Whisky/Bourbon Review: Maker’s 46

Bourbon Whisky

 

 

Style/Region: Kentucky

Age: -

Barrel: Barrel Finished with Oak Staves

Alcohol: 47%

 

Water added: No

Nose: Sweet with a thick caramel smell and hints of honey and oak.

Mouth Feel: Thick, velvet and smooth.

Flavor: Smooth and sweet. Flavors of caramel, honey and oak with hints of malt.

Finish: Lingering smooth sweetness with oak.

 

Overall Impressions: Overall a bit harsher than my usual scotch. The malty/caramel flavors are thicker, heavier and sweeter. A very nice drink. It’s well balanced and quite a big step up from the run-of-the-mill bourbon and a nice change in pace from my typical evening dram.

Whisky Review: Caol Ila 12

Single Malt

Style/Region: Islay
Age: 12
Cask Type: not specified
Alcohol: 43%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Smoke and peat with brine and oak and hints of vanilla and apricot.
Mouth Feel: Light, smooth velvet with a nice finishing edge.
Flavor: The nose hits this one perfectly – smoke and peat, with brine and oak and hints of vanilla and apricot.
Finish: Long, lingering peat and oaky brine. It has a bit of a harsh edge about it – in a good way.

Overall Impressions: A very nice example of the Islay style, if not a particularly complex example. The peat flavors dominate, but they are rounded off with a nice sweetness, that starts smooth and finishes a bit harsh. A great drink for a cool, rainy evening – especially with the sound of crashing waves in the background.

Whisky Review: Highland Park 18

Single Malt

Style/Region: Highland (Islands)

Age: 18
Cask Type: Oak
Alcohol: 43%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Light with a mix of oak and brine with a hint of vanilla sweetness. After water was added, the sweetness is more pronounced with a hint of honey and apricot.

Mouth Feel: Thick, velvet and smooth.

Flavor: Smooth and sweet. Flavors of honey and apricot, with a slight oak and brine flavor in the back. Subtle hints of smoke.

Finish: Lingering smooth sweetness with a hint of oaky brine.

Overall Impressions: A very nice drink. It’s smooth, sweet and well balanced. A fine scotch for pretty much any occasion. The Highland Park distillery is located on Orkney island, making it the furthest north distillery in Scotland – which is a fun and novel distinction that does add a bit to the drink. Highland Park whisky is a drink I come back to over and over again – it’s comfort. I only wish some the higher-end, specialty flavors were easier to find in the States.

Whisky Review: Old Pulteney 12

Single Malt

Style/Region: Highland

Age: 12

Cask Type: Oak

Alcohol: 43%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Light with a honeyed sweetness and a hint of citrus fruit. After water was added, the nose is even more light with hint of honey and apricot.

Mouth Feel: Light at first with a moderately thick feel coming on with time.

Flavor: Relatively smooth and sweet. Light tones of honey and apricot, with a slight oak and brine flavor in the back.

Finish: Lingering smooth sweetness with a hint of brine.

Overall Impressions: A nice over all drink. Nothing really distinguishes it, but it’s a very good drink for the price.

Whisky Review: BruichLaddich 18

Single Malt

Style/Region: Islay

Age: 18

Cask Type: French Oak

Alcohol: 46%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Sweet, wonderfully sweet that caries across the room, overtones of honey and brandy. After water was added a distinct raisin nose combined with the slight honey sweetness.

Mouth Feel: Delightfully thick and oily.

Flavor: Complex, smooth and sweet. A raisin-oak flavor takes over., and hint of sweetness that is slowly overtaken by a light smooth peat smoke.

Finish: The smooth sweetness lingers a bit before slowly fading away. Very nice.

Overall Impressions: This is a very nice, sweet scotch that should be friendly to beginners, yet wonderfully complex for the snob. It was Mark C. Newton who got me to expand my blog into whisky and he blogs often of the wonderful scotch being put out by BruichLaddich. I now know why. While it is technically an Islay Scotch, this 18-year has more in common with the best of Highland. There is no peat to speak of. And that’s not a bad thing, not at all. The obvious influence of the French Oak cask and the sweet wine it aged makes this somewhat experimental (or progressive if you like), and a trip to the website shows that BruichLaddich has a lot of variety to offer. This is a bit pricey and many of the most interesting offers are tough to come by here in the States, but I’ll certainly be looking. It’s nice to have smooth, yet complex dram that is just as appropriate for the warm, sunny summer day as it is for the dreary, wet cold of winter.

Whisky Review: The Peat Monster by Compass Box Whisky Company

Blend

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Blend of Islay and Speyside

Age: Unspecified

Cask Type: American Oak

Alcohol: 46%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Heavy peat smoke with hints of brine. After water was added a briney oak with a hint of sweetness overtakes the peat smoke.

Mouth Feel: Delightfully thick and oily.

Flavor: Complex with a peppery oak, and hint of sweetness that is slowly overtaken by a light smooth peat smoke.

Finish: Smooth smoke and peat that lingers.

Overall Impressions: I don’t normally drink blends – I prefer the variety of a good single-malt. However, I have learned over the years that being snobby about blends is a huge mistake – If I were to attempt to make a list of the best Scotch Whisky I’ve ever had, a blend would either be at the top or near it. The Peat Monster is a product of the Compass Box Whisky Company and is part of their Signature Range series of whiskies that highlight the character of Scotch Whisky. The title says it all – this one is about peat. And it’s a good one. In fact, read my impressions of this and then read my impressions of Ardbeg Uigeadail. They are nearly identical. Now, I’m not saying that this is as good as Ardbeg, but it’s close – way closer than I would have imagined. It’s complex – the smoky peat flavor is the star, but subtle sweetness rounds this out. The blend features Islay single malts from the village of Port Askaig, an Islay south shore malt, a smoky malt from the Isle of Mull and a medium-peated Speyside malt.

So, learn the lesson – single malts are great, but don’t disdain the blends. I will happily be sampling the other Signature Ranges offered by Compass Box.

Whisky Review: Ardbeg Uigeadail

Single Malt

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Islay

Age: Unspecified

Cask Type: Sherry

Alcohol: 54.2%

Water added: Yes

Nose: Heavy peat smoke. After water was added a briney oak with a hint of sweetness overtakes the peat smoke.

Mouth Feel: Delightfully thick and oily.

Flavor: Complex with a peppery oak and hint of sweetness that is slowly overtaken by a light smooth peat smoke.

Finish: Smooth smoke and peat that lingers and lingers and lingers...

Overall Impressions: This is the real deal – Ardbeg has a reputation of being among the best of the best and it is deserved. This is an Islay whisky unlike most – it’s complex and subtle, more than just peat and smoke. Much more. When you drink Uigeadail you can understand why the old Gaelic translation of whisky (uisge beatha) is ‘water of life’ (yes, folks on the SFF blog, the ‘water of life’ is whisky, not worm juice). Though as I enjoy a glass on a warmish July evening I think that perhaps this is more of a cold weather drink. Of course is there a time that you shouldn’t drink the ‘water of life’?

Whisky Review: A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Royal Lochnagar Distillery

Single Malt

Individual Cask Bottling

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Highland

Age: 14 Year

Cask Type: Sherry

Distilled Date: July 17, 1996

Bottle Date: August, 4 2010

Alcohol: 56.3%

Water added: yes

Nose: Floral with honey. After water was added a sweet, honey nose comes through with considerable vanilla and hints of sherry.

Mouth Feel: light cream

Flavor: sweet smoothness and a bit of sherry, with slight oak and peppery tones.

Finish: smooth and muted, lingers with no overwhelming single flavor.

Overall Impressions: This is a very smooth, easy-going scotch and an excellent example of the Highland style. The Highland style combined with a sherry cask makes for a sweet and smooth drink that is very approachable and probably a scotch that a newcomer could enjoy. It’s not complex and doesn’t have the in-your-face feel of something like an Islay allowing it to come across as a bit more refined as a result. One of the best aspects of this drink is that it comes in full cask strength and allows me to water it down to the level I prefer. The A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Royal Lochnager is a very pleasant drink that invokes the ideal of sitting in a plush leather chair with a good book (and quite possibly bunny slippers and pipe of fine tobacco).

Royal Lochnager has been around since 1845. Early on it gained the favor of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, hence permission to use the ‘royal’ name. It helps that it’s located rather close to the royal family’s summer residence at Balmoral Castle.

A.D. Rattray is a distributor and independent bottler that takes whisky from around Scotland and bottles it directly, without watering down, dying, or chill filtration. The principle purpose of this old merchant company in modern times is to bottle unusual and exclusive casks of scotch whisky chosen to reflect the six individual whisky regions of Scotland. I’ve previously been very impressed by A.D. Rattray, and I’m happy that the trend is continuing. I got this bottle at BevMo, and for the price, it can’t be beat.

Whisky Review: Springbank 15 Years

Single Malt

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Campbeltown

Age: 15 Years

Alcohol: 46%

Water added: yes

Nose: Brine, oak, sherry, and fruit - apricot. After water was added a sweet and peppery oak with brine.

Mouth Feel: creamy, slightly oily

Flavor: Complex – sweet and sour with peppery flavors.

Finish: Sweet and complex, oak and pepper flavors linger

Overall Impressions: Subtle and complex. In all honesty, Campbeltown Scotch has always been a bit of a mystery to me – though I’ve only had the opportunity to drink Springbank so far. Before I embarked on this journey of sitting back to truly taste the whisky and put my thoughts to it, I’ve not been impressed with Springbank – I’ve always considered it good, just not as good as it seems it should be based on what I keep hearing of it. But now I’m forced to revise my opinion. I can finally taste the subtle difference between the Campbeltown and Highland styles – before I pretty much found them to be the same. Subtle and complex are the two words that really say it all – so subtle that it’s very easy (as I did in the past) to look right past this scotch. That is a mistake – it’ll never have the bang of a really good Islay or the smooth sweetness of Highland, but it is its own beast and it’s the better for it.

Whisky Review: A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Bowmore Distillery

Single Malt

Individual Cask Bottling

Non-chill Filtered

Style/Region: Islay

Age: 14 Year

Barrel: Bourbon Oak

Distilled Date: March 27, 1996

Bottle Date: August, 4 2010

Alcohol: 59.1%

Water added: yes

Nose: smoke and peat. After water was added a sweet, briny nose comes through and the smoke and peat diminish somewhat.

Mouth Feel: thick and oily

Flavor: sweet smoke and pepper. Less smoke and peat then expected

Finish: strong and complex, peppery, brine, long lingering peat smoke

Overall Impressions: This is a very nice scotch and an excellent example of the Islay style. The smoke and peat flavors are very present, but don’t overwhelm, though they certainly linger long afterward. As with most Islay scotch, this isn’t a subtle drink, or overly complex – but I’ve come to love the strong smoke and peat flavor, possibly above all else in scotch. One of the best aspects of this drink is that it comes in full cask strength and allows me to water it down to the level I prefer. This whisky invokes a cold, damp and drizzly day with a mist hiding the surroundings – in a good way. This drink is reminiscent of my visit to Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh – that is the moment I transformed from a novice whisky drinker into a blissful addict as I chatted and sampled for over an hour (free of charge) before making a modest purchase (and it was a cold, damp and drizzly day).

A.D. Rattray is a distributer and independent bottler that takes whisky from around Scotland and bottles it directly, without watering down, dying, or chill filtration. The principle purpose of this old merchant company in modern times is to bottle unusual and exclusive casks of scotch whisky chosen to reflect the six individual whisky regions of Scotland. This is my first bottle of A.D. Rattray, and I’m very impressed. It won’t be my last. I got a couple of bottles at BevMo, and for the price, it can’t be beat.

Whisky Review: The Balvenie 15 Year Single Barrel

Single Malt

Style/Region: Speyside

Age: 15 Year

Barrel: Single, Traditional Oak Cask

Bottle Date: October, 14 2009

Alcohol: 47.8%

Water added: yes

Nose: Honey, fruit, apricot, light vanilla

Mouth Feel: Smooth, slightly oily

Flavor: Sweet and sour, spicy, peppery

Finish: tart, spicy, peppery, oak

Overall Impressions of The Balvenie 15 Year Single Barrel: This is a smooth, spicy and complex scotch whiskey. Probably friendly as an introductory scotch for the novice, though not as friendly as some of the other Balvenie whiskies. Balvenie is a scotch I continually come back to. I like the variety of its offerings and the sweet smoothness that characterizes so many of them. However I must admit that part of it is probably that it has several good offerings at a price point I’m willing to pay (<$100) and is relatively easy for me to find. My wife has indicated that she thinks she’d like scotch if she gave it a try (this came about from me adding some to her chamomile tea once). She’s not a big drinker, but Balvenie is probably what I’d use to introduce her to scotch – though imagine it would be one of their other varieties since the Single Barrel is so peppery and complex.

Of Whisky and Books

One of the things I look for when I decide to follow a blog or not is a personal touch. Yes, the majority of blogs I follow fall into the niche of SFF books, but reviews are not enough. I need a blog to have personality. One of the best ways for a blog to establish a personality is to post about things beyond the SFF world of an interest to the blogger. Admittedly, my own blog generally fails this test, though I try to establish personality through pretty much everything I write.

However, I’ve now decided – with the chiding of Mark Charan Newton – that I will branch out into the world of blogging about drinking – specifically scotch/whiskey/whisky and the occasional bourbon or other whisky variant. Sure if it takes off I may branch into some my other drinking habits – such as beer or wine, but for now I’ll sticking to whisky – mostly single-malt scotch whisky, though from time to time I will explore other versions of the water of life.

Now, I’m even less qualified to review whisky than I am books. Sure, I love the drink. And to me it fits well with things around here because after everyone else in the house has gone to bed I can usually be found relaxing on the couch with a book and nice glass of scotch. But I can’t see me being one of those reviewers who can list off 7 or 10 flavors that I taste in the whisky. No, I’ll be more basic – a few flavors and my overall ‘feel’ of it. Maybe I’ll even attempt to be clever or humorous about it. Though of course I’ve done research on how to do it ‘properly’. I suspect that I’ll actually take notes over the course of several occasions before I distill it all into a review.

I’ll come back and edit this post to list the reviews I’ve done.

Cheers! Salud! Na Zdravi! Kampai! Noroc! Sláinte! Or however you prefer…

• A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Royal Lochnagar Distillery
• The Balvenie 15 Year Single Barrel
• A.D. Rattray Cask Collection: Bowmore Distlillery
• Springbank 15
• Ardbeg Uigeadail
• The Peat Monster by Compass Box Whisky Company
• BruichLaddich 18
• Old Pulteney 12
• Highland Park 18
• Caol Ila 12
• Makers 46

Update with Scotch Whisky

So, my daughter is recovering well from her second surgery in 2 months of life and I’m slowly trying to get my life back in order. I’m still at least a week away from any real progress with this, but I’m at a point where I can start thinking on other things in life (such as work, blogging, etc.). I may even find some time for adding some real content around here in the next few days. We’ll see.

In about a week I should be back to a normal, though I honestly expect it’ll be a month or two before I’m truly back to regularly scheduled blogging. I won’t be absent, just not consistent – expect blogs will come in fits and starts separated by longish lulls.

But I always try and find some positives in my world, so I’ll leave you with a small bit that certainly raises my spirits. My birthday is one week after Christmas and after a lifetime of combination gifts I’ve fully embraced them. In fact I ask for the exact same thing from everyone – gift cards to BevMo so I can buy good Scotch. Below is a picture of the spoils from this year which was a banner year in part due to my parents’ divorce last year and a relative doubling of their contributions – amazingly enough I didn’t spend too much more than the amount I was given (relatively speaking anyway).

Care to guess which one I cracked open first?