Scotch Archives - Page 12 of 19

Category: Scotch

Glenallachie 12 Year 2008 Sherry Butt 57.8% For First Cask Whisky Import Netherlands

Nose: Burnt coffee ice cream, prune juice, dates, raisins. Shaved my body today and smelled my armpits at the end. Under all that sweetness are some rough notes… like my armpit and julie’s fingernail polish. I can’t tell if the palate will be amazing or awful. Kinda scared. Going in.

Palate: I am in a complicated relationship with this palate. I love sour. It reminds me of the funky fermented side of belgians sours. And the industrial side of jamaican rum. All spice, steel cut oats,, horse milk. We all have a little bit of genghis khan in us. We’re talking Injera, sour fermented funky ass … ethiopian pancakes.

Rating: 5 (Ryan) 6 (Shane) / 10 – it is weird and neurotic and I like it. But I can’t imagine anyone else vibing it. So this rating should not carry any weight.

Tasting Note

Glenallachie 11 Year 2009 Oloroso Hogshead Cask #7700 55.0% For France

Nose: Dr pepper, black peppercorn, Kookaburra black licorice, almond extract and Disaronno liquor, alfalfa and fresh straw

Palate: Blackberry and plum crumble. Dark chocolate. Organic rooibos. A strong lick of wood that layers in well with the syrupy sweetness. Layered in with an herbal kick. Like getting a digestif here in the canaries, where they put herbs into spirits and roll their own.

Rating: 6 / 10 – a completely lovely oloroso expression

Tasting Note

Shane

Wee Mongrel Batch 1 20 year blended malt 52.3% by Little Brown Dog Spirits

Nose: Slightly funky. blackberries.

Palate: Jelly blackberry candies, cedar box, cinnamon

Rating: 6 / 10 – a nice blend with a hint of character

Tasting Note

Shane

Scallywag Blended Chocolate Edition Ed. 2 – 2009 / 2019 48%

Nose: Plum butter, australian red vines, passion flower. Nose is lovely.

Palate: Pu’er, died date nuggets, colo-cao, teeny bit of chlorine

Rating: 4 / 10 – its fine but not for this price

Tasting Note

Glenallachie PX puncheon 14YR 60.1% Cask #6624

Nose: Tobacco, cinnamon sticks, wood putty, nutmeg & ginger, mint chocolates.

Palate: Chocolate covered cherries, cinnamon hot cocoa, chewing tobacco, cola.

Rating: 7 / 10 – that is a proper sherry bomb

Tasting Note

Shane

Ardnamurchan 5 Yr Oloroso Sherry Cask for Adelphi 59.3% Casks # 332 / 333

Nose: Passion fruit flower, orange peel, nutmeg, bbq smoke, wool socks.

Palate: Smoked wildflower honey, sweet bright peat, cassis syrup.

Rating: 7 / 10 – a beautifully peated sherry

Tasting Note

Shane

Glenglassaugh 2012 Peat first fill oloroso “Sherry Bomb” 5 year 59.3%

Nose: Graham crackers, chocolate cherry fudge, a very sweet jamaica (cinnamon, hibiscus, star of anise)

Palate: Hazelnut, plum leather, actual leather, bright peat

Rating: 7 / 10 – tiny private cask from a few friends (bruce, hughes…). Freaking delicious

Tasting Note

Bruichladdich 10 year 2002 Madeira 46% For Dramfool’s

Nose: Barnyard funk, touch of sulfur, hints of prime rib, sweet treats, lot of delightful things here dancing around on the nose. Maple candies. Frosting.

Palate: Chocolate, leather, heather, smoke, vanilla salt water taffy, salted cod.

Rating: 5 (Shane) 6 (Ryan) / 10

Tasting Note

Bruichladdich 2002 20 year First Fill Bourbon 59% For Dramfool’s

Nose: Plain milk chocolate m&m’s, snack pack chocolate pudding cups, stale vanilla wafers you pick up at the costa rican gas station on the way to a company meeting… nearly a tradition. Graham crackers / circus animals, werther’s originals, tangerine flan with a well balanced layer of smoke.

Palate: Tangerine cut in half and plopped on the grill with a sprig of rosemary. Grapefruit peel. Wildflower honey. Sour grass.

Rating: 5 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – a fun mix but surprised too

Tasting Note

Hazelburn Distillery Handfill Nov 3 2022 54.9%

Nose: Salted fruit bomb. Ripe yellow nectarines. Coriander and toasted cumin. Honeycomb and pollen. I love the springbank DNA with the waxy fruit influence. Like Clynelish and springbank had a love child. Boston fruit slices. Raspberries and Blackberries gummy candied. Scotch tape. A pair of wool socks. Grilled cheese animal style from in-n-out.

Palate: Toasted peach with a hint of sea salt and basil, corrugated cardboard, endive with grapefruit supremes.

Rating: 4 (Ryan) 6 (Shane) / 10 – I love the contrasts of the nose. Springbank is rarely quite so fruity. And while Ryan is rarely enamored by the tart side of life (sounds like a personal problem to me), I greatly enjoy it. Who doesn’t like a bit of zest?!?

Tasting Note

Kilkerran Distillery Handfill 59.2%

Nose: Buttery, honey and salinity, smoked salmon, cinnamon. cedar filled with a sharp filtered sake. Cutting open a passion fruit. Lemon. Freshly washed sheet .. or maybe just downy sheets. Makes me want to cuddle a teddy bear.

Palate: Grilled watermelon rinds. (lightly) smoked pork belly. Agave syrup. Honeysuckle. Pool water / chlorine from when I swim laps. Packing tape.

Rating: 4 (Ryan) 6 (Shane) / 10 – Another lovely salty and tart fruity pour. Hits all parts of my tongue. Still wishing for a bit more of the Springbank dirtiness but enjoyable. Ryan says tart is an annoying way to romanticize bitterness. And I should own that I like pucker face. Two wins, or two fails depending on the audience.

Tasting Note

Shane

Springbank 10 Year Core Line 46%

Nose: Vero mango lollipops. Pineapple juice and coconut water. Sugar cookies, fresh whipped cream, with bits of mint or maybe oregano and orange zest. Bar of soap. Grapefruit rind.

Palate: Tangerine spritzer. Bandaids. Heather grass and light smoke.

Rating: 6 / 10 one of my first loves in Scotch. I tried it in a restaurant and immediately went out and bought a bottle. But somehow, given all of my journey, today it’s both good, and yet somehow could be more.

Tasting Note

Springbank Distillery Handfill 52.6%

Nose: Creme de violette, flan w/ orange cream, catnip, smoked ham, touch of glue

Palate: Nice hit of smoke on the front that then evolves into palm sugar and fermented fruit kombucha with a touch of beef carpaccio. Finish is licking an envelope seal with that slight chemical sweetness. A dirty challenging moment akin to cough drops.

Rating: 5 (Shane) 6 (Ryan) / 10 – I go back and forth with really enjoying the challenge, and not having the energy to be challenged. I wonder if at the end of a large glass I’d still enjoy it.

Tasting Note

Springbank Fresh Sherry 6yo Cage 59.7%

Nose: Sherry or esters?!? What the what? Falling asleep in the sun on the back of a party boat. Asshole dude with a giant ceramic fish keeps trying to pour more rum punch down my throat but I have to avoid getting seasick. Strong oak paintbrush. So well balanced.

Palate: Hickory summer sausage, cacao nibs, leather. Caramelized figs. Fresh medjool dates. Muscovado sugar. Full frontal christmas class. Rum soaked dried fruit. A touch of sea salt. Asphalt and bandaids. It’s not glendronach or dunville’s christmas, it’s dirty harry christmas.

Rating: 8 / 10 – Awesomeness. Big bold flavors. Huge thick syrupy rummy. Deviously and broodingly delicious. And let’s be honest, a lot of people will complain that the Springbank or even Kilkerran character is lost. Fuckem. It’s delicious. Good hooch is good hooch.

Tasting Note

Longrow Distillery Handfill 53.9%

Nose: Grilled leeks. Big smoke. As a child I somehow conned my parents into believing that “fruit by the foot” was fruit leather and not just candy. Very American reference but live with it. Reminds me of the grape flavor and makes me think of a port cask. Red plums, more on the prune spectrum. Sweet spiciness. For years I would walk into Planet Fresh, brazenly stroll to the salsa bar (brilliant idea) where I would blend the pico de gallo with thai sweet chili hot sauce. I’d fill up a soda cup worth and walk out. A touch of sweet umami, peking duck sauce and szechuan. That smoke smells like when you overheat your immersion blender.

Palate: Smoke first, sweet second. Ginger snaps. yum?

Rating: 5 (Ryan) 7 (shane) / 10 – too deep in to rate this truly carefully, but it’s pretty damn solid. It’s a yum yummy yum yum.