Tag Archives: Lemongrass

A.D. Rattray, Auchroisk, Auchroisk, Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar dram # 18 – A.D. Rattray’s Auchroisk 1993, 22yo, Cask # 2789

 

Region – Speyside – ABV – 52.6%

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015Known for its spicy character, Auchroisk is a natural for blends that require a little bit of a spicy or peppery zing to them. The distillery name “Auchroisk” is also known for having a plethora of mispronunciations. As I am told, the true pronunciation is “Oth-rusk.”

There you go! You’ve just learned something new. You’re welcome.

I tend to put Auchroisk, Tormore and Dailuaine in the “these are the spicy malts” category.  And hey, it’s Friday, right? Shouldn’t we have a little spice in our lives on a Friday?

Also, words, words, words, blah, blah, blah… You’re likely in line for the new Star Wars film so I could start writing whatever the heck I want to right now. Maybe even toss in some swear words and dick jokes if the feeling so hits me. No one will care because… oh, wait, you can read this on Dec 19th and thereafter, huh? Ok, ok, on to the review… (darn it):

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015On the nose — It takes a little bit but… Delicately floral, and only hints of chiles. What follows this are notes of lemongrass, kefir leaves, coconut soup!

Melon and citrus infused simple syrup.  Top this off with some hints of crushed almonds.

In the mouth — Here’s where the spice kicks in. Bright and gripping with added softer tones of chamomile, vanilla, honeysuckle, and pipe tobacco.

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015Meyer lemon zest with a wonderful almond paste note. This is such a great combination of fresh, spicy, inviting and yet soft.

Finish — Not long enough!!

In sum — Just a wonderfully delicious single cask of whisky. If you’ve ever thought of taking a chance on a bottle of Auchroisk, this’d be a GREAT entrée!

Glenugie, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

Old Malt Cask – Glenugie 1982 – 26 years old

Highland Region – Sadly, I do not know the specific cask number on this one.  However, I can tell you that this is a from a refill ex-bourbon cask – 50%ABV – £175 for cask # 4703 from The Whisky Exchange.  Update — as of 2 hours after posting this review, this bottling (cask #4703 for £175) is now sold out from The Whisky Exchange!  Joyal’s in Rhode Island has some (cask not specified) for $154 – scroll toward the bottom of the page for the listing.

GlenWHOgie?  Glenugie, that’s WHO!

Glenugie is one of those lesser known distilleries.  It was closed in 1983 (like so many other distilleries) so finding Glenugie whisky is… hard.  Here’s a quick histories lesson on Glenugie from my friends at Master of Malt:

“The site of the Glenugie distillery is just south of Peterhead, not far from the River Ugie’s convergence with the sea at Scotland’s East Coast. The distillery was built in 1831 by Donald McLeod and Co on the site of a disused windmill. In 1837, a brewery was established at the site and in 1875 the distillery passed through the hands of Highland Distillers Co Ltd who renovated it and subsequently shut down the brewery. Glenugie opened and closed several times, remaining shut for the majority of the First World War. Glenugie was acquired and reopened by Seagar Evans and Co Ltd in 1937, prior to this time it had had a long stint of silence. In 1956, Schenley Industries acquired Seagar Evans and Co and the distillery went through renovations, including the installation of a further two stills and coal power was replaced by an oil burner. In 1971, Seagar Evans was renamed Long John International and four years later the company was sold to Whitbread and Co. The Scotch whisky industry was going through a relative downturn and Glenugie was, sadly, one of many injured parties, closing, as it did, in 1983. Today the site is used by Score Group Plc and engineering company. Official bottlings are, naturally, lacking, but there have been some independent releases of Glenugie single malt whisky.”

There.  Now you are smarter than you were a minute ago.  You can thank me later (you should thank Master of Malt too).

Onto the tasting…

On the nose –  Sweet ribbon candies, flinty and a touch of salt.

Garlic and spiced kumquat.

Say what?  Yup, that’s a crazy mix-em-up but, it works nicely!

Grassy notes with a side of peaches in soaked pinot grigio.

After smelling those wine/peach notes, it’s all I can concentrate on.

On the mouth – White wine all the way.

Think slightly effervescent riesling.

Fresh lemongrass and white grape juice.

A slight breadiness to it.

Mostly though, like a high octane fruity sweet white wine.

Finish – Like a mouth full of Pop Rocks – my mouth is fizzing and popping.  I better not drink any Coke here (another reason not to mix whisky with soda!!!)

In sum – Refreshing.  Pleasing.  Summery.  It’s that simple (if you’ve got a spare £175 lying around).

Special thanks goes out to Aron Silverman for the sample!

All You Need Is Love, An everyday dram, Springtime, Suntory - Hakushu

Suntory Hakushu 12yo – G-d Bless you!

Japan – 43%ABV – £46 | €54

“Hakushu!”

“G-d bless” said a kind yet unknowing man.  We’ll call him… “Kevin”.  He thought I sneezed when I said Hakushu.  No, that was not a sneeze.  It was me yelling out the name of a Suntory whisky that, with hope, will be available in America this year.

“Kevin” is your typical American who, when it comes to whisk(e)y only thinks of Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels, Dewars or Southern Comfort… he has never heard of Japanese whisky.  In fact, if you told him that the Japanese produced whisky, he’d most likely remark, “Japanese whisky?!  I never knew the Japanese made Scotch!!”

Just the facts ma’am —

Only the Scots make Scotch.  Simple fact.  Scotch is a whisky.  Bourbon is a whiskey.  Rye whiskey is, you guessed is a whiskey.  And Japanese whisky is… whisky!  Silly do-do American (sorry to all of my compatriots!)!!

What’s my point here?  Oh yeah, I love Japanese whisky and I find it really frustrating that there is so little of it readily available in the US.  The good news, as I mentioned above, is that Suntory will be bringing Hakushu to the states very soon.  Currently we can enjoy Hibiki (a blended Japanese whisky; the 21yo made my Best Whisky tasted in 2010 award) and Yamazki which is a single malt.  Both are Suntory whiskies.

Hopefully, sometime soon, we’ll get Nikka whisky here in the US.  Until then Suntory’s got our backs.

A special thanks goes out to Yoshi M for the generous sample!

On the nose — Initial reaction: fruity, spicy, grapey, floral, malty and a touch of smoke.

Let’s break it out a bit though… I think we have a case of which came first, the chicken or the omelet.

Many aspects fighting to the fore such as mango and green apple (predominantly).

The floweriness is lovely here too (a bit of jasmine).

This is honeyed as well with a bit of vanilla.

Spiced gum drops.

Lemongrass and black raisins.

Nice and malty.

On the mouth — Much like the nose except there’s a smoked & spiced nuttiness here.

Very malty, gobs of malt – smoked malt (I must stress – this is not an overly smokey whisky).

Fruits abound (they’re all up in this shit)!

Think crabapples and green apple pie.

Smokey still though not overbearing… it’s balancing out the sweet and spice, right nice.

Finish — The finish is all on jasmine tea and spice.

In sum — A wonderfully balanced whisky that can and will hold it’s own against many Scotch whiskies.  This is perfect as an aperitif or as a mid-day dram.  I’m looking forward to this being available in the US.  It’s a keeper, an everyday dram for sure.

All You Need Is Love, Arran, Summertime

The Arran Malt 14yr

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

I’m going to skip the preamble today.  As I type this, it’s Thanksgiving weekend and there’s a lot of family schtuff going on so I’m tired and my time is a bit short.

Anyway, the Arran 14yr is much more exciting than anything I have to tell you.

Here we go y’all:

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.

Cereal notes.

Apple peels.  Dried apples.

Turkish delights minus the nuts.

Rose water.

A nice saltiness here.

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

In sum — Reminds me of a young Balblair with a set of balls (especially on the nose).  This is a very summery dram.  Bright and refreshing.

Autumn, Cold Winter, Kilchoman, Takin' It Easy

Kilchoman 3yr 2009 Autumn Release

Islay region – 46%ABV – 700ml bottle – £45 | €52 (currently not available through US stores)

Kilchoman (which sounds more like a yiddish word than the name of a Scotch whisky…) is a newer distillery on the little island of Islay – it opened in 2005 (the first to open up on Islay in more than 120 years).  While I can go on-and-on about the distillery, other people have already done that and have done a much better job than I could ever do.  Rather, I will focus on the whisky itself – it’s aromas, taste, memories it brought to the forefront of my mind and what the best time/season/mood to drink it in will be.

A big thank you to G.G. for the sample!

On the nose — Bright and clean peat with strong notes of limes and ocean spray, bicycle tires, woody – like church pews.

You may be asking yourself how I, a shul-going Jew, would know what a church pew smells like.  There’s a great story that goes with that.  This is not something I am very proud of but hey, it’s a great story!

Back when I was 13, me and my buddies Rob and “Froggy” (ah, “Froggy”, you could have played “Froggy” in a broadway revival of The Little Rascals, your voice was that raspy) thought it would be good fun to start pulling fire alarms around our town causing our fire department to send out 2-3 fire trucks (toward different locations) for no good reason.  I would say that in the course of 4 months we pulled a total of 35 alarms.  We were assholes.

One day, a day I decided not to assist those guys in alarm pulling, a knock came to my door.  Mr. & Mr. Police Officer came to my door to “bring me in” (as they say “in the parlance of our times”).  Rob and Froggy were caught and ratted on me.  We were charged with “X” amount of counts; “X” for touching the alarms and “X” for pulling the alarms.  Our punishment?

Among many other things (and not including that ass-whooping I got from my parents), 40 hours of community service which included weekly cleaning of the pews at the local Catholic Church – St. Francis.  At age 15 those “counts” were struck from my record and I’ve not gotten in trouble since.

So yes, I know all too well what Church pews smell like. Back to the nosing…

I like this nose, a lot.

Oh, now I’m getting a scent here that reminds me of a swimming hole I used to frequent with my old buddy Al – so, what is it? Very clean & super-cold water (with a bit of fresh-water vegetal growth – how nice) .  This is when I was learning how to be an upright teenager – this nose is bringing back memories.  I miss Al.

On the mouth — Quite viscous, children’s teething biscuits, canola oil, tannic notes, oily still but drying, some meaty/gamey notes (think lamb chops), figs – where’s that cleanliness I got from the nose?  Some slight lemons pop up.

Finish — Long, honey taffy, peat bite (not warmth).

In sum — I think the age of this whisky is fairly apropos of the memories it’s pinging in my head – Youth and Young Manhood.  There’s some nice complexity here but the balance is a touch off.  I can see this Islay whisky evolving into an extraordinary dram.  I can wait for the 10yr expression!