Tag: Vintage 1988

Rating 3/ 10
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Littlemill 26 Year 1988/2015 Sherry Butt 52.2% for Hart Brothers

Nose: Smells like an old person’s home. boiled down apple sauce, old 70s carpeting (still in use 50 years later), mothballs, graham crackers, old wood. Maduro cigar wrapper and leather.

Palate: Sour underripe berries. Mom rarely adds much sugar when making sorbet. Awesome when you nail the timing on the fruit, but a tough mouthful if you jump the gun. The taste and mouthfeel of spinach. Watered down peach black tea. The bitterness of grapefruit peel.

Rating: 3 / 10 – I’m starting to wonder if my palate and the hart brothers just don’t match. This is so well rated by so many people. I don’t get it. This is kind of yuck.

Rating 7/ 10
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Hontembere RAC (Pouchegu) 1988 E2

Nose: Oak notes a la woodshop, milkweed, tall grass, homemade salted caramel.

Palate: Salted caramel cupcake, pan fond, Chinese stick tea, rooibos, Ceylon cinnamon

Rating: 7 / 10 – a fun pour.

Rating 6/ 10
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Aberlour 1988/2013 25 Years 50.9% for Douglass Laing

Nose: Fresh cut grass, fresh spruce forest, chamomile and honey.

Palate: Catnip, lavender cookies, fresh cracked pepper, honey simple syrup, orange pith

Rating: 6 / 10 – fun and different

Rating 6/ 10
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Invergordon 1988 35 Year 55.4% (85% corn, 15% barley)

Nose: Vanilla, grape skins, cedar chips, melted butter

Palate: Once the acetone note settles, a rich smooth sweet butterscotch, vanilla concentrate, and cereals layer

Rating: 6 / 10 – this gets a lot better after a good sit. Initial sip is harsh but once it’s smoothed out, it’s a nice older grain.

Rating 7/ 10
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Domaine le Chaou 1988 30 Year Old – for Fitte et Laterrade 51%

Nose: Whoa. A rich, dark, dank explosion. Dark chocolate covered cherries. Julie has taken to hiding those so we don’t steal them from her now that the kids are tall enough to get into the secret treats cabinet. Dr pepper BBQ sauce. Black potting soil. Caramelized pecans. I’ve got a jar of locally made miel de caña, which isn’t technically honey, but is boiled down sugar cane juice to make syrup. It’s so dark and funky, approaching an amazing balsamic vinegar / molasses note. This is an oak monster.

Palate: Ohhh yeah. Oak to the max. Aged vinegar and the tiniest note of anchovies. I’ve been obsessively making caesar salad dressing for the past three weeks trying to nail the recipe before Julie gets back from visiting her parents. It’s her favorite and she was complaining that no restaurants on the island make it right. It’s all about that umami vibe. Hints of worcestershire and high quality anchovies. Dark chocolate bitterness – like the first time I tasted a cacao nib or espresso before I knew what to expect. And a concentrated sweetness that has almost stopped being sweet. Like a fermented date or dried fid. The spice cabinet is out of control, especially on the clove side. Oak and more oak. Just powerful.

Rating: 7 / 10 – I love that armagnac can get here, although let’s just acknowledge it’s a bit of an aberration. As an oakenfile, this is an absolutely outstanding pour, but it’s probably jumped the shark for most fans. It is so close to an 8. What a nose!