Tag Archives: Vanilla

Exclusive Malts 1984 Tormordor (Tormore for those non-geek-types out there)

July 18, 2013 Jewmalt

Speyside region – 51.4% ABV – $230

With the exception of having a name that inspired the following statement: having absolutely nothing to do with the whisky at hand, I thought there’s no better time than the present to tell you that I secretly refer to Tormore (a Pernod Ricard malt whisky distillery) as “Tormordor.”

Mordor as in Sauron’s Mordor of Middle Earth. Sauron as in the creator of the One-Ring, forged in Mount Doom itself and apparently a lover of fine whisky!

Yes, this guy right here:

Tormore-2

In all seriousness, I have little nicknames for a few distilleries and this “Tormordor” happens to be one of them.

Looking through my blog, I noticed that this is the first Tormore I am publicly reviewing.

Tormore is known to be a *very* spicy malt. The only ones I’ve ever had were older (like this one) and all seemed to drink younger than their stated age. Like Sauron himself, perhaps these whiskies are seemingly ageless?

Let us see how this one for the Exclusive Malts range pans out. It’s a 29yo distilled in 1984 and from an ex-bourbon cask.

On the nose — The ex-bourbon, bourbony character comes straight through to your nose. Wow. And, at 29 years old, it does not smell old or tired in any way. There’s a peppery, spicy liveliness to this whisky.

Almond brittle in a cardboard box, minus the wax paper. Spiced vanilla chai latte.

Very prickly in the nose and, as expected, still very spicy. Torrone Itailian almond nougat.

Light fruits, pears and a touch of baked apple as well. A nice, well rounded nose.

On the mouth — Very soft and silken in the mouth. The flavors, however, are fairly shy from the first sip. Sip # 2:

A bit sour upon initial entry but that subsides to notes of casaba melon, peppery melon juice and heavily honied baklava (thought not as nutty as I found on the nose).

The mouthfeel is that of caramel sauce, warm and sliding down the back of the throat. It’s really quite a lovely texture.

Finish — Growing and peppery but not overpoweringly peppery in anyway.

In sum — Tormore has a voice all its own in the malt whisky world. Good Tormore is great Tormore and great Tormore is Tormordoriously delicious!

In all seriousness, I quite enjoyed this whisky. A bit shy in flavor to start but a little time is a lot rewarding. Dare I say, some might like this in the dead of summer and with an ice cube. Not me though. Those other people might like to do that…

Special thanks to SF and the rest of the good people at ImpEx for the sample!

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!

Glenmorangie, Summertime

Glenmorangie’s Ealanta – a 19yo Scotch whisky matured in heavily charred Missouri oak

February 13, 2013 Jewmalt

Highlands region – 46% ABV – $109 – $129

Most of my whisky friends know all too well that I am a Glenmorangie junky. Some might suggest I have a bias toward their whiskies.

Replace “Halfling’s leaf” with Glenmorangie’s whiskies in the following audio clip and you’ll see what I’m getting at:

While I’ll admit that Glenmorangie whiskies are among my favorite (though I’ll bol, I would submit that I have no issue announcing when I do not like a whisky they release.

The Ealanta is the fourth is their Private Edition range as well as the oldest in the series (it’s also the priciest one on the series).

Glenmorangie has access to some of the most premium slow-growth oak trees in Missouri and they usually cut the wood, season it for two years, make up casks, send them to Jack Daniels and Heaven Hill so they could make their whiskey THEN those distilleries send the casks to Glenmorangie so they could mature their whisky.

What’s different here is that Glenmorangie sent themselves the new wood and did the full 19 year maturation of their malt whisky (after having charred the casks heavily).

Something tells me that this might be one for the folks who also enjoy good, high end bourbons. Let’s find out..

On the nose – New charred oak goodness!

Actually, what strikes me the most is that there is a zingy zestiness in here that is very rye-like.

Perhaps a little dill, rye seed and fresh cut grass.

That classic Glenmorangie ripe peach note is still present (you can’t beat great spirit). Pencil erasers.

Toasted tangerine skins (sort of like a tangerine black pu’er tea I have).

On the mouth – Insanely silky mouthfeel and, flavor wise is much like that tangerine black pu’er tea I noted above.

Vanilla (slight) and honey (heavy).

Sweetness is to this whisky as a wall of death is to a late 80’s/early 90’s mosh pit. Powerfully sweet, verging on cloying (but not quite there, thankfully).

A touch of salt and black pepper as I chew this one a little more. And now we have some extra dark chocolate as we reach the finish.

Finish – Drying, long and darkly sweet with a mix of tangerine and more dark chocolate.

In sum – While this has obvious characteristics of a whisky from new oak, it also has some other element in here that I just can’t explain. The label says heavily charred oak but the color seems light — maybe there’s a mixture of lightly toasted and heavily charred oak?

Either way, it’s another Glenmo that pushes the envelope again with its focus on different types of cask maturation. Well done.

This is a mid-summer dram for me.

Special thanks to Mr. David Blackmore for the sample!

You may also enjoy the following reviews on this whisky:

Guid Scotch Drink

Malt Impostor

Whisky For Everyone

Cold Winter, Let's celebrate!, Mackinlay's

How I almost ended up in jail or, my review of the second release of Whyte and Mackay’s “Mackinlay’s” replica whisky from the Shacklton Expedition

February 11, 2013 Jewmalt

A mixture of Speyside & Highland region whiskies – 47.3%ABV – $175

The video below was recovered at the end of last week, one month after my trip to Antarctica.

Found by the Antarctican police (also known as Intersouthpol) and then released by the Antarcticaian natives, the video is here for your viewing pleasure.

This video is my review of the second release of Shackleton whisky or, Whyte and Mackay’s Mackinlay’s replica whisky:

If you’re interested in my written review, I was able to save enough of the liquid to write down my notes.

They are as follows:

On the nose — Flinty, coastal and smelling of goarse flowers (?) and then more earthy wild flowers. Biscuity and touches of lemon water, cold sweet cream butter.

Maltiness that verges on a Belgian beer (*verges*, it’s not quite there).

Very briny and notes of crushed pineapples abound!

On the mouth — Massive smoke, lemons bars, fig newtons minus the fig.

Still malty and with a great mouth feel.

Oddly sweety and peaty (the sweetness, like the first release) reminds me of Pop Rocks (maybe it’s the zippy feel on the sides of my tongue).

This is a great winter-warmer-upper! Briny still and the oily mouth feel makes my mouth happy.

Finish — Lasting, zesty.

In Sum — A fine, fine whisky. I’ve said this before but, if Richard Paterson got it right in his replication (and if anyone could, it’d be him), then the original Mackinlay’s whisky was a cracker!

Grab a bottle. It’ll warm you up!

An everyday dram, Glenglassaugh, Takin' It Easy

Glenglassaugh’s latest official bottling – “Evolution” which is matured in George Dickel Tennessee whisky barrels

January 2, 2013 Jewmalt

Highland region – 57.2%ABV – £57 | $93

Crack that whip / Give the past the slip / Step on a crack / Break your momma’s back

When a problem comes along
You must whip it

Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it

When something’s going wrong
You must whip it

Now whip it, Into shape, Shape it up, Get straight, Go forward, Move ahead, Try to detect it, It’s not too late, To whip it. Whip it good.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Devo as much as the next guy. In fact, I likely love Devo way more than the next guy and think their music is quite genius but man, these lyrics go on and on and I never got them (but love the ever living snot out of the song).

I’m such a Devo-geek that as soon as I heard what Glenglassaugh was calling their 2nd bottling, Evolution, I thought of Devo. (Who, by the way, got their band name from the concept of De-evolution – “the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to regress, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society“.)

Whatevs – rock and roll!!

And now, perhaps my favorite version of The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”:

Ok, enough with my love of the Devo, let’s get on with my new found love of the Evo(lution)!

On the nose – Another “confident” whisky here.

To start, a great and somewhat forceful interplay between churned butter, oodles of butterscotch and fresh white grapefruit.

Heaps of white pepper and vanilla wrapped in saran wrap and all warmed up (yes, this is a warming nose).

Did I mention butterscotch? Yes, I did. Just above. It’s well worth another mention though…

Barley cakes & oat cakes. Light lemon notes and soft leather gloves.

On the mouth – Perhaps it should have been called “Explosion.” This dram bursts with that now classic Next-Gen Glenglassaugh fruity character.

It is, however, tempered quite well with the very Tennessee oak characteristics of vanilla, honey and spice.

Light malt laden flavors now and back again with white pepper and a bit of that grapefruit I got on the nose.

Oh. So. Butterscotchy.

Medium oil-like texture with some citrus zing on the sides of the tongue.

Finish – Heavy wood spice, toasted oak, long and slightly bourbony.

In sum – I bought a bottle the day it hit the Glenglassaugh store. I had to have it. Glenglassaugh matured in George Dickel barrels? No brainer.

I obviously wanted to do a formal review of the whisky but went through half the bottle before I took actual notes (mainly because I just wanted to enjoy the whisky without dissecting it). Like George Dickel, this is great sippin’ whisky. Perfect for sitting on your porch or deck and letting the hours pass by…

Normally I do not like to mix cigars with my malts but I imagine this would go quite well with a cigar. Perhaps a mild bodied one.

To Glenglassaugh, this whisky is an evolution in their new story (and a great story it is!) For you as the consumer, this whisky is all about a little you time. Relaxing times. At only 6,000 bottles, you may want to to grab a bottle fast!

You may be interested in Oli’s notes on dramming.com

Jewmalt Whisky Reviews