Friendships and Impulse Purchases (Part 3)

Time to round up this series of posts. Hedonism was bought at the airport, so not really an impulse buy by DW. The Yoichi, yes. It was probably overpriced (I think I paid $20 or $25) for 50ml, but I wanted to try it. And I did. Kikori...well. DW had this bright idea to try something different, and whiskey from rice somehow sounded like a good idea.

The Kilchoman reviewed here was a bit of an impulse buy too. After getting the Sanaig from LMdW, DW went online to buy a couple more Kilchomans, so impressed was he by the distillery.

Braeval was a bottle as part payment for photography services rendered by JE to me. Buying a bottle was not on impulse, but the specific bottle was - I just couldn't resist buying a bottle with an aeroplane (a Spitfire!!) on it, with proceeds going to charity. Too good to pass up on!

Kilchoman 10th Anniversary Release (58.2% abv)

Colour - Gold

Nose - Peaty and ashier than the other Kilchoman's from the regular bottlings. This smells closer to Ardbeg. The ash is pretty heavy and dark. Or at least, I found the ash heavier - several reviewers found the ash lighter than usual. Odd. Slightly salty, and the fruits take some time to emerge. But when they do, there's smoked apples, smoked pears, smoked oranges...

Palate - Light bitters...mm. From burnt sugar. There's some over-ripe fruit. I said mangoes, and JE said peach. Basically, an over-ripe mushy fruit. Peat is more subtle on the palate, but still presents itself in its ashy form. Fairly spicy too, which is ramped up even more by the high alcoholic strength. Nutmeg, and a touch of pepper, I believe. A wee bit of oak.

Finish - Ash and spice. There's some lingering over-ripe fruit - lush and sweet, almost like honey. But I think the sweetness retreats first, to leave the ash and spice as the dominant notes on the finish.

Overall - Good stuff. If you can find it. I think DW paid more for this than when it was first released. Kilchoman is consistently great. Amazing. How do you do that? This was released as part of the 10th Anniversary, and we are still waiting for a regular old bottling from Kilchoman.

Braeval 12, Douglas Laing's Clan Denny series, for the RAF Benevolent Fund (46.8% abv)

Look look! It's a plane!

Colour - White wine

Nose - Quite alcoholic on first nosing, but gives way to a leathery, sulphury note, and austere fruit - barely ripe apples and maybe a green banana.

Palate - Fairly sweet on entry. Maltiness, and I think the apple and banana was maybe a little riper than I gave it credit for. There's always an underlying note of sulphur (or camphor as advertised by Douglas Laing). Minerality - a touch of maybe tar and iron. Or did that come from the Spitfire?

Finish - Malty and rather drying, with lingering sulphur notes.

Overall - Straightforward, distillate driven malt. Doesn't quite take flight, but it serves very well as an "average" whisky that is not too tempered with by fancy wood. Just a good, old fashioned (probably refill) sherry cask, and whisky.