BenRiach and GlenDronach Tasting

Another Trinity Hall tasting (I love these events) and this time it was hosted by Alistair Walker of the BenRiach and Glendronach distilleries.  Here’s the lineup with some notes:

  • BenRiach logoBenRiach 12 Year Old – $43
    Notes:  This one started out great, but got bitter after a while.  Initially, I was impressed with the notes of vanilla and honey, but this proved to be short-lived.
  • BenRiach 16 Year Old -$75
    Notes:  Nice sherry influence with hazelnut and oak notes.
  • Glendronach LogoGlenDronach 12 Year Old – $46
    Notes:  Much better than BenRiach 12 with more sherry influence.  Also, better than MacAllan 12 (from a recent tasting). This one spends 7 years in ex-bourbon casks, then 5-6 years in sherry casks. It’s blended from malts up to 16 years old (an artifact of the distillery closure from 96-’02), with the youngest being 12 years old.  I highly recommend this one for MacAllan 12 fans… it’s better and costs less.
  • GlenDronach 14 Year Old Virgin Oak – $70
    Notes:  Starts out in ex-bourbon casks, then finished for 18 months in American oak. Sweet and fruity.
  • GlenDronach 15 Year Old Revival – $80
    Notes:  Milder nose, but really great taste. It’s aged in first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks for the entire 15 years.  Easily, the standout of the night.  I want some!
  • GlenDronach 18 Year Old Allardice- $100
    Notes:  Not as good as Revival… less dark fruit and more spice and wood.
  • BenRiach 17 Year Old Solstice 2
    Notes:  Finished in Tawny Port casks and heavily peated. Not available in USA. Spicy, hot, peaty and sweet. Very good!  I might have to search this one out on future European travels.

I’m now a big fan of the BenRiach and Glendronach distilleries.  This was a great lineup of whisky, providing great variety and interesting (even creative) combinations of aging.  I’ve got a bottle of Glendronach 21 Year Old Single Cask Oloroso Sherry Cask (1990) that is bottled at cask strength and is non-chill filtered at home that I can’t wait to try now.

An Unexpected Balvenie Tasting

Balvenie LineupWhile at Trinity Hall Irish Pub last night for the Highland Park tasting event, I met Jason Stein, the Balvenie Brand Ambassador.  When the event was concluded, the following pours were delivered to our table complements of Jason:

  • Balvenie 12 Year Old Double Wood – $44
  • Balvenie 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask – $57
  • Balvenie 15 Year Old Single Barrel – $70
  • Balvenie 17 Year Old Double Wood – $110
  • Balvenie 21 Year Old Port Wood – $200

It was a good move on his part because they were all very good.  The only Highland Park offering that was clearly better was the 30 Year Old.  I’ll be exploring more of the Balvenie line as a result of this surprise tasting.

Highland Park Tasting

Loki

Last night, I attended the Highland Park tasting event at Trinity Hall Irish Pub in Dallas.  These Trinity Hall events organized by Marius Donnelly continue to be great in every aspect: well organized, well attended, excellent selections and a lot of fun with people who are serious about whisky.  Here’s the lineup from last night:

  • The Black Grouse – $28
  • Highland Park 12 Year Old – $40
  • Highland Park 15 Year Old – $56
  • Highland Park 18 Year Old – $110
  • Highland Park 25 Year Old – $300
  • Highland Park 30 Year Old – $430
  • Highland Park Loki – $220
    • 15 Year Old Limited Edition from their Valhalla Collection

The best pour of the night was the 30 Year Old, followed by Loki and the 25 Year Old.  Also, worth noting is that the 12 Year Old is quite good for the price and both the 15 and 18 Year Old are not good at all… even The Black Grouse was more enjoyable than these.  As a bonus, I came away with a Highland Park ball cap and an unusual glass.

slant-2-oz.-shot-glass

 

Kirkland Añejo Tequila

Anejo Tequila, NAS, 40% ABV, $27 (liter)

Smells of mild smoke, green pepper, black pepper, toffee, straw, overripe plum, dark cocoa. There’s quite a collection here.

The taste is briny apple, lemon drop, honey, ginger, green pepper, turnip. It’s a blend of sweetness, vegetal flavors and spice that works quite well.

The finish is more of the same bit with mild charred wood character: black pepper, ginger, green pepper, turnip. The finish goes on for a while.

I didn’t enjoy this when I first opened it. Initially, I drank it cold and complained of a strong wood character. I’ve learned to give aged distillates some time to open up and this one definitely benefited from this as well as my room temperature sampling. It’s much better now than I initially thought. Still, I prefer the Toro de Lidia Extra Añejo, which is a bit more complex and still available at a reasonable price. This Costco product is not available where I live, so its not really an option anyway.

Bourbon Essentials

Glencairn GlassToday, I attended a Bourbon Essentials class offered by Total Wine & More in Dallas.  After a brief presentation on the history of bourbon and some useful information about bourbon and whiskey in general, we set out to taste 13 bourbons (listed in order of tasting):

  • Jack Daniels Black
  • Buckhorn
  • Jim Beam
  • Southshot
  • Maker’s Mark
  • Winchester
  • Weller Special Reserve
  • Watkins Select
  • Knob Creek 100
  • Old Bardstown
  • Buffalo Trace
  • Wathens Single Barrel
  • Angel’s Envy (TW selection)

For me, Angel’s Envy was easily the best of the bunch, while Buffalo Trace and Wathens Single Barrel were honorable mentions. Buffalo Trace was easily the best value. The really disappointing news was that most of these were not very good.  The only other acceptable offerings for me were: Weller Special Reserve (fourth on my list), Old Bardstown, Watkins Select, Winchester and Maker’s Mark.  I could not recommend any of the remaining whiskeys.

Prior to this class, I was only familiar with Angel’s Envy and Buffalo Trace and I still highly recommend both of them.  Beyond those, I would still recommend Evan Williams Single Barrel, Weller 12 Special Reserve or Eagle Rare 10 over Wathens Single Barrel at about the same price (actually, all of them should be a few dollars less). Another great value, if you can find it, is Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (White Label).

The MacAllan Tasting

The MacAllan LogoLast night I attended a tasting of single malts from The MacAllan at Trinity Hall Irish Pub in Dallas.  Jerry Fonicello from The MacAllan was there to introduce each of the pours and was both informative and entertaining, if not a little “over the top.”  Marius Donelly (proprietor of Trinity Hall Irish Pub) did a great job of putting this together at a reasonable price (including food) and with a great selection.  Speaking of the selections, here’s the lineup that we tasted with our local prices for a bottle:

  1. The MacAllan 10 Year Old Fine Oak Single Malt – $36
  2. The MacAllan 12 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt – $40
  3. The MacAllan 15 Year Old Fine Oak Single Malt – $70
  4. The MacAllan 17 Year Old Fine Oak Single Malt – $130
  5. The MacAllan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt – $146
  6. The MacAllan 21 Year Old Fine Oak Single Malt – $250
  7. The MacAllan 25 Year Old Sherry Oak Single Malt – $640

The standout values for the night were the Fine Oak 10 and Sherry Oak 12, which were both good.  I would give a slight nod to the Sherry Oak 12, which had a more interesting flavor profile due to the sherry influence.  The standout of the night was the Sherry Oak 18, which I consider a very nice whisky, but overpriced.  Everything after that was severely overpriced, in my opinion.  The Fine Oak 21 was interesting, but not dramatically more so than the Fine Oak 17 and the Sherry Oak 25 was a disappointment when compared to the Sherry Oak 18, especially at more than 4 times the price!

I’m really glad that I was able to attend this event and get this experience at a price that would’ve matched that of a single pour of the Sherry Oak 25.  This helped solidify my previously unfounded belief that The MacAllan makes very good whisky at outrageous prices, while offering the masses some solid values at the same time.  Even in the lower price range, you can find better offerings, but you can always return to these for a reliably good and solid whisky.  If you’re interested in trying their best, then it might be worth it to spring for the Sherry Oak 18 before it disappears from shelves as The MacAllan introduces an entirely new range next year.  I don’t expect much change with the new line that would dissuade me from the evaluation that I came away with last tonight.  I might even try some of their new entry-level whisky when they’re available.

Ron Matusalem Platino

Cuban Rum, 3 Years, 40% ABV, $10

Besides Bacardi (I’m not counting that one), this is the first white rum I purchased. It was a great price and I didn’t know much about it, but I grabbed it anyway.

On the nose, its sweet and spicy with smells of toffee, straw, ginger, overripe plum and cherry, pear, honey and mild tobacco. The taste is vanilla, caramel, apple, pear, plum, banana, ginger, grass and black pepper. The finish is mild wood, subdued fruit for a while and dissipating spice. There’s a lingering taste of overripe banana and leathery tobacco in the background as well.

This is a really nice rum with a nice collection of fruit and spice without much sweetness and just a bit of bitterness. Overall, a pretty good balance.  The price I paid was really good, but even at the current $15 that I see, this is a good buy.

Sweet Crude Rum

Rum, Unaged, 40% ABV, $27

I was really excited about this rum because it hails from Broussard, LA… only a few miles from where I was raised in Lafayette. In fact, I made sure that I secured a bottle from the original release. Sadly, that was last year and I’m only getting around to posting these notes now after spending some one-on-one time with a good pour.

Sweet Crude smells like caramel, grass, dark cherry, Bit o’ Honey and a hint of turpentine. The taste is briny, sweet and spicy up front and the finish is leathery, bitter and spicy. At first, I detect brine, lemon, ginger, agave (no joke), white pepper and grass. The palate feels slightly oily with bitterness and spice and the finish is similar… bitter tannins (does this spend any time in wood) and a good bit of spice that slowly fades against a vegetal backdrop. It reminds me more of mezcal than rum… strange (no, I didn’t pour from the wrong bottle). It’s hard to believe that this comes from molasses. The flavor isn’t reedy like cane juice rum, but the profile is closer to that style.

It’s possible that they’ve improved Sweet Crude by now, but this initial batch wasn’t very good. The price has dropped a few bucks to the low $20 range, but this still isn’t a good buy for rum. Unless you must experience the Cajun heritage represented by this rum, I would totally pass on this one.

High West Rendezvous Rye

Straight Rye, 6-16 Years, 46% ABV, $40

This is a blend of 6 and 16 year old sourced rye according to the distiller. That makes it the oldest rye I’ve had yet.  It’s also worth noting that the 6 year old rye contains 95% rye in the mash bill (only 51% is required to call it rye whiskey).

The nose is mild, but nice… toffee, straw, ginger, cocoa and dark cherries. The taste fruity and spicy up front and mildly woody on the finish without loosing the fruity and spicy elements… and it lasts a long time. The flavors are lemon, ginger, cherry, apple, pear, honey, dark roasted coffee, black pepper and orange. The finish is woody, but not leathery and the complementary spice and subtle fruits add a lot to it.

This is a great rye whiskey and my favorite to date, edging out the Willett Single Barrel mostly because of the nice aging elements. I’d love to get a taste of their now depleted 16 year old Rocky Mountain Rye, but that’s highly unlikely. At some point I may spring for a bottle of their 21 year old version.

Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 Year Old Bourbon

Straight Bourbon, 23 Years, 47.8% ABV, $200

I really never thought I’d even get a sample of this legend, but I was graced with a bit from my friend, Sorin (a huge thanks to him!). The entire Van Winkle line is very elusive and extremely hyped, so I feel special getting this brief glimpse into history. It truly is a bit of liquid history as this juice hails from the famed Stitzel-Weller Distillery, which closed many years ago. It’s rumored to be in the plans for a re-opening, but the whiskey distilled there is highly sought after and almost depleted. Well, enough of the history and on to the whiskey.

The nose is full of toffee, caramel, straw, cocoa, dark cherry and a bit of cigar box. The flavors are massive! In general, its a hot whiskey with lots of spice, candied fruit, tart fruit and wood. It’s unlike anything I’ve had before. The finish is long and much less woody than I expected. The tastes up front are honey, vanilla, apple, cherry, gingerbread, pear, caramel, cocoa, lemon drop, fruit cake and tobacco. It’s nicely chewy on the palate with a nice spicy transition to the finish. Everything just merges together perfectly on the way to a mildly woody, but not leathery finish, while the subdued flavors persist in the background. This is one experience I wish I could extend!

Simply put, this is amazing stuff! I really hope I can land a bottle someday. I wasn’t expecting it to be this good, since hyped products rarely are. This is definitely an exception and I’ve heard that some people like the 20 Year Old and even the 15 Year Old better. Unbelievable! If you get a chance to taste a Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon, then don’t pass it up!  By the way, the price listed is suggested retail.  If you can find a bottle (a big “if”), then you’re likely to pay much more.