Let's Drink Scotch!
A blog dedicated to the poetry in whisky (and sometimes other spirits)
Monday, November 4, 2024
Glen Moray 13 Year (Single Cask Nation)
Friday, October 4, 2024
Laphroaig 8 Year (Single Cask Nation)
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Ben Nevis 11 Year (Single Cask Nation)
Monday, September 9, 2024
Glentauchers 19 Year (SMWS 19.63 "You're On My Mind")
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Caol Ila 11 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask, Sherry Butt finish)
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Craigellachie 13 Year (Signatory Cask Strength)
Monday, August 19, 2024
Benrinnes 16 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask, Montilla/PX wine finish)
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Linkwood 12 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask, PX Finish)
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
AnCnoc 32 Year (SMWS 115.29 "A Vision of the Basque Country")
I've been holding off on publishing this for a month, because I've had such a difficult time classifying this whisky ... it's an odd bird for sure. But I think it's more or less settled down, so it's time to alert the world.
Monday, April 15, 2024
Ardmore 11 Year (SMWS 66.31 "Apples at Hallowe'en")
The last time I visited Jack Rose, I had another older Ardmore (distilled in 1998 in this case) at the bar, to help round out my Ardmore experiences. This one comes from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), cask 66.31, spent 11 years in a refill sherry butt, and was nicknamed "Apples at Hallowe'en."
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Ardmore 9 Year (Signatory Vintage Cask Strength)
Monday, April 8, 2024
SMWS April 2024 Outturn Review (Jack Rose Saloon)
Here is a quick review of the six samples from the April 2024 Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) outturn! First, some quick pics:
First sample: 18 year Glen Grant, finished in PX sherry, 55% ABV, nicknamed "A Major Treat." My notes: Orange, vanilla, dust/dunnage, shortbread, cherry, malt barley, herbs galore on the nose. Palate brings more cherry, lime, sugar, lots of alcohol (at 18 years!), malt, oak, ore herbs. Finish is quite short, with oak, cherry stones, hints of honey. Water smoothes it out.
Second sample: 9 Year Ben Nevis, also finished in PX sherry, 58.6% abv, nicknamed "Cheeky Wee Upstart." Nose has earth, golden syrup, apple cores (!), a vague industrial note, moss, candy shop aroma. Palate is much brighter, and very hot - lots of alcohol burn, chili peppers, apples, malt sugar, oak, pepper. Opens a bit with water: deeper apples, less alcohol, more "foresty." Finish is reasonable, tons of dry oak, baked apple, and dry cocoa.
Third sample: 16 Year Royal Brackla, finished in a bodega-sourced Oloroso cask, 56.3% abv, nicknamed "The Stage is Set." Nose brought lots of black pepper and honey, melon, white grapes, tons of butter (!), oak, apples, pears. Palate was more of the same: apple, pear, sugar, oak, lots of pepper, lots of butter. Finish was surprisingly short, with apple, oak, and pepper.
Fourth sample: 14 Year Auchroisk, finished in PX sherry, 55.5% ABV, nicknamed "Cross-Cultural." Nose was lovely: grape must, cherry cough syrup, grape candies, field herbs, and a nice grassiness. Palate continued these notes in a big sweet-to-bitter sweep: cinnamon, grape, hints of cognac, hay, bitter herbs. Finish was medium to long, with fresh grapes, oak, herbs. I liked this one a lot.
Fifth sample: 11 Year Highland Park, vatting of two casks. First fill bourbon, 65.7% abv (!!), nicknamed "You Only Live Once." Easily the crowd favorite of the night, the host Mike Hom called it "beautiful," and I agreed completely. Nose was honey over honey, salt, vanilla, fresh heather, minerals. Palate brought more honey, oil, salt, rocks and heather. Pure and clean. Finish was long: salt, heather, oak, honey. Just lovely stuff.
Sixth and final sample: 9 Year Bunnahabhain, heavily peated and finished in PX sherry, 58.1% abv, nicknamed "Quo Vadis?" it was also heavily popular. Nose was wood, iodine, lemon, coal, oak, bacon, clay, pineapple, rubber... very rich, very dense. Palate brought lemon, ash, iodine, oak, rubber, pineapple. Finish lasted forever: lemon, sugar, ash. Everyone thought it was a teenaged Laphroaig (!), but no - Bunnahabhain for the win!
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Benrinnes 15 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask)
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Ardmore 25 Year (Single Cask Nation)
Surprise, surprise - another Ardmore for the blog. Can I ever get enough? No, not really. This one is a 25-year from Single Cask Nation, as a part of their first release after their acquisition by Artisanal Spirits Co. I heard about this from the horse's mouth, as the owners of Single Cask Nation came to Jack Rose and sung the praises of this particular Ardmore.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Talisker Surge (NAS, Travel Exclusive)
It's a strange world when Talisker releases a bottle named identically to a defunct neon green 1990's soda (Coke's answer to Pepsi's Mountain Dew, if you weren't there and were curious). Although Talisker (aka Diageo's marketing department) love to brand themselves with stormy/rocky imagery (Talisker Storm ... Talisker Dark Storm ... etc), this one might have benefitted from a few extra rounds through QC. Still, it's a Travel Exclusive Talisker bottle and I'm pretty curious.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Journeyman 5 Year Rye (SMWS RW7.1 "Love at First Sip")
Among American whiskies, rye is my favorite variety. I like the spiciness, the mint-and-bubblegum flavors, the overall flavor structure... it's just a great grain that makes a robust whisky.
This independently bottled rye hails from Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks, Michigan, just two miles from the Indiana border. It's bottled at 5 years old, and at 57.6% ABV.
Monday, March 4, 2024
Miltonduff 14 Year (SMWS 72.117 "Black Forest Delight")
I'm going to come out and say it here - Miltonduff, a distillery owned by Pernod Ricard (who also own Aberlour, Glenlivet, Glen Keith, Longmorn, the ever-elusive Scapa, and the famous blends Ballantine's and Chivas Regal), is underrated.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Laphroaig Elements 1.0
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Mackmyra 13 Year (Single Cask Nation)
I have taken quite a liking to Mackmyra, the Swedish whisky distiller. I previous had a heavily peated bottle of their whisky from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society that was fabulous. When I saw this unpeated independent bottling from Single Cask Nation languish in their shop for a few months, I had to pick it up before it vanished forever.
Monday, February 26, 2024
Clynelish 9 Year (SMWS 26.222 "Pleasantly Puzzling")
Clynelish is such a lovely spirit - it's so bright, with citrus everywhere and tropical fruit often present, with a salty, chalky texture that really showcases the flavors very well. At its best, of course, there is the famously fantastic wax flavor/texture present, although I suspect that Clynelish (Diageo) hoards the waxiest casks and sells off the minimally waxy ones.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Ardmore 25 Year (SMWS 66.244 "An Aviator's Choice")
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Single Cask Nation Event at Jack Rose Saloon + General Whisky Update
The end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 have both been very slow in terms of my whisky adventure: I've almost exclusively been draining old stocks, and drinking a lot more wine and beer and other spirits. I do have about 4-5 bottles to post soon, but the major update relates to an event for independent bottler Single Cask Nation that I attended on February 17th at the Jack Rose Saloon.
Single Cask Nation, formerly J&J Spirits, is the brainchild of Jason Johnstone-Yellin and Joshua Hatton, and renowned in the Scotch single malt world as the bottlers of some truly outstanding drams. Recently they sold the company to Artisanal Spirits, the parent company that owns the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) and JG Thompson. Jason and Josh will still be making the picks, and directing the show, but there will likely be some unusual repercussions down the road.
This event at Jack Rose (and thanks to Bill Thomas, the owner, for facilitating this!) featured Josh and Jason presenting six of the earliest and best whiskies they've ever bottled. Here is the lineup, plus some tasting notes:
-12 year Glen Moray: From the second outturn ever back in 2012: reminiscent of the SMWS Glen Morays in that it has tons of complex sugar cookie and custard notes, with some herbs and berries mixed in. Rich stuff, almost like a heady cognac.
-13 year Cooley: one of only a few Irish whisky releases they've had - they said there is a surprisingly weak market for independently bottled Irish stuff.
To demonstrate, they asked for any diehard Irish whisky fans to raise their hands; out of 42 attendees, only 2 did. This whisky, finished in refill Oloroso, is full of tropical fruits and brown sugar, almond, maple, and is a little musty. Very long finish. Best part was a truly velvety mouthfeel.
-12 year Arran (Pinot cask): The story told about this bottle was that Jason grew up in Ayrshire, just over the Firth of Clyde from Arran, and when they were launching Single Cask Nation, the Arran distillery called them and said something akin to "we want to be for you what Glenfarclas is to the SMWS" ... so they went and tried a few Pinot cask-aged Arrans, and were blown away.
Normally, they said, they really dislike wine casks - they said it almost always changes the core spirit in a fundamental way - but these were perfect marriages. They bought this one, the sixth (?) cask.
Huge nose on it: dry red wine, yeast, grape skins, very floral, strong malt backbone, with a rather shy palate that eventually builds into beautiful stone fruit and rich, caramel-ish toasted oak. Lovely and surprisingly subtle, supple stuff.
-Dalmore 12 year (PX sherry): Jason said out of the 250 bottles they've released, this is his least favorite - he said it's too unidimensional for him. Josh noted in reply that it remains one of the whiskies they get asked about the most.
It's an insane grape bomb - almost like a solera brandy: red grapes, grape Nerds, wet shag tobacco, PX sherry for days. Josh half-joked that there was still a gallon or two of PX sherry still in the cask and it was "cloudy as hell." Just a rich, wild grape explosion. Both Josh and Jason sort of implied that Dalmore has a spirit on the weaker side that requires a strong cask to steer it in a good direction.
-Benriach 17 year (Peated): This was actually my least favorite of the night - I got burnt popcorn, moss, dead leaves, very "wet forest floor" ... the palate was a bit bigger, with peat, apple core, burnt wood, vanilla, iodine, earth, tree bark. Adding water added menthol cigarettes, orchard fruit, dunnage warehouse, burnt toast. Melon, pear, tea on the finish, which was the best part. Super complex, but not attractive for me. Really funky and unusual, though.
-Josh strongly suggested keeping an eye on the Infrequent Flyers Bottling Company, which was started by the owner of BenRiach (Alisdair Walker); although it hasn't come to the USA yet, hopefully it will. He said everything he's tried from them has been stellar. He also expressed wry frustration that when Alisdair Walker decided to start a bottling company, he simultaneously stopped selling his best casks.
-Laphroaig 6 yr - Holy moses, what a nose on this thing. Reminds me of the Jack Rose single cask Laphroaig pick from last year: VERY potent lemon peel, lime, lime zest, ash, earth, smoke, salt, yet clean as hell, layered, and refined. Palate followed the nose and added white wine, lime soda, sand (!), and rubber/iodine. Finish was, weirdly, like a baguette with lemon juice, burned in the oven. Some meat, like pork shoulder. Chocolate, tea, salmon, charcoal, just layers on layers. Very impressive.
-Then, a surprise final dram: A 14 year Glen Grant, matured in sherry. Nose was like candy - Starburst, sour fruit, vanilla exstract, some soft leather, malt, old oak. Very well balanced. Berries and cream on the palate, bright cherry like Luxardo, caramel, mik chocolate, etc.
They ended with a discussion of what things will look like now that Artisinal Spirits owns them. They said they will still be running the SCN show and making the picks, but they will have additional avenues to release bottles now (they estimate 80 a year). They really hope they don't end up in competition with SMWS for any particular cask, and don't know what would happen if that comes up. They noted there are 20,000 casks on the market at any given time, so the chances are low. They also note that their preferences don't overlap too much with SMWS except in a few limited cases.
Basically it sounded like selling to Artisinal Spirits stabilized both companies - it provided a steady infusion of invested capital for SCN, and provides a wide array of new hand-picked spirits for Artisinal. There was a question about whether SMWS would push out some of their casks through SCN, which they said wasn't the plan unless the cask was exceptional. Etc. etc.
-They also noted their favorite upcoming release for 2024 is a 25 year Ardmore (!), and to jump on it when it drops because it's the best Ardmore they've ever had. So, there's that.
***
Monday, February 19, 2024
Tomatin 8 Year (SMWS 11.43 "Forget Me Not")
Poor Tomatin. In the world of scotch whisky, it has such a lackluster reputation - much like Fettercairn or Aberfeldy, it's considered a quasi-disaster that tastes bad in almost every bottling, every setting. Owned by the rather elusive and unknown Takara Shuzo Corporation - which Wikipedia describes as being involved in "[...] the production of beverages, food, printing and medical supplies," - it's an absolute afterthought in the best of circumstances.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Ardmore 32 Year (SMWS 66.246 "Cigars, Sauternes And Sautéed Sultanas")
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Ardmore 10 Year (SMWS 66.33 "Scottish Heidi")
Another great Ardmore from years gone by, found on the shelf at the Jack Rose Saloon, this hails from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), was distilled in 2001 and bottled in 2012. Numbered 66.33, I've only had a couple Ardmore bottles distilled prior to this one.
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Scotch Malt Whisky Society 2023 "The Gathering," in Washington DC with Pip Hills (founder of SMWS)
Tonight the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") celebrated its annual Gathering at the Jack Rose Saloon... with founder Pip Hills in attendance, all the way from Scotland. It was a night of six whiskies, and many new faces to meet and greet and swap stories with.
Monday, September 18, 2023
Ardbeg Event at Jack Rose Saloon, Washington DC, September 17, 2023
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Glasgow Distillery Company 5 Year (SMWS 156.1 "West Coast Recipe")
The Glasgow Distillery Company is a new lowlands distillery, founded in 2015, and the first in the area since 1902. Interestingly, the distillery offers joint tours with Tennants brewery - I would absolutely do this. According to Wikipedia, they have a reputation for experimentation, so I'm doubly curious about this bottle now.
This bottles comes from the very first cask they sold to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), and is lightly peated and only five years old (!). Presumably triple-distilled. Without much ado, here are the official tasting notes from SMWS:
Ardmore 15 Year (SMWS 66.229 "Tarred and Re-feathered")
The previous Ardmore I had from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") was a super chocolate bomb due to a really potent finish in a Trinidadian rum cask. Lovely stuff. This Ardmore - sequentially, the next cask they picked up from Ardmore - is finished in a PX sherry cask, so I'm hopeful for another good marriage of flavors.
Mackmyra 12 Year (SMWS 151.3 "Skinny Dipping in the Baltic Sea")
Here is an interesting whisky - a single cask Swedish single malt from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS")! Hailing from Mackmyra distillery, this is one I've been curious about for some time. This Mackmyra, aged 12 years in first fill ex-bourbon, is peated (with Swedish peat!) and matured not in a warehouse but underground in an old mine (!). They also use an innovative gravity distillery these days, although I don't know if it was used to make this spirit or not.
Friday, September 8, 2023
Ardnamurchan 7 Year (SMWS 149.6 "Recipe for Success")
This is the other recently released (August 2023) Ardamurchan single cask from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"). The first one was a six year old fully matured in a PX sherry cask and was a delectable chocolate sherry bomb - rich as blazes. This one is a year older, fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, and lightly peated.
Ardnamurchan 6 Year (SMWS 149.3 "A Walk in the Woods")
Ardnamurchan is one of the newer distilleries in Scotland, and probably the most prominent of the new crop to emerge in the last decade or so. I've had a couple of their official bottlings (excellent) and also a single cask from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") which was quite good, although a little offbeat.
SMWS just released a couple more single cask bottlings from Ardnamurchan, and I picked them up. One is peated, one is unpeated; this is the unpeated offering. A brash 6 years old, filed under SMWS's Young & Sprightly category.
Saturday, September 2, 2023
Glen Scotia 8 Year (SMWS 93.193 "Salty Waterslide")
It's been a slow summer, it terms of whisky drinking. I've just been sipping away on bottles already reviewed, so very little to report. One of the few new things I picked up was this 8 year bottle of Glen Scotia from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), which was apparently hand-picked by Neil Patrick Harris, who has something of an ongoing relationship with SMWS.
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Ardmore 9 Year (SMWS 66.228 "Damp Blue Peat Smoke")
I almost never compare one independent bottler against another, but as a self-confessed Ardmore aficionado, I feel empowered to note: this is an excellent bottle from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") that stacks up against any other independent of Ardmore I've had.
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Bowmore 18 Year (SMWS 3.349 "A Whirpool of Flavor")
At this point it's just a widely acknowledged public fact that Bowmore stinks at bottling their own whisky. Basically every single scotch whisky reviewer or community says this, and all them report that independently bottled Bowmore is simply fantastic. Who knows what's wrong over at Bowmore? Let's just be glad they keep selling casks to people who do the right thing, like (in this particular case), the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS").
Friday, July 21, 2023
Tamdhu 7 Year (SMWS 8.43 "Shaded by Flowers")
Tamdhu is an underrated distillery, founded in 1897, and currently owned by Ian MacLeod Distillers (Rosebank, Glengoyne, Smokehead blended, Sheep Dip blended, many more). I only see independent versions of it from time to time, and apparently it's been a long time since the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") had a cask from them. This cask, the 43rd that SMWS has released from Tamdhu, was matured for 7 years in a first fill PX sherry butt, and released as part of the 40th anniversary of the SMWS.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2023 (White Port, Maidera)
It's been a light, slow July in terms of reviews over here - I have run out of room to store bottles, so I'm very slowly making my way through what I already have.
Friday, June 30, 2023
Ardmore 13 Year (ImpEx Collection)
Ah, Ardmore. They can do no wrong. Even their weirdest, strangest, most astringent off-profile whisky is wondrous to me. When I saw this 13 year from independent bottler ImpEx (selected by Sam Filmus, the president of ImpEx!), I jumped all over it.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
North British 13 Year Single Grain Whisky (Blackadder Raw Cask)
This is a new one for me - I've never had anything by (or even heard of!) North British Distillery. Apparently it was founded in 1885, and is located near Edinburgh. Currently - and this is really interesting - it's a joint venture between beverage giants Diageo and the Edrington Group. The grain output is used for both Johnnie Walker and Famous Grouse. It's also apparently the last working distillery in Edinburgh, and is routinely nicknamed "the NB."