CNY Whiskies

I attended a Lunar New Year whisky event at LMDW over the weekend, and it was great. A limited ticketed event meant that the crowd was of a manageable size throughout the 8 hours of the event. The small crowd added to the experience because it allowed everyone to get some personal attention from the knowledgeable and friendly staff at LMDW. Absolutely top class.

The rules of the event were simple - pay $58, and you get to try 8 half drams from a selection placed on the bar. About half the bottles were limited editions, or unique bottlings for La Maison. I went with PY, which meant that, on top of our own 8 drams, we stole sips from one another's as well. And PY brought a friend too. So all in all, I tried, maybe 16 different whiskies? The ones that I remember are:

Kavalan Solist Moscatel - Thick, syrupy feel, very much in the same style as the Solist Sherry. Sweeter, less raisins, more syrup. Finish is a little more drying, but spicier as well. The wood has done a thorough job, which is pretty much par for the course for Kavalan's Solist series. A little too pricey though.

Compass Box Double Single - Smooth, great, but the contrast between the two doesn't really show up. Or was that the point of the blend? Complex, with many subtle changes in flavour, and blended well together.

Compass Box Phenomenology - This was confusing. Meaty, fruity, smokey on the finish, spicy and sweet on the palate, slight sour note on the nose. Great for experimenting, hard to drink more than a glass. The whisky transforms a lot over time and with water.

Compass Box No Name - Big and smokey, the component parts were obviously from Islay. Sherried too, lending this a dry, leathery note. The sweetness of red fruits didn't really show up, or maybe my tongue was already dead to them.

Compass Box Three Year Deluxe - Bloody fantastic. Smooth, complex, sweet honey, vanilla, the wood tells, but is finely balanced by fresh apples.

Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza - A rather fruity and berry-led attack. Think that's the sherry cask talking. There's a touch of rubber, forming a good counter-taste to the fruitiness. Velvety, some notes of butter. Honeyed, sweet, and, not surprisingly, spicy. Though spices hardly lead the way here. This is a very well-constructed whisky.

Linkwood 2008, Signatory Vintage for LMDW - Ok, this wasn't that great. Very sweet on the nose, icing sugar, some heather honey, fruit salad dressing. Palate felt a little thin.

Blanton's, 55% abv - A misadventure. Pretty good bourbon, but was reminded of why I don't really like bourbon.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Secret Distillery 9 years - This is bloody amazing. Thick sherried goodness, fresh citrus. Slight meatiness on finish. PY guessed Arberlour, Sarah from LMDW guessed Glenfarclas, and I said Macallan, for academic purposes. Guess we'll never know.

Artist Collective Glenlivet - a rather unusual Glenlivet. Leads on sherry cask fruitiness. This is supposedly a blend of 5 different casks. It's got apples and pears, but also a lot of other notes - spicy, and even some charred oak. Some light tea tannins too. This is Glenlivet with character.

Whew. Did I manage to get everything down? Not quite, but these events are a great way to taste a whole bunch of stuff at a reasonable price. Just realized that half the memorable drams were from Compass Box - the guys there are making blends exciting again. There were other sips of heavily peated stuff I stole from PY - Octomore from the Rest and be Thankful series, Port Charlotte from elements of Islay, etc., but they're just a smokey haze in my memory, so shall refrain from trying to write about them...

And I bought an Amrut Portonova too. Wonder when I'll open that. Hopefully soon. But then, I've got a really long backlog of untasted/unopened whiskies...

Complimentary Tasting at LMDW - A big mixed bag

For the month of April, La Maison is hosting complimentary whisky tasting in the afternoons, from noon till 6pm, when the bar opens. If you're free, in the area, and wanna sip some good, cheap whiskies and have a lovely chat with the lovely Sarah, then do pop down. A word of warning, though: tasting good and cheap whiskies has a strange effect on you; it makes you a lot more willing to buy. After the complimentary tasting, I bought 2 bottles - the Redbreast 12 Cask Strength, and a Caol Ila from LDMW's The Ten series of whiskies for beginners.

Quick notes of the whiskies that were on offer:

Picture taken from LMDW's FB page: https://www.facebook.com/finespiritsLMDW/

I didn't try everything, and the Kilchoman Caroni Cask ran out.

Whisky de Table
Nose: Could be my eyes playing tricks on me with the colour and packaging of the bottle, but this smelt like white wine. Citrusy, tannic, sour and refreshing. A light malty notes comes out after some time in the glass.
Palate: Ok, yes, this is more like whisky. A lemon and lime edge, slightly smoky, with this whisky carrying a significant proportion of Clynelish. Texture is pretty smooth. Very easy, very quaffable. Sarah kept this bottle refrigerated, and I don't disagree with that.
Finish: Short, slightly sweet notes of honey. Vinous.

Redbreast Cask Strength
Nose: Intense, this one. Rich fruits. Apricots, figs, apples, pears, some hint of minerality...limestone and copper. A little vinous, but maybe more on dessert wine - more sweet, less sour. That's gotta be the sherry talking Rich, velvety vanilla and oak. There's so much going on here.
Palate: Ok, the alcohol packs a punch. After that subsides...rich and smooth. Mouth coating and full bodied. It's like ramping up the normal Redbreast 12 several notches - this one has more flavour coming in huge waves. Similar to the nose. Very consistent, with maybe a touch of floral about it. Maltier on the palate than on the nose.
Finish: Long, intense, clean. Fruity, spicy, oak.

Clynelish 8 years (2008/2015), Signatory 'Very Cloudy'
This one is very cloudy because it is un-chill filtered.

Nose: Mm. Smokier, maltier. Spicy, even on the nose. Compared to the Whisky de Table, of course.
Palate: Lemon, pear, malted barley. Clean, simple, very straightforward. I think I preferred the Compass Box blend...
Finish: Short, slightly spicy, a little woody. Good spirit, young age.

Glenrothes 8 years, G&M 'The Macphail's Collection'
Nose: This is rather meaty and chewy. I would say it smells more chewy than the Mortlach 21 I finished some time back. Chewy, malty too. It's sherried, but the sherry cask must have been a refill, I think. It's not very dominant on the nose, forming more of a backdrop. Like a fruitcake made with preserved fruits.
Palate: Spicy, slightly sherried. Fruits are dried - raisins, dried cranberries. Still chewy and slightly waxy texture.
Finish: Short, spicy and woody.

Cambus 24, Signatory
Nose: Intense. Bubblegum sweetness, corn syrup. Smells more like maize than rye. Mm. Spicy, on ginger and pepper. Big smells, really. Wood behind all the sweetness. Vanilla comes up too, if you get behind the corn syrup. Floral and perfumed.
Palate: Big hitting syrup, but not without complexity - honey, spicy. Ginger, cinnamon, saffron. Toffee, caramel. Solid oak backing too. Pretty good, these old grain whiskies
Finish: Long, spicy. A slight sour note here. Like wine tanginess, if there's such a word.

AnCnoc 12
Nose: Rather straightforward. Honeyed, with wood and light spiciness. Raisins and apple, cinnamon. Simple, good Speyside. But not very special.
Palate: same as above. The body runs out of ideas quite quickly. It starts out nice and supple, but turns flat fairly quickly. Easy, quick drinking. Not one to be mulled over.
Finish: short, sweet. Mm. Slight bitter note here. Artificial colouring, perhaps...?

Ben Nevis Mcdonald's Traditional 
Nose: Whoa. Really old school. The makers wanted to replicate an old style highland whisky, and I think they've succeeded. Big on rocks and charcoal. Sooty, even. A touch of engine oil. Smoky, but on the ashy side. Some lemons and pears too, under all that.
Palate: Slightly peaty - but it's closer to ash than iodine. Big on leather and rubber, but made less brutal by a touch of apples that lies under those big, old-style, industrial notes. Mm. Pomelo - Sour and slightly tannic. I really like this style, but maybe a little more fruit, or wood, or spice would have helped pick it up. I like this, but found it too brooding to buy a bottle.
Finish: Medium, on leather, tannins, and a slight spiciness. Mm. A slight bitter note too.

***************************************************
And, that's a wrap. Didn't try the rest: Highland Park 8 from the Macphail's Collection, and a Caol Ila G&M Reserve. Whew. Couldn't taste anything for the rest of the day.

Many thanks to Sarah, who very graciously talked PY and I through all the whiskies, sharing thoughts, stories, tasting notes from Google, and for being very patient while we deliberated on what to buy. Benefits of going to LMDW on a rainy afternoon eh?

Friendships and Impulse Purchases (part 2)

Hedonism (43% abv)

Ok, this was not an impulse purchase. Just something DW got from the Airport DFS. Based on my recommendation, I think? In any case, this blended grain from Compass Box has been something I've been wanting to try. I've not had a good impression of grain whisky, but it seems like grain whisky is getting more attention recently, and is more complex than many people (myself included) have given them credit for. Perhaps it's my bias against bourbon spilling over.

That makes Hedonism a good place to start fighting back against baseless bias: I don't trust grain whisky (yet), but I trust Compass Box. So, we're starting on fairly neutral ground here.


Colour - Gold, but this is achieved without artificial colouring or chill filtering. Just the grain and the barrel. Grain and barrel. That's a good name for a whisk(e)y review website!

Nose - Sweet butterscotch mother of toffee! Lots of vanilla and honey. Rich, velvety butterscotch. Some toffee. A touch of oaky goodness. Spicy even on the nose. After a while, the nosing develops to become rounder, and less sweet; that's good because it was approaching dangerously close to "cloying" territory initially. This smells like kueh lapis. For those who're not from Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia, this is kueh lapis:

Layer upon layer of buttery, oily, cakey goodness. The really good ones, you can peel off layer by layer. Or, take a bite across the layers and feel them separate into thin strips in your mouth, before disintegrating into a buttery, gooey mash. Brilliant. And high in calories. But yes, Hedonism smells like that. Preferably with black tea.

Palate - Smooth. Vanilla, a touch of coconut, honey, butter, toffee. Maybe a few drops of maple syrup. No, I don't mean the one they give at Macdonald's when you order pancakes. Actual maple syrup. And honey. Thankfully, that'll be spiced honey - cinnamon, nutmeg, and something a little more prickly. A basket of fruits too - ripe apples, maybe a banana and pink guava. There's also a good oak structure to the whisky - wood in the background helps to hold the strong flavours of this whisky together, and gives it a slight tannic feel too. It's a little drying due to the tannic feel, and that helps to prevent this blended grain from become overpoweringly sweet.

Finish - Medium length. Coconut and oak are a little more prominent here, and a slight bitterness, like tea. So that makes this dram kueh lapis and tea in the same sip? That's a perfect tea-time snack!

Overall - Good stuff! If grain whisky was this good, I'll have no problems with trying more. Hedonism manages to achieve great balance and depth, at an affordable price point. Go Compass Box! 

I know that in Part 1, I said that the tasting notes will be brief, but I took many mental notes of this - I had really wanted to try it.

So, this is part 2. Part 3 will cover the Braeval and Kilchoman! These will be brief. Promise.

Timorous Beastie on the streets of Glasgow

Douglas Laing's Timorous Beastie (46.8% abv)

Colour - White wine

Nose - Almost like white wine on initial nosing. After a while, quite a bit of grass and honey. Heather as well. Oranges seems to be the main fruit in this. Perhaps due to the influence of the Dalmore? A faint bit of peat right at the back. Fairly straightforward malt too.

Palate - Sweet entry. A lot of honey and heather. Some grass. And more honey. Then sweet oranges...mandarin oranges, almost. This is malty and slightly yeasty, giving it a mild sour note, but mostly like fresh, soft, white bread. Comforting. A mix of spices - cinnamon, maybe nutmeg? A light peat undertone, but not very noticeable.

Finish - A little bit drying, and a small dash of pepper. Smoke at the back of the throat. The other spices help the finish to last, revealing a touch of oak and peat at the end.

Overall - pleasant and simple. A decent vatted malt that is value for money if you can get it at under $100.

Compass Box Great King Street Glasgow Blend (43% abv)

Colour - light amber. What's the right word for this?

Nose - Alternates between being sherried and peated, as advertised. Vanilla too! Was that from the cask, or from the grain whisky? A few drops of seawater.

Palate - Sweet and a bit syrupy on entry, but that quickly gives way to a wine character. Slightly sour, and grapes. Perhaps one other red fruit, but it gets taken over by peat before I manage to identify it. The peat is medicinal and slightly bitter. A little ashy, yet grassy and vegetal at the same time. A little spiced, ginger and cinnamon? Ok, scratch that. The spice grows - pepper...ginger? The sides of my tongue are tasting a rich sherry sweetness, but the middle part says peat. A bit confusing, but in a good way. Lemon zest, and a light kiss by the sea. I mean that there's a little salt in this. A salt-water fish with a dash of lemon? Peat and pepper just before it goes down.

Finish - Peat and a bit of tea tannins. English breakfast that's been steeping in the hot water for too long, I reckon. The spices on the palate hang around quite a bit. Then oak. And right at the back, before the finish ends, a rich red fruit. Ripe, sweet berries? This is a fairly long finish. Gets a bit drying though.

Overall: If I did not know prior to drinking, I may not have realized that this was a blended whisky and may have mistaken it for a blended malt, or even a sherried Islay. There isn't any overt grain whisky flavours - no big vanilla, coconuts, syrup, or stuff like that. Just a good, clean peaty and sherried whisky. A clear goal set, and well-achieved by Compass Box. I quite like this. Like a cheapo version of the Laphroaig 32. Which isn't surprising, as this blend has some Laphroaig in it.