Category: Whisky
Port Charlotte 20 Year 2002/2022 Fèis Ìle 16 years in Bourbon + 4 years in Oloroso Cask #91 58.4% for Dramfool
Nose: During my full day bike ride in Belgium last weekend we ended up talking about making a craft cola. I’m thinking of starting with rose hips, orange peel, the tiniest brush of cloves. And something to bring a sense of aged wood but not sure how to approach it. We didn’t discussed a smoky cola, but I kinda want to give it a shot. Layer in a solid peat smoke and a maritime vibe. It is a solid nose but every time I’ve stepped away from the glass and come back, the first sniff isn’t filling me with joy. Maybe it is the wool socks vibe.
Palate: Salty first then sweet. Blackberries and cassis. Licorice root. A faded meaty note, sweet glazed beef jerky. Oh and it is not wool socks, although that does fit. It is the fine edge of the sulfur spectrum. Not terribly dominant, nor particularly unpleasant, but enough that it won’t outshine the bourbon for me. Even then, this is still a pretty interesting whisky.
Rating: 5 / 10 – When I tried the straight bourbon, I loved it and also wished it had some kind of funky note. Mission accomplished, it’s funky. But I don’t think it actually elevated the pour. Went back to the straight bourbon cask and it’s still awesome.
Kyrö 100% Malt Rye Whisky 47.2%
Nose: I spent the day yesterday biking through the canals of Belgium through tall grasses. At low tide, the smell of wet earth mixed with the warm grasses and pollens floating on the wind. I can still smell the chai from this morning, with a oatmilk base. Touch of cinnamon, vanilla, a shaving of orange peel and the yeastiness of rising dough.
Palate: Oranges and the flavor, but not the kick of sweet asian chilis. My buddy Peter always travels with Metamucil cinnamon digestive biscuits. Probably the best biscuit to pair with coffee, and manage the unfortunate side of travel. Orange blossom honey, and a touch of citric acidity, balancing the underlying sweetness. We visited “the best chocolate shop in Belgium”, all 6 of them, all on the same street. I always appreciate the confidence with which they declared their superiority. While I quickly concluded that Belgium chocolates still taste like chocolate, and I don’t care for chocolate, Daniel found a nut brittle that was well worth the buy. I like how the caramelization of sugars pairs with other flavors. I’m still blown away by how I can recognize the rye influence but it simply doesn’t have the harshness of rye. This is so pleasant.
Rating: 6 / 10 – A fantastic beginner whisky. Warm, sweet, with a juicy bite and only a touch of punch. I was expecting all the gnarly herbal and pepperiness that often accompanies high rye’s but instead found a friendly taste tipple. If you want a bottle in your cupboard for non-spirit drinkers, this is a pretty solid choice.
Longrow Online Tasting Week 2021 17 Year 50.5%
Nose: Fresh pineapple and a bright honeycrisp apple. Honeybaked ham, asparagus, fennel, calvastrano olives, and lemon pine sol. Pineapple upside down cake on revisit.
Palate: Julie’s aunt Claire’s lemon bars if she added a single drop of liquid smoke into the curd. Grilled pineapple. Fennel powers the finish, paired with an animal cracker.
Rating: 8 / 10 – This is just down right yum. It is super well integrated and I love pineapple vibe on peated whisky. It doesn’t have the complexity of most of my 8s, but it’s just so fun to drink.
Hazelburn 21 2021 46%
Nose: A glorious Cadbury egg. Nothing more needs saying as this is in my opinion he penultimate expression of a chocolate treat. Sea salt dark chocolate and honeycomb / bit-o-honey. The zing of sweet tarts… or more elegantly orange blossom water. Fleeting hints of anise. Brown sugar and butter oatmeal, lemon poppyseed. A tomato plant in bloom.
Palate: Milk chocolate, hazelnut, dried cranberry, sea salt, touch of caramel. Old leather my dad kept is tools in. I’d often be assigned the task of sandblasting old metal to remove any corrosion before we worked on new projects. It was hands down the most fun with tools I ever had as a kid. The grit and metal never quite escaped the saftey box my dad built until you opened the door, at which point you could taste it on the air.
Rating: 6 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – Ryan and I have been trying to nail down the Hazelburn DNA for a while. There is a unique smell that ties all their spirits that we have been unable to name. But its a pseudo-industrial vibe. Need more hazelburn.
Hazelburn Online Tasting Week 2021 Fresh Oloroso 15 Year 54.9%
Nose: Tart cherries, Meyers lemon, those tiny cornichon, edamame, street dust, car wax, old wood cabinet.
Palate: Lemon grass and ginger chews which bring that lovely szechuan pepper heat. A potent green garden patch; zucchini, pine needles and green tomato.
Rating: 4 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – I like the garden patch vibe paired with the earth sherry notes. Ryan not so much.
Port Charlotte 20 Year 2002/2022 Fèis Ìle Bourbon Cask #86 57.9% for Dramfool
Nose: Camping should smell this good. A gentle haze of smoke from a sage brush and old oak fire from a few miles upwind. My parents used to drive us from Los Angeles, through Death Valley and up into the mountains where we would camp by a river. This was back in the days before you had to stay in an assigned spot. It was usually searing hot and we’d spend days building dams, fishing and drifting in the water. I can still smell the hot stones on sandy soil. Roasted trout with sea salt. Wild flower honey.
Palate: Holy shitballs, that is delicious. We had dinner with business partners last night and my favorite dish, which everyone else hated, was a grilled and smoked head of lettuce with candied strawberries, tiny crisped anchovies and a drizzle of sweet cream. The sweet, the salt and the creaminess pair sublimely. Salted toffee. While the peat is the star, and the under study, I like the granny smith apple peel vibe.
Rating: 7 / 10 – As Port Charlotte gets older, I keep expecting the peat to mellow, but it just seems to integrate better over time. I love the way it dances with the bourbon sweetness. I do wish it had an extra note or character to bring deeper complexity, as in some ways for my palate, it is almost too pretty. I know, it’s weird complaining because the pour has nailed a perfect note. I can’t wait to try its sister cask.
Longmorn 17 Year 1996/2014 1st Fill Sherry Butt Cask #105089 43% for Signatory Vintage
Nose: Initial impression, a wisp of sulfur laden miracle whip…mmm…caramelized figs, sultanas, spiced boiled apples. In the canary islands, they make great wine. But when you go through a long aging process, often over 25 years, sometimes a barrel turns to vinegar. Why let top shelf vinegar go to waste? They drizzle Vinaigre Macho on fish or meats or use it in cocktails to add that sweet cloying funk. A fun potato salad.
Palate: Gentle and subtle. Tobacco leaf and cardboard. Finish is dark roasted coffee. I even went back for a second dip and didn’t find much more.
Rating: 4 / 10 – the nose and palate weave a very different narrative and while the palate is gentle, it lacks complexity and depth. I had high expectations after the first 1996 Longmorn was such a heavy hitter, and we find myself a wee bit disappointed here.
Longmorn 17 Year 1996/2014 Sherry Butt #105092 60.1% for The Ultimate
Nose: Classic sherry nose with layers of sweetness. Maple syrup and fancy christmas panettone with dark cherries and dried prunes. Sherry poached pears. Prune vibe is potent when I return to the glass.
Palate: You ever stare at your own notes and think, that isn’t a description, its just a rehash of every decent wood forward sherry bomb out there? Yeah yeah, dark chocolate, leather, coffee, and oak. Plump raisins and dates. =)
Rating: 6 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – This is everything you want in a classic sherry bomb. A bit too woody for Ryan, but right up Shane’s oaky alley.
Imperial 1995 19 Years Old Hogshead Cask #50179 46% for The Ultimate
Nose: Apricot yogurt, peach turnover, baked apple with lime zest, vanilla, waxy, Catholic saint candles that were stacked next to the mexican food isle in safeway when I was a kid. I always wondered why they did that but not a fat smiling buddha or the maneki-neko cat statue in the asian food isle. Would you like a side of catholicism with that horchata? And we are talking barrel age horchata here. Wish you could brew that without it going rancid.
Palate: My poor daughter is really struggling with braces. I’m a bit scared from that myself and still remember the taste of the wax I used to try to protect my poor gums from the sharp edges. Sweet and lightly vegetal: spaghetti squash and zucchini blossom. A mild green bell pepper. Herbaceous paired with lime. With slices of crisp pear.
Rating: 5 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – A bright and potent nose, paired with a subtle and grassy palate.
Imperial 1995 22 Year Bourbon Cask #50253 53.1% for Signatory Vintage
Nose: Pool water. Which as a competitive swimmer, isn’t a complaint. Beeswax. Sweet yeast and flour. I’ve never managed to bake those big loaves of fluffy white bread. Mine always has too much heft. Spread a super thin layer of kumquat marmalade and a small pat of butter. The longer it sits, tropical fruits float to the surface, dried mango, yellow peach slices, lychee.
Palate: A dusting of baking spices on a morning pastry. Cinnamon pears. Ridden by cinnamon bears. Waxiness. Kinda makes me want one of those bunuelos from up the mountain. I love the anise ones but julie always goes for the orange. Then the fruit really picks it up a notch. Loquat and kumquat, which are pretty much unrelated despite the linguistic overlap. The palate is sweet yet citric, a somewhat bitter expression of the oak. Keeps it from being too boring.
Rating: 5 (Ryan) 6 (Shane) / 10 – waxy and tropical. Yes please. Ryan actually finds the fruit distracting from the core waxiness.
Tamdhu – Glenlivet 8 Year 1990s 40% for Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: My bestie Peter went on a long journey to craft the ultimate coffee. I remember him trying to learn how to steam milk just right. And that slightly warm dairy smell when you nail it. As someone who never loved coffee, I strongly preferred what our favorite shop called, a bowl of soul. Milk and honey steamed, with a twist of cinnamon and a shaving of citrus zest, with a bag of loose leaf camomile. Underneath the warmth, a crinkle of my nose. Artichoke leaves dipped in a mild vinaigrette.
Palate: Gentle. Shhh, something is happening here… ahh nope. That was just me wishing. A very quiet and blah palate. My tongue stays warm for a while, a cedar hug. Graham cracker sweetness. Caramel and wheat.
Rating: 3 / 10 – yawn. While its not actually bad, it’s boring and barely worth pouring. I’ve had so much bad luck with these 90s Gordon & MacPhail.
Campbeltown Loch 21 Year Bottled 2013 46%
Nose: Peaches and nectarines. Mango. Garden roses. We had a nest of swallows right above the rosebush in front of the house Serenity was born in. I loved sitting with my book in the huge picture window watching the babies swoop, and poop, in the fading light. They made for the most robust roses, and brought a slightly grassy mineral smell to accompany the bright fragrance of the flower. Very mild white cheese with a touch of salt.
Palate: Stone fruit and cherries. I’m definitely not a fan of west coast IPAs. The bitterness and hops is enticing for a second but I rarely enjoy a second sip. For all the fruit on this palate, it’s got a dry edge paired with an odd artificial sweetness. Big league chew might have the most fucked up candy every as an adult looking back, but it was so much fun as a kid to pack that shit into your lip, chew and then shit it out without looking. Until you hit your mom’s good heels and she grounded me for a good part of the summer.
Rating: 4 / 10 – Nose is nice, and there are plenty of fun moments, but the palate just doesn’t do much for me. I was hoping the extra 6% would give it a nice kickstart, but not much of a difference.
Campbeltown Loch 30 Year Bottled 2009 40%
Nose: We took the kids up to Tejeda yesterday to enjoy the heatwave from the top of the volcano. They had just opened the public pool, with perhaps the best view on earth. Picked up almond pastries, an amazing coconut macaroon and a lovely mild hand muddled mint ice cream. Fresh chamomile flowers. My wife makes amazing cookies and I love the smell of the dried ingredients mixed up, flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking powder, sea salt. Touch of vanilla.
Palate: A very gentle and old style spirit. Furniture polish and waxy. White pepper and anise seed. An apple that has lost its sparkly. Hippie generic organic cheerios. This is very thin. I’m taking unusually large mouthfuls to get the impact.
Rating: 5 / 10 – This is both very lovely and far too gentle. I quite enjoy getting to visit the style of waxiness from the 70s. A couple of extra proof would do it wonders and help the spirit shine. I truly waffled between a 5 and a 6. Content according to internet sources : “Around 45% of this Campbeltown Loch 30y is made up of the old 25y which was allowed to mature on. That 25y old blend was almost 100% malt and contained some 1964 Springbank, along with other single malts including 1977 Ardmore, 1977 North Port, 1978 Tomatin, 1977 Imperial, 1976 Glen Garioch, 1976 Ardbeg and 1976 Glen Grant. 30y old grain form Girvan was added to complete the new 30y old Campbeltown Loch.” Not sure how dependable the source is, but its pretty detailed for a guess.
Ledaig 24 year 1995 46.4% for WhiskyNerds
Nose: Berries and cream, this really amps up with time in the glass. Oysters and sherry vinegar, salty and puckering. The astringence of a white tea. Fresh cut grass with slight whiffs of nectarine and tangerine. Fabric bandaids and copper penny. Sour green apples, wildflower honey, and amazingly no peat. With more time, canned peaches and white chocolate make an entrance.
Palate: There is a place and time for each pour. This is being paired with my diary. It suits a pensive mood, makes me think and introspect. Writing about how to be a better husband tonight. 18 years in, it’s pretty easy to take shit for granted, be it my amazing julie, or a well chosen Tobermory. I love the gentle waxy minerality. And the splash of pink grapefruit bitters and basil – which could be an awesome hipster lolly. Nose wrinkles at the furniture spray. A big sip lends itself to matcha green tea, an enticing bitterness. With more time in the glass you get some of those white chocolate and peach notes. In the distant finish you get that lovely nod to the berries on the nose.
Rating: 8 (Shane) 6 (Ryan) / 10
Shane: I truly like this. Freaking elegant and layers across the tongue. This is the least peated Ledaig I’ve had. I can’t find the smoke. Wondering if it should have just been labeled a Tobermory? Kinda sad my sample is gone and already asked Ryan if he wants to sell me one of his bottles. He was so unsure and I was so excited he asked me to wait while he tried it on a different day.
Ryan: I want to like this more than I do, the nose is really lovely and soft, but I’m struggling to pull much from the front of the palate other than bitterness. I love that subtle berrylicious note that lingers long after the finish. This is a challenging and shockingly delicate spirit, and one I’d like to spend more time with. Definitely a fun and unique expression from Ledaig and I appreciate Bram and Floris bottling it for us to enjoy.