Tasting Notes Archive - Page 32 of 48

Tasting Notes

Somerset Twenty Year Old Cider Brandy 45.6% (Blend of mystery oak)

Nose: Oh wow, smells delicious. Strong apple vinegar note. Intense concentrated apple syrup. Walnuts. Mulled cider, stewed apples. Cedar and lumber yard. Ferns.

Palate: Damn, that is lovely. Apples, chestnuts, acorns, walnuts, cedar, rich apple sauce/butter. Lemon peel. There is such a nice balance of wood to spirit here. Brown sugar. A fantastic rancio.

Rating: 7 (Shane) 8 (Ryan) / 10

Shane

Somerset Two Year Old Cask Strength Spirit in Somerset Oak 69.97%

Nose: Holy shit, I can’t believe this is a 2 year old spirit. This smells like a perfect love child between cognac and calvados. Black pepper. Celery. Old Bay Spice. Browned butter. Apple butter, spiced apple sauce. Nutty. Subtle rancio. Intense brown sugar. With water, more vanilla comes out.

Palate: This is super fun, I can’t wait to see how this evolves with time. Leather, tobacco, high notes from the apple. Light molasses. Surprisingly drinkable at nearly 70% 😛 There is some rum ester / funk vibe here. Rose hips. With water this comes to life. I rarely water down but this needs it.

Rating: 5 / 10 – this 5 is totally temporary as I think it will definitely increase with a bit more maturation. I look forward to buying a bottle.

Shane

L’Encantada Domaine Du Pin 2009 / Dec 2022 Cask #18 ?ABV

Nose: Kale chips, or perhaps rainbow chard blanched for 5 seconds. Dry pine leaves with a sprinkling of resin. Mom’s blueberry bushes. They smell so enticing as the summer progresses. And yet for all the health inducing vegetal notes, a layer of dense fruit concentrate. Like reduced plum butter with a splash of red wine. The oak props this up

Palate: Oh that is … bitter? Sour? Tannic? Mouth cringingly tart. Even for me, and I love that element lately, it’s too much. But it passes and the dark stone fruits punch through while saliva cascades from my mouth like a Saint Bernard puppy happy to see you. Damn so juicy. Dusting of pie spices.

Rating: 4 / 10 – this has a lot of promise, but is a bit too hard to drink at the moment. Let’s round out the profile without losing the concentrated goodness or going any further down the herbal route.

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?!?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shane

Bruichladdich 2011 Bere Barley 10 Year 50%

Nose: Herbal, lemon verbena tea with honey

Palate: Pot de creme, yerba mate.

Rating: 5 / 10 – My father, who isn’t a spirit drinker declared it quite approachable. Zero complaints, and zero shits. Another whiskey for me to forget.

Shane

Bruichladdich 2009 10 Year Micro Provenance Rivesalt Second Fill 63.1%

Nose: Red grape skins, menthol, wine vibe.

Palate: Big rounded spicy, grapefruit peel, nutty with a vague sense of smoke

Rating: 6 / 10 – big flavors worth enjoying

Shane

Bruichladdich Black Art 8.1 1994 Art 26 Year 45.1%

Nose: Blackberry, heather grass on the higher mountain trails above Agaete, lilac, dried cherries

Palate: Blackberries and cassis, hints of dark chocolate

Rating: 7 / 10 – a perfectly executed berry bomb

Shane

Bruichladdich Black Art 5.1 1996 Art 24 Year 48.4%

Nose: Milk toast, grassy, toasted almonds.

Palate: Almond turon, toffee, coffee grounds, cranberry leather concentrate – I know I have thanksgiving on the brain

Rating: 7 / 10 – this is surprisingly good.

Shane

TBWC 24Y Bourbon Batch 1 48%

Nose: Oak, with layer of oak on the oak, a underlayer of menthol, green grass, medical gauze

Palate: Big brown sugar hug, big oak, leather, a lick of menthol on the finish.

Rating: 6 / 10 – a delightful full bodied sipper, well rounded, big flavors, low proof. This would be the perfect concentrate in my banana bread. Sadly it is just one wooden big stiffie. I like a touch of character along with my wood.

Shane

Barrell Whiskey 18 Year Old Straight Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. Barrel: A131, thewhiskyguys pick, 116.66 proof

Nose: Turnips, bear squeeze jar honey, green apple peel, hint of brown sugar

Palate: Concentrated punch of flavor, orange blossoms, cachou lajaunie, Physalis (aka golden berry) which are totally unrelated to syphilis despite the awkward overlap.

Rating: 6 / 10 – a pompous and thin fruity mint bomb.