Tag Archives: Lemons

Kilchoman, Refreshed, Summertime

Islay distilleries explained thru Rock and Roll comparisons – Part 5 – Kilchoman & my review of the new Machir Bay (UK bottling)

 

Islay distilleries and their whiskies explained through Rock and Roll – Part V (of VIII)

We’ve made it over the hump.  There are eight active distilleries on Islay and so far I’ve lead us through four of them and what I deem their rock & roll likenesses to be:  Part one:Bruichladdich as The Sex Pistols, Part two: Ardbeg as Slayer, Part three: Caol Ila as The 80′s (They get their very own decade!) and Part four: Bowmore as David Bowie.

I thought reviewing Kilchoman might be the best way to kick off the 2nd half of this series.  At 6 years old, Kilchoman is Islay’s youngest distillery and they are kicking out some absolutely cracking whisky!  Age be damned, Kilchoman is all about quality.

Today we’ll review the new Machir Bay whisky (the UK bottling – we will see a bottling here in the US very shortly) which is a mixture of 3yo (60%), 4yo (35%)  & 5yo (5%) ex-bourbon barrel (Buffalo Trace to be exact) matured whiskies.  Before batting it all together, the 4yo whisky was further matured in oloroso sherry butts for an addition six weeks (to help round out some of the flavors, methinks — it’ll help add some nice color to the whisky as well).

Kilchoman Machir Bay – 46%ABV – $55 | £39

On the nose — It’s quite obvious that Kilchoman has a true style and character.  Initial whiff and yup, this is a Kilchoman.

And it’s lovely.

Quite sweet smelling under all of that peat — fruity and tart (tart apples in an apple tart).

The obvious brine and smoke are waving a flag saying “hello, hello!!  here we are!!”  Citrusy notes here as well.  Lemon, lime… limon?

This aside, I’m enjoying some buttered toast notes and even a salted pie crust like scent.

On the mouth — Thick, full, oily whisky.

Much like what I experienced on the nose however there is the slight addition of sherry influence here.  Think light milk chocolates and spice.

There’s a bit of pepper here and something that I just love: salted black licorice.

Nice and even keeled – No huge sign of being too young.

Finish — Very long and laced with more licorice and even a touch of grilled apples.

In sum — Impressed yet again with Kilchoman.  It’s obvious they know what they’re doing.  This whisky is peaty/smoky enough for the peat heads out there and complex enough for the whisky geeks and just perfect, if you ask me, for a summer’s day.

I find this Kilchoman to be bright and fresh and has a bit of a pick-me-up feel to it.  Highly recommended.

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Kilchoman – The Band!

Initially, I thought the easy comparison to make with Kilchoman (as sort of the new kid on Islay) would be to make a comparison to a rock band that was comprised of youth.

Bands that come to mind:

  • Hanson (mmmbop, no)
  • Old Skull (I forgot how terrible this band was)
  • Justin B… I’m not even going to go there

Well, that didn’t work out so I decided to think of bands I love that have had hit after hit after hit (like Kilchoman has enjoyed with their whiskies).

I was happy to finally think of a band that had both youth, great music and hit after hit after hit…

Kilchoman – congrats!  You are the Jackson Five!  A truly incredible band and truly delicious whiskies.

Special thanks goes to JJY for getting me a bottle of this fancy sauce!

A World of Discovery, Autumn, Bruichladdich, Let's celebrate!, Octomore, Springtime

Bruichladdich’s Octomore “Comus” – Ummm, wow.

Islay Region – 61%ABV – £95 | $150

Sad fact of life – there is a lot of ugliness in the world.

From Hitler’s Nazi Germany to 9/11 and Bin Laden to that girl I met online all of those years ago that had a hump on her back, bad breath and broccoli in her teeth, the world can be an ugly place.

However, there is a lot of beauty as well.

From a young boy helping an elderly woman across the road to the wonders of new life and happy parents to One Day at a Time’s Valerie Bertinelli (she’s the young one in the middle, if you’ve never seen the show):

Boy, did I have a crush on her back in the day!!

Yes, the world can be beautiful and have gorgeous things in it.  Today’s pageant winner is the new Octomore Comus 4.2.

Bottled at 61%ABV, this 5yo was matured in French Oak/Sauternes casks and apparently peated to 167ppm.  Sweet Yoheved, mother of Moshe!  That is a heavy peating level!

Let’s see what happens when you take *heavily* peated spirit and mature it in French Oak/Sauternes casks for five years:

On the nose –  The canister and bottle say so.  Bruichladdich’s website and marketing materials echo it.  Various webshops concur.  The barley for this here Octomore was peated to 167ppm prior to distilling.

Well, heck if I can smell 167ppm worth of peating here.

It’s no doubt a peaty/smoky beast but, my face did not catch fire when sniffing at this whisky…

There’s smoke in here for sure but I’m also taken by crushed almonds and buttered biscuits.

A very briny nose as well – salted porridge.

Hard red plum minus the tartness.

Wow, the toasted biscuits with slightly darker edges really captures my attention.

There’s a spiciness here that flirts with cigarette smoke and a touch of salted black licorice in the background…

On the mouth – Like drinking one of Marc Bolan’s powder blue velvet suits – the mouth is incredibly soft and silky.  Almost honey like.  I’m reminded a bit of the mouthfeel on Glenmorangie’s Pride (another Sauternes casked whisky).  Remarkable mouthfeel.

A good deal of smoke upfront however this relents to waves of golden raisin, coconut, chocolate…. hermit bars.

Pears and apple are here too but not the tell tale pear and apple from a young whisky – this seems cask driven as it’s not spirity, if you catch my meaning.

Slightly buttery (maybe it’s just a mouthfeel thing…)

A bit spicy, more nutty notes (walnuts this time) and cooked and candied lemons.

Finish – Shortish with fruity & smoky notes.  There is brine and spice that stays on the back of the tongue.

In sum – This Octomore offers up balance and beauty like none before it.  Yes, the other Octomores I’ve had are/were very nice and well constructed but the Comus is above and beyond… a cut above, the big cheese, the head honcho, numero uno (sorry, I let my inner love for Airplane come out there).

One would never know this is 61%ABV.  Wonderful at cask strength.  Celebrate with this.

If you have nothing to celebrate – make something up…  It could be national “That’s what she said” day for all I care.

This whisky is so worth your time.

Truthfully, one of the best whiskies I’ve had year to date.

Special thanks to PJ, DF & EC of Bruichladdich for their tremendous hard work to get me the sample!!

*Special-Special* thanks goes out to ParcelForce for getting me the package in record time!  The sample was sent from the UK on Friday afternoon and arrive at my house on Monday afternoon.  THAT’S service!!

Ardbeg, Autumn, Takin' It Easy

Islay distilleries explained thru Rock and Roll comparisons – Part 2 – Ardbeg & my review of Lord of the Isles

Last week I started my eight part series where I would try and explain Islay Distilleries and their whiskies, specifically to people that are new to whisky, by way of Rock and Roll.  In that post I compared Bruichladdich to the Sex Pistols – true punk rockers of the Scotch whisky world!

Most people seemed to agree (about 95% of all that gave feedback) with my analysis though I did get a suggestion that The Ramones were more fitting or perhaps The Clash.  Whether  the band choice was agreed upon or not, everyone seemed to agree that Punk Rock was the correct Genre.  Huzzah!

Now we move onto comparison number two.  As with my Bruichladdich post from last week, first the whisky review then the Rock Band comparison.

Ardbeg “Lord of the Isles” 25yo – 46%ABV – £650 (£542 ex. VAT)

On the nose –  Strong nose with a fair amount of smoke and soot (more so than I expected, what with this being 25 years old; I expected something a touch rounder or, shall I say, softer).

Lemon pledge.

A good deal of green apples (who came up with the name “Granny Smith”?) and spicy thai red curry sauce.

Burning notebook paper; the white lined, 5 subject type notebook.

Oak, smoke, char and cherry syrup.  Interestingly reminiscent of mizunara oak (notes I’d get from a Yamazaki, actually).

Strong, oversteeped tea (green & white).

This nose is all over the place and has an unorganized feel rather than one that gives you a sense of evolution.

On the mouth – Now the roundness kicks in!  Soft, creamy, viscous & soothing but smoke starts to kick in after a few seconds.

Marzipan and lemons.

Then more peat smoke – warming, growing and growing leading up to the finish…

Finish – Mint and menthol, salt and lemons.  Looooong and zesty and slightly numbing after a while.

In sum – This was a odd one, for sure!  The nose seemed to be all over the place, hard to follow yet not unpleasant in anyway.  However, upon tasting the whisky it all comes together, gets buttoned up and starts to make sense.

A lovely, odd, old Islay that’s very different from the Ardbeg style of today.  It’s not my favorite Ardbeg but a nice one none the less.

Special thanks to David B for the 2nd sample (note: whisky does not hold well in baby bottles.  Hence the 2nd sample – thanks again, David)!

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Ardbeg – The Band! — Perhaps the most CULT Islay single malt, Ardbeg has a truly devout following.

I’ve heard stories from the very recent past about people waiting in the rain for 30 hours during the Islay Feis Ile festival just to pay £300 (or so) for the distillery only, Feis Ile festival bottling.  If I had the time and money, I suppose I’d do the same…

Ardbeg tattoos are common place among devotees.  There’s also a well know website by Malt Maniac Tim Puett called the Ardbeg Project that deals with even the most minute of details about Ardbeg… all the way down to various bottle codes.  Talk about devotion!!

Given the above, my initial reaction is that Ardbeg is most like The Grateful Dead.  However, I personally can’t stand The Grateful Dead (sorry people) and their successors, Phish, turn my stomach even more.

Let’s compare it to their house style of whisky… Bright, brash, in your face, lively and invigorating.  Peaty without being a smoke bomb.  Clean and very confident.

So, big cult following +  an attention demanding, big ‘ol elephant in the room style…  You, my dear Ardbeg are Slayer (minus all of the death and devil stuff)!

Yikes! — Oh my gosh! —  See, I told you (albeit without gore…)!!


…or perhaps it should read:

..perhaps this comparison is more fo Ardbeg’s fans (myself being one of them) rather than Ardbeg itself….  Hmmm… you decide.

Let's celebrate!, Strathlsia

Strathisla 1957 (bottled in 2007), Gordon and MacPhail 43%ABV

Speyside region – 43%ABV – £194

Now ain’t this something here?!  My first 50yo reviewed on the blog…  Big thanks goes out to Red for the sample swap.  A few CL of my precious Glenmorangie Margaux Cask for some of his 1957 Strathisla – seemed fair enough.

Not only is this my first reviewed 50yo whisky (though I have had other 50+yo whiskies before), this is my first Strathisla.  Some of these Strathislas are legendary (or so they say).  I’ve had a few friends that could say nothing more than that they could not fully understand what what going on in their mouth as they sipped it – just odd, great stuff.  Hearing this, I could not wait to taste some.

I’m going to move straight into the tasting notes but, as a bit of a spoiler alert, I loved this stuff!!

On the nose — It’s all about crazy right here.  What stops me in my path is a strong sense of dill weed and chives.  I’ve gotten that note one other time in Master of Malt’s 50yo release…  Wacky.

There’s a sharp, bright and lemony quality here as well.  So far, it doesn’t seem like a crotchety old whisky.

Oak influence is here, no doubt but either it (so far) is not over oaked or the addition of water to bring this whisky to its bottled strength of 43% helped to subdue the uber-dryness that is often associated with old whiskies.

A new (now old) box of M.U.S.C.L.E. men figure type plastic-y notes.

Pouring water over stones in a Swedish sauna with a hint or two of smoke in the background.

On the mouth — Lovely high sweetness here (astro-pops, wax lips… tons of penny store candies).

Quite herbal as well (tough to place all of the various herb type notes but, wow.  really nice).

A fantastic mouthfeel – oily yet a bit fizzy-feeling on the sides of the tongue.  Incredibly fresh.

Part of me doesn’t even want to dissect – I just want to enjoy.  But for you, dear reader, I shall forge on!

Fresh fruit platter with sprigs of parsley thrown about it.

Great notes of light red wines, plum wines and fine armagnac (with just a touch of a petrol quality to it.  A quality I often fine in armagnacs).

Finish — Fruity and a tad salty (just a tad), slight smoke, bright and long!

In sum —  Can not consider myself lucky enough to have tasted a whisky such as this.  The quality is amazing – a delicious and well balanced whisky through and through!  If you can get a bottle, I suggest you enjoy and share and do what these guys suggest:

Serge Valentin of WhiskyFun seemed to love this one too.

Cold Winter, Smokehead, Summertime

Smokehead vs. Smokehead

You know, when I first thought about what I could say before reviewing these whiskies, my initial thoughts were to make comparisons to the subject of this post to Kramer vs. Kramer (the 1979 movie with Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman).  I haven’t seen that movie since… I don’t know, 1979?  After watching the trailer, I saw that there was no way I could tie Smokehead vs. Smokehead to Kramer vs. Kramer so I decided to abandon the idea altogether.

Sure, I could then get all silly and give you links to Kramer vs. Predator or Modern Day Jesus vs. Santa or even Bobby vs. The Devil.  But I won’t do that.

Instead, I’ll just get down to brass tacks and tell you about these two whiskies bottled under the “Smokehead” name.  Smokehead is a single malt Islay whisky bottled by Ian MacLeod.  If you know your Islay distilleries then you’ll know that there is no distillery on Islay that goes by the name Smokehead.  Similar to Port Askaig, Smokehead is a whisky distilled by an Islay distillery but bottled under a different name.

While some people are ardently opposed to bottling whisky under a secret name, I beg you to look at the quality of the whisky inside as you might be getting a fine whisky for a great price – regardless of what it says on the bottle.  Speaking of bottles, I’ve got to say I dig the Rock and Roll quality/look to their packaging.  I feel like I’m drinking whisky bottled by the Hard Rock Cafe.

Let’s have a taste.

Smokehead NAS (no age statement) – Islay region – 43%ABV – $45

On the nose –  Well, it is called Smokehead for a reason.  Initial blast of smoke upon first sniff.  However, that is quickly peeled back to reveal lime popsicles; stick and all.

Bright and fruity (citrus and rhubarb) with a smoky and biscuity backbone.

A nice malty/beer like quality shines through.

A really nice nose – not over the top complex but one that’ll make the peat heads happy.

On the mouth – Here’s where the smoke REALLY comes into play.  A bit of an ashy-doosy.

Diesel engines, construction sites and construction paper (burnt or burning).

Burnt toffee and apple crisps inside manilla envelopes and packaged up nicely with some industrial packing tape.

Interesting mouthfeel – this whisky benefits from the high phenol content which seems to be forcing my mouth to water which makes the somewhat thinnish mouthfeel turn to a more oily one fairly quickly.

This really is a smoky monster with a bright sweetness that tells me there must be some younger whisky in here.

Finish – Short to medium finish with some of those popsicle sticks I got on the nose.

In sum – A powerhouse in the smoke arena.  One to help get your more thrill-seeking friends into Scotch Whisky.  There is a bit of a wow factor.  Also one that can be used as a warmer upper in the winter time for sure.

Smokehead 18yo – Islay region – 46%ABV – £86 (due to short supply, not available in the US but Master of Malt has it)

On the nose –  Big smoke and brine and cups of over-steeped orange pekoe tea and a few shakes from a jar of Bacon Bits.

This might be 18 years old but there’s a youthfulness here that comes through in spirity version of almond brittle and butterscotch.

Red flecks of hot chili pepper sprinkled over salted lemon wedges.

For 18 years old, the smoke & peat is not as tamed as I would have expected.  Again, there’s a youthfulness here…

On the mouth – A bit of a weak entry; not what I expected after all of the smoke, spirit, red pepper, salty lemons I got on the nose.  I guess the age is now showing; rounded peat.

Decent mouthfeel and, wait a sec, there’s a bit of an evolution in flavors here.  The strength gets… stronger, which counteracts the the bubbe-grannykins “attack” from the get-go.

Smoke, coffee, burning coffee grounds.

Turmuric (?) and paprika laced chocolate shavings.  Lemonade and, again, red pepper flecks.

Finish – Drying now in the finish.  Decent length, smoky, oaky and chocolatey.

In sum – A decent whisky.  Expensive but tasty.  Well balanced and would satisfy many an Islay worshipping, peat loving Smokehead.  You might think me an odd duck but, as smoky as this is, I could easily pour a dram in the summertime…  Perhaps after mowing the lawn or gardening the… garden.

Special thanks goes out to the good folks over at Impex Beverages for the Smokehead NAS sample!

Special thanks goes out to David H for the sample of the 18yo!