Malt Fascination

A somewhat educated guess was what I did yesterday with this Talisker. The recently released OMC bottling with the name of the distillery on it was something that came to mind. Not that I have tasted that one, but I had to think of it. Of course, I was wrong and only scored 19 points on the ABV (0.1% off).

Nose:
Slightly salty and a little peaty at first, with a hint of sweetness. The apricot sweetness is accompanied by some green banana skin and charcoal.

Taste:
Quite sharp and dry, with pepper, sweet fruit and burned wood. A lot of flavours and even some stewed tomato!

Finish
The finish has a lot more wood than I expected, and quite some spiciness too. The sweetness is balanced by a tinge of smoke again.

Or so I thought. I really had a feeling we were going for something slightly smoky here, although I started to doubt myself halfway through the dram. I did really enjoy this one because of the complexity and the sheer amount of things happening in your mouth. Good stuff!

Fettercairn Distillery Only, 14, 1997-2011, 58.2%, Cask # 7753

Never guessed that. Its nowhere near the flavours of the regular Fettercairn and most of this distillery’s whiskies I tried before the revamp were not that good either. This, however, is top notch stuff!

What I know now, is that I am getting worse at this everyday, and apparently, I am better when I have a cold! We’re over 2/3 of the competition, only four samples left, but I haven’t even gotten a fifth of the available points and days like this don’t really help either.

Nose:
A bit cloying and spirity from a refill bourbon cask if you ask me. A little hint of coconut and some fresh herbs like coriander/cilantro. Apart from that there is also something creamy or even cheesy in the background.

Taste:
The palate has a sharp edge to it with a little hint of apple and white grapes. The creaminess is back again.

Finish:
The finish is rather smooth with sweet coconut and the apples and grapes too. A small hint of citrus fruits, mostly lemon, is here too.

There are some nice flavours here, but mostly it screams ‘lazy cask’ at me. The underlying spirity flavours are present all the way and those are flavours I don’t like. It does try to fight back a little bit in the finish with some nice fruitiness but that just doesn’t do it. I guessed a Glenallachie since I had to pick a Speysider, and it reminded me of one I tasted recently. I didn’t think it was really old and strong, but I was wrong on those two accounts. Apparently, I should start calculating the average age already, since there is a clear build up now!

Tamnavulin 21, Dewar Rattray, 09-05-1989 – 18-02-2011, 57.4%, Bourbon Cask #1750

Far from the best Tamnavulin I ever tasted, although there aren’t many out there. This one hasn’t got anything appealing since all little things that are good are killed off by the not so well matured spirit. It’s like time stood still in the cask. Bummer, for my score as for this dram.

Another ‘educated’ guess. Another sample that I could not pinpoint to a distillery, not even to a region. I started to get specifics from what I smelled and tasted to try and deduce a distillery, region or anything. Considering specific bottlings is something quite impossible with this many different samples.

Nose:
What I got at first was sherry and wood. Also some ‘ripe’ meat that can have that sickly sweet smell sometimes. Also some overripe fruit.

Taste:
A slight burning sensation, sweet, with quite some tropical fruit. Also something fresh on the background. Maybe anise?

Finish:
The finish is long with the sweetness and the meatiness again.

I was thinking of a slightly oversherried Highland dram. Quite some wood and fruit influences and a meatiness that I couldn’t really connect to a distillery. There aren’t that many distilleries that have the guts to release whiskies that are bold in a way like this one. I got to Ben Nevis because of that. I think I smelled a slight peatiness.

Laphroaig 20, 1990-2011, SMWS (29.97), 59.1%

Well, this has to be the second most unpeaty dram of Laphroaig I know (I tasted an unpeated one, a while ago from Cadenhead). The flavours put me in a bit of a dilemma because at some points I didn’t like the meatiness, but with the next sip I did. It is on the brink of tasting like rotting meat, but in a very interesting way. The wood and fruit are very nice and it is quite cool to taste something that is so inlike any Laphroaig I know!

Yesterday I was initially planning to co-host a whisky tasting for my previous job at Interactive Studios. But halfway through the week with many deadlines and two days of working 12 hours I didn’t really feel like going at all and I cancelled that. I decided to stay at home and invite my brothers and dad in law and have some drams. Apart from Martijn, nobody was able to make it so we just had drams with the two of us (Auchentoshan, Glenugie, Karuizawa, Brora, Benrinnes, Carsebridge and others). Because of that I never got around to filling in my guess for the competition, but I did have the sample just before we started.

Nose:
Young and peppery at first. The youngish hint fades after the first hit. A slight hint of smoke but that might be wood influence as well. After a few minutes I get a slight fruity hint too.

Taste:
Again, sharp and peppery with a lot of white, fresh oak on the palate. Eventually I get rather thick vanilla custard.

Finish:
The finish is okay, but not great. It does lose the sharpness quickly, which I rather like. Wood, a little vanilla and a mix of spices and fruits.

I would have loved to taste more flavours like I found in the finish throughout the entire dram. It didn’t really appeal to me because I found it too sharp in general and the flavour I did get were not too deep and complex.

Dailuaine 27, Asta Morris, 1983-2011, 50%, cask #AM004

WTF?! First, 27 years old? Second, only 50%? Third, Dailuaine? Aparently, I wasn’t the only one with difficulty with this dram, since there are barely any points apart from one person who had a 60 out of a 100 score. A couple of guys had the region right and that was it.

I’m still having a massive cold so if my guesses and taste descriptions below are way off, you know how it happened!

This whisky was a cask strength one, that I got straigt away but apart from that I coulnd’t really fiugre it out, although some flavours sent me in the direction I chose to go.

Nose:
A slight sherry sweetness, but not too pronounced and in a light way anyway. Somewhat salty with ripe apples, tree bark and dried prunes.

Taste:
Sharp, very sharp at first and quite spicy as well. Orchard fruit like on the nose but also some grains and a rather thick texture.

Finish:
Quite smooth, which is a surprise. Sweet grain and dough, and the apples again. Also a tad ‘green’.

Especially the returning flavour of the apples sent me in the direction of Arran. With the hint of salt on the nose I decided to go for an Island distillery but it made me think of Highland Park’s ‘off’ style as well, like the Earl Magnus.

Jura 23, The Whisky Agency, 1988-2011, 52.9%, Ex Bourbon Hogshead

I guess this whisky was in there to prove how my nose is screwing with me at the moment. After the prunes on the nose I never even considered a bourbon cask. Its quite clean for a Jura (at least for the Juras I know). All in all not a very bad whisky, but not one I’d spend money on.  The fact that this is 23 years old… What the hell?

Edit: Due to a rather nasty cold I will not give this whisky a rating. I can’t properly evaluate it which would mean an unfair (and probably lower than deserved) amount of stars. (Thanks Ruben)

And with that, I don’t necessarily mean THE GlenDronach 18, but just some bottling around that age not at cask strength. And again, I was failing big time. I guessed GlenDronach because it was a sherry bottling and the Highlands is the second biggest region. I do have an excuse this time, I am having a cold. Which means that I don’t smell or taste all that much…

Nose:
Quite sharp and alcoholic with sherry wood. Also some pink peppercorns and bread crust.

Taste:
Very full, but a lot more gentle than I expected after the nose. Christmas cake and again the sherry wood. Spices and stewed fruits.

Finish:
Long and spicy without the fruit this time. The spices are more in the direction of a bakery’s spices than anything else.

I really liked this whisky, but didn’t have a clue in which direction to guess. If I look at the scores for this dram, I wasn’t the only one with only two guys (one of them is the club’s chairman, coincidence?) getting a lot of points.

Littlemill 22, 05-1989 – 07-2011, 48.3%, Refill Sherry Hogshead, Archives

The first Littlemill I really liked! That’s something new and something surprising. And the first whisky from the Lowlands in the competition. I might have to travel to Rotterdam in a while to have a closer look at this series from the Whiskybase shop!

L’Hollande, zero points (French accent, from the Eurovision song festival)

naugural Release
Refill Sherry Hogshead
Alcoholgehalte: 48.3%
Distilled: 05.1989
Bottled: 07.2011
Leeftijd: 22yo

This time, my guess was almost as random as it could be. I didn’t expect to be able to taste the sample yesterday evening, so I tasted it the night before. Only I forgot to remember facts about ABV and age and such. I wrote down some tasting notes but the last line in the book states ‘absolutely no clue’.

Nose:
Quite some grain and cereal but not in a way that it tastes young or under age. Some caramel as well.

Taste:
Quite fierce due to alcohol (So I did write something down but couldn’t find it yesterday. I feel dumb). Grains and plants with straw, pepper and after a little while a familiar spicyness comes through.

Finish:
Fruity (where did that come from?) and sweet with straw and cereal again. Spices like cinnamon.

A nice whisky, but not one to get overly excited about. More a highland character than Speyside, but the competition’s rules made it clear that wasn’t an option. I didn’t expect the fruitiness in the finish. While I enjoyed it, it did make the whisky rather inconsistent.

Glenburgie 13, 06-11-1997 – 08-2011, Exclusive for Asta Morris, cask 8551, 57.6%

Based on the fact that this day it couldn’t be a highland whisky, I more or less automatically went for Speyside. The age was a gamble but an educated one at 15. Only two years different but the ABV was very, very random and I could have read my notes more properly for some extra points. Still, 40 points isn’t too bad.