Malt Fascination

After a few months of posts I still haven’t gotten around to writing about the last Bottle-Share with 10 Malts of Scotland bottles. At first I waited for everybody to get their samples (to Israel can take a while) and then there was the Blind Tasting Competition to gobble up all posts for three weeks.

Anyway, no time like the present to catch up so here goes the first and the coming ten workdays will be the others!

Nose:
Light and sweet with an undertone of leather and furniture polish. There is also a slightly burnt Christmas cake with some spices and pepper.

Taste:
Light and maybe even a little thin. There is a good combination of fruit and spices happening, again the Christmas cake.

Finish:
The finish is long and has more spices than fruit. There is also a notion of roasted wood with a texture like dry roasted peanuts. A slight nuttiness comes through.

A pretty great dram, but somehow I expected more from it. Those old Bunnas usually get rave reviews and this one doesn’t fulfil the expectation. The fruitiness and Christmas cake flavours are good, but not something I’d pay € 170 for. Although, I have to admit that prices for such bottles are usually a bit higher.

Bunnahabhain 1973, Malts of Scotland, 50,2%, Sherry Butt #2424, available at for € 169 Jurgen’s Whiskyhuis

Happy new year!

Last year I had a few new years resolutions and this year will not be any different. Looking back I checked most of them off the list during the year apart from tasting all 101 whiskies from Ian Buxton’s list, and reading all whisky books on the ‘to read’ stack.

I hope to finish those two things, although I think there will be new books to add to the stack so it is more or less an endless chore. Drinking the last 10 drams from Buxton’s book will not keep me busy for long, although it might be a challenge to find affordable samples of Johnny Walker Blue King George and Highland Park 40.

Halfway through the year I added a new goal: drinking a dram from all post-war distilleries. I didn’t manage that either, mostly because I wasn’t all that willing to spend € 50 on some rare sample every few weeks.

So, new resolutions are needed:

• Visit Scotland
• Visit a BrewDog Bar
• Visit the Whisky Exchange
• Visit a Whisky Squad session
• Buy better whiskies and less ‘random’ bottles (sort of ongoing)
• Another couple of bottle shares
• Brew my own beer (I’ve already got the kit)
• Size down my collection a little bit
• Host a bottoms-up tasting soon (that means left overs, by the way)
• Go to the Whisky Fair in Limburg
• Visit the De Molen brewery in Bodegraven
• Write more articles that aren’t tasting notes!

Some are a bit vague, but I’m really looking forward to 2012! If its as good as last year, I’m in for quite the ride!

Of course, sometimes you have to diverge from your favorite booze to reappriciate its qualities. This year that happened on several occasions and some of those were quite memorable as well.

As you have seen on this here blog I’ve been dabbling in beer for a while now. I like beer. It feels a bit like getting to know and appreciate the step that comes before its made into whisky. Apart from that there has been Calvados, Rum, Vodka and Absinthe. Of course some liqueurs, wines and cocktails were present as well.

The most memorable drinks were these:

• Harviestoun Ola Dubh 40. A beer I picked up at Zeewijck in IJmuiden. Stout matured in Highland Park casks in which the 40 year old whisky previously aged. Absolutely fantastic.
• BrewDog beers in general. I really became a fan of this brewery, and a shareholder as well. The highlights are the Punk IPA, Dogma, Tokyo and Tactical Nuclear Penguin.
• Flying Dog’s Simcoe Single Hop IPA and their Raging Bitch. Two very citrussy beers I really love. Unfortunately, the Simcoe variety is pretty hard to get hold of.
• St. George Spirits’ Absinthe. By far the best Absinthe I ever tried. I haven’t tried many, but still.
• St. George Spirits’ Hangar One Vodka. Not that I am a fan of vodka, but was the first ever you could actually drink for taste, instead of just getting hammered real quick.

There have been many occasions that were quite memorable too. I visited some distilleries here and there, and quite some festivals where I had the option to taste other stuff than whisk(e)y.

• Getting hammered at Pike’s Bar & Brewery on the first day of our USA trip.
• Accidently passing by Anderson Valley Brewing Co because we took a wrong turn.
• Visiting Chico, CA and having dinner at Sierra Nevada Brewery.
• Wine bars in Sonoma.
• St. George Spirits in Alameda, CA.
• Zuidam distillers in Baarle-Nassau.
• Tasting some terrific rums at Whisky & Rum aan Zee in IJmuiden.
• Discovering the Beer Temple in Amsterdam (Thanks Rolf).
• Becoming a shareholder in BrewDog.

All in all, it has been a terrific year and I guess next year will keep up the good stuff!

I like to do a review of things gone by at the end of the year. Not just to sum up stuff that happened but more to think of things that impressed me. Of course, a review of the year in whisky also has to happen.

I will not just make a list of the most positively reviewed drams of the past year, since the point system is changing quite often, and I find I rate whiskies in a rather inconsistent way, depending on many environmental and state-of-mind factors. I will, however, list the whiskies that I recall from the top of my head that impressed me most. Some events will also be listed to give you an idea of what happened in 2011.

Most impressive drams:

• Sazerac 18, 45%
  Part of the Buffalo Trace Bottle-Share and I gave it the maximum amount of points. Although that was a bit ridiculous, it still is a fantastic dram.
• BenRiach 35, Asta Morris, 1975, 51%
  I bought a sample of this from a Belgian Bottle-Sharer and absolutely worship this whisky. I’ve tasted some more BenRiachs from 1975 and 1976 and I want a bottle of one of those! (Not on the blog yet…)
• Rittenhouse Rye 23, 50%
  A very different character than the Sazerac with more focus on the spicy variety of rye whisky. A terrific dram as well. Got myself a bottle of this in San Francisco and am still waiting for a perfect moment to open it.
• Rosebank 8, bottled around 1960, 40%
  I tasted this one on the Hielander whisky festival in Alkmaar in Februari and it moved into my top 5 ever right away. A very fragile whisky, unfortunately, and way too expensive for me, but the very very best Rosebank I ever tasted.
• Caperdonich 1972-2011, The Perfect Dram, 58.4%
  Another sample from Belgium from this now closed distillery. This might have been the best whisky I’ve tasted so far. Read the review here!

Some other highlights in a different way also happened in 2011. They were more event releated or some special dram in a different way.

• Taking part in the first pre-release review of the An’Cnoc 35 that still has to be released. This tasting was hosted by the chaps at www.edinburghwhiskyblog.com together with Inver House distillers to select their new premium bottling of An’Cnoc. The whisky was tremendous and the fact that I could take part in something like that was absolutely stunning.
• Drinking a dram of Old Mork 1916 bourbon. Prohibition era bourbon that still tastes good. The taste wasn’t the best part but the scents that came of it made it noseable for hours on end.
• The Blind Tasting Competition was a tremendous success too. Some great and some lesser drams but bloody good fun! I really hope to partake again next year!

And in general, what made this year great was being able to share many drams with friends and acquaintances. There were many tastings, festivals and other events that I visited and I loved all of them. From the Bottoms Up in Den Bosch, to the Left Over tasting in IJmuiden, several festivals, the Club Bottling selection for the Usquebaugh Society, the Bottle-Shares and club tastings. I can’t wait to find out what 2012 will bring!

Yesterday I went to the movies with Anneke and some of her colleagues. That meant I got home about 11.15 PM, 15 minutes too late to take part in yesterday’s dram and no real time to enjoy it. Bummer, and I should have thought of that the day before. No points for me, but by the whisky being a 33 year old GlenKinchie, I don’t think I would have gotten any points anyway…

I will post my findings tomorrow, together with the dram for tonight!

Today will consist of some beer reviews. I recently received a parcel with a couple of beers from Dusseldorf, from my friend Frank (a very big Thank You! is in place). Of course, I have already tasted them and I have an opinion!

I have not tasted the liqueur (on the left) yet, so that will be on my blog sometime in the future, probably next year. I seem to have misplaced my notes, so this is from the top of my head!

Fuchschen Alt
A German Alt beer, which means that in style it is similar to the Uerige I had a few weeks ago. It was a bit heavier in style actually. Darker, but not as flavourful. The hops are less pronounced and the spices and herbs too. The taste was a bit more grainy.

Original Schlussel
In my opinion this was, by quite far, the best of the three beers. The taste was complexer with more herbs and spices on the palate. The barley flavour was pushed a bit more to the background and there was a certain bitterness that I find appealing.

Schumacher Alt
I drank this with Martijn a week ago. The smallest bottle from the brewery apparently, still one litre. He just returned from a business training in Dusseldorf and knew the brew pub.

This one was a bit in the middle of the previous two. A ‘German’ beer, with again a pretty heavy taste. Very nice with some Christmassy flavours of cake and spices and maybe even some fruit. A dangerously palatable beer that comes in massive bottles. You can keep on drinking this one for quite a while! The ABV is quite low, but that is not a bad thing.

So, thanks a million Frank! I loved the beers and am very curious to the liqueur that’s patiently waiting for me!