Tag Archives: Apples

An everyday dram, Glenrothes, Takin' It Easy

Glenrothes 1998 vintage

Speyside region – 43%ABV – $50

Whisky hand grenades.  More often than not, if The Glenrothes is brought up in a whisky conversation (whisky comes up in conversation a few times per day, every single day of my life.  I love it!), the shape of the bottle comes up.  Thankfully, for the sake of the whisky, the topic does then change over to the actual whisky itself.

In many conversations, however, the topic switches once again from how the whisky tastes to how the whisky is bottled (this topic is not exclusive to The Glenrothes in anyway).  More to the point, the lower ABV of 43% and the fact that the whisky is chill-filtered.  Many whisky geeks I talk to are at a point where they will simply stay away from a whisky unless it’s bottled at, at least, 46% ABV (when bottled at 46% ABV, chill-filtering is not “required”).  Put another way, bottled at 46%, the whisky will not cloud up if an ice cube is dropped in or if cold water is added to the whisky.

The good folks at Whisky For Everyone (who, by the way, are also members of the Whisky Round Table) have a great article on chill filtration.  It’s short and a must read (if you ask me).

So, being bottled at 43% ABV and being chill-filtered, what do we get?

On the nose –  Hey, I like this!  Very rich and thick nose and even a bit nutty.

Hints of Amontillado sherry and all of the fun things that come with it – dried fruits, lemon and honey all encapsulated in a buttery flakey crust.

Baked apples and some of what I consider to be classically Glenrothes, damp wood.

On the mouth – Both watery and thick/rich at the same time (I know that doesn’t make too much sense but there is a mix of feels).

The front and sides of my mouth seem to not be affected by the fluid but the top and back of my tongue tingle with cherry, pineapple and a touch of citrus.

More apples, chalk and wood dust.

Complex?  Not very.  Tasty?  Yes.  Easy drinking?  Scarily so…

Finish –  Over all drying and laced with vanilla.

In sum – A solid whisky that I’d be happy to pour on (m)any occasion(s).  Round and rich, sweet yet dry.  It’s not mind-blowing but it’s well balanced and seemingly bottled at a nice ABV (43%).  I’d love to taste this at a higher ABV but not sure we need to mess with this one.  I wonder, however, if a non-chill filtered version of this (a version that retained all of the fatty acids and esters) might have made for a more complex whisky… the world may never know.

Special thanks goes out to Danielle K for the sample!

Arran, Balvenie, Let's celebrate!, Rittenhouse

L’shanah Tovah! Happy new year! Some whisky suggestions for you…

Tonight starts the Jewish New Year – the holiday, as most of you know, is called Rosh Hashanah (which translated from Hebrew means: “Head of the year” or the “Start of the year”).

There are some traditional foods people eat during the new year:

  • Apples
  • Honey (dipping the apples in honey then eating the, is done as a symbolic way of welcoming the new year & hoping that it is a “sweet” one)
  • A round shaped Challah bread (round to symbolize the circle of life)

What I’d like to suggest is a whisky accompaniment or alternative to these foods.

Why an accompaniment?  Well, you might like to pair whisky with what you’re eating.  Why an alternative?  Maybe you’re not Jewish or maybe you are Jewish but don’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah or you’re not a traditionalist.  Or perhaps I’m just doing this for fun.  Either way, I think there are some good whisky equivilents to the three traditional foods so I wanted to share them with you:

To accompany or replace Apples:

Arran 14yo – Islands region – 46%ABV – $70 | £38 | €45

On the nose – Big, big apples!  Wow!

Lemongrass.

Malty goodness.

Getting fruitier, this time a bit more tropical…mango and star fruit.

Caramel syrup.

A big fat fruity & juicy nose that makes me very happy!

On the mouth – Fizzy-fizzy goodness (however I was hoping for a slightly chewier mouthfeel).

More floral in taste as compared to the nose.

Interesting…  Malt, top notch belgian beer (Duvel, my favorite).

Youthful notes – I’d love to taste what the new make spirit is like, my guess is that it’s strong personality is showing through to the final product.

Turkish delights minus the nuts.

Rose water.

A nice saltiness here.

Cereal notes.

Apple peels.  Dried apples.

Finish — Lasting, still fizzy.  A briny & fruity finish.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To accompany or replace Honey:

Balvenie 15yo Single Cask – Speyside – 47.8%ABV – 750ml – $55-65 | £47 | €55

On the nose – The higher ABV for this one is dead on.  Most whiskies from the Balvenie are released at 43%ABV (in the US — 40%ABV elsewhere).

Big bright fruits peaches (in white wine) & cantaloupe.

Marzipan – sharp almond notes.

Thai yellow curry & lightly buttered couscous (even getting some lime leaf here).

And floating on top of it all, those classic Balvenie honeyed notes.

On the mouth – Pure honey and citrus.

Great mouth feel – thick and sweet but not overly so.

The sweetness is pushed aside and now there a nice tapioca pudding quality to this.

Hints of water cured ginger.

A slight brininess to this.

Finish – There’s a fizziness throughout my entire mouth and lingering citrus and honey notes.

A delicious nuttiness returns (reminiscent of the marzipan note from before though, less sharp).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To accompany or replace Challah:

Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey – 50%ABV – 750ml bottle – $20 | £25 | €30

On the nose – Initial few whiffs are very deceiving offering up softer notes of buttered crumpets and dark chocolate.

After nosing is for a bit longer, however, the bite starts to kick in and great vanilla and blueberry notes (yay rye whiskey!) pop as do gingerbread cookies and cinnamon sticks.

A great nose though very stinging (I like that – it lets me know I’m still alive and kicking).

If the ABV weren’t so high I could continue to nose the shit out of this one.

On the mouth – The entry here is soft (yes, even at 50% ABV) and the fluid feels, not tastes, feels like thick Kool-aid drink – take a Kool-Aid packet and add about 10% less water and that’s the feel you get.

Starts off like over-cooked butter then gets earthy.  Fresh soil and crystalized ginger – Oh, this is getting stronger, and stronger – alcohol infused flan – Oh, this is good.

Finish – Long and longer.  Strong and stronger.

True, this last one may not have the notes of Challah bread but there are those bready notes which are just fantastic and the finish, with it being long & strong, represents my wish for you:

May you all “Live Long and Prosper”

(Leonard Nimoy is a Jew so I can get away with this).

Glenmorangie, Let's celebrate!

Glenmorangie 18yo – another whisky in the “let’s open this one, it’s time to celebrate!” column

Highlands region – 43% – $79 – $89 | £77 | €88

After tasting this whisky, for some reason or another (perhaps it’s because my brain works in movie clips) the scene below seemed to sum up my experience.  Invite me over for dinner and offer me some Glenmorangie 18yo and I might act just like Jack Black, Amy Poehler and their kids.

Perhaps you should read the review AND THEN watch the clip.  Enjoy:

On the nose –  Lychee nuts and syrup – pretty amazing how dead-on the lychee notes are!

Lemon citrus nose with an oaky backbone.

Grapes skins and maybe a little chocolate sauce.

This is such a nice juicy nose – ripe peach just oozes out of my glass.

Very inviting and, for me, perhaps one of the nicer noses Glenmorangie has to offer in the standard line.

On the mouth – Oak is more prominent in the taste as is some vanilla bean extract.

Banana skins and actual banana arrives and even a little honey and sugared white plums.

Some more citrus with a focus on the lemons (again) and a bit salty.

Some salted apples (salted apples sounds odd but the notes do hit me side by side) and now lovely butterscotch notes help in flavor and in creaminess.

Joshua is a happy boy right now.

Finish – Fairly long and fruity.  Actually, really long… about 2 minutes later and I’m still experiencing some oak and butterscotch.  Maybe even some of the lychee I got on the nose.

In sum – This really is one to celebrate with.  Very luxurious – you feel like you’re treating yourself to something with this here whisky.  Go ahead, have a baby; graduate college; get married then pour some Glenmorangie 18yo.

Special thanks to David Blackmore for the sample and Mazel Tov to you and your wife on the arrival of your first baby!!

A bit of a let down..., Springbank

A slightly older Springbank – 1972 (bottled in 1994)

Campbeltown Region – 46%ABV -$/£/ € A lot (good luck finding a bottle – this was bottled 17yrs ago)

Many years ago, the Campbeltown region of Scotland was the epicenter of Scotch whisky distilleries.  Today, there are only 3; Springbank, Glen Scotia and Kilkerran.

Springbank is an unusual distillery as it creates 3 different whiskies using three very different distilling practices.  The three whiskies that Springbank produces are: Springbank, Hazelburn and Longrow.

Hazelburn is an unpeated whisky that is distilled 3 times (like most Irish whiskies).  Longrow is a heavily peated whisky that is distilled twice.  And lastly, Springbank is a lightly/moderately peated whisky that has been distilled 2-1/2 times (the only distillery that uses this practice).

What, 2-1/2 times distilled?  What on G-d’s green earth does that mean?  How is that possible?  Jason over at Guid Scotch Drink gives a good explanation of this process.

Let’s move from the whisky lesson over to the whisky review…

On the nose –  Mint, perhaps unlit menthol cigarettes (with the addition of dried tobacco).

Sour sugar and a lovely mix of golden raisin and beeswax.

Delicious golden delicious apples both of the fresh and baked variety.

Lightly malted, salted and citrusy (the salty citrus combo reminds me a bit of a margarita sans the agave notes).

Fresh poured and paved road tar.

This is a confident nose.  Not aggressive in anyway just present in every way.

On the mouth – Very shy upfront (even a bit watery).

More mint and a touch of smoke with a thin/watery mouthfeel.

Some slight fizz on the center and sides of the tongue with some nondescript fruit notes… maybe some apricot.

A good bit of salt as we get closer to the end and a bit more [dried] fruit.

Finish – Dry on the finish and I would venture to say there’s a bit of sweet creamed corn in here (an odd note).

In sum – A nice older dram to get my nose on, that’s for sure.  Truth be told, while the nose was grand, I was let down by in the tasting of it.  I hoped/anticipated that the palate would have had the same confidence as the nose.  I guess I shouldn’t complain though.  I consider myself lucky to even have a chance to taste a whisky that was distilled before I was born (even if it was only by one year)!

Special thanks goes to Marshall N and the good folks at the LA Scotch Club for the sample!

Arran, Autumn, Cold Winter, Need To Bundle Up

1996 Arran Premier Sherry Single Cask exclusively for the US market

Islands Region – Single cask limited bottling, 165 bottles total (and interestingly low number of bottles from a single cask…), first-fill Oloroso Sherry, Cask # 1785 – 56%ABV – $125 (or so)

Apologies for letting a week or so pass by with out a post/review.  It’s that busy time of year where I’m out on the road; sales calls, trade shows, training seminars, etc…

OK, enough with the apologies, let’s get talking about whisky.  One thing I’d like to call to your attention on today’s post is the title of today’s post.  More specifically, the last five words in the title of today’s post: “…exclusively for the US market”.  While many brands out there seem to focus on special releases for Duty Free, the French market, etc…  Arran seems to be doing a bang up job sending the US some special release stuff.  Most notably, single cask releases.  True, the US did not get any of the “Icons of Arran” such as the Peacock, The Rowan Tree or The Westie.  And no, we did not see the beautiful “Sleeping Warrior“.

However, being that more and more single cask product (E.G. Single Ex-Bourbon, 8yo Sherry Cask bottling and today’s topic, the Premier Sherry Cask) is being sent our way, my guess/hope is that we’ll also start seeing more of the other “limited” releases sent our way – at least a small portion of the bottlings.  Fingers crossed!

A wise man once told me that the Arran spirit is perhaps too light and delicate to do well in a first fill sherry casks for an extended period of time.  This whisky is 15yo and was matured for that entire length of time in a first-fill Oloroso sherry butt.  Hmmm, let’s see how the spirit held up:

Color – Really dark – perhaps the darkest I’ve seen in an Arran whisky.  Dark yet translucent, deep brown fluid.  Like an Oloroso sherry.  The picture of the bottle shown above does not do the liquid justice in the color department.

On the nose –  Sticky cherry sauce followed by green apples – super fresh and very prominent.

Caramel and coriander notes are found here too.

Sherry soaked angel food cake (if there were such a thing).

Very hot and alcoholic nose.

Celery leaves then something slightly acrid (highly browned fruits perhaps) but yet… fitting and very pleasant in the context.

Water balloons (sans the water) – nice little rubbery notes.

On the mouth – Chocolates and chilis and loads (loads!) of stewed prunes and chocolate sauce.

Assorted dried fruits and even a little banana.

Sugared and sweet black plums.

More apples and way in the back, some saltiness and even some notes of plum pudding (and… tobacco??).

Ooey melted caramel.  Really quite scrumptious.

Finish –  Lasting warmth and just the right amount of drying.  Salty yet sweet.

In sum – There’s a reason Arran has been making headlines and headway within the community of whisky drinks but this is not it.

Actually, this takes Arran in another direction but it only helps to show that the Arran spirit can do well in sherry casks — it can hold its own as a heavily sherried whisky.

I’d suggest this whisky as an after dinner treat.  It’s an indulgence – grab the bottle and a glass, hide yourself away with a book, maybe a warm fire and a little plate of turkish delights and, enjoy some YOU time.

Top notch stuff.  Arran, I tip my hat to you.

Special thanks goes out to Andy H for the sample!