Speyside Party

JE came back from overseas, and picked up a couple of bottles from Duty Free. This led to us having a Speyside party last night. The Speyside Party included the following malts: Tomintoul 12 Limited Edition, Balvenie 16 Triple Cask, Inchgower 16 (Old Malt Cask), and just for fun, the Balvenie 30 again. There was also a guest appearance by a young Islay, the Bruichladdich Bere Barley, distilled in 2008.

Tomintoul 12 (40% abv, Limited Edition)

This one was advertised as a "gentle dram". Let's see how "gentle" it is. Gentle isn't euphemism for weak, I hope?

Nose - Opens on marshmallows and icing sugar. Syrupy too. The sweetness calms down a bit to reveal sultana raisins, and some light spices. Doesn't seem to have much else behind it...Definitely gentle. Hmm. The opening was very sweet. Overly so, I think.

Palate - Sultanas, some vanilla. This is a sweet whisky - the icing sugar continues a little at the start. Light spice - a bit of cinnamon and something a bit prickly. A wee bit of leather. Smooth, gentle, but not very much, I'm afraid, even accounting for its age.

Finish - Eh...short and quick. When the official tasting notes describe the finish as "Mellow and Warming", you know that it's not going to be amazing.

Overall - Nice, smooth, inoffensive Speyside to start things off. Thanks JE! Next!

Balvenie 16 Triple Cask (40% abv)

This dram was also provided by JE.

Nose - Woooof. Not a good start. Reminds me too much of corn syrup aka Crown Royal North Harvest Rye. Behind the syrup lies some sherry influence - sweet sherry, but not enough to mellow out the bourbon/corn syrup notes. A bit of a woody influence, but the predominant note is the syrupy scent. Don't really like this.

Palate - This claims to be triple cask, but the bourbon cask seems to have had the strongest influence. The bourbon cask is especially active, while the mystery third cask is simply called a "traditional whisky cask" - "traditional" meaning...refill bourbon? Anyhows. Some wood, very very light spices, and the bourbon notes are the strongest. Coconut perhaps. I don't like. Honeyed, but the honey is too close to the syrup. Eek.

Finish - Eh...unmemorable. Some light spices, a bit of wood, and nothing much else, I'm afraid. The wood is quite robust. I washed this out with water quite quickly. It probably lasts longer that I allowed it to. Oops.

Overall - This could work, but I didn't like the type of notes that came through. Next!

Inchgower 16, by Douglas Laing's Old Malt Cask (50% abv, from a single cask sherry butt, distilled in 1995) (this has been updated since first publication, mostly to add in the effects of water)

Colour - dark gold

Nose - This is good. Marmalade, bitter oranges, orange peel, then raisin/sherry notes and robust spices. Nutmeg and cinnamon. A classic sherried speyside! Slightly herbal - say...thyme? Rosemary? More spice than herbal. Water brings out a touch of vanilla.

Palate - Big, big palate. The oranges aren't really present - just the orange peel and zest. Big raisins - rum soaked raisins. The raisins are countered by strong leather and rubber. This was a powerful sherry cask indeed. The spices build and build. My goodness. This is really, really big on spices. The spices start out quietly in the background behind the raisins and leather/rubber, then it becomes bigger and bigger. Ginger, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron/papprika...wow. Spice party! There's a nice wood influence too - some vanilla to balance out the spice. A nice bit of menthol and mint rounds things up for a refreshing swallow.

A few drops of water drags out the raisins a little bit more, and lengthens the spices. There's some burnt/caramelized sugar as well. I think this was on the palate before the water, but a lot more discernible with water. There's also a bit of black tea which makes it a little more drying. The richness of sweet sherry is more present with water. It was probably hiding behind all the spice and rubber prior to dilution. And, oh my, is that one small puff of smoke when I swallowed?

Finish - Spices linger for rather long, as does the mint, menthol and wood. A touch of rubber and burnt sugar. Water drags the finish out. One hour later, I still taste a bit of this finish. Wow.


Overall - This is great. There's actually a story behind how I bought this bottle. Some time ago, I was at Vom Fass, and was recommended this bottle as the "best whisky in the shop". I did not take up the recommendation, and bought the Springbank 12 Cask Strength instead. No regrets, of course, with buying the Springbank, but I did wonder what the Inchgower would taste like. My next visit to Vom Fass, and, alas, the Inchgower was not on the shelves anymore. Sold out. However, thankfully, on my next visit, there was a bottle of this on the shelf again! Apparently, the folks at Vom Fass found one last bottle in their warehouse. Now, it's in my house. Muahahahaha.

At $150, this is, in my opinion, value for money. But, it's probably hard to find another bottle anywhere. Great stuff, really.

With or without water? Personal preference, really. Without water, this whisky is more intense. With water, the various flavours are dragged out, allowing some hitherto hidden notes to become more prominent.

Ok, that's all for the Speyside party for now. I've reviewed the Balvenie 30 previously, and I'll save the Bruichladdich for another time. Have a good evening!

The next bag of CNY drinks

Had a crazy fun session a couple of nights ago. Here are some notes taken from the evening...

Macallan 18 - This is the newer Macallan 18 Sherry Oak, which says on the bottle that the whiskies were taken from 1997 or older. Which is pretty much what the number "18" was supposed to indicate anyway. Superfluous clarification. But maybe that's part of the whole marketing plan.

Colour - dark gold

Nose - sherry. Raisins, fresh grapes, a bit of spice, caramelized sugar. Very sweet nose, with just a hint of some spice. Smells like cinnamon

Body - Rich and fairly full-bodied. A little oily.

Palate - A very nicely sherried whisky. Apart from the grapes and raisins, there's vanilla, choccolate, a healthy dose of spices, including cinnamon and something that stings a little, like pepper or chilli. Drying. Was colouring added? This dryness reminds me of artificial caramel colouring...hmm. probably not.

Finish - wood, spice, and a small puff of smoke. The alcohol burnt a bit on the way down in a warming sort of way.

On the whole, this was pretty enjoyable, and several people's favourite of the night. Macallan still produces quality; the issue is with the pricing...

Macallan Estate Reserve - A newer whisky by Macallan. This one tastes fairly similar in terms of the overall flavours, but the Estate Reserve has a much larger wood presence. The oak can be smelt and tasted from the nosing all the way through to the finish. In my opinion, this made the nose more complex, but masked/replaced much of the richness of the palate. Can't say much else about this; I'm not sure if I'm tasting it properly after having the rich Macallan 18.

A drink of water to wash the mouth, and off we're off to the next one!

Hibiki 17 - Ok, yes, I did say that the whiskies reviewed in this blog are going to be more affordable, but the Hibiki 17 doesn't fall within that range. But hey, it's CNY!

Nose - Floral, like the Hibiki 12 was, but more mature. Flowers in full bloom, rather than just freshly bloomed.  Ripe fruits, including apples and pears. Grain sweetness - vanilla, bourbon-like.

Palate - sweet grains. An excellently balanced and smooth blend. Rich, ripe fruits. Slightly jammy, and a little spice. And is that a little bit of peat? From the Hakushu perhaps...? Or is my tongue playing tricks on me...?

Finish - A little spice, balanced nicely by wood.

Japanese mastery. A fairly big step up from the Hibiki 12, but a big step in prices too, in the present climate...

Balvenie 30 - the star of the night.

Nose - Pears, which are apparently DW's favourite fruits. His wife was surprised by that fact. No one knew. Plum. Honey, lots of honey. A little bit of almond and pencil wood, in a nice way.

Palate - boomz. Very, very smooth. The alcohol is nicely blended with the rest of the liquid (as it should after 30 years in the barrel), and comes across as a warming complement to the flavours, helping to bring them up to the tongue. Slightly spicy. Fruit, feels a little like pears poached in wine. A touch of chocolate. Almond, oak, and a bit of coconut. The entry has a bit of the taste of fresh grass or moss. Very complex, rich, and well-layered.

Finish - Wish I could, but alas, it's not my bottle to finish. Oak, cinnamon, plum again, burnt sugar. JE insisted that there was something else in the finish, but since no one could read his thoughts and put words to them, then it shall have to be passed over in silence.

Amazing. It was 30 years well-spent.

Other drinks of the night...

Auchentoshan Three Wood - Now we're back in affordable range. Nice complex whisky, this one, both on the nose and the palate. Some online reviews criticize this whisky for trying to be too many things at the same time, with the three different wood treatments. There's some sour winey notes on the palate, like sour grapes, but doesn't detract from the niceness of the other flavours - a bit of chocolate, a bit of raisins, a bit of a whole bunch of other stuff. The sourness also reminded me of pomengranate, or grapefruit/pomelo. A little odd, but not unpleasant.

Glenfiddich 18 - Smooth, even by an 18 year old's standards. Unfortunately, in the company of the other beasts of the night, the Glenfiddich 18 was fairly forgettable and flavourless. Not much alcohol burn, simple, straightforward. Some vanilla, some suggestions of sherry cask influence, a little oak. Could be a decent regular drink, but a little flat, flavour-wise.

So, with these brief notes on 6 whiskies, the CNY whisky count is up to 9! Just 6 more, and there are 9 days of CNY left!!

*Also available for the night were the Yamazaki 18, Hakushu 18, JW King George V, Crown Royal North Harvest Rye, and Taketsuru 21. I already have notes for the latter 4. The Yamazaki 18 only made an appearance late in the session, and  my tongue was already numb and tired. So, I skipped it. Maybe there'll be an opportunity to do a tasting of the Yamazaki 18 sometime later...