Glen Garioch 49,6% ABV Single Cask #5873 distilled 07/1990 bottled 05/2011

The first thing you will notice with this whisky, is that it has a distinct greenish glow. Nobody has a clue why or how this happened. The whisky is bourbon barrel aged. The nose at first was a little chemical which frightened me a bit, but luckily it disappeared very quickly. After this strange start lots of sweet vanilla appeared with a lot wood influences also. After a while a malty/grainy notes appear (roasted grains as in muesli), but also fresh hay. The taste surprised me again. Very fruity with a pleasant ginger spicy kick accompanied with just a slight bitterness. A little particular dram (positive way). Interesting whisky. Points : 80.

Benrinnes 58,6% ABV Single Cask #2272 distilled 17/10/1984 bottled 26/09/2011

Matured in a refill sherry cask. At the first smell a somewhat alcohol boost due to the higher Alcohol level. Needs time to open up, but when that happens, you will find some old dusty leathery smell of old books in the library and just a slight hint of glue and sulphur (for me just enough to be on the positive side). After a while breathing in the glass beautiful sweetness appears as in freshly blossoming flowers and blossom honey and lots of fruits (raising, dried apricot and more). Somewhat dry finish due to the present tannins. I like this style of whisky and wish I could enjoy it longer, giving it even more time to show all the flavours this dram possibly consists off. Points: 85

Glen Scotia 51,8% Single Cask #5 distilled 03/1992 bottled 11/2011

A new bottling of Glen Scotia after a supposingly stunning earlier one. Very curious about this one. No one had the opportunity to taste this one as this isn’t available in the shops just yet. No issue seeing that this one has the most sherry influence of the line-up. Matured in a first fill sherry cask for this period of time is showing off. Lots of nutty sherry influence (freshly roasted peanuts/almonds) accompanied by sultanas and balsamic vinegar, but then it happens. Suddenly a distinct saltiness (fleur de sel) and fresh smoke (a piece of wood just started to smoulder). The taste is more sugary sweet, fruity (dried fruits), but also some fruity bitterness as in an orange marmalade. The finish is stunning, beautiful ending, with old leather, very dark bitter chocolate and again that extreme pleasant somewhat salty smokiness. This I could easily enjoy an entire evening, delicious! No questions asked, this is the winner of the evening and is going very high on the wish list depending on the price level it deserves to be present in my whisky cabinet. Excellent work Erik! Points: 91

Conclusion:

Again a great twitter tasting and a very pleasant evening. Also a confirmation of the quality of the Kintra brand. If you get the opportunity to get your hands on one of the expressions, don’t hesitate, I won’t!

Khubilai Finest Premium Vodka (MongolianSpirits)

Six times filtered Vodka (quartz sand). Nose is very smooth and soft. Clear with distinct anise and citrus influence. Somewhat spicy and mineral influence also. Italian Gelato (Citrus flavour). Taste more spicy, cinnamon, smooth and creamy. Again the Gelato influence present. Finish is a little bit short, a little bit grainy, a little dry with a slight but friendly bitterness. Someone mentioned Tiramisu and I can agree with that, lots of Italian flavours playing around.

Grand Khaan Premium Vodka (MongolianSpirits)

Three times distilled and eleven times filtered (Birch Wood). Extremely pure smell and taste, very soft, but also a little bit crispiness (grain influence). Again the Anise and Citrus influence. More balanced than the Khubilai, more evolving flavours, more spices and wood influence (even getting some apple somewhere). Again very creamy finish, this one is for pure enjoyment!! Best Vodka I ever tasted!!

Grey Goose

One of the supposed leaders in the Vodka industry. More rough, less pure, more mineral influence. Less smooth and soft then the former two, despite its claim to be the world’s smoothest vodka.  Taste is mellow, nothing much happening despite a little bit cacao influence. Finish, what the hell is happening, softness disappears and more spiciness kicks in, not unpleasant, but killing the feel of the drink, although in a way I like the surprise.

Conclusion:

A very good tasting with the Grand Khaan leading by far. The Grey Goose gets lost and is left behind. The Khubilai is very good balanced and coming second, but not by far, the intriguing finish of the Grey Goose getting him closer to its completion without getting to near. Nice tasting which shows that good Vodka is a great product. Will I buy it, maybe, but whisky is still more of my liking, but I learned a lot tonight! So thanks to Mongolian Spirits for organizing this tasting and letting us getting more familiar with their products which are new to the Dutch market. For sale at Dh17slijterij.

 The popularity of the blog is still growing despite the fact that I am not a very frequent and regular blogger so far, so it is time to evaluate the blogging action of 2011. Next year I will try to do more and more regular reviews then I did in 2011 (only 56 posts in 2011, I will be going for 100 post or more in 2012).  There will be a change in type of reviews also. Last year there were two different types of posts regarding the tasting of whisky: A single whisky was described or a tasting session was described. The last whisky post however was a head-to-head review, which I plan to do more often, although it is more difficult in the scoring area I liked it adds more value of the blog in my humble opinion. If any of my frequent readers have any other ideas feel free to share them with me!

But wait, I just stated that I will try to add more and frequent reviews, why is the subject of this post stating a whisky break then?

Unfortunately I am suffering quite a while with kidney problems. After lots of medical investigations they figured it out. One of my kidneys contains three different stones from less than one centimetre in diameter to almost five centimetres. I have to undergo surgery next week and due to that I am not allowed to drink high alcohol beverages for at least three weeks.

I hope you will forgive me for not publishing any whisky related post the coming weeks and I hope you will visit my blog again when I am able to taste whisky again. There might be a post in the mean time on the blog that will be whisky related, but that won’t be a tasting note.

See you soon again !

The nose:

The sherry cask immediately screams out Oceanside! Beautiful salty influences accompanied by somewhat sweet smoke and peat. Just at the background a little bit of sulphur disguised by the peat. After a while the sherry cask displays it influence, dark dried sugared fruits (grapes, prunes) appears. Very pleasant nose.

The bourbon cask isn’t much outward going. More delicate and reserved. Delicate smoke and peat accompanied by vanilla and cloves. Difficult nose.

The winner of this part is definitely the Sherry cask. Explodes in fragrant on pouring, which I like a lot.

The taste:

The sherry cask is pleasant sweet but with quite a lot smoke and peat power also. Alcohol level kicks in. Again the raw salty flavour is mellowed down by the sherry influence and displays quite a lot of fruits: the obvious grapes but also some prunes, cherries and even blackcurrant keeps popping up in my mind. Again this is playful and very pleasant to play around with.

The bourbon cask is a lot sweater with a lot of vanilla and gentle fruits before the high ABV kicks in. The Islay influence of smoke and peat is present but more gentle and at the background. This one feels young but I am missing something in it. Have some bitter tannin present also. This one is rather modest and afraid to show itself.

Again the winner for me is the Sherry cask, just an excellent balance between the sherry and the Islay, while the Bourbon cask, don’t know what happened there.

The finish:

The sherry cask finishes long and warming with al lot of smoke and ashes coming up your nostrils while swallowing. Just a bit too much alcohol here, it burns in your throat. Again it feels pleasant dark and soothing for a cold winter day (if we ever will have a winter over here!).

The bourbon cask finishes in honeyed sweetness with a touch of saltiness and smokiness. Pleasant finish but not much power and disappearing quite fast. Feeling very young.

As you could expect the winner is again the Sherry cask, feels far more mature than the bourbon cask.

The balance:

The sherry cask displays a great balance between the short maturation on a refill sherry cask (hence the colour) and the usual Islay influence. It is just excellent. The bourbon cask is simpler, not unpleasant but rather dull and feeling a lot younger, while in fact this one is several months older.

Conclusion:

For me this was the first time to review whiskies in this way and I liked it, although it is somewhat difficult to score them right. The winner of this head to head is obvious: The sherry cask is just an excellent dram, while the bourbon cask is more modest, needs more time and probably some added water also. So the points Sherry cask 92 and Bourbon cask 80. Prices are quite high for such young whiskies, somewhere in the eighties.

]]> http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/samples-dramset2-kilchoman-single-bourbon-cask-vs-kilchoman-single-sherry-cask/feed/ 0 gjr71 Kilchoman-SC-Sherry http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/master-class-with-david-stirk/ http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/master-class-with-david-stirk/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:11:44 +0000 gjr71 http://gjr71.wordpress.com/?p=317 Continue reading →]]> Last Friday I went to a Master class hosted by David Stirk (owner Creative whisky company) in my home town Zierikzee organised by The World of Drinks. I was already warned that it would be very entertaining with more jokes and less talking about the whisky’s at hand, and boy they were right. It was great fun and we were laughing a lot, whilst enjoying seven of David’s excellent drams. At the end we could buy the tasted whiskies with a 20% discount and it went very fast displaying the excellent price/quality ratio.  If you would be able to visit a master class by David in the future: Do so, you will have a great evening! Now get back to business, what whisky’s did we taste ( apologies for my very short tasting notes, listening and laughing about jokes while trying to write some tasting notes didn’t work very well )

Exclusive Range Royal Brackla 2000 11 years old 45,8% Hogshead (approx € 50)

Beautiful starter. Quite light in the smell and taste. Nice sweetness, with a little bit of spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Wood tones of pineapple (would do great next to a Christmas Tree) and oak. Gentle dram with flavours of light smoked barley, some malt and freshly mowed grass. Nice soft finish with some slight smokiness and just a tiny bit of salt. Super dram to start the evening.

Exclusive Range Glen Ord 1997 14 years old 45,8% Hogshead (approx € 50)

More power on the nose, with more sweet citrus fruits (orange, mandarin and just a touch of refreshing lime). The taste is more full bodied with again a leading role for the orange marmalade. Oily and waxy. Somewhat peppery, tangy in your mouth, but never overpowering the full flavour of sweet fruits. Finishes with some hints of wood spices and an ever slight hint of tannins. A little bit too alcoholic in my opinion, but still a very good dram.

Exclusive Range Macduff 2000 10 years old 45,8% Sherry (approx € 50)

Influence of sherry very present, dark raisins, nutty, coffee and chocolate displaying on the nose. Good balanced with red fruits and a touch of positive sulphur on the nose. Taste very very warming and oily. Again dark chocolate appears with some hints of fruits and the obvious raisins. The finish is long and warming. Wow I could see myself enjoying this dram surrounded by candle light and nice music. Excellent dram. Good sherry cask.

Exclusive Malts Clynelish 1995 16 years old 55,5% Refill Sherry (approx € 75)

At first heavy sulphur and glue on the nose, which disappears very quickly? Displaying some dates and of course the raisins and chocolate. Opens up slow, probably to slow for such a tasting. Dark, powerful and interesting. Very waxy and oily. Warming dram. Suffers from lack of time to figure it out, leaving undefined and sometimes a little bit strange flavours wondering around in my mind. (Almost sold out, last bottle from the stock of WIN was sold this evening (not by me)). Don’t know what to think about this one. Potentially great, but lacking time to figure it out.

Exclusive Range Bowmore 2003 8 years old 45,8% (approx € 50)

Definitely a young and playful Islay with the distinct Bowmore style. Quite sweet smokiness and lots of fruits. Very spicy (smoked paprika, different types of peppers). Soft and gentle smokiness, somewhat perfumed and lots of barbequed or smoked tropical fruits. Stunning dram!

Exclusive Malts Caol Ila 1980 30 year old 49,8% Hogshead (approx € 160)

Beautiful old Caol Ila. Smokiness and saltiness mellowed down by the age, but still present. Somewhat sweeter then usually, but still with powerful earthy, peaty notes. The taste is powerful with some nutty influence and the salty smokiness with slight hints of sweet vanilla. The finish is balanced between the sweet salty smoke and some cacao. Superb old Caol Ila.

Exclusive Malts Laphroaig 1990 20 year old 50,6% Hogshead (approx € 130)

Hmm missing the power of young Laphroaig’s which I like so much. Quite sweet, medicinal notes are quite gone, displaying a more diesel oil smell instead.  Also tar like influence present, next to sea weed and luckily the medicinal notes are appearing in the taste. Finish is quite long, but tar like. Still definitely an Islay whisky, with lots of peat, although it needs more time to arrive, but I am not sure this type of Laphraoig I like.

Conclusion

Very entertaining night with David while tasting excellent whisky. Both the older ones I would rather taste again, giving them more time and without the influence of the other whiskies. Overall David knows what he is doing and you should look out for his drams as they are usually very good and reasonably priced. Most people didn’t go home empty handed nor did I, so expect some revisits in the future.

Single Barrel 47,8% ABV

The heaviest ABV to start the tasting with ? The nose comes out with a lot of candy, sugared barley, vanilla, honeyed sweetness as in breakfast cereals. After a while some citrus notes (light lemon) and a small hint of coastal saltiness appears. The taste is quite spicy at first but fading out in more honeyed sweetness with soft sweet fruit tones. Some coffee appears also. The finish isn’t giving more flavours, more of the same. Not extremely complex. Nice dram : points 82.

Double wood 40% ABV

Less powerful then the single barrel, seems quite closed, due to following a dram with a higher ABV. Very sweet, with hints of olorosso sherry influence. Simple but pleasant. The taste is soft, sweet and easy with a little drying influence of the sherry cask. A slight hint of sulphur (positive way) appears in the background. The finish is quite easy, soft and sweet. While this is one of the whiskies I started off with, I can see the evolving progress of my taste. At this time it is a great whisky to start your whisky career with, but to me at this moment it is lacking complexity and evolving flavours. Points 74.

Portwood 21 year old 40% ABV

This one is finished for about 3-6 months on a port cask. Due to its age it is quite closed, but the nose displays the fortified wine influence strongly (red fruits), but also some old wood or old book smells appears. Some oriental spices like cinnamon and exotic fruits (papaya) appears while the dram opens up. The taste is silky smooth and sweet with a slight nutty influence. The finish is quite short and has an off note in it which I can’t describe. Not bad, but disappointing, the port influence isn’t present enough for me. I think the finishing period was to short, but overall it is still a very nice dram: Points 80.

Signature 40% ABV

This one is a marriage off whisky matured on three different casks, Olorosso Cask, First fill American Oak and Refill American Oak. The nose is extremely interesting, there is a nice fight going on between the different wood influences. Lots of vanilla, caramel and dried fruits appear along with orange marmalade or orange filled chocolate. Quite sweet again, but also with a spicy edge. The taste displays the olorosso influence more, will do great with a nice piece of dark chocolate. Just a little bit bitterness (tannins) and spiciness appears. More complex and thus very enjoyable to figure this one out. The finish is despite its somewhat low ABV quite long and playful enjoyable. Interesting dram. Points 84.

Conclusion

Very good organised tasting. The drams are showing off their heritage. The basic flavours are quite the same. Will I still have to finish a bottle of Double Wood I wouldn’t buy a new bottle due to my evolving taste over the last one and a half year. Both the Double Wood as the Signature are great whiskies to start off in whisky and are very enjoyable, but I started to like more profound flavours and/or more complexity.

Fettercairn 12 year old versus Ultimate Fettercairn 1995/2011

While Wouter from DH17 poured the whisky, the OB showed its nose immediately, a lot of caramel, fudge and toffee appeared, joined by dried fruit. The Ultimate did need more time and showed a more alcoholic smell at first (due to the +6% over the OB), but then it delivered an evolving smell of fruits and vanilla. The taste for the IB was more or less the same as the smell, but with a little bit of a zing, even the finish was more of the same. Not bad, but not very complex or playful. The Ultimate however keeps evolving. Tasted very fresh and fruity with an oily, creamy mouth feel. The finish was more present. Despite the slow starting nose the winner of this battle was the Ultimate by far due to its more complex, evolving and more mature feeling.

Glenrothes Vintage 1994/2006 versus Ultimate 1994/2011

At first there was a distinct woody and glue-ish smell with the OB. Again the Ultimate needed a little more time to open up. After a few minutes the nose off both where very similar. The Ultimate showing the Glenrothes trademark very well. The OB has some citrus notes and just a little bit of sulphur on the nose, while the Ultimate is somewhat sharper (+3% ABV). The taste of the OB was beautiful soft, warming and ending in buttery and creamy finish, while the Ultimate had a spicier finish with an influence of ginger and some oak. These two were very close and both had their pros. To me the OB won this battle by a very small margin due to its nice warming influence in the finish.

Ardbeg Ten versus Ardbeg 12 Nectar of the Daily Dram (CS at 55,4%)

Well I don’t have to explain the Ardbeg Ten much: The most peated standard whisky available is a great balanced peat and smokey whisky with a depth of taste and smells which is just excellent, while the Daily Dram is a lot fruitier and somewhat sweeter. The latter displays a gentler, but strongly evolving nose. Unfortunately the time was almost finished, so we had to end this two quite soon. The Daily dram won this battle, due to its beautiful evolving taste with fruity and floral influences. But we all concluded that this one is very expensive and most of us would but rather two Tens then one Daily dram (and still have some money left). Me if I had any budget left at the moment would buy the Daily dram, as it was the star of the afternoon to me…!

This was a great tasting which gave our tasting skills a great challenge, but it was great
fun and again as we are used too very well organized by the people of DH17. Looking forward to the next tasting!

The whisky:

Time to start tasting this dram. While pouring it you instantly are getting al lot of fruit and citrus notes. After a short period of breathing it shows more distinct fruits: Lemon, pear and quite a lot of sweetened pineapple. Very fresh and gentle nose, which puts you off will you take a sip.

 The taste is surprisingly zingy spicy, with a little bitterness. This taste kicks in, quite a lot of white pepper and lemon curd and what would you expect from an Ex-Bourbon Cask quite a lot of vanilla. After a while the taste develops with some eastern spices.

The finish is not as spicy as the taste, more a great combination of the very fruity and smooth nose and the more spicy taste. Again the lemon and the pineapple are in the lead, but also a feel as if you were eating a chocolate coated vanilla cream. It lingers quite some time in your mouth.

A great balanced dram which keeps evolving due to the complexity in all the layers of the dram, but it keeps easy to drink. Price I don’t know yet. Points 82.

Ale Cask:

The first one is the Ale cask finished blend.  While pouring the dram you instantly will get a beer type of smell (hoppy). On the nose there is a lot of cereal and grainy notes, accompanied by a little sweetness and grassy notes, but also some metal notes (simple grain whisky). But there is also a very strange off-note in the nose as well. The taste isn’t much better; again that strange odd off note keeps ruining the taste. Beside that it is quite soft and very malty with a lot of bitterness. The finish is very bitter, woody and malty. For the first time I really really dislike a whisky. Not a good start of the evening. Points 45 prices around GBP 16.

12 years old:

Nose is immediate a lot better. Richer, darker and more mature. Nice hints of vanilla, a little bit of hay accompanied with a somewhat sweeter type of smoke and a hint of orangemarmelade, with a waxy honeyed sweetness. Taste is very delicate and feels lost, light sweetness with some tannins and nutty, earthy flavours (actually I did get something as a dried Shi taki Mushroom style of taste). Also a little spicy hints of nutmeg and cinnamon. The finish is extreme short and watery, it ruins some of the quite nice tastes. It could definitely use a higher ABV. Points 60 prices around GBP 28

18 years old:

Colour is somewhat red-ish and the nose gives quite a fortified winey influence (it is finish on port casks). A lot of fruitiness especially red fruits with grapes, prunes and figs. Excellent evolving complex nose. The taste is again quite winey which I like a lot, the same fruits as before evolve greatly, accompanied with a nice touch of peat smoke and dark orange filled chocolate. Just a little touch of tannins and other wood influences. The Finish is quite warming, mature and just a little bit spicy. Will do great as a after dinner dram for accompanying some dark chocolate of a good piece of older Dutch cheeses. This is an excellent blend and a excellent port cask finish: Points 83 prices around GBP 45

25 year old (contains Ladyburn):

Very rich and mature nose. Quite a lot of peach on the nose, accompanied by sherry notes (dried grapes, nuts and a slight hint of pipe tobacco). Keeps evolving and will need some time. The taste is very warming and nutty, but also nicely creamy with a little bit of ginger spiciness in it. Also some dried fruits (figs/prunes) are playing in the background. The finish is quite long and warming with a slight hint of red orange and ginger, but in a more mellowed way than on the taste. Very nice blend, but just a little bit less than the 18yo: Points 80 prices around a GBP 160

Conclusion:

A very nice tasting but again I didn’t like the low end blends and the Ale Cask…… The older ones however are very great and could easily compete with some nice malts, but honestly… giving the approx. Prices I would go for a single malt and not for a blend, although the 18 year old is very tempting.

]]> http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/grantstt-tasting-four-grant%e2%80%99s-whiskies/feed/ 3 gjr71 http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/sample-bruichladdich-dna-%e2%80%9cmcmlxxvii%e2%80%9d-19772010/ http://gjr71.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/sample-bruichladdich-dna-%e2%80%9cmcmlxxvii%e2%80%9d-19772010/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:41:35 +0000 gjr71 http://gjr71.wordpress.com/?p=293 Continue reading →]]> The whisky I am going to taste tonight is an old Laddie. This particular whisky is distilled in 1977 and did survive the closure of Bruichladdich in 1995. The new owners decided to bottle this cask in 2010, only 844 bottles were derived from the original new Bourbon Cask at natural cask strength of 47,4%. This sample is derived from cask 324. While it is quite an old whisky it needs it time to open up. The colour is a nice mid-gold.

Nose:

At first the nose is quite waxy and mineral (oily flavours). After letting it breathe for a while you will get an explosion of different smells:  Peach, Pineapple, Raisins, Honey, Oak, Melon, Lemon curd and a little bit of paraffin. Some hints of dark spices pop up and disappears again in the quite fruity nose before I could determine what they were. It keeps opening up and is quite complex, but wow this is a hell of a nose!

Taste:

What started on the nose is followed by the taste, superb feeling of fruitiness, oily and velvety. Even more fruits come in to play with this time some tropical fruits added to the peachy and melon taste that is still present. Also some coastal influence, quite dark and on the background, as a beach area in the fall. I think it is the barley influence that gives this “dark” taste.

Finish:

Long and warming, still finding flavours even if you swallowed the dram a while ago.  Again the Nose and Taste are followed up in the same manner. It is fruity, balanced and in away energizing, with a slight hint of mint. Can’t stop enjoying this dram….

Balance:

There isn’t one note in this dram that isn’t adding to the complexity and extreme feeling of enjoyment while sipping this dram. The balance is simply superb!

Conclusion:

This is very different than I expected from a Bruichladdich. Modern ones are usually more crisp and clean (at least the ones I tasted so far). This one has a depth and complexity that I didn’t encounter in many whiskies I tasted so far. Unfortunately I have had only a small sample, but this is a superb whisky, maybe even the best one I tasted so far. It is still available, but unfortunately it is quite expensive at around € 280. Points 96.