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

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

 

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:

OLD-PULTENEY-40-1Orange 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)…

OLD-PULTENEY-40-2Cedar 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.

OLD-PULTENEY-40-3Salted 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.

OLD-PULTENEY-40-4Rhubarb 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!!

Balblair, Ledaig

Two new whiskies for the Gordon & Macphail’s Private Collection. A 19yo Ledaig and a 20yo Balblair

 

Today, dear readers, you are going to get a two-for-one review session.

I’ve been reviewing whisky after whisky after whisky and have a whole host of notes at the ready.  However it’s been a little difficult finding the time to actually post my notes.

That said, seeing as I had a little window of time in which to post up a review, I thought I’d kill two whiskies birds with one review stone.

The two today, to me, are a couple of odd ducks.  I’ve never had a finished Ledaig until now.  The same goes with the Balblair I’m also reviewing today.  Both are wine finished and part of the Gordon Macphail “Private Collection” range of whiskies.  Furthermore, both are bottled at 45% ABV which is an unusual bottling strength given that 40%, 43%, 46% and cask strength tend to be the most common…

20yo Balblair finished in Crozes-Hermitage Wood – 45% ABV – $145

Some notes from Gordon & Macphail:

Private Collection Balblair Distillery Crozes-Hermitage Wood Finish was distilled in 1991 and bottled in 2012 and again finished for 40 months from casks from the northern Rhône region of France.

On the nose –  Very heavy with the wine influence on this one.  It smells of tannins and Acid brand cigars (herbed, herbal, perfumed, perfumal? Nah, just perfumed).

Wow, chili peppers and… salted avocado (???).

Some fruits are hiding behind the winey scents.

Still more, we have some damp, dank sweetness swirling about the glass.  A oddly interesting nose.

There seems to be a bit of a fight going on with the scents here.

On the mouth – Similar to what I got on the nose.  The chili pepper zing hits the side of my tongue.  Mouth begins to water.

Cranberry relish and other tart fruit relishes.  Lots of red fruit and an interesting mouthfeel.

There’s a wet-like viscosity that is drying my tongue.  It doesn’t make sense but, it’s happening.

Cigars again.

Finish – Long, drying and filled with red fruits.

In sum – Totally NOT what I look for in a Balblair.  While it’s not *my* bag but I can see folks loving this one.

If you like your whiskies with a heavy wine influence, look no further.  This does a good job highlighting that aspect while still retaining it’s whiski-ness.

19yo Ledaig finished in St. Joseph Wood – 45% ABV – $95

Some notes from Gordon & Macphail:

The expression from Ledaig Distillery was distilled in 1993 and bottled in 2012 and finished in St Joseph casks for 40 months.

On the nose –  What’s to be expected from a nice, older Ledaig: Soft peat and nice fruits.

Apple lollipops, even apple schnapps.

Spiced gum drops, allspice.  Lots of various candied scents.

A bit of a mishmash and focused on the fruity elements but really nice smelling overall.

On the mouth – Here’s where is begins to get real!

Very wine forward but oh, so pleasantly so (red fruits, black pepper and just a drop of fresh cement)!

A little woody but not in a bad way at all.  It helps add in some wood spice elements.

A touch of wet cardboard (I often get this in whiskies where the cut of the distillate has a fair amount of tails.  Heck, I get this a lot in most Ledaigs/Tobermorys).

Great mouthfeel.

Finish – Drying with threads of peat throughout.  Pretty gosh darned long…

In sum – A very interesting whisky.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  While the nose seemed a bit too focused, it really drew me in to taste and this whisky shines in flavor.  A even keeled finish with decent length.

I could enjoy this repeatedly.

Thanks to CR for the official samples!!

Autumn, BenRiach, Cold Winter

A single cask of BenRiach chosen by the fine chaps at caskstrength.net, bottled by BenRiach and sold exclusively through Master of Malt

Speyside region – 55.2%ABV –£55 | $87

Apologies for the mouthful-of-a-post-title!  Some fine details there though.

A sample of this whisky came to me out of the blue.  It was a nice little surprise that showed up on my door step and I have to thank the folks at Master of Malt for it.  So, thanks guys and gals!

A long time fan of BenRiach, I am honestly not a big fan of BenRiach from PX (Pedro Ximenez) casks.  (I like my BenRiach like I like my Torah, eye-opening, sweet and fulfilling.)

The truth of the matter , however, is that I find difficulty connecting with PX matured whiskies in general.  The PX casks can be so very dominating to the overall flavor profile that the spirit character is often lost (making the whiskies often very one-dimensional).  To be sure, there are exceptions to this broad generalization I just made.

Let’s see what the cask did to this 16yo BenRiach…

On the nose — What gets me from the go on this one is an unusual scent of pine needles.

Very fruity (dark fruits, dense scents) with some subtle peat (or so it seems).

Then a meatiness kicks in that is reminiscent of barbecutie beef ribs.

Fruit cocktail with bursts of cherry (skins and stones) ride the meatiness, just along the top.

Sugared malt.

On the mouth — Big ‘ol mouth feel.  Loads of berries!  Loads and loads of berries (heavy on Rainier cherries).

There’s something a bit dusty in here; old attics.

Zero meatiness on flavor (thankfully).

Very dense fruits and fresh tobacco/spicy unlit cigars.  Just a touch spicy.

Finish — Birch root/dark birch beer.  Long and spicy.

In sum —  All-in-all, pretty damned yummy!  The natural fruitiness of the BenRiach spirit shone through the thick PX influence.  No issues with uni-dimensionality.  If you like your whiskies big and powerful, you’ll find this one to be up your alley (and surprised by some of the fine fruits in it).

You might find Jason’s (of guidscotchdrink.com fame) review of this whisky interesting as well…

Autumn, Bunnahabhain, Master of Malt

Islay distilleries explained thru Rock and Roll comparisons – Part 6 – Bunnahabhain & my review of the 20yo Single Sherry cask from Master of Malt

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

I was hoping to get part six of this series up last week but time just got away from me. Having only three more Islay/Rock posts left (including today’s post), I’ll be sad to see this series end.

Here’s one of the beauties of Islay: We’re going from young, brash and heavily peated Kilchoman, to older and gentler, Bunnahabhain.  Bunnahabhain’s tagline is “Welcome to the gentle taste of Islay.”

Known as Islay’s [basically] unpeated whisky, Bunnahabhain is also known for often being generously sherried.  Today’s whisky, though not bottled by Bunnahabhain, is no exception to this generalization.

Before we move forward, let’s quick run down the Islay distilleries & their rock and roll equivalents we’ve covered so far — 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!), Part four:Bowmore as David Bowie and Part five: Kilchoman as the Jackson Five (somewhat fitting, in retrospect, with them both bearing the number five).

Today we’re reviewing a 20yo Bunnahabhain bottled by Master of Malt.  Sadly, this bottling is completely sold out however, Master of Malt still have some of this as part of their “Drinks by the Dram” offering.  I’m glad I bought a bottle before they were all sold out!

20yo Bunnahabhain – 54.1%ABV – bottled by Master of Malt – Sold Out (though you can get a 3cl sample of it for only £5/$7)

On the nose — What you’d come to expect with a heavily sherried whisky (and I mean heavily):  Furniture polish, cherry stones, tanned leather, rum balls and/or tiramasu, stewed prunes, burning cigars, unlit cigars (dark wrappers)… You name it, it’s in here and nicely organized.

On top of this is a very evident woody note… Oaky and I can almost smell the tannins.

With water and there’s some added unlit pipe tobacco (floral and reminiscent of some hookah stuff I’ve smoked before) and dark chocolates.

On the mouth — MASSIVE ATTACK.  It’s like all of the aforementioned items I got on the nose were jammed into my mouth.  Thinnish mouthfeel and highly drying.  Hmmm… a bit too oaky given its age.  Let me try some water here.  ¡¡Agua al rescate!!

 

The mouth feel is saved and there less heat and less attack upon entry.

The flavors seem to match the nose (again) yet the addition of chocolate covered raisins and wafts of light smoke offer up something quite delicious.

Still a bit drying which leads me to the finish…

Finish — Somehow my mouth starts to water as the whisky continues to dry in a long and slightly spicy finish.

In sum —  This whisky is a powerhouse, no doubt.  Without water, it’s a difficult whisky to drink.  With a dash of water, it’s delicious (yet the oak will not be subdued and therefore, it’s a bit off balance).

An autumn whisky for sure.  This’ll warm you – boy, will it warm you!

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Bunnahabhain – The Band!

With Michael Stipe’s unique voice rising over the band’s overall unmistakable sound and while every song was quite different, every song was very much R.E.M.

Like them or not (and I happen to love them), you can’t argue with this fact.

The same could ring true with Bunnahabhain.  While they do experiment with peated and ex-bourbon expressions such as “Toiteach (and a few others),” it’s fairly safe to say you know what you’re going to get when you taste their 12yo, 18yo,  25yo.  Big sherried whiskies.

What’s more is, like when bands have their music remastered, in 2011 Bunnahabhain “remastered” their standard range.  Moving their ABV from 40%/43% up to 46.3%, discontinuing the use of E150a caramel coloring and the ending the practice of chill-filtration has seemed to do wonders to the their standard range, breathing in new life and vibrancy.

So, rock on Bunnahabhain!  Stand in the place where you live.  Don’t Lose Your Religion, just distill while playing your Finest Worksong.

Autumn, Cold Winter, Glenglassaugh

Glenglassaugh 45yo bottled at 49.2% ABV

Highland region – 49.2%ABV – Best of luck finding a bottle.  And if you do, expect to pay about $2000/bottle.

With release after release of old Glenglassaugh, there would seem to be no shortage of the stuff.

The previous sentence could not be further from the truth.

What makes a whisky such as this so very precious is that it’s from Glenglassaugh’s stocks of 400 (more or less) older casks.

True rarity – hence the hefty price tag.

People go nuts over older whiskies – the older the better right?  Not true, good people.  Sometimes a whisky an hit its prime at the young age of 3, 4 or 5 years old.  Or, if not at its prime, still damn tasty, complex and balanced.  However as whiskies get older they run the chance of getting over oaked, too drying and just… blech.

I’ve yet to run into that problem with the older Glenglassaughs I’ve had so far (in fact, they’ve all been *quite* stellar – especially the first Chosen Few release).  Let’s see how this one held up to the test of time:

On the nose –  A wonderfully sweet nose, if not a touch hot, with other scents mixed in such as Connecticut shade tobacco leaves, sugar cane and near ripe white flesh peach.

Chocolate covered marzipan.

(Good) oak and spice, spice and (good) oak.

A slight wine-like note that was floating a top it all but now seems a bit more forward.

On the mouth – Oily texture yet drying fairly quickly.

Not hot like the nose initially suggested.  I love the strength of this whisky.

Oak and grape skins are evident but lying just beneath those flavors is a stone fruit compote.

Perhaps a touch of cola syrup and the slightest amount of fennel (slight).

Finish – Shiraz like spice – not sure why I keep getting these wine like notes in here but, I like it.

In sum – A bit drying but not overly so, especially for a 45 year old whisky.  Very enjoyable, warming and balanced quite well.  Something to enjoy with a good book.

Special thanks to RS for the sample!