Tag Archives: Strawberries

A World of Discovery, All You Need Is Love, Bruichladdich, Refreshed, Springtime, Takin' It Easy

Bruichladdich 19yr old Black Arts

Ok, before you begin to read my post on this dram, you may want to hit play on the youtube video below (so as to set the mood):

Is it playing?  Good.  Just keep it sort of quiet and in the background.  Umm, a little lower in the volume… there.  Good.

When I was young, about six years in age, my uncle started feeding me music from all sorts of great bands.  Bands he loved and wanted me to love in kind.  Two of the bands stuck out and I still love them to this day.  The Ramones and Black Sabbath.  In fact, the first album I ever owned was Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album.

Let’s put the Ramones to the side for now and focus on Black Sabbath.  Here I was six years old, listening to Black Sabbath and… was I scared?  A bit (I mean, listen to this song for “Peat’s” sake – you do have the video playing, right?).  But mostly, I was entranced.  Even at six, I knew that these guys were on some level beyond any other band I’d ever heard.

As I got older, I became more obsessed with the music of Black Sabbath and (here comes a crazy geek moment) Dungeons and Dragons.  There, I said it.  I was into D&D big time.  D&D, Lord of the Rings, you name it, I was into it.

You must be thinking “Hey Hatton, where are you going with this?” or, “Dude, D&D… seriously!?”

The point I am coming to is that I saw something mystical and magical in this music and those role playing games and sipping on this whisky took me back there.

Yes, nearly 31 years later and I came across this interesting and new Bruichladdich expression called Black Arts and I’m taken back to those things that got me interested in the “strange”.  But, come to think of it, it was not just strange.  It was new, different, unique and artistic – something I think this expression is.

What is Bruichladdich’s Black Arts expression?  First, let’s take a look at their bottle:

You’ll notice a matte black finish on the bottle and cylinder.  This, as I understand it, is a follow up to Bruichladdich’s “Blacker Still” expression.  Just looking at it and I get a creepy-cool feeling.  It’s the type of feeling you get when you’re around a campfire telling ghost stories – the good creepy.  You want more.

And yes, I wanted more.  I wanted to open the bottle right away but, before I did, I took a closer look at the bottle and saw a Star of David on there.  Wait a sec.  Hold you’re horses.  What does this mean?  I don’t know any Jew that works in the Black Arts – What’s going on here!?!?

I did some reading up on what this star meant and found that Bruichladdich says the star is actually “two triangles that represent the reconciliation of the opposites of fire and water”.  In fact, here’s the full quote from Bruichladdich’s product sheet: “Alchemy, the black art, the eternal search for rejuvenation and immortality, gave us whisky.  Gebber the Arab is said to be the first distiller of al-iksir, the water of life, in Persia around 790 AD.” (or, CE and I prefer to say.  C.E. being the Common Era) “The spirits Eau de vie, Aqua Vitae, Vodka, Aquavit, Uisque Beatha all share that same original meaning.  Geber understood that precious metals were hidden in alloys and ores.  By the rearrangement of base metal’s qualities, via elixir, it could be transmutated into Gold.  Elixir also existed as a dry, red powder made from Philosophers’ stone.  If it could turn poor metal into gold – it could give eternal life.  The two triangles that represent the reconciliation of the opposites of fire and water.”

Cool stuff, right?

Speaking of “red powder”, after I poured a dram, I wondered if Bruichladdich found this Philosophers’ stone and put a wee bit into each cask.  The reason I wondered this….well, take a look at the color of this whisky (on your left – click on it for a larger image).

While it may be tough to see here in this picture.  I will tell you that, in person, this fluid is red.  Red whisky.  I’ve never seen anything like this before and, just like when I first heard Black Sabbath, I was entranced.  Just a note here: this is the natural color of the whisky; no color added.

How did they get this whisky red?  Is it the red powder from the Philosophers’ stone?  If you think the answer is “yes” then I suggest you check yourself into an insane asylum.  While you may think the good folks at Bruichladdich are alchemists with all of those great expressions they come out with, this is the real world and they’re using real science here, not alchemy.

So, how did they get it red?  A little birdy told me that this whisky was finished in three red wine casks, one right after the other.  Awesome.

OK, I think it’s about high time I get to the tasting:

Islay region – 51.1%ABV – 700ml bottle – £75 | €94 (this bottle is not available through US stores)

On the nose — 51.1% alcohol be damned! I can sniff this all night with no issues.  Big red fruits!  Raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and some fruit of the more tropical variety — passion fruit & papaya (all of these berries makes me think of my daughter’s book called “Jamberry”).  Wow.  Some nail polish remover notes here, something a bit sour and some over steeped green tea…  I’m in love with this nose!  This is just the right influence of wine on the whisky.  Some spiciness on the nose and a bit of honey (which I did not expect here).  With a few drops of water the fruits get very juicy smelling – almost over ripe.

On the mouth — Great entry here and I’m a bit taken aback.  What a balance!  The fruits are big but dry – like a good & fruity cabernet.  Grassy, fresh hay.  Quite grapey, quite winey.  The mouth feel is nice nothing too special about it though.  Let’s add a few drops of water.  With water the mouth feel evolves into something completely different and beautiful.  I feel like an alchemist turning dried fruits into re-ripened fruits.  There’s something deep in the background that resembles the faintest whiff of smoke but, I dont think this was at all peated.

Finish — Longer and slightly burning.  Wow, increasingly burning and getting stronger by the second.  Cool stuff.

In sum — This is a true artisan’s whisky.  And while some folks thought this dram crossed the line a bit between wine finishes and whisky; to me, the extra finishing was something of pure genius.  What a great marriage between wine and whisky.  While the two whiskies are nothing alike, the mystery surrounding the Bruichladdich Black Arts reminds me of the mysteries around the Glenmorangie Signet.  Two very different whiskies; two very great whiskies.  My hat’s off to the folks at Bruichladdich.  They’ve created a magical dram here.

All You Need Is Love, Autumn, Blind Tastings, Bowmore, Springtime, Summertime, Takin' It Easy

La-la-la, The Magical Mystery Tour!

Did you know that all of us Jews know one another?  Oh sure, it’s mostly true!  And if we don’t know them, we came pick them out of a crowd – I call it “Jewdar”.  “Jewdar” is a radar for Jews just as Gaydar is a radar for Gay folk.

Ok, I’m really just kidding.  It is true, however, that Gal Granov from Whisky Israel and I do know each other.  He and I are good whisky buddies (even though we’re thousands of miles away from one another).  Gal and I started doing some whisk(e)y sample trading and on our last trade we thought it’d be a good idea if we each sent over a “Mystery Dram”.

A dram that A) didn’t cost a whole lot of money and B) is something that neither of us have had before.  The idea is to try and figure out, at the very least, who distilled the mystery dram in question.  No hints, no nothing.  We had to uncover the mystery using only two tools – our nose and tongue.

As you can see below, we tried to make this as mysterious as possible (you’ll note that the Glencairn shown below has a Glenmorangie logo on it.  This is not giving away and hints.  It’s not a Glenmo.  I just love Glenmorangie whiskies so much, I had to have my very own Glenmorangie Glencairn glass.  Seriously.):

So again, no hints, no nothing.  Let’s see how I did:

On the nose — A very floral nose, house-planty if you will… Soapy scents and some orange, perhaps a little strawberry too.  There’s a nice little peat backbone here but it’s not overwhelming by any means…  Some curried tomatoes (man… now I want some Indian food!).

Well, I already have an inkling as to what it is but I may want a to chose a Life Line before I blurt out my answer, I better taste it…

On the mouth — The peat is much larger here and it’s a bit dirty.  The mouth feel is quite nice.  Oily, just as I like it.  Sweet.  Simple syrup, salty, green tea… I’m not sure of the ABV but, the attack is not huge here so I’m guessing 43%.

Finish — Sort of a short and thin finish with some orange soapiness coming back.

In sum — Well, my guess on this (which is mostly based on the nose with some of the palate elements to help me fill in the some of the clues) is that this is a Bowmore.  It’s not the 12.  This I know.  But it’s got to be a Bowmore.

I liked it but didn’t love it.  This, to me, is the type of whisky that I’d keep on my shelf (and yes, I’d like to have a bottle of this on my shelf – at all times really) for those moments when you just didn’t know what to pour.  “It’s just a Thursday night so, I’m not going to pour my Glenmorangie Quarter Century” or, “It’s way too hot out, there’s no way I’m breaking out my Lagavulin 16yr DE”, etc…  This is that whisky that can always fill the void.  You don’t need to decide to grab it.  You just grab, open, pour, sniff, sip, swallow, repeat.

I did contact Gal to see if I was right about it being a Bowmore.  Lo and behold, I was right (Woo Hoo!!).  So, which one is it?

The Bowmore Legend.

You should check and see how Gal fared with the mystery dram I sent him – here’s the link.

A World of Discovery, Balblair, Refreshed, Summertime

Balblair 1991

Highlands – 43%ABV – 750ml (New to the US Market!) –  $124 | Can’t find a source in the UK| €92

“Oh no there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues” – said some guy who obviously never had a Balblair!

If you’re not very familiar with my blog, let me give you the quick, Reader’s Digest version of what I try to do here (other than simply review whiskies): My goal is to try and categorize whiskies by how they would pair with the season we’re in or the mood you’re in.  (E.G. If you looked in the Moods & Seasons section in the top navigation bar of this site,  you may  find that in Cold Winter I might suggest you try some Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist because of the peat and pure body warming effects of that fine whisky.  If it’s a Hot August Night (G-d, I love Neil Diamond!), or the Summertime, you’d find (among other whiskies) the Balblair 1997)

So, in carrying on with this mentality, I will tell you straight away that this Balblair 1991 is quite the Summertime dram.  While it’s only April here in Connecticut, we’ve been enjoying temps of between 70-90deg Fahrenheit – that’s summertime in my eyes regardless of what month it is.

So sit back, relax and enjoy, vicariously through my following review, the newest 18yr Balblair expression – 1991 (then go out and buy a bottle or, read my review of the Balblair 1997 expression and buy that bottle.  Both worth their weight in whisky)

On the nose — Much more buttery than the 1997, the tropical notes are there for sure but there’s something a bit vegetal about the nose (carrot juice?) and quite creamy, strawberries & cream – hints of fresh lemon, freshly mown lawn

Palate — Nice attack (at 43%, it bites a bit more than I had expected), citrus infused butterscotch, a bit sporty and signs of youthfulness (tastes younger than the 18yrs that it is but, in a good way – nice vibrancy)

Finish — Long-esque with some nice vanilla and honey (actually, more like vanilla yogurt with honey, that’s more like it)

In sum — Another great summertime dram from the good folks at Balblair.  This one is very different from the 1997 expression but still quite refreshing.  The extra 6yrs added a nice level of smooth, creamy warmth to it (while still keeping it’s youth; it’s young in spirit I suppose).

A World of Discovery, Don Julio, Kosher spirits, Summertime, Takin' It Easy, Tequilas

Don Julio Añejo Tequila

Jalisco, Mexico (Highlands Region) – 38%ABV – 750ml – $39 (from the Duty Free shop), normally about $65

WARNING & DISCLAIMER – For those who keep, this tequila is not certified as “Kosher” or “Kosher for Passover” (I am no rabbi but I think, based on their meticulous process and the fact that Don Julio uses virgin American oak casks, that this may be “Kosher by Nature”, not to be confused with “Naughty by Nature“)

For information on Don Julio’s Cooking, Mashing, Fermentation and Distillation Process, check out this link from Drinkblogs.com

I bought this bottle of Don Julio Añejo more than a year ago while on a business trip to Monterrey Mexico.  Supposedly, Monterrey is a very beautiful city – I had no time to enjoy it, I was either in meetings or in my hotel.  The Duty Free shop had NOTHING for Single Malts so I figured I’d pick up a nice tequila.  I opted for the Don Julio.

If you’ve not visited the Don Julio website, I suggest you do.  There are some great videos of their process, history and tasting notes that I think are really well done.  Check it out.

The Don Julio Añejo has been my drink of choice (with the exception of some wines, the Siembra Azul and Slivovitz) for this week of Passover.  This is truly some delicious stuff.  Not to be chilled, mixed or tarnished with a lime:

On the nose – Juicy citrus fruits, Mandarin oranges, Ruby Red Grapefruit, lime rind and something a bit creamy.  I also smell a bit of strawberry & melon.  While this is fresh & fruity, there’s a warming quality to the nose, not as punchy or peppery as a “silver” or “blanco” tequila that has not had any barrel aging.

Palate — *Big* on juicy, over-ripe honeydew melon!  Oh, good G-d that’s good!  Oak comes through as does some creamy vanilla.  Smooth, buttery and quite chewy.  Lip smacking goodness!

Finish – Continuation of the melon, spicy but again, not nearly as much as the “silver” or “blanco” type of tequila.  Warming from your tongue to your toes.  Butterscotch notes come back up after the swallow; right on the sides of my tongue.  Perfect at 38% ABV if you  ask me.

In sum – I would reach for this any day.  Quite fantastic and on a level of it’s own.  Oh-so refreshing while warming at the same time.  There’s a reason Don Julio is regarded as one of Mexico’s premier tequilas and I just found out why!