Ardbeg Grooves (NAS)

 

I have held onto this bottle for some time, in a secret "emergency scotch" stash, and only remembered tonight that I had yet to review it! So here we go: the Ardbeg Day 2018 release, aged an undisclosed period of years in super heavily charred red wine casks (!). Very interesting - I think scotch and red wine casks go hand-in-glove. This one is bottled at 46%. Thanks to Ardbeg rep Clarke Boyer for hosting the Ardbeg event where I ordered this from Ace Beverage in Wesley Heights in Washington DC. 

Wild Turkey Longbranch 8 Year Bourbon

 

One thing I've noticed about smaller scotch blogs (like this one) is that reviewers inevitably end up reviewing non-scotch alcohol every so often. This is due both to (1) scotch fatigue and (2) the high price of reviewing many bottles of scotch per annum. 

So in addition to my rum excursions, I am also going to occasionally review bourbon, gin, etc. The focus will still be primarily on scotch, but to keep everyone entertained I'll toss in a few like this every now and again.

Worthy Park 7 Year Jamaican Rum (SMWS R11.13 "Dunder Heid!")

 Another side jaunt into the world of interesting rums! My last bottle, a fascinating and challenging bottle from Guyana, was a real stunner. So I took a chance on this seven year bottling from Worthy Park - made in a pot still, aged 7 years in a second fill barrel (I think the aging occurs in England). 

This is nicknamed "Dunder Heid!" which refers to dunder, a remnant of rum distilling that is extremely funky and high in esters, and is left at the bottom of the boiler - much like sour mash, with bourbon. So this is going to be super super funky. 

Glen Grant 14 Year (SMWS 9.224 "Harvest Hayride Happiness")

 

This year's Burns Night bottle from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") is a 14 year Glen Grant - a distillery I've only ever sampled in official bottling form, their lovely 15 year, which was full to the brim with vanilla, chocolate, coffee, pears. It was bold, and a real pleasure. So I am hoping for great things here. 

Glenfarclas 8 Year (SMWS 1.246 "A One Like No Other")

 

I wasn't planning on buying anything this month, especially not a young Speysider, but I saw this bottle in the January outturn and just couldn't resist. A peated Glenfarclas (!). Glenfarclas is a family-owned Speyside distillery known primarily for very heavily sherried whiskies, and I have never seen a peated variant of any of their whiskies, ever. Not one. 

So when this showed up, I had to buy it and try it. Apparently the story is: this spent 8 years in a 2nd fill barrel... and the first fill of the barrel must have held heavily, heavily peated whisky. When a whisky ages in a wood barrel, it's not just the oils and esters and other chemicals in the wood that are imparted into the liquid... the liquid, for its part, sends chemicals and oils and esters right back into the wood, in turn. And here, heavy peat and smoke were residing in the barrel used here. 

Ardmore 12 Year (SMWS 66.206 "Magnificently Manky!")

 

Sometimes shipping alcohol from state to state here in the United States can be prohibitively expensive - between 25% and 33% of the cost of a single bottle, oftentimes. Thus, when placing orders with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), I usually find it best to buy at least two bottles to distribute the cost a little better. More than once, I have bought a whole bundle that contained a bottle or two I wanted, just to maximize my booze-against-shipping rates. 

This 12 year Ardmore was one such "plus one" bottle, bought to accompany the peated Glenfarclas I couldn't resist. And I have been a longterm fan of Ardmore for a long while now, so this was an easy pick.

Spade and Bushel 10 Year Cask Strength Irish Whisky

 

Another treat provided by the venerable Rob Martin, whisky connoisseur deluxe! And another departure from my usual single malt scotch focus. This was released in a limited edition of 5000 half-sized bottles, at cask strength (57.5% ABV), after aging for 10 years in unknown casks. 

Ireland doesn't have the same oak restrictions that the US and Scotland have - they only require "wooden" casks, since oak is hard to come by in Ireland and the whisky industry would have long ago extinguished the species from the island if they were required to use it - thanks to Teeling distillery tour for that bit of info. But I suspect that this spent its years in oak anyway, just based on the drying tannins I taste. 

Bottled by the Connaught Whisky Company, the actual distiller here is unknown. Let's investigate: