Tag: Age 14 Years

Rating 7/ 10
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Hazelgrove 2000 14 Year 48.9% by The Maltman

Nose: Buttered rolls, cold smoked mussels, cullen skank, kumquat marmalade. Bursts of cinnamon. Lightly gamey on the mutton side. Ryan says venison. The peat layers in lovely.

Palate: Front of palate is buttery, slightly sweet, and all bourbon cask, apricot honey, shifts into peppers and finishes with that classic Springbank DNA with nice minerality. Smoked salt. Love the peatyness.

Rating: 7 / 10 – this is delicious and nuanced and yummy

Rating 5/ 10
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Balmenach 14 Year 52% by Hidden Spirits

Nose: Juicy fruit, bubble gum.

Palate: Peach, apple, hint of cardboard, tiny hint of blue cheese

Rating: 5 / 10

Rating 6/ 10
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Bruichladdich 14 Year Syrah Barrique 64.8%

Nose: Tums fruit antacids / chalk, cinamon, tangerine juice and dried peel, blue moon with a big orange slice, sundried tomato

Palate: Tangerine all the way, creme brulee, vibrant acidity

Rating: 6 / 10 – huge bold flavors. Super fun.

Rating 5/ 10
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Diamond 2002 (Port Mourant) 14 Year 2002/2017 Cask #90 53.8% for Duncan Taylor

Nose: Some barnyard funk, green olive, epoxy resin from making plane models with dad, fresh cut grass, tropical fruits (mango, pineapple).

Palate: Fleeting notes of the barnyard funk and tropical fruits, rubber industrial bent, old tires, swimming in a small harbor with diesel boats, overripe mango

Rating: 4 (Ryan) 5 (Shane) / 10 – wonderful engaging nose. The more I sip this the more I like it, and the fruit comes out, but it is an industrial start.

Rating 4/ 10
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Glenallachie 14 Year 1990 40% For Delhaize Belgium

Nose: Vanilla, butter, white peach tea, cucumber water.

Palate: Gentle, rhubarb, swiss chard, lime/lemon/grapefruit zest.

Rating: 4 (Ryan) 3 (Shane) / 10 – While exploring times gone by has merit, I asked Ryan how he would rate this blind. And we ultimately agreed, there is no good reason to shorten our lives for this juice. It lacks spirit.

Rating 7/ 10
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Aberlour 2004/2018 14 Year 1st Fill Sherry Cask #26974 60.4%

Nose: Chocolate turron with rice krispies, nougat, cocoa pod flesh, dried cherries

Palate: Leathery, chocolatey, delicious.

Rating: 7 / 10 – big delicious simple sherry bomb.

Rating 7/ 10
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Glenallachie 2006 14 Year #6591 60.3% for Premium Spirits Belgium

Nose: Kung pow chicken, big wood, Mexican dark chocolate

Palate: Dark chocolate and cinnamon, oak for days, chili, dutch salted black licorice

Rating: 7 (Shane) 5 (Ryan) / 10 – this is quite intense. It works this late in a tasting. Wonder if I’d like it this much on a fresh palate.

Rating 8/ 10
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Glenallachie 2021 14 Year Wood Finish Series Oloroso 55.4% for UK

Nose: Uncuous, southern bbq, dates, prunes, figs

Palate: Pure sherry bomb. Grenadine, subtle meatiness, dried prunes.

Rating: 8 / 10 – 50 shades of glendronach.

Rating 6/ 10
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Savanna 14 Year Grand Arome Porto Cask #391 57%

Nose: There is something magical to a glass ignored. It blooms like a flower in a vase, slowly filling the room with character. And while it’s got that nose which I consider distinctly savanna which my brain translates as pineapple, tonight it feels like a tart granny smith apple peel. And red globe grapes. And heavily wooded. Two hours later, when I finally come back to drink it (oops), it distinctly reminds me of mom’s greenhouse. Chocolate tomato vines in bloom, the habanero with its bright bold flavors, stringbeans, rich moisture and decomposing leaves under foot.

Palate: Greenhouse on point. And a distinct earthy sweetness. Julie went through a phase of shopping at the hippy grocer not far from our home in santa cruz. She’d bring home sweets from the bins and I never could quite get into them. I’d only eat the licorice, leave the rest for her. Something less refined. Distinctly herbal and quite musky the more this rests. Like aged and fermented teas

Rating: 6 / 10 – This is fun. A bit on the bizarre side, and probably not a pour I would reach for regularly, but what a powerful nose at first, and a beautiful confluence of flavors.