The Glenlivet Nàdurra aged 16 years

First, a sad story. The first bottle of The Glenlivet Nàdurra I purchased, I never got a chance to really try. Being a bit careless and clumsy during its transport, I actually dropped the box containing the scotch whisky on the front porch of my home. At first, I didn’t hear any glass shatter and breathed a small sigh of relief. However, almost immediately after I picked up the box from the ground, liquid started seeping through! My eyes widened with horror, and I may have whimpered a little. In any case, after the initial shock passed, I got to thinking how I could salvage the situation. At first, I thought about licking the liquid-soaked box, or being a bit more civil and finding a container nearby to collect the escaping whisky. But, having thought about the risk of getting cut by tiny glass shards, I reluctantly let the situation be and watched the rest of the drink drain out. Yea, sucked. The upside is that for the rest of that afternoon, the front porch had a wonderful smell of vanilla, pecan-pralines, and freshly cut pear and green apples. =)

So, what I have pictured here is my second purchased bottle of The Glenlivet Nàdurra, and the cork top of the first bottle that I kept as a memento.

As can be read from the label, this scotch whisky was aged for 16 years in old bourbon barrels (where it gets its vanilla notes), bottled in November 2011 at natural cask strength (54.2% abv for batch 1111Q), has no artificial coloring, and is non-chill filtered. That is, it has qualities that I can appreciate. Taste wise, it is pretty refreshing with its floral and fruitiness. And with its high alcohol content, rather than add water, I like to continually enjoy this scotch neat but over an extended amount of time, savoring a sip every 5 minutes or so. Not only does this prolong the experience, allowing the whisky to breathe lets a whole plethora of flavor notes emerge – spicy, citrus, bitter, new band aids, vanilla, oak, fruity, aniseed.

I really like this. Cheers!

Link: The Glenlivet

Laphroaig Quarter Cask

What makes this Laphroaig expression unique from the standard 10 is that it is matured in two different-sized casks, with the smaller one giving the spirit more oak wood contact. In addition, it’s bottled at a higher 48% ABV and is non-chill filtered. It’s an attempt by the distillery to create a spirit that tastes like it did 200 years ago. Did they succeed? Hell if I know! I wasn’t around 200 years ago.

What I can say for certain, though, is that this is another great drink from Laphroaig. It’s got tons of peat smoke on the nose and palate. In fact, I like it much better than the standard 10. Finally, its higher alcohol volume gives the cask strength a run for its money!

Link: Laphroaig

SMWS 35.47 – Jelly Tots and Iced Gems

While not watching the Superbowl, I’m sipping a very sweet malt from Speyside distillery, Glen Moray. This particular scotch whisky was aged for 15 years in ex-bourbon casks, and bottled at a respectable 58% abv. I like it.

Society Notes:

Summery, with Jelly Tots, boiled sweets and fresh fruits followed by Cream Tea with Iced Gem biscuits. Water introduces lemon meringue and rhubarb and custard chews. A smooth texture, sweet taste and scented aftertaste.

Compass Box Great King Street

On this bright day, I’m sipping some of Compass Box’s Great King Street – Artist Blend. As its name suggests, this is a blended Scotch. That is, its single malt mixed with some grain whisky. However, what differentiates this blended whisky from others is that they use a higher proportion of single malt (50% vs 30-40%), which supposedly imparts greater character and complexity. Does it?

Well, it definitely is a refreshing dram. Though still not as complex as single malts, it is unique among the blends. It’s sweet and fruity, think freshly sliced Gala apples and Asian pears. There’s the usual vanilla nose, as well, with a subtle peatiness. The finish is in the medium spectrum, and as good as it gets for a 43% ABV whisky. Overall, I like it.

This would be a wonderful to have in the Spring time at a park picnic or outdoorsy concert.

Link: Compass Box

Scotch Malt Whisky Society – SMWS 29.100 (Laphroaig) – A League of its own

I finally cracked open one of my bottles of A league of its own, as the SMWS titled it.

From the website:

Islay, South Shore

Wet peat, raw oysters, almond oil, smoked mussels, crispy duck, heather smoke, hot diesel engine, earthy dunnage floors and a whiff of perfumed new make made a diverse first nose. Diesel, dirty like a burnt pan, white pepper, rock salt and grilled mackerel or sardines to taste; while water made it sweeter and perfumed. There were mentions of Brylcreem, cinder toffee, flake (Australian gummy shark) and one Panellist was ice fishing with Grumpy Old Men Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau. To taste this was ‘easy drinking’, smoky, salty, sweet, earthy; one Panellist had radicchio or red chard. Prince Charles’ favourite whisky.

Drinking tip: A brilliant Islay and a very interesting example of the make

Colour: Platinum gold
Cask: Refill hogshead
Age: 12 years
Date distilled: April 1998
Alcohol: 58.5%

With 238 bottles in existence, only 150 of them made their way to the U.S. I got 2 for myself. However, after tasting it, I think I need to create a stockpile before it’s sold out! Tastewise, it’s similar to my open bottle of Laphroaig’s 10 year Cask Strength (Batch 002; Dec. ’10), but sweeter.

As a side note, I find it curious that there exists another 29.100 bottle with the label Sticky toffee pudding ecstasy. Apparently, it’s a 20 year old Laphroaig casked in a refill sherry butt that was unveiled at 2011 Whisky Live Taipei.

Johnny Walker Double Black – Smoky Black

Over the holidays, I had the great fortune to find the much talked about Johnny Walker Double Black at the local Costco. Now, I’m not that big of a fan of Johnny Walker, or blended Scotches for that matter. Nevertheless, given all the talk and marketing for this whisky, I was curious to see if the hype was justified….

As its name suggests, Double Black is a much more intense version of the Black Label. Or rather, it’s a much smokier experience. Black and Double Black do share the same blend components though, just in different proportions — in an interview, Johnny Walker’s Master Blender Jim Beveridge shared that in Double Black, the smaller proportion of Cardu‘s fruity and floral whisky is offset by more peatier malts from Islay distillery Caol Ila…. interesting, but makes sense.

…so, is Johnny Walker Double Black worth the hype? In a word, maybe. It is definitely fun to do a Black vs Double Black taste comparison. I see Double Black as kind of a gateway whisky to nudge whisky drinkers into developing a palate for the smokier and polarizing Islay whiskies (i.e. Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, etc.), and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that! With that said, I do prefer the Double Black for the nose and the taste.

However, because I regularly drink my scotch at cask strength and neat, I found Double Black a bit underwhelming. Nevertheless, it is worth a try.

Link: Johnny Walker

Oban 14 – Eh…

I first tried Oban 14 last year, while watching the M-1 Grand Muay Thai Championship at Nokia Center; it was the only single malt Scotch they had at the bar. Preoccupied with the event, I can only recall that the drink was satisfactory, and that the bartender’s generous pour lasted me for half the night. So, when I encountered a bottle of it at Costco for a relatively good price, I thought I’d give it a whirl and try it again…

..and having sampled it a handful of times in the past 3 weeks, I can say for certain that I’m not liking this that much, or really, at all……Sorry.

I guess I can take solace that Jim Murray also gave it a 79 score, and thinks that it’s “absolutely all over the place. The cask selection sits very uncomfortably with the malt…”

Yea, Oban, to me, is an “eh” whisky. Oh well.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan – Savory New French Oak

I’ve spent the past week or so appreciating Ardbeg Corryvreckan, named after the 3rd largest whirlpool in the world. And though Uigeadail is my favorite from the distillery, Corryvreckan is a great dram nonetheless. It has won numerous awards and is considered a “Le Snob Essential.” Being an Islay malt, it’s tarry, smoky and peaty in profile, of course. In addition, because it’s partially aged in new French oak barrels, it’s got a spicy kick to it, making it more of a savory whisky. It’s super complex and mystical. Bottled at 57.1% ABV, I wouldn’t dare drink this everyday.

Still, sipping it evokes memories of boat rides not far off the coast, like that time I went whale watching in elementary school.

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Aberlour A’bunadh – a great Speysider aged in Sherry casks

Aberlour A’bunadh (pronounced ah-boon-uh) is an amazingly sweet scotch, and dare I say, my favorite from Speyside. This particular batch (37) is bottled at cask strength, or 59.6% ABV. It’s non-chill filtered, giving it a full body and great mouth feel. It’s also got a nice amber color from being aged in Spanish Olorsoro Sherry butts. It smells and tastes like toffee, pralines, and dark chocolate. Because of the high alcohol content, its finish is seductively long. I pour myself a double and can easily spend an hour appreciating it.

According to its wikipedia page…

Rumour has it that when the second pair of stills were put in in 1975, a time capsule was discovered behind the name plate, containing an 1898 newspaper about the distillery fire wrapped around an 1898 bottle of Aberlour. The workmen who discovered the bottle polished off four fifths of the bottle during their lunch break, but the remains of the bottle went off to the laboratories in Keith, and were analysed. A’bunadh is an attempt to recreate this single malt.

In any case, I really like it.

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Courvoisier XO Imperial – Holiday Edition

Other than the fact that I’m drinking this on Christmas, it’s really the same expression of Courvoisier XO (extra old) Imperial cognac one could get pretty much anywhere. I picked this one up for a really great price at Costco. It’s a blend of spirits between 20 to 35 years old.

This particular bottle came with this additional multifaceted glass orb stopper; I like it better than the ubiquitous heavy gold UFO-looking cork top.

Cheers!

Link: Courvoisier