Monthly Archives: January 2016

Glenmorangie, Let's celebrate!

Glenmorangie’s 2016 Special Edition “Milsean”

 

Region – North Highlands – ABV – 46%

I’ve got very little time today to preamble before tasting.  However, let me tell you a Knock-Knock Joke:

Joke Teller: “Knock Knock”

Joke participant: “Who’s there?”

Joke Teller: “Control Freak. Now, this is where you say ‘Control Freak who?'”

Joke participant: “…”

…and laughter fills the room!

Today I’m tasting Glenmorangie’s Milsean and, spoiler alert, it’s fantastic juice.

Glenmorangie Milsean

On the nose — Quite crisp, almost piercing on the nose, all without being hot.

Fresh off the press, and wet, copper pennies. Peach – hard but not underripe. Some nice wood effect that tricks you into thinking there’s a bit of peat in here.

Glenmorangie MilseanAfter a few minutes the nose really softens to ripe peach, banana and strawberry taffy, candied orange peels and a Mai Tai on a beach in Honolulu.

After another few minutes I detect this wonderful sour sugared candies note (think Sour Patch Kids), vanilla and a hint of shaved coconut.

In the mouth — Boat loads of chewy and citrusy candies.

Glenmorangie MilseanAlso, fresh fruits such as honey dew melon, Santa Claus melon, and nectarine. Cover these in Wagamama chili oil and you’ve got something here!

Vanilla fondant, more chili oil, cooked butter with brown sugar over vanilla ice cream. Great mouthfeel here, folks. Just great.

Finish — Nice long finish with a handfuls of of melon Hi-Chews and sweet cream.

In sum — Surely not a whisky for all occasions but one to go for when you’re looking to celebrate and indulge yourself. It’s both dangerously easy to drink and gives you a lot in your glass to dissect. I’ve always been pro-Glenmorangie and this does not change my position, it only strengthens it.

Well done, Billy Lumsden!

Many thanks to DAMB for the sample!
Special thanks to IA for the joke!

Cold Winter, High West, Need To Bundle Up

High West’s Yippee Ki-Yay (motherf#cker), batch no. 1

 

Region – Distilled in Indiana, matured and extra matured in Utah – ABV – 46%

High West and her various sourced ryes were the first ryes I got into when I started getting serious about American spirits.

Back then, High West had some 16 & 21yo ryes which were all over store shelves and at pretty decent prices. A bit later on I discovered their Rendezvous Rye (which is a staple here at Chez Hatton), and then even further on I found a truly ballsy one: Double Rye!

David Perkins of High West is quite open about sourcing whiskey and blending it in house. In today’s day and age where stories of “grandpa’s famous recipe has been discovered” are built around sourced hooch, it’s good to know there are people like David Perkins who will not use smoke and mirrors. Rather, he ensures High West is transparent and focuses on the blending techniques and extra maturation processes to make his whiskeys stand out amongst the rest.

High West Yippee Ki-Yay Batch 1Today we’ve got a distillery only bottling called “Yippee Ki-Yay” in glass.  The details (taken from highwest.com) are as follows:

• TTB designation: A Blend of Straight Whiskies 
• Proof: Bottled at 46 %ABV
• Ratio of component whiskeys: top secret!
• Not chill filtered
•Marriage of two straight rye whiskies
•The 2-year-old
•95% rye
•5% barley malt mashbill (LDI now MGP) 
•The older rye has a “barely legal” rye mashbill of:
•53% rye
•37% corn (Barton Distillery)
•Barrel type: Oak barrel that previously held Vermouth Barrel (Vya, Madera, CA), Oak barrel that previously held Qupé Syrah (Qupé Santa maria, CA)

The extra maturation in Vermouth and Qupé Syrah casks is unique and sounds amazing to me.

Color — Somewhere between Rainwater Madeira and a 10+ yr Madeira

On the nose — The backbone is pure LDI/MGP Rye. Think pine cones and pickles.

High West Yippee Ki-Yay Batch 1Surrounding this are layers of cinnamon buns, strawberry sauce, melted butter on spelt bread toast, hints of dry vermouth and dill infused apple cider vinegar (if there were such a thing), dark chocolate, licorice all-sorts. Very herbaceous as well.

This is both very rye-like and very un-rye-like at the same time. A bit of a conundrum, if you will.

High West Yippee Ki-Yay Batch 1In the mouth — Massive spice and dark fruits such as prunes, blackberries, black maraschino cherries, and fresh red plums. Salted, chocolate covered caramels.

All this is sitting on a foundation of pickling spices (mustard seed, caraway, dill weed). The mouthfeel is lush and satisfying.

Finish — A long, vermouthy finish with hints of cracked black pepper.

In sum — This is like a port that used rye whiskey for fortification rather than brandy. This is the ultimate dessert dram. Not a rye for everyone as it’s a departure from the category, but if you have an open mind, you will LOVE this.

I know I did. It’s gorgeous stuff.

Amrut, Let's celebrate!

Amrut single cask bottled for WhiskyBase, first fill bourbon, cask # 3434

 

Amrut WhiskyBase ShopRegion – Bangalore, India – ABV – 62.8%

True story:

A handful of months back my company bottled a 5yo single cask of Amrut under our Single Cask Nation label (as of 4th Jan, 2016, we still have a handful bottles left, btw).

Around this time, a single cask of Amrut was bottled for the WhiskyBase shop out of the Netherlands.

Back in November 2015, Serge Valentin over at the wonderful whiskyfun.com reviewed 6 different Amruts. Both our bottling and the WhiskyBase bottling were amongst the reviews and we both captured the highest rating of 89 points!

As far as Serge’s reviews go, 89 points is pretty damn high. Not too often does Serge give a 90+ rating. We were chuffed and obviously the WhiskyBase chaps were, too.

If you’re new to whiskyfun.com, where have you been?! Go there now. Read, learn, have fun!

Anywho, just after Serge’s review, we and WhiskyBase chatted over the interwebs and agreed upon a bottle trade.

The end.

Review time — I hope they enjoyed the Single Cask Nation Amrut as much as I enjoyed theirs:

Amrut WhiskyBase ShopOn the nose — Loads of caramel and toffee. Quite nutty, too.  Caramel covered almonds. Yum!  Moscato soaked apricots.

This is quite heavy (and dark, too. Much darker than you would think for a 5yo ex-bourbon cask).  Boatloads of vanilla, Kahlua, and dulce de leche. Holy heck, this smells wonderful.

Water brings out some brighter elements such as pear and quince.

In the mouth — Much hotter in the mouth than it is on the nose. This needs a touch of water.

Just five drops of water tames this whisky.  Cheap Oolong tea (but in a great, familiar, and comforting way), big spice on the sides of the tongue. Great oily mouthfeel.

Amrut WhiskyBase ShopHints of chicory and cornus kousa fruit (I have a cornus kousa dogwood in my front yard).  More vanilla and a fair amount of roasted almond pieces.

Finish — An interesting turn of events with notes of mandarins and golden raisin. Long and spicy, too.

In sum — This is up there with some of my favorite Amruts. This one seems to be an atypical example of Amrut but it’s damn good. I will be nursing this bottle for years to come.

Bruichladdich, It's not too bad. Nothing to cry home about though., Octomore

Rest and Be Thankful Whisky Co.’s single Sauternes cask Octomore, Cask # 16746

 

Region – Islay – ABV – 63.8% – now sold out but was $228.

A bit of a rarity here – an independently bottled single cask of Octomore which was bottled at 6 years of age at the nice ABV of 63.8%.

Being that Comus 4.2 (Bruichladdich’s 5yo Sauternes cask matured Octomore) was easily my favorite Octomore (still to this date), when I saw this bottling released, I had to have one.

The difficult part for me was in purchasing a bottling from an independent bottler I was not familiar with.  The packaging seemed nice enough and, hey, single cask Octomore? I had to give them a go, right?!

What was the result you may ask?:

On the nose — A fair amount of peat on this one (it is peated to 167 ppm). Not too overwhelming though.  Some bicycle inner-tubes come across at first but this is backed crushed almonds as well as raw filberts.

Rest and Be Thankful Octomore SauternesPear drops, too. Proper English scones. Sun dried water balloons. With water I detect some hot cinnamon, too.

In the mouth — Without water it’s incredibly hot and tight with obvious pear and more sun dried water balloon notes.

Water is needed with this one.

Rest and Be Thankful Octomore Sauternes

With water it’s got a great and oily mouthfeel. Quite sweety and peaty with more focus on the peaty. It’s quite phenolic. Think burning o-rings (viton as well as silicon), and new nitrile gloves.

Some tropical fruits here, too. Think passion fruit and persimmon, and a touch of papaya and even a little guava.

Finish — Long and peaty with hints of marzipan, lemons and even a little slivovitz.

In sum — Not sure if it could have used less or more time in the cask.  I never do score but if I were to compare this to Octomore Comus, and Comus were a 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10), this would be a 7. Defo one for colder weather and one to share with friends.