CNY goodies part 4 - "World" whisky tasting

Our battle against time continues. 15 whiskies in 15 days. Can it be done?? Today is Day 13. No time to lose if the challenge is to succeed.

A bunch of stuff in today's bag of tasting notes - Hibiki 12, Ardbeg 10, Penderyn Aur Cymru Madeira, and Yamazaki 12. 

Hibiki 12 - This one has been discontinued, and prices have skyrocketed since the discontinuation was announced. Used to be one of the staples of the Suntory line of whiskies. A nice, amber colour.

Nose - Fruity. A little plum, somewhat like the Hibiki Harmony Master's Select. But this one is more complex. There's some sweet oak, and caramel. A little sherry? Some sweet red fruit in any case. Vanilla, and a little floral. Pleasant, well-balanced.

Palate - sweet. Suggestions of a little nut, like almonds. Oak. Sweet plum. Vanilla, and some spices. This one is really more complex and better than the Master's Select, in my opinion. Or maybe I just haven't given the Master's Select a fair hearing.

Finish - A little short. Some tannin, and thus, a little drying. Spices and wood.

A good, balanced dram. Japanese craft evidently on display.

Ardbeg 10 - Ardbeg is the quintessential peat monster. This tasting was contributed by PY, who is definitely a guy, despite having a name that often gets mistaken for being feminine.

Nose - ash and meat. Like a barbecue. Then some charcoal smoke. Exactly like a barbecue then...oddly, some vanilla as well. Or something sweet.

Palate - Immediately a bit drying. Herbal/medicinal, ashy, and more charcoal smoke. Sweet as well. Spicy on the way down. There's a little alcohol burn in this one. On second sipping, an odd taste. Reminded me of the brine in canned tuna. PY gives me an incredulous "huh? canned tuna??" Guess it's just me then.

Finish - spicy, and some drying tea tannins. Fiery, like swallowing warm coals. Leaves a little sweetness at the back of the throat.

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Second session consisted of the following 4 drinks. With me tonight was JP, who gave the taster bottle of Yamazaki 12. He got to try the Kavalan Solist Sherry and the Edition Santis. I won't be writing new notes on those, but just noting some of his remarks that differed from mine...

First up was the Penderyn Aur Cymru Madeira (46% abv). This one came courtesy of CP, who also helped me to get the Santis. Thank you!

Colour - straw

Nose - Leathery. Tanned leather. A little grain, and a little yeast, with that bit of sour scent that yeast has. Doesn't smell very promising, but we'll see.

Palate - a little sour. Then it becomes bitter. According to JP, this is the bitter that comes at the back of traditional Chinese medicine. Licorice, then rubber, tar. A little peppery. JP and I were making funny, grimacing faces at one another. Maybe some people like this profile of flavours, but we don't.

Finish - rubber and licorice. Burns a little.

Overall - mm. As the first Welsh whisky that I've ever come across, it was worth a try. Like an adventure in a YOLO sort of way. But I don't think I'll be rushing to get a full bottle anytime soon.

Yamazaki 12 - Less famous than it's 18 year old brother, but prices are also going up.

Nose - Sherry was the first to hit. A little bit of a citrus fruit. First word that came to JP was yuzu. Hmm. I thought it was something a little heavier than yuzu.  A bit of oak. Quite a lot of honey.

Palate - Sherry on entry. Rather sweet. A bit of spice and just a small whiff of smoke in the middlle. Vanilla backdrop. A lot of honey. This one is sweet.

Finish - a bit drying. Light smoke and spice. Like honeyed water with cinnamon.

On the whole, very nice. Not in the same class as the 18, but you can taste the progression. Some distilleries produce whiskies whereby the various ages are matured in very different ways, and thus taste very different. This one tastes just like a younger version of the 18. The 18 becomes richer, rounder, and more matured, but the basic is the same. Good quality and product control by the folks at Yamazaki.

JP's impression of the Santis and Kavalan: 

Santis - not really beer-like until the finish, as opposed to the beer I found upfront. He smelt more vanilla than I did, and some icing sugar. I can see why he found those notes, but perhaps that's not quite how I would describe them. On the whole, we agree that this is nice, pleasant, too dangerously easy to drink. JP says that he can almost taste the Alpine water that went into this whisky. JP also very versatile, being a good sipping dram as well as something to round off a more complex drinking session.

Kavalan - JP did not enjoy this much as I did, with the rubbery notes hitting him first. He found the rubber quite off-putting. Concluded that he wasn't much of a sherry bomb guy. Ah well.

So, 6 whiskies over 2 sessions that take us around the world. 1 Scotch, 2 Japanese, 1 Swiss, 1 Taiwanese, and 1 Welsh. That was fun!
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We are on 14 now...Getting really close...Will we succeed...? Or will I have to cheat...?!? Bring out an old tasting note? Write a new note on something that I already have a review for? Or what?

The clock is ticking.

East Meets West - Santis Edition

Not much to update for now, and it seems that the aim to hit 15 new drinks in 15 days of CNY is flagging. We will never know if we never try. The valiant and foolish effort continues today, with a tasting of a hard-to-find malt in Singapore - Santis Malt, from the Swiss Highlands!

Santis Malt is a whisky distiller that is part of a company that usually produces German-styled beers, in the German-speaking regions of Switzerland. The selling point of Santis is the usage of beer casks for the maturation of their whiskies. Tired of the usual sherry cask, bourbon cask, virgin oak, noble oak, blood oak, silver oak, american oak, fine oak, select oak, three wood, triple wood, triple cask, etc. etc.? Why not try beer cask for a change...?

Turns out, a good reason to not try is its rarity. Santis doesn't have a large output, and I've not seen anyone sell this in Singapore. Therefore, big thanks to CP for helping me bring a bottle back from Switzerland!

Accompanying the Edition Santis is Yan Lianke's novel, The Four Books, in an English translation. The novel is about the Great Leap Forward, and the disastrous economic policies pursued by Mao. For the first couple of chapters, the people in the Re-Education site (read labour camp) have been doing nothing but planting and harvesting grain. Hopefully, this Santis was made using ethically grown grain.

Santis Malt, Edition Santis (40% abv)

Colour - Light gold.

Nose - The first sniff took me aback. This is not whisky; it's obviously beer! German lager, to be exact. Fascinating. After the first whiff of beer, the nose develops a bit of raisins. Not as rich as the Glendronach or Kavalan, and a little less ripe/dried. Some green-ness in this. A little like figs too. A hint of fresh pine leaves. The nose suggests that this is young, maybe 5 years or so, but it is nice and fruity. The beer opening is intriguing and inviting, if you like beer. There's a whisky beer that they serve at the Auld Alliance. Maybe I should try that for comparison... With some time, it gets a little creamy too.

Palate - A little bread on entry, again, like some beers with a stronger yeast influence. The raisins come back, figs too, but doesn't dominate the palate. Very smooth, for a whisky that smelt so young. The alcohol seems to have blended very well with the rest of the liquid, producing a warm tingle. Very accomplished for something that's young. Body's a little thin and doesn't quite coat the mouth so well. Maybe a higher alcohol content will fix the body, but not throw off the smoothness too much? Some light spices. Some citrus on the way out, which turns a bit bitter. Like the finish of a lemon bitters soft drink that I had from the library cafe once. A little bit of oak as well, but the oak is mostly covered by the beer/yeast/bread flavours.

Finish - The bit of bitterness transits into a little whiff of smoke. Not like anything I've had thus far. It's a little...different, in a nice, "we-love-diversity" way. Apple wood smoke? Pine wood smoke? I'm not sure. Gotta burn some plants to get a better sense of it. Which is not very considerate. A bit of the woodspice lingers. Surprisingly long. The spice lingers at the back of the throat, as does the feeling that you've actually drank a beer rather than whisky.

This one is really interesting. Pity it's hard to find here in Singapore. A good whisky, with a rather unique profile. A good demonstration of what a good distiller can do to maximize what's available to him, to produce a whisky that is differentiated from the mainstream Scotches, Bourbons and Japanese whiskies. Fairly cheap too, if you have someone coming back from Switzerland. This one is a 500ml bottle, for 40-ish Swiss francs. The Edition Dreifeltigkeit won an award for Best European Whisky back in 2010 (iirc), and Santis has produced a popular Edition Alpstein (that's run into version 10 or something like that). I think there's a winter/Christmas edition as well. Worth trying, and keeping one for a refreshing sip after one gets bored of the mainstream stuff.

And with this, the CNY challenge is up to a 10. Two-thirds of the way there...

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...