Tag Archives: Oily

Region – um, Islay – ABV – 43%

Unnamed Islays seems to be the way things are going now when it comes to independently bottled cask of Islay whisky. Most, based on comparisons to “Original Bottlings,” or “Owner Bottlings,” seem to be Caol Ila, Ardbeg or Lagavulin if you’re really lucky. All I’ve tasted have been great <shameless plug> including the 3, soon to be 4 “Undisclosed Islay” Single Cask Nation releases </shameless plug>.

This one is the first, however, that I will taste that is not bottled at full cask strength. Another 43% ABV for this Samaroli. Samaroli = elegance in my mind though I’ve rarely seen anything lower than 45% ABV until now.

Let’s see what happens with this 9yo at 43%:

On the nose — Soft peat wreathed in lavender rests on a bed of licorice nibs. Heather to the fore with gorse in the distance.

Some iodine and hospital beds make themselves known as does beach pebbles and blue slate.

A flinty minerality brings me in to sip…

In the mouth — Initial pepper sting that sticks to the tip of the tongue as the oily build dances about mid-palate. If I had to guess, I’d say this is a Caol Ila.

Very edgy stuff, not rounded in any way, which is nice. You get the softness from the lower ABV but the edginess from the youth of the whisky.

Think flint stones (not Flintstones) meets burnt brush and driftwood meets seaweed and burning peat meets dandelion jam and lavender with a hint of lemon rind.

Finish — Lasting, citrusy and sooty

In sum — What a way to enjoy a younger Islay whisky. Though I normally prefer the brash in-your-face-ness of young Islay whisky, the water tamed it to the perfect just-sit-and-relax ABV. My initial reaction was “another 43% whisky from Samaroli, really?” However, this was simply loverly whisky. I enjoyed the interplay between youth and elegance (by way of lower ABV).

A World of Discovery, Barrell Bourbon, George Dickel, Let's celebrate!

Barrell Bourbon single cask release for Gordon’s Fine Wines – an 8yo “Tennessee whisky” not produced by Jack Daniels (so, it’s a big Dickel then, right?)

December 3, 2015 Jewmalt

Region – Tennessee – 62.35% ABV (multiply by 2 to get “proof”, if you feel you need to. Or just keep it simple and use the more logical ABV system) – $89/bottle and only available at Gordon’s Fine Wines in Watham, MA.

Last night I did a seminar at Gordon’s Fine Wines in Watham (you know you’re pronouncing the town name right as when you say it, it sounds like you’re clearing your throat), Massachusetts.

I only recently (recent being this past March) found out about Gordon’s because of my new job with ImpEx Beverages. Gordon’s is an account of mine. In working with Gordon’s, I found that both Nick and Kenny (my contacts there) seemed to know and care more about whisk(e)y than most people I know. As a whisky geek myself, that was exciting.

Actually, I recently reviewed one of their single cask selections. A Russell’s Reserve single cask bourbon. Their bottling and the one from Warehouse Liquors in Chicago selected by one of my favorite people, Gene Charness, helped me to appreciate these cask selections.

Anyway, after the seminar, Nick broke out bottles of “this and that” and we all had a good time tasting “this and that.”

As I was leaving, I asked Nick if there was anything else he felt I needed to taste of.

“Have you had our Barrell Bourbon selection?” asked Nick. “No,” I replied, “I’ve not had that one yet. I didn’t know that they were doing single cask bottlings.” Proudly, Nick said “actually, we were the first to do a Barrell Bourbon single cask selection.” “Well,” I exclaimed “let’s have a pour!”

Ladies and gents. this bourbon was the best bourbon I had this year hands down. Gordon’s being my account or no, I speak truths here. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this is in the top 5 whiskies I’ve had all year. I had to buy a bottle, and buy a bottle I did.

I love bourbon, I really do. My issue with bourbon, however, is that it all tastes like bourbon. It’s all (for the most part) very samey with some fun nuances. This bourbon, however, presented flavors to me that made it stand apart from the rest.

Barrell Bourbon George Dickel Gordon's Fine Wines Perhaps because it’s a Tennessee whisky (Yes, “whisky.” That’s how George Dickel spells it and we’re making an assumption here that this is a Dickel whisky) with their charcoal filtration process it’s different? Not sure. All I can say is — sweet fancy moses, this is good hooch!
So, what are the full details? 8yo & 6mos, new charred oak, cask # 013, bottle # 101, 62.35% ABV

Details on taste? Here you go:

On the nose — Corn (obviously, I mean this is a corn based spirit…). Fried treats such as apple fritters (heavy in oil) and funnel cakes with powdered sugar.

Candied nuts such as cashew, filbert and pecans. Sweet tomato sauce over fried dough on a paper bag with the oil soaking through the bag. I feel like they’ve bottled the smells from a fall country fair. Salted butterscotch caramels, too.

Everything in its right place here. Amazing.

In the mouth — F#ck and Yes. A powerful entry (62.35% ABV after all) but the whisky is so viscous, the juice wraps your tongue in Phyllo dough, honey and walnuts (and walnut oil). It’s like drinking baklava.

If you feel like you need to add water, go ahead. Me? I think it’s at the perfect strength.

Honey cooked coconut flesh over vanilla ice cream with Kahlua poured over it all. This is such an indulgent whisky.

Finish — Interminable. The nuttiness takes over but there’s a salty element here to balance it out.

In sum — Drop dead gorgeous. I’m in love. This is one of those rare moments where I wish I had enough $$ to buy a whole case. I will need a 2nd bottle for sure. This is as celebratory a dram as it gets. My hat’s off to you Nick and Kenny — a well selected cask of whisky!

Bruichladdich, Takin' It Easy

Two whiskies from Bruichladdich that I’ve been meaning to review since… 2010!

July 11, 2013 Jewmalt

For the most part, I try not to be a slacker. In fact, I am a real go-get-em, gung-ho guy with a ton of sticktoitiveness. For the most part that is…

Somehow, someway, I’ve been sitting on a few samples from Bruichladdich (as well as samples from a few other distilleries) for quite a while now. And by “quite a while” I mean like 2 or 3 years. That’s a long time, right? Right. No better time than the present to review them though, right? Right.

So what do we have today? Firstly, we have “Redder Still;” part of the Blacker/Golder/Redder series from the lads and lasses at laddie. Second is a 1992 (distilled in 1992, that is) sherry release from them – the Fino Cask.

Redder Still is matured in Château Lafleur Pomerol wine casks and the Fino Cask is matured in, well, Fino casks. The former is bottled at 50.4% ABV (with 4000 bottles released) and the Fino was bottled at 46% ABV – 6000 bottles in that release.

Here are my thoughts on these two:

Bruichladdich Redder Still – 50.4% ABV

On the nose – My immediate impression is that of paraffin wax and red wine gums.

Incredibly soft on the nose. If I could apply an attribute to this nose that was not in the realm of scents, I would say this noses like a cotton ball.

Salted and ground mustard seed meet lager beer. Quite malty.

Am I detecting smoke here? I think so.

Not very winey at all considering this was matured in Château Lafleur (Pomerol, red wine cask – nothing to do with Fleur Delacour, mind you) casks. Really soft peat — looking for the wine notes but, none here really. Not yet.

Wait a sec, red currant jams and cracked black pepper. Moving on because this smells yummy and I want to taste now.

On the mouth – Quite sweet upfront. Sugary sweet, in fact. Oily moth feel with an effervescence toward the back and sides of the tongue.

Plums (prunes, too! Elderly plums, as it were) and smoke and more wine gums and peppery yet all of this is not forceful in anyway.

Much more winey after a few sips but is still very much whisky. Smoke is present in the mouth and it gets quite drying as we get to the finish.

Finish – Short… a bit abrupt.

In sum – Compared to the *AMAZING* Blacker Still, this pales. Taken out of that family of Blacker/Golder/Redder, the Redder Still is a nice-nosed whisky! I quite enjoy it actually. The flavors work well together too however they’re a bit like a boy scared to ask a girl to hold his hand. I feel this whisky should man up a bit in the flavor impact department but it does not.

Thinking back to that nose though… yum, yum, yum!

Bruichladdich 1992 Fino Cask – 46% ABV

On the nose – Quite noticeably a Bruichladdich with a salty coastal element that’s reminiscent of their old 90’s 15yo.

Noses of yellow chilis and the sweetness of Scotch Bonnet peppers (before you bite into one and it burns your dad gum head off!).

A touch of sulfur and turmeric. I think this is the first time I smelled Deviled Eggs in a whisky! Guess what, it’s subtleness work here!

Some damp cardboard and sugared papaya (fresh, not dried). Soft black licorice.

On the mouth – Wow, the fino influence is right there and pretty dang lovely. Nutty, very nutty. Salted almond and pecan, fig paste and dried banana.

Anise seed, black licorice (again, though, salted this time), window putty.

At 46% it has enough attack to it as well as nice oils allowing for a good mouthfeel.

Sweet pecan pie and black strap molasses (treacle for the Brits out there). Quite a satisfying whisky so far!

Finish – Increasing sherried goodness, melted caramel and a touch of rum cake.

In sum – This is one fine Bruichladdich! the scent, flavors, mouthfeel, finish, etc… all works out. Very nicely balanced with the sweet, salty, slight pepper. Very much a dessert whisky. Worth you seeking out, in my opinion!

Glenlivet, Refreshed, Summertime

The Glenlivet Alpha [Dawg] invades my mouth and sense and I share my opinions with you. Fun!

June 7, 2013 Jewmalt

Highlands region – 50% ABV – About $150. Good luck finding some! Only 3350 bottles were made available.

So, what in the blue $#%@ is Glenlivet Alpha?! Well, there were a lot of people wanting to know just that. Glenlivet, those sneaky little buggers, decided to make this whisky a big ‘ol secret: bottle the whisky in a black bottle with zero info, packaging came with zero info and there what, guess what? Zero info around the web as to what this whisky was all about.

So, what do we know? It’s bottles at 50% ABV which means there is no chill filtration needed. And, at only 3350 bottles and this being sort of a special one-off and coming in a black bottles, I am guessing no caramel coloring.

So, that’s really all we know about this whisky.

What about the name? Alpha? Hmmm… Alpha *is* the first letter in the Greek alpha (hey, there’s that word again) bet. (not to be confuse with Aleph or Aleph Bet). First? First fill? But first fill what? Bourbon, I’d guess from the lighter color.

So, here in the whisky blogging world there were a lot of cranky bloggers upset with Glenlivet that A) they charged so much for a NAS (no age statement) whisky and B) this expensive bottle of whisky came with ZERO information! I’ll come right out and tell you that I was one of those crotchety bloggers. Big price for a NAS whisky with zero information. I was upset but I was also intrigued.

What intrigued me more is I came to find out this week that Glenlivet were going to do a big reveal on the whisky. That I liked! I like, too, the fact that Glenlivet seemed to be getting out of their comfort zone of 12yo, 15yo, 18yo, 21yo, etc… and decided to do something a bit whacky! Good on ye, G’livet!

So, I tasted this whisky right before the big reveal. I will post the reveal below my notes but, let’s see what I get:

On the nose – Highly malty with a sweet and tangy quality to it. Perhaps just a whiff of smoke? Either there’s are good deal of refill barrels in the mix allowing a stronger spirit quality to come through or there is a higher proportion of young whiskies in here.

This bright and vibrant. Light lemons (or orange) and pear, more lemons than pear. There’s some black pepper in here, too. It’s fun and refreshing so far!

I do detect some older, more wood influenced whisky in here. Smaller casks? Nah, methinks older whisky is a component. Maybe some Cognac cask maturation in here? Hmmm, not sure. Must sip.

On the mouth – A very viscous mouth feel but a touch hot. The malt carries through as does that hint of smoke I got on the nose.

I think I change my mind about the Cognac cask influence. I change my mind about the smoke too. This is a dodgy duck!

Notes of star fruit, unripened mango and fresh rain. Yummy stuff! The heat is gone after the 2nd sip, btw. Highly sweet and malty! Is there some Bere barley in this make up?

I know the Nadurra was with Triumph barley. Maybe this is a them delving into different barley with less active casks? Whatever it is, it’s delicious.

Finish – Lasting, peppery, toffee-like, sweet and malty.

In sum – If the price was lower and if there were more than 3350 bottles, I’d say this is an everyday, easy drinker! This was a fun experiment to get people’s minds working and getting them to think about the whisky. I am glad that there will be a reveal as to the make up of the whisky because if there weren’t, if this were all no-info marketing, it’d be a big joke without a punchline. Kudos to Glenlivet, I say. Kudos!

A World of Discovery, Let's celebrate!, Old Pulteney

Old Pulteney 40yo bottled at 51.3% ABV – the oldest Pulteney bottled to date!

April 30, 2013 Jewmalt

Highland region – 51.3% ABV – 493 bottles – £1399 (or £85 for a dram at Master of Malt)

Forty years old. This whisky is forty years old.

It’s a strange thing to drink a whisky that is older than you. Perhaps what’s even more strange to me is that I will be turning forty this year. It’s actually really messing with me that I’ll be forty. Half way to 80 as it were. Ugh.

I don’t feel forty so, that’s good, right? They say you’re as old as you feel, right? Well, when I think about what happened ten years ago I think about the early 90’s. Not the early 00’s. That’s a bit disconcerting and makes me feel old and a bit disconnected from the new and hip things of the world.

All of my heroes are getting old too! (I.E. Ian Mackaye just turned 51, Jello Biafra is 54, Willie Nelson *just* turned 80.)

Hold on a sec, I seem to be typing myself into a bit of a depressing cul-de-sac here…

Mayhaps it’s best we talk about fun things? Let’s talk about a 40 year old that is way sexier than I’ll ever be. Yup, this Old Pulteney is one sexy beast.

On the nose – Wow. Just wow-wow-wow. Initial thought? Screw nosing and tasting notes, this smells as lovely as can be and all I want to do is stop thinking and enjoy this whisky. The age is there yet it’s lively and juicy and moreish smelling right from the go. Yum.

I suppose I should try to dissect it though – try and get the most out of this and give it the respect it deserves. Begin:

Orange essential oil and savory herbs meets paraffin and the tiniest hint of smoke and what is really tough to explain: the smell of time in a cask.

Let me try to pick it out the time in the cask (good time in a cask, not tiring/tired time)…

Cedar humidors meets old time men’s cologne meets an old study with fine polished wood and leather chairs. Now take those scents and remove the old and tired element from that scenario and there you have it!

Apple slices with cinnamon and orange with touches of clove, filberts and ground nutmeg on the side. Boy, this is really lovely and very hard not to taste!

On the mouth – Very drying upon first sip but the second sip corrects that misstep. Quite ooey with orange syrup, cinnamon and hints of molasses.

Salted black licorice and more of the spiced wood and wood polish element I touched upon with the nosing.

I can’t tell if it’s honied or it’s the mouthfeel that’s tricking me into thinking it’s honied. Nah, it *IS* honied and it’s delicious.

Rhubarb jam/pie filling, moist pie crust.

Finish – Toasted almond slivers and dark chocolates. It lasts and lasts.

In sum – This has to be up there in the category of best of 2013 (best whiskies I tasted in 2013, that is).

This is oh-so-good and obviously, at almost £1400 a bottle, one to break out at the most special of occasions.

Special thanks to LD of Alembic for the sample!!

Jewmalt Whisky Reviews