Malt Fascination

Well, 6 tasting notes in, you’d expect the final one now. ‘Not gonna happen!’

It seems in my eagerness to taste the last one I finished the sample without taking notes, so this will be the summarizing post already. Bummer.

The 7th dram was 12 year old Bowmore in the Liquid Library Islay Collection. I don’t remember the tasting notes for one bit, since I tasted it a few weeks ago, but I do remember it wasn’t bad.

The Bottle-Share then. This was a good one. Maybe the best one I’ve been part of, including my own. Only the Buffalo Trace one might have a higher average, but that is partly due to my rediculous enthousiasm about the Sazerac 18 (still worth 40, but not 42).

The list from low to high is below. The Bowmore is left out, since I can’t place it without proper notes. Especially since there are a lot of close calls in this set of samples, apart from the winner, I saw that one coming a mile away, I guess.

Glen Elgin 35
A very nice dram in general, but with an off-note too many. 28 points.

Longmorn 34
Its very good, but not as remarkable as I’d hoped it be. 31 points.

Ardmore 18
A very, very good Ardmore, albeit a bit of a weird one with strange flavours and combinations. 35 points.

Laphroaig 12
The youngest one of the bunch, but a very surprising Laphroaig with much more tropical fruit flavours than I expected. 35 points.

Glen Keith 40
A very smooth, but very properly matured whisky. One that I love till the very last drop and one I would like to sit in my cupboard! 38 points.

And last, but far, far from least:

Caperdonich 1972
Perfection in a bottle? This one comes close. Everything is going on, and there are enough different flavours to write five posts about. 40 points.

What a ride! Thanks Christof!

The last one from the Landscapes series that was in the Bottle-Share. Ardmore, the peaty speysider. There are quite some Ardmore’s of this age out there and a lot of them are very good. There are, however and of course, also some lesser ones out there that can get quite thin if bottled at 46% or lower. This one is at cask strength and smells promising!

Nose:
A rather old fashioned scent in which you can taste a bit of age. Grassy and hay-y with some vanilla, cereal and some cinnamon. There also quite a bit of wood to sniff out.

Taste:
It tastes a bit lighter with fresh vanilla ice cream, a hint of acidity. Mostly its quite sweet though. A hint of pepper is in here too. Suddenly I got Indian curry. Maybe a bit misplaced but that’s what I thought of.

Finish:
This is the first part of the whisky that I am reminded of the peatiness of Ardmore. It was there all along but here it stood out. White oak. The finish is quite long and very present. Nice!

This is definetly one of the better Ardmores I have tasted. It kind of reminded me what I like about Ardmore, although the Kintra version did a pretty good job of that too.

Ardmore 18, The Whisky Agency, Landscapes series, 49.9%, 1992-2010, € 79 at Van Zuylen.

Nose: 8
Taste: 8
Finish: 9
Overal experience: 9
Price/quality: +1

Total: 35 points

Another oldie in the Bottle-Share. Not hard when five out of seven are 34 years old, or older. It also doens’t help to have forgotten to write tasting notes to the Bowmore (I just found this out, bummer).

Nose:
Full and complex is what I think first. I get honey, candied orange peels. Some wood spices like cinnamon and clove. There is a slight hint of hobby glue, but that fades quickly.

Taste:
Highland style. At least, the style I call highland style and I get from lots of Glen Mhor, Hillside/Glen Esk and most of the times from Glen Elgin as well. Quite spicy and dry. Saw dust with a fierceness to it. There’s a sugary sweetness to it as well.

Finish:
Again, quite full and a bit sharpish. Rich and complex with wood, wax coats and resin. A hint of cardboard but not enough to be bothered by. A not fruity sweetness, like dough.

I like this kind of dram. Its a bit sharp but it does allow for a bit of tinkering around with. There’s a lot going on but its not a dram that forces you to think about it. You can, and you’ll be rewarded if you do. The drawback is that most parts of it have a slight drawback. There’s some glue, some cardboard and so on. Its not much, but it bites of a few points.

Glen Elgin 35, The Whisky Agency, Landscapes series, 51.5%, 1975 – 2011, € 169 at Whisky Doris in Germany.

Nose: 7
Taste: 7
Finish: 7
Overal experience: 7
Price/quality: 0

Total: 28 points

A somewhat younger and peatier dram to have a change of pace. There have been many great Laphroaig bottlings recently, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to taste the majority of them. This gives me mixed feelings since I do feel that (with exceptions of course) Laphroaig have a very straight line of flavours you encounter. The good part in that is that the line is a tremendous one.

Nose:
Rather heavy for a Laphroaig. Iodine, wet rope, leather and salty. There’s also a smoother edge with creme brulee here. And smoked eel. Good stuff.

Taste:
Vanilla, but also banana. Pineaplle and a load of other fruits. Quite spirited and less salty than expected. Quite smoky.

Finish:
The finish has a thick smokiness, but doesn’t last very long. There are lingering tasted, but the development stops quickly. First some wood, then fruit and then it turns more smoldering like I’m used to from Laphroaig. A bit heathery too.

This is more fruity than I expected, and on the nose heavier too. The typical Laphroaig tastes are all there, but there’s more happening here. I really enjoyed this one, since it really surprised me.

Laphroaig 12, Liquid Library, 52.4%, 1998-2010, € 65

Nose: 8
Taste: 8
Finish: 8
Overal experience: 9
Price/quality: +2

Total: 35 points

Recently I participated in a Bottle-Share by whisky lovers from Belgium. They host their stuff at www.gedeeldevreugde.be. This time the theme was to taste different varieties of The Whisky Agency. This is a very up-and-coming bottler from Germany that is getting more and more positive reviews over the web.

The Bottle-Share consisted of 7 different whiskies from a variety of ranges by TWA, and will be reviewed in the coming two weeks. The first one is a Glen Keith 40. Not a bad start, I would say!

Nose:
Old whisky and old style whisky. I guess the bourbon cask is a refill since it is rather mellow. Lemon and a slight hint of cleaning alcohol. Some coconut and biscuit. Dusty wood with a hint of anise and liquorice. I get the idea the scent is quite fragile. After about half an hour I suddenly get ‘Vanille Vla’, a Dutch custard-like dessert.

Taste:
Extremely drinkable, dangerously so. It has a bit more byte than I expected, with a whiff of pepper on your tongue. Light vanilla and biscuits again. It does get a bit oily with lemon curd and icing sugar.

Finish:
This is rather nice (understatement). Lightly spicy with anise and liquorice again. Vanilla, custard but not too long.

This is damn nice. I really like these kind of whiskies that are not too in-your-face but display a very refined palate and character. There is a lot to be discovered here, but it doesn’t force you to do anything. You can just sit back and indulge.

Glen Keith 40, The Whisky Agency, Landscapes series, 45.1%, 1970-2010, € 229

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 9
Overal experience: 10
Price/quality: +1

Total: 38 points

Recently when Tom dropped by to pick up, I believe, some samples, he brought me 2 beers from a small craft beer brewery in Amsterdam called ‘de 7 deugden‘ (the 7 virtues). Its a recently opened brewery where people with a physical or mental handicap can have a job. I love those kind of initiatives!

The two beers he brought me were a ‘Dubbel Dik’ and a ‘Spring + Tijm’. Tasting notes below:

Dubbel Dik
A lot more crisp than I expected. Those ‘double’ beers are usually quite thick and sweet, but this one is rather crisp and a bit thinner too. Quite some spices and herbs and a little acidity too. Heavy malt and the expected sweetness on the palate. A strange combination but far from too strange!

Spring + Tijm
A LOT of thyme. Its a heavier beer than I expected, but still crisp. Its incredibly herbal with all the thyme that’s attacking you. The idea is great and I can see it working out, but I think a little less would do. Although this might go well with lamb!