Oh the things we’ll do for whisky bottles… I actually sent a good whisky friend on a crusade to get me this bottle and also “forced” my brother in law to pick it up while he visited in South Africa last month.
Whiskybase.com is a very popular and known community site on the internet where one can spend hours managing his/her collection, see tasting notes, write own notes, rank whiskies and chat with others. But whiskybase.com are also an independent bottlers – their own Archives label had released many great whiskies in the past and very recently started a new series – The Fishes of Samoa. Initially they released 3 bottles and this UD 1995 Speyside is one of them. Continue reading
Marketing is serious big deal for every product and hard to master skill, right? When we look at the single malt whisky market and marketing we can notice that most distilleries core range malts stick to age, barrel types and usages and other whisky attributes to brand, label, tag and market their whiskies.
However, sometimes when you need to market unique and special products to specific crowded and competitive market (and audience), the question that probably rises in those marketing teams – how do we make it stand out so people will buy our products and not the others (or both, but make sure ours are in your basket…).
Blind drams – love ’em and hate ’em. Each blind dram is a way to redeem your self-esteem and showcase you knowledge as whisky blogger, but it’s also a way to really embarrass yourself with way off the mark guesses (which is more often then not) and tarnish your reputation…
I’ve got this generous sample from another Israeli whisky geek (Thanks A.!) and like a fool I manage to stop him from telling me what this one is before he spilled the beans. Seriously, I should declare temporary insanity…
Ahh, the holy grail of whisky bloggers – hunting down and finding the best whisky there is, tasting obscure and (relative) unknown or rare whisky and finding gems. Hard and ungrateful work I tell you!
Luckily, I got such one unknown whiskey from a friend served on a silver plate – an Organic Wheat Whiskey from small and relatively unknown distillery – Wigle Distillery in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
They are one of few distilleries in the USA that produces every product we sell from scratch, from local organic grain – a true passion and spirit shown here!
So we have a whiskey from almost anonymous (still) distillery – how is it?
Nose: Surprise! An initial strong pine wood – for a moment I was confused and thought I taste their Rye whiskey (another product from this distillery) but there’s no doubt this is not malt based spirit. Then we get some spices, vanilla and honey, the whiffs of pine wood keeps coming back for visits, also had a random of rubbery solvent. Overall, Nose is nice but isn’t very complex – it do feel young and fresh. With water added, it becomes gentler and more rounded, still getting that pine wood notes with sweet vanilla.
Palate: Like nose like palate – pine, honeyed vanilla, oak oak, spices with big cinnamon note, definitely young and kicking and not very complex. The only drawback it’s rough and stingy which is partially cured by adding water/ice
Finish: Medium length but feels rough like licked sawed wood. Bittery finish with some honeyed vanilla.
Conclusion: Really not my cup of tea. I admit I have a limited exposure to bourbons and this one behaves like a bourbon (and not from the top range IMHO). Should be nice drink at hot summer day with some ice or as part of cocktails. I do think this one will benefit from much longer casks aging – 9 months just isn’t enough.
Vacation post – still on vacation so time to keep digging into notes and publish them without lengthy musings or prologue. This time, Glen Ord 12 – old classic which is now hard to get after it was replaced by the Singleton expression.
I’m on vacation this week so decided to dig into my notes and start publishing them on the blog – and this time, the well know and popular Glenlivet 15.
I don’t think you need any introduction to Glenlivent and its’ core range, but if you do need one – go to their website or wikipedia 🙂
As I admitted in my previous post, I’m a big fan of Laphroaig whiksies. My first single malt ever was a Laphroaig Quarter Cask (less then 3 years ago) and since then, I never looked back.
So, when this PX Cask expression was announced I was very eager to put my hands on a bottle despite this one being exclusive for Travel Retail market, and I got lucky when a friend went through Heathrow airport and grabbed me one.
If you’re following my recent whisky reviews, you probably know I love Islay and peated whisky. But I admit that I have a very soft spot for Laphroaig – it was my first true single malt taste and I love their core range of bottles – the QC, 10yo, 18yo and the PX but never tasted indie Laphroaig bottling until this one.
Mike, the mind behind Abbey Whisky shop (great online whisky which you can visit here) celebrated his firstborn with a contest for this dram and I was the lucky one win this!
This one is bottled by the famous SMWS – The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which bottle different single malt whisky from different distilleries for a very affordable price and have some great whisky bars/lounges around the world (I will visit the Edinburgh one in this coming October!) – I’d probably be member of if I’d live in UK and if you live there, you should really be member of this club if you like whisky.
So first indie Laphroaig and SMWS bottling for me – should be good ah?
Nose: Starts with classic and lovely trademark Laphroaig notes – peat, iodine, seaside smell, lots of salty notes in this one and it’s strong and very fresh – feels very young (although aged for 20yo). After 5 minutes in the glass, prominent notes of lemon and ginger, honey, spearmint. Did I already say it’s very fresh? With added water, the spearmint and lemon takes center stage along with the peat.
Palate: Starts very Laphroaig – peat, iodine and salt and then we get strong and big punch of raspberries notes with some dirty notes. after they are gone, we stay with mineral and peat notes
Finish: Medium length. Peat and wood notes, being zesty, with lingering salty raspberries.
Conclusion: Frankly – this ain’t your standard Laphroaig dram. But still, it’s a very good one. It’s more of a dram for sunny day noon beach stroll. Very easy-drinking Islay one. Loved it!
Islay, my favorite island in the world and my whisky mecca. I have’t reviewed (yet) any whisky from the island and it’s time to fix that!
Last week I was fortunate to get a set of 4 samples from good friend and the first one I tasted is this Caol Ila 1984 27 yo which came with rave recommendation.
I always wondered how my approach to reviewing drams is impacted from the source recommendation. Yeah, I know, there’s difference when it’s an official sample provided from the distillery (or on its behalf) or if it’s a sample provided by friends or via samples swap – and still, I’m sure there’s some impact in the unconscious part of the brain.
So it’s always a good idea to approach reviewing it (in all cases) slowly and try to judge it professionally and objectively. Of course, if the dram is indeed a very good one – there’s no doubt about it and no dilemma.
But what if I don’t like it? Can it be blamed on different personal taste? Bad day at the office for the taste buds and nose? or just prejudice? What should one do then? Not an easy spot to be.
So how good is this Caol Ila? Were we in agreement or not?
Nose: Woosh – Alcohol bang (56.1% shows some muscle here) and Islay peat baby! Initially some acidic/sharp solvent which disappears quickly, and then the stage is clear and earthy peat rules the stage with background notes of vanilla, lemon custard. With a drop of water, the fruits notes get stronger – sweet candied citrus and lemon.
Palate: Initial burst of oak and vanilla, spicy peat – not as strong as on the nose and again the sweet candied citrus and lemon which once again get stronger when water is added.
Finish: Long finish, lingering peat and oak – very mild and gentle oak impact for 27yo old whisky. Undercurrent of the sweet citrus/lemon once again.
Conclusion: It’s always great to see long aged whisky which behaves and tastes like young one – fresh and lively. This one is one cracking Islay malt – what’s not to like here? high ABV delivers the flavors in maximum settings, peat, great oak impact and sweet fruits. Heaven! Good thing I didn’t land in some uncomfortable spot here.
Whisky Gospel 