Tag Archives: Melon

A bit of a let down..., Caol Ila, Need To Bundle Up

Islay distilleries explained thru Rock and Roll comparisons – Part 3 – Caol Ila & my review of their 2007 Distillery Bottling

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

I started this series just two weeks ago and I can say with pure delight that it has, so far, given me my two most trafficked posts (Part one: Bruichladdich as The Sex Pistols, Part two: Ardbeg as Slayer) since I started this blog.  Thanks for tuning and chiming in, y’all!   I really appreciate it.

My two previous posts in this series started off with the whisky review first then the Rock band comparison just after.  I’ll run this one the same way.  Why buck the trend, right?

Caol Ila 2007 Distillery Only bottling 58.4% – £65 at the distillery and they still have some as of August 2011 (when I got my bottle)

On the nose — Smoky, sooty, rusty pipe water…

Hmmm, I’m afraid I might have summed this one up in only 3 words and described it as something you probably don’t want to drink… Let me come back to this one…

One week later and minus my bad mood (seriously)…

While the rusty pipe water is still here, I’m getting some nice oak notes I wasn’t getting before.

Lots of vanilla in here too.  Big unripened peach and pear.

Very industrial smoke – city construction.

On the mouth — Highly medicinal, Listerine (original “flavor) and a boat load of smoke.

Vanilla is huge here too – not to be ignored.

Lots of burnt pie crust and notes of melon along the sides of the tongue (thankfully).

Finish — Lasting and oozing with smoke.

In sum —  Not the most complex whisky and, truth be told, I just don’t really like it so much.  The melon notes aside, it’s got too much of a one track mind: Smoke and vanilla – vanilla and smoke.

While I wouldn’t kick this whisky out of bed for getting cracker crumbs in the sheets, I wouldn’t reach for it either…

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Caol Ila – The Decade! — Caol Ila, you are the 80’s!!  Wait, wait… Let me explain.

Let’s think about it for a second…

Caol Ila is the largest distillery on Islay and it produces over 5 million liters of spirit per year.  Functioning 7 days a week, 95% of the whisky that comes out of Caol Ila is used for Diageo blends.  (Can you say Johnnie Walker?)

Only 5% of Caol Ila whiskies are saved for single malt expressions: 12yo, 18yo and an occasional unpeated, cask strength whisky.

There is also a yearly distillers edition plus a bit of an oddity, a whisky called “Moch” that seems fairly hard to come by.

So, what-in-the-what-in-the-how is Caol Ila the 80’s?  Think about it.  The 80’s was basically a decade where record labels were signing and releasing band after band after band with little, if any dissimilarities.

The 80’s Juggernaut that we know and love churned out hair band after hair band: Trixter, Slaughter, Cinderella, Poison, Great White, Winger, etc…  All of these bands were so very similar, they all added to the “Hair Band Blend.”

What about the various bands that made up the “New Wave Blend” – Flock of Seagulls, The Style Council, Wang Chung, Men Without Hats, Men at Work, etc…

Furthermore, like Caol Ila with their single malts, the 80’s did an amazing job of churning our some fine, fine bands:  The Cure, The Smiths, The The, Violent Femmes, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, The Pretenders, Polysics, XTC, Joy Division, that one song from Ah-ha, Talking Heads, Suzanne Vega, The Psychedelic Furs, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, U2, Guns and Roses (damn, I hate to admit that I like these guys now), Blondie, etc…

So while I like the 80’s as a decade (and Johnnie Walker as a set of high quality blends), I love the 80’s for it’s true shining stars.

Thank you the 80’s and, THANK YOU, Caol Ila!

Blind Tastings, Springtime, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

A blind-ish tasting of some crazy mixed up old juice…

A funny thing happened on the way to “GlenHatton”…

“Wait, what’s GlenHatton?”

“GlenHatton” is a something I’ve been brewing for some time now.  I’ve been pouring my “Dregs”* into a single bottle, about 26 whiskies in all, and reached a point were it seemed to smell & taste… interesting.  So, being taught that “sharing is caring” I reached out to some people via the JSMWS Facebook page to see if they wanted to try it.  I received more responses than I could shake a stick at and could only dole out about 6 samples.  There will be a a series of “GlenHatton” posts in the very near future…  “Watch this space”

*(“Dregs” Noun.  Meaning in the Whisky World: The final bits of many whisky bottles or samples that where there simply was not enough left to drink as a dram, or barely more than a few drops.)

So, one of the lucky 6 recipients of my GlenHatton Dregs whisky asked if I were interesting in tasting an all-malt blend that he had been working on (Sssseeeeee??? sharing IS caring!!).  I, of course, said ‘hell yeah!’ and asked what was in the blend.  He could not tell me.  All he could say was that this was some OLD juice!  He did give some names and a range of dates: 60’s Balvenie, 30’s Mortlach, some old-ass LittleMill and a few others.  Again, the information was as limited as could be.  That’s cool.  I figured it’d be a fun experiment regardless…

Thanks to EM for the sample!

On the nose — Fruity and dusty at the same time.

A high sweet corn-like note is uncovered after the first sip and is off-set by a slight touch of smoke.

Light berry jam (think a mix of raspberry and strawberry) and a whiff of wood.

Jasmine tea (a lovely note).

Light sweet butter.  A touch of coconut and a bit of pineapple.

On the mouth — ***Incredibly thick*** and seemingly growing in volume  (perhaps my mouth is watering?).  Flat soda.

I’m guessed the ABV was pretty low, no more than 43% (EM corrected me, its just over 44%ABV).

Toasted cream pastries and warmed woody bits.

Spicy and spiced notes of fresh and juicy melon.

Mango, sticky rice and coconut milk (Thai mango sticky rice).

Finish — Fruity & tropical – filled with mango and persimmons.  Lasting fruitiness.

In sum — A cool mix of fruits, wood, smoke (however slight) and Asian-style goodness.  All-in-all a nicely balanced, enjoyable whisky.  Perhaps the best thing about this whisky was the mango sticky rice note (I am SO HUNGRY right now).

A World of Discovery, Amrut, An everyday dram, Angry, Takin' It Easy

Amrut Single Malt Whisky 46%ABV & Cask Strength – head to head

India – 46%ABV – $50 | £27 | €31

Indian whisky, eh?  Whisky from India?  Damn straight and, why not?  Malt whisky is malt whisky & you can make it where ever you want so long as you have:

Barley (check – The barley is specially grown in the foothills of the Himalayas and the whisky is matured at 3,000ft at Bangalore.)

Water (check – have you see the Himalayas lately?)

Yeast (C’mon, this stuff is everywhere)

A place to mature your whisky (Check – the whisky is matured at 3,000ft at Bangalore and these particular expressions are matured in New American Oak and ex-bourbon before bottling).

For this head-to-head comparison between the Amrut Single Malt bottled at 46% and the Cask Strength version, I decided NOT to add any water to the Cask Strength version figuring that the 46% ABV version did this for me already.  A big thanks to Amrut for catering to my lazy side.

On the nose – New York City tap water (from a Connecticutian’s perspective) or perhaps clean fresh rain.

Spiced butter on freshly baked sesame bread (oh, I like this – a lot!).

A bag of dried grains (think oats & barely).

There’s a savory warmth in here that keeps drawing me in.

Cinnamon rubbed apricots, stewing.

Gruyere cheese.

Vanilla and macaroons.

On the mouth – Excessively chewy.

Chlorinated pool water

And, as much as I wanted to steer clear of indian food references, mango chutney with noticeable gingery notes.

Pine nut and basil pesto (with a clear focus on pine nuts).

Finish – Savory finish filled with buttery breads and more pine nuts.

In sum – Highly enjoyable.  The mouthfeel alone had me in a happy spot.  A nice balanced whisky that is unique.  Easy to approach and exceedingly yummy.  This is a great every day dram, no doubt.

And now onto the cask strength version which has nearly 16% more alcohol by volume…

India – 61.8%ABV – $68 | £34 | €39

On the nose – At 61.8%, the first thing I notice is a blast of grain alcohol.

Yes, I know this is a malted whisky but this was the initial impression I got.

Very forward.

Dry popsicle sticks.

Melon pith.

Band-aids.

On the mouth – Hot but, strangely accessible (sort of…).

Sugared melon (honey dew).

Very sweet with notes of caramel apples.

Soy sauce soaked sesame seeds (say that three times real fast!).

Cardamom & fennel seed.

Apricots.

Finish – Blisteringly numbing but now those popsicle stick are back.

Very sweet.

Notes of dry, uncooked pasta.

In sum for the Cask Strength and the overall experience between the two – Someone PLEASE put my mouth out!!  Hot damn, this stuff will wake you up (and put to right back to sleep if you have too much of it!).

The cask strength expression can be reserved for days when you’ve just had enough and want to say “F### it all!”. I’ve never suggested this before but, go ahead, knock it back and start bitching with your friends!

I’ve got to say, between this cask strength version and the 46% ABV version, I much prefer the 46% ABV (it really is a nice every day dram and one I plan to keep on my whisky shelf).

Special thanks goes out to Raj at Purple Valley Imports for the tasting samples.