Tag Archives: Honey

Brittany region of France – 46% ABV – £62.50

Kornog whisky is French distillery Glann ar Mor’s peated offering. Glann ar Mor produces whisky much the same way the Scots do with copper pot stills and malted barley, water and yeast. They matured their whisky in either Ex-Bourbon barrels of Ex-Sauternes barriques (both first fill).

Sadly you can not find this whisky in America just yet.

I wish I had more time to discuss this distillery but I am currently short on time today so I need to go right to the tasting notes (please forgive my out-of-time-ness and laziness!!):

On the nose – Quite and odd and interesting start to this whisky. The peat components start off reminding me of Connemara-style peat (somewhat “artificial” in character with hints of soy sauce).

Coming back to this and the peat softens and becomes more wood-like: tree bark deep in the woods on a spring day with just a dash of cinnamon.

French onion soup – am I’m not saying this because this is a French whisky – the beef broth and onion notes are somewhat pronounced. Over cooked date compote.

6 months ago when I bought the bottle I didn’t dig this. Right now, I am enjoying it *greatly*. Let’s see how the flavors go.

On the mouth – Much sweeter than the nose led on. Barley syrup, malted barley and some buckwheat honey.

Somewhat thin mouthfeel but the flavors are there.

Carob beans and fresh spring earth. This is peaty but not smoky at all.

Oh! Little Debbie Nutty Bars! All of these flavors hit you somewhat quickly then the drying quality kicks in.

Finish – Quite dry with cinnamon and medium length.

In sum – A curious whisky that is worth your time and consideration. I have about ¾ of a bottle left to try and will continue to evaluate it. The good thing is that it is enjoyable and urges to you drink a bit more deeply. I’m a sucker for Sauternes cask maturation, hence my purchase of this whisky. I will explore the brand further to see what their whisky is like in ex-bourbon and, cask strength. Keep your eye on this distillery. I think they are starting to tell a very interesting story…

Glenmorangie, Summertime

Glenmorangie’s Ealanta – a 19yo Scotch whisky matured in heavily charred Missouri oak

February 13, 2013 Jewmalt

Highlands region – 46% ABV – $109 – $129

Most of my whisky friends know all too well that I am a Glenmorangie junky. Some might suggest I have a bias toward their whiskies.

Replace “Halfling’s leaf” with Glenmorangie’s whiskies in the following audio clip and you’ll see what I’m getting at:

While I’ll admit that Glenmorangie whiskies are among my favorite (though I’ll bol, I would submit that I have no issue announcing when I do not like a whisky they release.

The Ealanta is the fourth is their Private Edition range as well as the oldest in the series (it’s also the priciest one on the series).

Glenmorangie has access to some of the most premium slow-growth oak trees in Missouri and they usually cut the wood, season it for two years, make up casks, send them to Jack Daniels and Heaven Hill so they could make their whiskey THEN those distilleries send the casks to Glenmorangie so they could mature their whisky.

What’s different here is that Glenmorangie sent themselves the new wood and did the full 19 year maturation of their malt whisky (after having charred the casks heavily).

Something tells me that this might be one for the folks who also enjoy good, high end bourbons. Let’s find out..

On the nose – New charred oak goodness!

Actually, what strikes me the most is that there is a zingy zestiness in here that is very rye-like.

Perhaps a little dill, rye seed and fresh cut grass.

That classic Glenmorangie ripe peach note is still present (you can’t beat great spirit). Pencil erasers.

Toasted tangerine skins (sort of like a tangerine black pu’er tea I have).

On the mouth – Insanely silky mouthfeel and, flavor wise is much like that tangerine black pu’er tea I noted above.

Vanilla (slight) and honey (heavy).

Sweetness is to this whisky as a wall of death is to a late 80’s/early 90’s mosh pit. Powerfully sweet, verging on cloying (but not quite there, thankfully).

A touch of salt and black pepper as I chew this one a little more. And now we have some extra dark chocolate as we reach the finish.

Finish – Drying, long and darkly sweet with a mix of tangerine and more dark chocolate.

In sum – While this has obvious characteristics of a whisky from new oak, it also has some other element in here that I just can’t explain. The label says heavily charred oak but the color seems light — maybe there’s a mixture of lightly toasted and heavily charred oak?

Either way, it’s another Glenmo that pushes the envelope again with its focus on different types of cask maturation. Well done.

This is a mid-summer dram for me.

Special thanks to Mr. David Blackmore for the sample!

You may also enjoy the following reviews on this whisky:

Guid Scotch Drink

Malt Impostor

Whisky For Everyone

Cold Winter, Let's celebrate!, Mackinlay's

How I almost ended up in jail or, my review of the second release of Whyte and Mackay’s “Mackinlay’s” replica whisky from the Shacklton Expedition

February 11, 2013 Jewmalt

A mixture of Speyside & Highland region whiskies – 47.3%ABV – $175

The video below was recovered at the end of last week, one month after my trip to Antarctica.

Found by the Antarctican police (also known as Intersouthpol) and then released by the Antarcticaian natives, the video is here for your viewing pleasure.

This video is my review of the second release of Shackleton whisky or, Whyte and Mackay’s Mackinlay’s replica whisky:

If you’re interested in my written review, I was able to save enough of the liquid to write down my notes.

They are as follows:

On the nose — Flinty, coastal and smelling of goarse flowers (?) and then more earthy wild flowers. Biscuity and touches of lemon water, cold sweet cream butter.

Maltiness that verges on a Belgian beer (*verges*, it’s not quite there).

Very briny and notes of crushed pineapples abound!

On the mouth — Massive smoke, lemons bars, fig newtons minus the fig.

Still malty and with a great mouth feel.

Oddly sweety and peaty (the sweetness, like the first release) reminds me of Pop Rocks (maybe it’s the zippy feel on the sides of my tongue).

This is a great winter-warmer-upper! Briny still and the oily mouth feel makes my mouth happy.

Finish — Lasting, zesty.

In Sum — A fine, fine whisky. I’ve said this before but, if Richard Paterson got it right in his replication (and if anyone could, it’d be him), then the original Mackinlay’s whisky was a cracker!

Grab a bottle. It’ll warm you up!

A World of Discovery, Speyside Distillery

Old Malt Cask 20yo Speyside

January 10, 2013 Jewmalt

Speyside region – 50% ABV – from a single Oloroso Sherry Butt, 150 bottles for the US. Not sure who got the rest of the bottles from this butt… Maybe a UK/EU Bottling at 700ml?

This whisky reminds me of the theme song to Spielberg’s old cartoon (that I LOVED as a kid/teenager), Tiny Toons.

Here we have single cask of whisky matured in an Oloroso Sherry butt. What would we usually expect from sherry wood?: Notes of dried fruits, leather, chocolate, brown spices, cherry stones, cola syrup, etc… Deep and dark, sometimes cloyingly sweet flavors.

But this cask is breaking all of the rules!

~~“So here’s Acme Acres,~~
It’s a whole wide world apart,
~~Our home sweet home,~~
It stands alone,
~~A cartoon work of art!~~
~~The scripts were rejected,~~
Expect the unexpected
~~On tiny toon~~ adventures
It’s about to start!”

On the nose – A wonderfully peppery nose that has hints of coastal grasses, medicinal throat lozenges, model glue and diaper cream.

A hint of peat perhaps – not smoky at all but an interesting waft of peat and vegetality.

Onion crisps (Funyuns™) malt grist and vinegar. A touch of honey and citrus comes to the fore.

Not an every day sort of nose for me but I am really digging the components. Well put together so far and above all, interesting. Let us carry on, wayward son!

On the mouth – Much more restrained and fruity than expected.

That coastal element comes out again (again with the grasses and now salty beach stones) and reminds me a bit of what I love about the Laddie Ten.

Loads of white pepper and a gooseberry sourness to boot. More onion crisps and a hint of adobo spice.

Very malty, this one. Like a malt beverage cut with 2% white cranberry juice.

Mouth feel is like flat soda.

Finish – The flavors dissipate pretty quickly but some zing remains on the tongue.

In sum – A very interesting whisky that would likely do well in a tasting of many different whiskies. Not my favorite Speyside bottling but the nose get extra points for uniqueness.

It’s whiskies like this that get me excited when looking to explore deeper within a distillery to see what it can offer. This helps to show why single casks are so unique and sometimes quite special. Or, in this case, odd and a ton of fun.

Special thanks to the folks at ISW for the official sample!

All You Need Is Love, An everyday dram, Cragganmore, Takin' It Easy

21yo Old Malt Cask Cragganmore bottle for the Loch and K(e)y Society. A Juio’s exculsive.

December 19, 2012 Jewmalt

The bottle shown is not the actual bottle but, close enough. Click the picture to be brought to Julio’s site. Contact them for more info.

Speyside region – 52.2% ABV – $99 (for now) and sold exclusively through Julio’s in Westboro, MA.

Here we are again; reviewing a store exclusive single cask of whisky.

If you live in the Northeast of the US, chances are you’ve heard of or frequent Julio’s in Westboro, MA.

Store owner and Keeper of the Quaich, Ryan Maloney, is known for having perhaps the most whisky-centric stores in our neck of the woods. He also has his own whisky society called the Loch and K(e)y Society and bottles whisk(e)y for them on a very regular basis. Loch and K(e)y are the first and only group to ever have a cask of Balvenie bottled exclusively for them. (I had a taste once and it was a yummy, yummy thing).

I visited Julio’s a couple of weeks ago to pick up a bottle of George T Stagg and Ryan was nice enough to give me a taste of today’s whisky. This is a cask of Cragganmore that he personally chose to bottle.

I fell in love with it almost immediately and when he told me it was only $99, I had to get a bottle. Hey, it was my birthday. How could I not buy myself a bottle?

So today, I’m reviewing one of my birthday whiskies (happy birthday, again, to me):

On the nose – A charming start with whiffs of *faint* smoke and lavender.

CRAGGANMORE-21-OLD-MALT-CASK-JULIOS-2 Quite clean and bright with lightly spiced Bartlett pears. Applewood and unscented candle wax.

Heavenly, and decidedly malty.

I have to say, this nose is really, really good. Again, clean and fruity and very, very confident.

On the mouth – Loads of malted barley and very chewy.

Lively and oily, honied and spiced.

Still quite fruity with touches of light citrus.

CRAGGANMORE-21-OLD-MALT-CASK-JULIOS-4 Hints of salt but not brine and now some hints of Limon.

Getting back to what I said before, this is a very confident whisky. Drying and slightly smokey toward the finish.

Finish – A spritz of citrus, a dash of spice and some malt. It goes on for a good bit here.

In sum – The more I think about this one the more I agree with the thought in my head that this is not the most complex whisky in the world. (My apologies for the horrible, run-on-like, structure of the preceding sentence.)

However, it’s not simple at all. It’s easily understood and hides very little from you.

This is in my top ten list as one of the finer whiskies I’ve had this year from a rock-solid-satisfying-whisky standpoint. If there were ever a self-actualized whisky, it would be this one.

Jewmalt Whisky Reviews

Tag Archives: Honey

Kornog Peated French Whisky bottled at 46%ABV – “Taouarc’h Pevared” Sauternes Cask

Glenmorangie’s Ealanta – a 19yo Scotch whisky matured in heavily charred Missouri oak

How I almost ended up in jail or, my review of the second release of Whyte and Mackay’s “Mackinlay’s” replica whisky from the Shacklton Expedition

Old Malt Cask 20yo Speyside

21yo Old Malt Cask Cragganmore bottle for the Loch and K(e)y Society. A Juio’s exculsive.

I drink booze, and sometimes I talk about it.