Compass Box Oak Cross

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Blended Malt, No Age Statement, 43% ABV, $50

I’ve been meaning to try something from Compass Box for a while and encountered this one on day 6. It smells of grapefruit, vanilla and caramel with a touch of grass and a whiff of very light smoke. The taste is saturated with wood, beginning with a complement of grapefruit and vanilla toffee, the transitioning to bittersweet honey and finishing with leathery pepper burn. The burn fades reasonably quickly at the front of the mouth, but continues to burn in the back of the mouth and throat. The bitterness fades to a dull taste of oak and leather. This one is spicy throughout the experience and any sweetness is quickly vanquished by the woody characteristic.

Compass Box says:

We call this whisky Oak Cross because it offers the best characteristics of both American and French oak aging. A rich, medium-bodied blended malt Scotch whisky, Oak Cross combines vanilla characters from American oak and spicy, clove-like characters from French oak.

Glenkinchie 20 Year Old (2010 Release)

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Lowland Single Malt, 20 Years,
55.1% ABV, $185

Wonderful honey, apricot and creamy vanilla aroma… perhaps sweet flowers as well, like Azalea… the most pleasant so far. The taste is powerful and lingers for a good minute plus. Lots of citrus – orange and lemon – along with a salty sweet vanilla that turns into a salty leathery honey. The peppery burn arrives after the citrus and remains as it fades along with the leathery honey. They call this a lady’s whisky, but I can only imagine her with a name like Bertha because this one is pretty tough. I mean that it’s definitely not feminine. A bit of water starts to release spices – ginger, pepper and a feint sage – and the citrus is toned down significantly. It becomes a lightly salted blend of citrus, banana, peach and finishes with leathery banana and vanilla. This is definitely an enjoyable drink and my first Lowland Scotch Whisky.

Glenkinchie 20 2010 Bottling Note:

The 2010 special release from Lowland distillery Glenkinchie. Fruity, smooth and luxurious. A lady-whisky if ever we saw one.

Finally, here is the link to this offering at Master of Malt.

Tomintoul 10 Year Old

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Speyside Single Malt, 10 Years, 40% ABV, $40

Really nice aroma of orange, grass, burnt sugar and honey. The light peat is set against a backdrop of oak, honey, orange and vanilla. The taste is light, but the aftertaste is bitter, then peppery. The peaty bitterness returns after the burn subsides. This is not a complex whisky, but its got a nice, light, sweet taste; however, the bitterness is a bit much to be perceived as a complement to the quickly diminished flavors. It does have a long finish, but its not as good as the nose or the initial light flavor.

I am becoming accustomed to the Speyside style and I like it. The gentle introduction to peaty smoke has been enjoyable. I just hope I can handle any Islay that may show up along the journey.

The distiller’s notes suggest:

A gentle 10 year old from the Speyside distillery, Tomintoul.

Black Bull Special Reserve Number 1

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Blended, No Age Statement, 46.6% ABV, $153

Graham cracker, toffee and maple syrup aroma with a gentle charred wood in the background… very noticeable at first, but mostly distant after collecting some air. The taste is a metallic citrus with plenty of burn. The citrus is joined by ginger, maple and caramel as the metal fades, but the burn lingers as the aftertaste turns to leathery vanilla. A bit of water tames this dram to a leathery maple and vanilla as the citrus becomes more in balance. The aftertaste becomes more sulfurous behind a lingering chewy burnt caramel. By the time I’m finishing this one off, I’m tasting more florals and lemon along with a spicy gingerbread.

Master of Malt says:

The most recent addition to the Black Bull stable, this Special Reserve Number one is based on the same ratio of 50% malt to grain that is used in both the 12 and 40 year old Black Bull whiskies. This is a limited release of just 978 bottles.

Blair Athol 22 Year Old 1989 Cask 2928 – Dimensions (Duncan Taylor)

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Speyside Single Malt, 22 Years,
49.9% ABV, $137

A lot of alcohol in the nose, but there’s also a salty vanilla and orange with just a hint of flint. The vanilla becomes more prominent after a few breaths and a bit of caramel begins to show itself. On the palate, a sweet, salty vanilla that transitions to a citrus taste accompanied by a long bold burn. As the burning fades (and it takes a while), a bitterness of oak remains with just a hint of char. This one definitely needs some water!

With the addition of water, the flavor becomes more of spices… ginger, nutmeg and pepper. The nose starts showing some charred oak with an ever evident burn of the alcohol… that aspect doesn’t seem to let up. With more water, a distinct corn aroma appears… a sweet, syrupy kind… corn syrup, I guess. The flavor becomes more salty and sweet with an intense caramel note. The alcohol finally fades a bit quicker, but there’s a distinct bright peppery finish that displaces the bitterness that was there before. It’s still noticeable, but the balance is much better.

Here’s the description from Master of Malt:

A spicy Speyside malt distilled at Blair Athol in May 1989. It was aged for 22 years in cask 2928 before bottling at natural cask strength in March 2012.

Glenfarclas 1981 Family Cask Release V

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Speyside Single Malt, 29 Years, 50.9% ABV, $564

On the nose, lightly peaty with orange, vanilla, butterscotch and honey. I taste the butterscotch and honey along with a bit of smoke. The peaty smoke is more noticeable as I continue to sip, then gives way to a lingering light smoke with a sweet alcohol burn that lasts for a good minute or so. It’s got a light oily feel to it and needs a bit of water. Adding very little water releases a smoky aroma and reduces the burn considerably. The sweetness remains and is joined by bitter orange and white pepper, while the oiliness is greatly reduced. Still, the smoky aftertaste lingers even longer and coats my mouth.

This is my first real experience with a peated Scotch and I have to admit that I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve had very few Scotch whiskies, but this has got to be the best one by a significant margin. I’m looking forward to the next 23 days.

Here is what Master of Malt had to say about this one:

The fifth release of Glenfarclas 1981, this whisky was aged in a single plain hogshead (cask 58), and it was bottled at natural cask strength in 2010. It marks a change from many of the family casks as it’s bottled from a plain cask, and not a sherry cask.

Whisky Advent Calendar

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The Whisky Advent Calendar from Master of Malt

The occasion prompting the creation of this blog is the arrival of The Whisky Advent Calendar from Master of Malt, courtesy of a very generous friend. Since this is the 1st of December, it’s time to get started with the necessary sampling of the drams contained therein (somebody has to do it! ;-)). I’ll be posting my tasting experiences daily replete with images, if all goes well.