Tag Archives: Marijuana

Glenglassaugh

Glenglassaugh Peated New Make Spirit – 50%ABV

Highland Region – 50%ABV – 200ml – $29.99

“What’s this,” you say, “a heavily peated Highland malt?”  Yes folks, the fine group at Glenglassaugh are working on some spirit which they are peating at a level of 30 ppm (parts per million).  As a frame of reference, Laphroaig has a peating level of 40 ppm whereas Bunnahabhain has a level of about 5 ppm.  So, 30 ppm is going to give us a nice peaty little Highlander!

Let’s see what this spirit tastes like prior to maturation:

On the nose – Water doused campfire.

An old pipe you find that you’re sure you used a lot while in college (if you catch my meaning.  Ok people, a pot pipe.  Wow, it’s been a while!  Seriously.).

Fresh dirt & gardening gloves.

More of that pipe (kind of like the resin from said pipe).

Believe it or not, clean cotton.

On the mouth – Bright lemons.

Salty (reminiscent of a very young Ardbeg if it were to have no oak influence).

Malty for sure and the pears that I detected in the Clearac are there.

Ashtray and last night’s cigarette (yet another thing I haven’t done in years but, man, how cool that those memories come back through smell and taste).

Finish – Medium long.  More biting than the clearac.

In sum – This is going to be quite an interesting Highland malt.  The peat is clear, and bold.

To see Jason of Guid Scotch Drink’s notes, click here.

Blind Tastings, Kosher spirits, Refreshed, Summertime, Takin' It Easy, Tequila, Tequilas, Tonala

Rick’s Mystery Dram series – Week 4 of 10 – Sample #4

Well folks, it’s Monday again which means we’ve got another mystery dram to solve.

As I mentioned in the last mystery dram post, I’ve decided to make this a wee bit more interesting by sending out a mystery dram to the correct guesser of the week’s mystery dram or, if there has been no correct guess, the sample goes to a commenter (randomly chosen).  Last week, Gal of Whisky Israel won the mystery dram.  Details on how to win a mystery dram sample (which will be Scotch or American whisk(e)y, your choice) are listed below, after the review.

For previous “Rick’s Mystery Dram” entries :

Here’s Mystery Dram #1 (which ended up being Parker’s Heritage First Edition)

Here’s Mystery Dram #2 (which ended up being Parker’s Heritage Golden Anniversary)

Here’s Mystery Dram #3 (which ended up being Evan Williams Single Barrel, 2000 vintage, barrel # 234)

Review time!

On the nose – It’s quite obvious that Rick is trying to throw me for a loop here.  The first three drams were whiskeys.  American Whiskeys.  He decided to go south of the border this time and secretly switched my whisk(e)y with Tequila.  Based on the deep color, I’d say it’s an Anejo but, from the very first sniff all I could smell was agave and oak.

This is a sweet nose, but not seemingly as juicy as the Don Julio Anejo I reviewed a few months back during Passover.

Toasted wood and chocolate notes (strange, never got chocolate notes in a tequila before…) pop as does some marijuana (Man, this brings back memories.  Break out your double LP of “Frampton Comes Alive”), spicy notes and a good bit of agave for sure.  Sandalwood and Nag Champa incense.

On the mouth – Light and watery tequila (is this even 40% ABV?).  This is a nice sipping tequila for those nervous about the stuff (or remembers the headaches from college).  Chocolate notes return and some nice ruby red grapefruity notes appear.  Not as sweet as the nose but oh, so drinkable.  I was hoping for a whisk(e)y dram but, this is a welcome change.

I change my mind, it’s got an oily mouth feel but it’s as if it’s been watered down a bit.  Strange – insanely smooth.

Finish – Short to medium length.  Nothing too-too special but not disappointing in any way.

In sum – Rick, you did it again.  You’ve managed to fool me but, I’d say that you may have fooled my readers as I’m guessing not many of them know a whole heck of a lot about tequila.

Then again, I could be totally wrong.

Clues –

  • Low ABV (I’d be surprised if it were more that 40%)
  • Very woody (my guessing from the extra aging to make it an Anejo)
  • Chocolate, marijuana and sandalwood notes
  • Produced in Mexico 🙂

JMSWS antes up!

For those who attempt to guess – each week I will be sending out one mystery dram (a small 5cl bottle) and the first person guesses correctly wins the dram.  Actually, if there are no correct guesses for the week then a winner will be chosen at random.  You win whether your right or not (like a weatherperson – right or not, s/he still has a job)!

So again, I will be awarding a free whisk(e)y sample every week to one lucky winner (whether you guess correctly or not).

How do I enter to win you ask?

Easy, comment on this post with what you think the mystery dram of the week may be.  It’s that simple.

I will let you choose the type of mystery dram — Scotch or American Whiskey (though that’s all you’ll know about it).  And if you’d like, you can send me your tasting notes and I’ll post them for my readers to guess at.  If you’d prefer the blind tasting to be between just you and me… that’s cool too.

A World of Discovery, All You Need Is Love, Autumn, Need To Bundle Up, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, Takin' It Easy

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Batch 29

Denver, Colorado, USA– 47%ABV – 750ml bottle – $45 | £64 | €78

I first had the pleasure of tasting Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey at WhiskyFest in NYC.  To see my review of that event, please pop over to Whisky Israel (then pop back here to read this grand review!).

At WhiskyFest last year I was hopping around from table to table; so little to do, so much time… scratch that, reverse it.  Carrying on — I had a boatload of tables to visit during the event!  I’ll be quite honest in stating that, while I had interest in visiting the Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey booth, if I missed them, I missed them.  This was not because I didn’t have the interest, I was simply more focused on Scotch whisky rather than American whiskey.

So there we were, going from this table to that, from that aisle to this aisle… our heads were spinning – it was quite an experience!  We were on our way to the Old Pultney/Balblair booth when my buddy Jeff stopped me and said “Josh, you’ve got to try this $hit!!”.  I saw that he was at the Stranahan’s booth and I said to myself that I could at least scratch these guys off my list (and then get to Balblair already!!).

The nice man at the booth poured me a wee bit and I sniffed… Wow… This is not like any other American Whiskey I’ve ever nosed before!  I continued with the next step (umm, the tasting of course) and wham-o!! My friend Jeff said exactly what I was thinking: “Dude, it’s like liquid banana chips!”  And it was.  Absolutely delicious, these guys nailed it and made something so very unique from all the other American whiskies I’ve every had.

This being said, by hook or by crook, I had to get a bottle.  And that I did.

Now, before I go on I will tell you that I do not know what batch number(s) were being served at WhiskyFest NYC but I can tell you that what I bought was very different from what I had at the fest.  Not in a bad way — at all (though I do wish I could find the banana chip batch.  I’ve got an email into them already so once I find out, you will find out).

Initial whiff – Berries, off the bat.  Some cinnamon, a little banana peel, spices (for my Jews out there, reminded me of Havdalah spices).

On the mouth – Quite spicy but wildly smooth.  Mouth coating, banana (whole banana, not chips), vanilla, lots of vanilla and a little oak which surprised me as this stuff only stayed in barrels for two years.

Finish – Here’s where it gets really interesting and a bit… “R” rated (but hey, we’re all over 21, right??). Directly after the swallow, the most interesting taste came up on the back sides of my tongue.  I asked the drummer of my band to corroborate… we both got the amazingly strange taste of Marijuana in our mouths!  As if we were with Bill Clinton, not inhaling, and taking a hit off of a pipe (or “bowl”, to use the parlance of our times…).  So odd!  It brought me back to the good ‘ol days…  The finish made my mouth felt like it was at a Whitesnake concert circa 1988

In sum – This is quite amazing stuff and I liked the fact that my batch was so very different than the batch at WhiskyFest.  It’s like trying single cask scotch whisky, every cask tastes very different.  That being said, for this batch, I think I would suggest to drink it in a relaxing type mood or when cuddling up with a book, a wife, a husband, etc…  Enjoy this year round but try it in the late fall time when the leaves are changing (if that happens in your neck of the woods).  L’chayim/Slainte/Cheers!