite a while and provides balance to the peppery, bitter finish. The experience is somewhat choppy as the phases are transitioned. The initial flavor is sweet, tangy and spicy, then sweet and spicy, then bitter and spicy. It’s hard to describe… not impressive, but not bad. It’s a mildly peated, fruity, spicy Islay with plenty of wood. I’m betting that an older expression would work much better.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte: The Peat Project

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Islay Single Malt, No Age Statement,
46% ABV, $50

Thanks to Mark E. for this sample!

The color is a pale yellow. On the nose, there’s plenty of sweet, peaty smoke with grapefruit, toffee, vanilla and a bit of ginger in the background. Giving it time to breathe tames the smoke a bit, although it wasn’t overpowering before, and reveals a soft grassy aroma with just a touch of honey. This is a very enjoyable whisky to breathe in. The taste is at first sweet, then turns immediately to soft smoke and peat. The next wave brings a salty collection of fruit and spice with a chewy leathery texture entering next. The finish is leathery charred oak, smoke and white pepper as the sweetness lingers and fades along with the salt and peat. That salty, peaty taste returns again as the wood and smoke diminish. The sweet flavors are butterscotch, honey and vanilla with a generous ginger and black pepper bite. The fruity flavors are grapefruit, orange and peach. There’s a lot of flavor here and I like it all the way to the finish, where there’s a bit too much bitterness to balance with the other flavors. The smoke becomes a bit more prominent with time. A splash of water restores some balance as it enhances the fruit, subdued the spices and cleans up the oak tannin. Even the smoke moves to the background a bit.

Although this whisky is not for me, it is very good and should appeal to Laphroaig fans who want something a bit less bold.

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Original Cask Strength

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Islay Single Malt, 10 Years,
58.3% ABV, $53

Thanks to Mark E. for this sample!

The smoke and alcohol are readily evident in the aroma, along with peat and salty sea breeze. This is against a backdrop of butterscotch, charred oak, vanilla wafer, grapefruit and just a hint of apricot. The taste is very bold! The initial flavor is tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, vanilla, tobacco and apricot followed by a burst of butterscotch, vanilla and ginger that give way to a bit of iodine and grass. The finish is smokey white pepper and fades to a slightly salty and leathery oak bitterness. The smokiness remains and the pepper lingers for a long time. All of this distracts from mild sweet tobacco that still remains in the background. Adding water really tames this beast and makes it much more enjoyable. The aroma becomes mostly grass and toffee as the smoke moves to the background and the salty sea breeze becomes still sea air. The citrus becomes ginger and the alcohol burn is brought under control. The taste become more fruity and sweet with notes of apple, tart cherry, peach and grapefruit to accompany the vanilla and peat. A mild smoke aspect remains as does the white pepper that arrives in the finish. The ginger is much milder and the bitterness gives way to salt and a hint of leather. After a while, the remnants are of salty peat, licorice and charred oak and this final finish has somewhat of a numbing quality to it. Some water is definitely needed to subdue this animal. It’s wild and woolly!

My impression of this complex whisky is diminished by the bitter, numbing finish (helped out much by water). The tangy flavor is too much at times for the milder fruit elements to compete with and disappears quickly, which leaves the smoke, peat and spice to complete the experience. After a while, the balance improves but is never really achieved. For me, it just doesn’t work that well (and I know it does for many). I’ll stick with Ardbeg Ten Year over this one.

Ardbeg Ten Year Old

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Islay Single Malt, 10 Years,
46% ABV, $40

Thanks to Mark E. for this sample.

Smells of sweet, salty seawater with smoke, peat, grass, honey and toffee greet the nose. The taste is of orange, ginger, vanilla, caramel and smokey peat. These flavors give way to a bit of lemongrass and white pepper as a smokey, woody licorice bitterness complete the experience. The bitterness of the aftertaste is subtle and the sweetness fades slowly along with the pepper. This is fantastic stuff!

Here’s the description from Ardbeg:

Ardbeg Ten Years Old is revered around the world as the peatiest, smokiest, most complex single malt of them all. Yet it does not flaunt the peat; rather it gives way to the natural sweetness of the malt to produce a whisky of perfect balance.

Best of The Whisky Advent Calendar

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I’m delinquent in summarizing my favorites from The Whiskey Advent Calendar. Here are my top 5:

  1. Master of Malt 50 Year Old Speyside (3rd Edition)
  2. Glenfarclas 1981 Family Cask Release V
  3. Glenfarclas 105
  4. Glenkinchie 20 Year Old (2010 Release)
  5. MacAllan 10 Year Fine Oak

The only affordable offering is the MacAllan, but I may spring for the Glenfarclas 105 at some point as well.

Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbon

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Single Barrel Bourbon,
No Age Specified, 50% ABV, $40

Notes of toffee, cherry, shortbread and ginger on the nose with a hint of cigar box. There’s also a sweetness that nicely offsets the alcohol burn. The taste is full of ginger and pepper that bursts, then subsides to a gentle fade. The burst of flavor is also filled with bitter orange, apple, vanilla, cinnamon and plum jelly. A bit of clove and white pepper are left on the palate as the burn subsides. I would characterize this as a very bright and spicy whiskey. Smooth would not be an appropriate label here and I mean this in a positive sense. I may have to spring for a limited edition offering based on this experience. This is a unique bourbon and I’m looking forward to more like it.

Here’s the description from Four Roses:

A premium Single Barrel Bourbon with a taste you’ll want to savor again and again. Complex, full bodied and surprisingly smooth with a delicate long finish that’s unbelievably mellow. Contains hints of ripe plum and cherry tastes with fruity, spicy aromas including maple syrup and cocoa.

Advent Completed

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The Whisky Advent Calendar from Master of Malt

The Whisky Advent Calendar from Master of Malt

I was 3 days late, but that completes The Whisky Advent Calendar.  This has been an enormous amount of fun and a lot more work than I expected.  I’m extremely grateful to my friend, Gene, who made this possible through his generous and thoughtful gift.  I’ve learned a lot about Scotch whisky in a very short time and tasted some great examples from each of the regions of Scotland: Highland (and Islands), Speyside, Campbeltown, Lowland and Islay.  There are definite differences between the whiskys from each region and I now have a good idea of the flavor profiles to expect from distilleries located in each of them.  I’ll be reviewing my tastings and will follow-up with a list of my favorites from the set of twenty-four, although I’m sure that the two bourbons won’t make that list (not that I don’t like bourbon, but these two were not noteworthy).

For those interested in the details, all of the tasting was done from the same glass at the same temperature using the same water at the same location in the same chair.  All blog entries were authored on an iPhone 5 using the WordPress application, which was used to take all photos.  Further editing (due to WordPress mobile limitations) were accomplished via web browser.

Master of Malt 50 Year Old Speyside (3rd Edition)

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Speyside Single Malt, 50 Years, 43% ABV, $596

That is not a misprint! You read it right, “50 Year Old Speyside” whisky for just under $600! It’s the grande finale of The Advent Calendar from Master of Malt. Just a 30ml sample will set you back $33! I just hope that its the best of the bunch, which is a pretty tall order. Here I go!

The color is amber and the nose is lightly smokey, peaty and grassy. There’s definitely a new aroma here that I’m having trouble putting a label on. In the meantime, I sense toffee, honey and the most distinct grapefruit I’ve ever sniffed in a whisky. The other aroma is a feint menthol mixing with the smoke and peat. The last smell that I detect is old cigar box. It smells great!

The taste leads off with grapefruit and orange paired with vanilla and toffee. This transitions to wood, mild smoke and peat with a brief bold bitterness that fades into the aftertaste very nicely. During that bitter interlude, a note of ginger arrives and fades to mild white pepper. The aftertaste is mildly woody with a white pepper taste, but very little heat. It’s so soft and lingers a good while. During the transition to the finish, I detect that menthol like flavor for just an instant and its subtle, yet distinct. Wow! This is impressive stuff! I wish I could spend some more time with it, but it’ll be gone in very soon, only to live on in these tasting notes… at least for me. The truth is that I really didn’t want to like this whisky because it’s too far out of reach, but I’m glad I was able to sample something like this for future reference.

In their bottling notes, Master of Malt announces:

Here it is – the third edition of our astounding, palate seducing, sensation that is our fifty year old Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky! This bottling from our Secret Bottlings Series is packaged in a redesigned bottle and label. This is quite literally whisky heaven in a bottle – the flavour is intense with perfect structure and the finish is astonishingly long.