Monthly Archives: March 2010

A World of Discovery, Bruichladdich, Refreshed, Springtime, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

Bruichladdich 18yr (not 2nd edition)

Islay region – 46%ABV – 750ml bottle – $101 and up | £50 | €61 (prices shown are for the 2nd edition)

I feel somewhat bad that my first review of the Bruichladdich line was a bad review. But hey, it was what it was and looking at the big picture, I had to post an uncomplimentary post at some point or another.

I suppose, however, what I should have done is review the ‘laddie 18yr expression first as, after all, the 18yr was the very first ‘laddich I’ve every had and it made me come back for more. Also, I received this bottle as a gift (free scotch! who could ask for anything more??). Happy birthday to me!

Bruichladdich (a distillery from the Islay region of Scotland) is known for having a *very* expansive line of whisky expressions. They do a lot with special wood finishes and currently have the peatiest malt on the market today (The Octomore); they have both unpeated & lightly peated malts as well. The 18yr has little if any traces of peat, this is a sweeter one as you’ll soon read.

This beauty was matured in ex-bourbons casks then transferred to Pinot casks for finishing. Pinot is known to be a very soft, silky tasting wine, almost buttery (at least the ones I’ve had). I knew the make up of the scotch before I opened the bottle and was really looking forward to tasting!

Initial whiffs – Fresh fruits (think nectarine and maybe… pear??), vanilla with perhaps some cinnamon, some oak comes through, and a tad bit of citrus. This is what Bruichladdich is known for – even with their peaty expressions, the fruit really comes through and shines.

Palate – Very sweet, the wine-y-ness comes through here (slightly tannic, very slight though), almonds (maybe marzipan but without the bite that you can get from the marzipan), orange syrup, great mouth feel

Finish — Long and fruity, some nuttiness comes back in the end – oh, a something sort of earthy now too, grassy almost?

In sum — I love the bottle style, very cool & swanky. Well worth the money paid for it (thanks birthday gifters! You know who you are). This is one I’d revisit again, and again, and again… Quite complex and worth waiting for warmer weather to enjoy. This is not an easy drinking whisky though – this is one to “taste”, not “drink”

George T Stagg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Port Askaig

A productive next few days for whisk(e)y reviews!

One of the many beautiful things about twitter is that it’s connected me to so many whisky lovers & bloggers; people that I would never had met otherwise.  I’ve made friendships with good deal of these people, talked on the phone with a few of them and I’m sure that we’ll meet one day in person.  Perhaps all of us whisk(e)y bloggers out there should work on getting a blogging conference together? Anybody?  Bueller?  Bueller?

An added benefit in creating these relationships such as the ones mentioned above is that we can get together and share samples of our favorite whiskies.  I may have an Ardbeg that “so-and-so” wants and s/he’ll trade me 5cl of what they have and everybody is happy and reviewing more stuff than what’s on their shelf.  Cool stuff.

Well, i’ve just shared in another sample trade and here’s a preview of what you’re going to see down the pipe for Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society reviews:

Additionally, the society will be meeting next Thursday and we will be doing a vertical tasting of the standard Glenmorangie line.  This is an exciting time for me and I hope that my reviews will be both helpful and entertaining.

As you may know, I am newer to whisky blogging so, if you have any comments, suggestions, etc… on how I can make your reading experience better/more enjoyable, please email me: jewmalt [at] yahoo [dot]com.

L’chayim/Slainte/Cheers!

Joshua (Yossi)

Ardbeg, Autumn, Cold Winter, Need To Bundle Up, Takin' It Easy

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 1990, 16 years old

Islay region – 46%ABV – 750ml bottle – $79 and up | £64 | €71

So, a short while back the nice folks over at Shoppers Vineyard put on this amazing sale which, as of today (March, 12, 2010) is still going on – 46% off of their price on Ardbeg’s “Airigh Nam Beist” 16yr old beauty!!  Talk about a Sweet Sixteen!!  Take that Molly Ringwald.  You may never see a price like this again so my suggestion is to take advantage of it, while you can.

Pronounciation — The Airigh Nam Beist is pronounced “Ari Nam Baysht” (which actually sounds Yiddish to me).  Thankfully, the fine folks at Ardbeg decided to finally come out with products we all can pronounce: Rollercoaster and, umm, well that’s all of them I suppose (discounting the 10yr which was released years ago and we all can pronounce that one, right?).

As winter is now winding down, my taste for the peatier malts is beginning to wane.  So I wanted to get this review under my belt before the temps started hitting 70 deg F and the birds started chirping.

Initial whiffs — Peat (extremely warm peat, not like the citrusy peat you get from the 10yr), baby sick, quite fruity, gooseberry jam, the more you sniff, the less peat you get, grassy, oaky now but, not a ton

Palate — Warming peat, golden raisins, silky velvet in the tongue, very sexy mouth-feel like the Ardbeg licked my tongue, salted olive oil, pine nuts (like a peaty pesto minus the garlic & basil)

Finish — Shorter than I expected (due to the 46%Abv?), here comes the wood; now the beastie is showing it’s age (this baby is 16yrs old, BTW.  It can start driving here in the US), lots of wood but not too-too much (like a good Chardonay — the crappy ones are over-oaked, the good ones are complimented by the oaky influence), lasting peat with a warmth similar to that of the Lagavulin 16yr.

In sum — Wow.  Astounding stuff.  Alone, she shines like the morning sun.  Next to other, more youthful Ardbegs, not so much…  Drink her alone, this beast is a one guy gal (or a one gal gal).  Don’t believe me?  Check out Whisky Israel’s Corryvreckan vs Airigh Nam Beist review.  Enjoy this one with your family during Thanksgiving dinner (for my US & Canadian readers)!  Drinking this made me long for fun family times, roaring fires and relatives falling asleep due to high levels of turkey-induced tryptophan in their system.

UPDATE – I’ve come to find out from a friend that these bottles could have 16, 17 or 18yr scotch depending on the code etched into the bottle.  L6 = 16yrs, L7 = 17yrs & L8 = 18yrs old (or, another way of saying it is L6 was bottled in 2006, L7 in 2007 or L* was bottled in 2008 which makes this 1990 vintage 16, 17 or 18 years old).  My Airigh Nam Beist is 18yrs old, not 16yrs.  It make me want to try the 16 vs 17 vs 18yr old expressions.  Anybody up for some sample trading??

All You Need Is Love, Autumn, Cold Winter, Highland Park, Need To Bundle Up, Springtime, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

Highland Park 18yr – The best dram I’ve tasted in 2009!

Islands – 43%ABV – 750ml bottle – $75-99 | £55 | €64

I’ve read so many reviews on the HP18 (Highland Park, not Harry Potter, come on people!!) I figured, enough is enough – I had to try just to see what all the hoop-a-lah was about.

Back in October of 2009 I went to The Scottish Arms in St. Louis Missouri. If you’ve never been, go. Now. More than 150 drams (Scottish, Japanese, American, you name it) on their whisky menu – amazing! Well, while I was there I tried the HP18 and all I could say was…”eh…, so what”

PLEASE READ ON

I realized the reason the whisky was so sub-stellar was just because of the type of glass they used (should have brought my own Glencairn) and the fact that I had food getting in the way of the tasting. Note to self: only taste when you’re either A) done with food or B) haven’t had food yet (though on an empty stomach… that can be…ummmm…fun?!).

So, after many people telling me that I must be crazy for thinking the Highland Park 18 was no more than a big yawn, a little while later, I decided to shut them up and lay down the casheesh to buy a bottle.  I actually got the bottle for much less than what is shown but, it was an eBay buy so I won’t post that price.  Let’s just say, I got it for about the price of the standard 12yr bottle of Highland Park!!

Around this time I was reading that many people do their whisky tasting in the morning time so I decided to conduct my tasting during that time myself.  What a way to start the day!!  The following notes, by the way, were written in October, 2009:

Nose (almost 3 full whiffs!!) — Not as smokey as I had anticipated. Very sweet smelling, almost juicy with an underlying smokiness to it. Second whiff: More of the same, this time a little more smoke but now the oak came out a bit and something almost tropical – overripe banana perhaps? I couldn’t wait for the 3rd whiff…

Palate — Absolutely one of the most succulent drops I’ve ever had! The smoke was underlying but kept peaking it’s head out and was balanced so well by the sweetness. Sherry notes but thankfully not overly so. The age came out a bit, long vanilla oak notes and more sweet smoke. G-d damn, I’m in heaven!

Finish — Soft and silky, warming (which is much needed as it was 33deg F this morning!), smokey and long.

In sum — Those who know me now I am a devoted fan of the Glenmorangie line but I have to say, with the exception of the D’or (which remains to be my dram of choice), this has knocked all of the other Glenmos out of the way! Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s because I had it in the morning, I don’t know. I can tell you that I think I’m in love.

A World of Discovery, Ardbeg, Autumn, Cold Winter, Need To Bundle Up

Ardbeg Corryvreckan – Malt Advocate’s Whisky of 2009

Islay region – 57.1%ABV – cask strength – 750ml bottle – $79-89 | £60 | €66

Such a strange thing.  You know, when I first got into Scotch whiskies, it was the peatier ones that drew me in.  I wanted to do nothing more than drink brimstone.  The peatier, the better.  And when I first started drinking whisky, that’s all I could taste; until, that is, I started “tasting” whisky rather than “drinking” whisky.

Once I started “tasting” whisky I had a tough time getting past the smokey peat – all I could taste was smoke so I figured I branch out and try ANY whisky as long as it had NO peat.  I abstained from peat for a bit more than a year and during that time I really began to hone my tasting skills (I’m still not a professional by any stretch of the imagination but I can hold my own.  At least, that’s what I tell myself…).  I was feeling good about my whiskying (is that even a word? My guess…no).  So good that I decided to branch out a bit more and reintroduce myself to peat, slowly but surely.  I started with Dalwhinnie, sprinkled  in some Springbank (great Campbeltown malt!!), Highland Park, then winter finally came back to New England and I decided to get back to the big peat – Ardbeg!

Tasting the Ardbeg 10yr again after going through so many lighter Speyside & Highland whiskies was like a reawakening!!  I was able to start pulling out the citrus notes, the tea leafiness, brine — this was a whole new experience for me!  My eyes were reopened.

Fast forward a year and a half or so and we get the announcement from John Hansell of the Malt Advocate that Ardbeg’s Corryvreckan got the prestigious Best Single Malt of 2009 award.  I have so much respect for John Hansell and much of what he says has helped and continues to help me choose the direction I take on this fun-ass whisky journey.  This being said, I had to get some Corryvreckan for myself and see what this was all about.

So, here we go.  Ardbeg Corryvreckan, 2009 Single Malt of the year:

Initial whiff — Even though this is 57.1%ABV, I had no problem jamming and keeping my nose in the glass.  Sweet smoke, big smoke but very sweet, briney (think sushi roll seaweed), lots of citrus, the smell of freshly tarred cut tree-limbs, telephone poles on a hot summer day (sorry for that one but growing up we had a telephone pole at the end of our driveway and there was some tar on it and during the summer it had a smell that was similar to what I’m smelling here).  Very complex.  Pleasant and making me reminisce of days gone by (this is what whisky is all about!!).

On the mouth – Sweet & bitting smoke, oily but not as much as the Uigeadail, iodine, wet ropes, back to the citrus, maybe some figgy stuffs?

Finish – Lasting, bubbly, like boozy seltzer, getting grassy (is this the stuff that made up the peat?).  A big smokebomb but so much more!

In sum — No where near as angry a malt as the Uigeadail.  Though close…  So the question is: is the the best single malt of 2009?  The great thing about whiskies and the tasting thereof is that it’s all up to you!  For me, yes.  It’s quite apparent that Ardbeg knows what they are doing.  They’re making damn good whisky.  This is my favorite whisky released in 2009 (that I’ve tasted).   Was it the best single malt I’ve tried in 2009?  No way.  Enjoy toward the end of Autumn or on a cold-cold night.  Bundle up, grab your favorite book and let yourself be taken away!