Tag Archives: Fruity

Lost Spirits, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

Lost Spirits Leviathan I, Cask #3

 

California – 53%ABV – $55 (solid pricing for single cask, cask strength whiskey!)

As I begin to write about this 3rd cask of Leviathan from Lost Spirits Distillery (Leviathan being a single malt whiskey from California peated with Canadian peat to 110ppm), I immediately began to wonder what to lead off with.

Sure, I could go right to the review but if I did, I’d be remiss in telling you that having looked at the awesome still at Lost Spirits, I was in some way reminded of Trogdor the Burninator.

Wait, come again?  You’ve not heard of Trogdor the Burninator?  I feel I must enlighten you:

(Yes.  I am still sort of 9 years old…)

My bit of fun off to the side now, seriously, check out the Lost Spirits still.  It’s a stunning work of art (that creates some fine juice).

Let’s review the whiskey!

Nose —  Pushing initial thoughts of Mezcal out of my head and I find this to be a very grain-forward whiskey.  All upfront we have horse feed, barley draff and peated mash all ready to be turned into wash/beer.

It’s also very barn-yardy (to be expected with younger, peated whiskies).

Let’s not forget the fruits, shall we?  Milk chocolate covered strawberries.  Perhaps a touch of marzipan and peach pit.

Quite easy to nose at 53% ABV!  Smokey, for sure, but there’s a charred wood quality here, too.

Palate — Big and juicy and fruity!  Tons of red berries, still getting some of those peach notes (the flesh right by the pit: tart yet over ripe).

Back to the barnyard-like notes.  In fact, and this note was pointed out to my by a good friend, there’s a touch of horse-hind.

Put your nose up to a horse and, bam!

Warming, comforting, almost a bit too fruity (if that’s possible).

Finish —  Fruity notes increase as does a building spice along the sides of the tongue.

In sum — Beyond the individual notes, taking the macro look and as previously reported, this is a very unique spirit!  While I thought the first one I had was a touch more balanced, this one was insanely enjoyable.  This to me is a summer dram.  Yes, it’s smokey & peaty, but the fruits and grain have their hands on the wheel with this one.  I’d love to have a dram of this while hanging out in a field of grains, reading a book.

Special thanks to BD for the official ample sample!

Autumn, Bruichladdich

Bruichladdich’s, now famous, Diamond Jubilee, Punk Islay, Sex Pistols, Valich, distillery only bottling. (That’s the end of the commas. Promise.)

 

Islay region – 50%ABV – 50ml bottle – Distillery only and sold out within a day or two.

Back in April of this year (or last year if you’re on the Hebrew calendar), you might remember that I started a little series called “Islay Distilleries Explained Through Rock and Roll Comparisons.”  The first in that series was my comparison of Bruichladdich to the Sex Pistols.  Basically dubbing them “The Punk Islay.”

Well, it would seem that Bruichladdich really took to that comparison as they used the idea for their bottling for the Queen’s Jubilee.  A 20yo Bruichladdich, Cask 516/R02.

I am quite honored that they the took idea as far as they did.  Cheers ‘laddies!

G-d Save the Queen!

The funny thing about this bottling is that I had no idea it was happening.  My friend Stephen (of Malt Impostor fame) just happen to be on Islay at the time Bruichladdich released this bottling and he decided to pick me up a bottle as a gift.  Kissmet.  Thank you Stephen.

Stephen also picked himself up a bottle and was nice enough to share a sample with me.  Thank you again, good sir!

On the nose –  Bright and very rich red fruits mixed with bow rosin, old wood and what I’d swear is soy sauce.

Hints of pencil erasers and rum soaked golden raisins (verging on store-bought tiramisu).

Quite unique from the new “Laddie Ten” story.  It’s a 20yo whisky so its obviously from older stock but there’s also some cask trickery in here adding to both the complexity of the nose and the balance in the initial scent profile.

Can you guess that I’m digging the nose?

On the mouth – Presto-chango, wine cask influence here for sure.  You silly cask, you didn’t tell me anything about all of this on the nose!

Red licorice, tannic, dry red table wine.

I need to say that the mouthfeel is ooey and mouth-watering.  There, I said it.

Somewhat reminiscent of the Black Art II with the red fruits, wine influence, etc… no detection of new wood like I got in that one though…

Finish – Spicy red wine, tannic and burnt sugar (lasting burnt sugar).

In sum – The nose told me, for the most part, Ex-Bourbon and the initial flavor told me wine.  It’s like there’s two different whiskies here.  Two stories.

The cask number is “516/R02” and an educated guess would tell me the “R02” means that this 20yo, back in 2002, was re-racked into a wine cask (“R” for re-racking and “02” for 2002).  Sadly, the bottle doesn’t tell me much more than the cask number.

While I loved the nose and enjoyed the overall flavor profile, the two together seem off balance.  This said, I would never, NEVER say no to another dram of this juice.

Autumn, Cold Winter, Kilchoman, Let's celebrate!

A single sherry cask, cask strength 5yo Kilchoman bottled exclusively for Royal Mile Whiskies.

 

Islay region – 59.6%ABV – £70 (available only through Royal Mile Whiskies)

Total spoiler alert here, dear reader.  I fell head over heels for this whisky I’m about to share my notes on.

This is easily one of the best Kilchoman single casks I’ve tasted to date.  The only one I enjoyed more is one yet to be released (details on that to follow, no teasers though as the focus NEEDS to be on this lovely wolf among whiskies).

At only five years old, this sherried Kilchoman covers all the bases for the true lover of peaty whiskies: Peaty, sweet, balanced, powerful, invigorating, lovely.

I can’t stand it any longer, I need to share my notes:

On the nose — Very sweet and with a good deal of soft peat.

Don’t let the word “soft” scare you away, dear Peat Head.  It’s massively peaty but has a soft approach.  Better put, at 59.6% ABV, it noses like a much lower ABV peat monster.

The sweet Kilchoman character of the spirit shines through and mixes well with the sherry cask.  Not as medicinal as the Kilchoman Sherry Cask however that canvas sneaker element is here.

Burnt apricots and black pepper.

Star anise (subtle and well integrated with the peat smoke).

Chocolate covered espresso beans.  Yum!

On the mouth — Oily and peaty.  There is a great mix of sweet and medicinal happening here.  This is a peat monster and the sherry influence is lovely here.

Briny, raisiny, sea-influenced goodness.

Untamed and making me wish I bought a second bottle.

Molasses cookies, minus the cookie.

Black licorice goodness.

Finish — Medium length and slightly effervescent.

In sum —  A single cask of Kilchoman that shows just how good a fully sherried Kilchoman can be.  Yummy from beginning to end.  One for the cold winter for sure.  But, heck, the colder wether is coming…  This would be fine on a cool night by a bonfire.

A great, great single cask of whisky!

Autumn, BenRiach, Cold Winter

A single cask of BenRiach chosen by the fine chaps at caskstrength.net, bottled by BenRiach and sold exclusively through Master of Malt

Speyside region – 55.2%ABV –£55 | $87

Apologies for the mouthful-of-a-post-title!  Some fine details there though.

A sample of this whisky came to me out of the blue.  It was a nice little surprise that showed up on my door step and I have to thank the folks at Master of Malt for it.  So, thanks guys and gals!

A long time fan of BenRiach, I am honestly not a big fan of BenRiach from PX (Pedro Ximenez) casks.  (I like my BenRiach like I like my Torah, eye-opening, sweet and fulfilling.)

The truth of the matter , however, is that I find difficulty connecting with PX matured whiskies in general.  The PX casks can be so very dominating to the overall flavor profile that the spirit character is often lost (making the whiskies often very one-dimensional).  To be sure, there are exceptions to this broad generalization I just made.

Let’s see what the cask did to this 16yo BenRiach…

On the nose — What gets me from the go on this one is an unusual scent of pine needles.

Very fruity (dark fruits, dense scents) with some subtle peat (or so it seems).

Then a meatiness kicks in that is reminiscent of barbecutie beef ribs.

Fruit cocktail with bursts of cherry (skins and stones) ride the meatiness, just along the top.

Sugared malt.

On the mouth — Big ‘ol mouth feel.  Loads of berries!  Loads and loads of berries (heavy on Rainier cherries).

There’s something a bit dusty in here; old attics.

Zero meatiness on flavor (thankfully).

Very dense fruits and fresh tobacco/spicy unlit cigars.  Just a touch spicy.

Finish — Birch root/dark birch beer.  Long and spicy.

In sum —  All-in-all, pretty damned yummy!  The natural fruitiness of the BenRiach spirit shone through the thick PX influence.  No issues with uni-dimensionality.  If you like your whiskies big and powerful, you’ll find this one to be up your alley (and surprised by some of the fine fruits in it).

You might find Jason’s (of guidscotchdrink.com fame) review of this whisky interesting as well…