May 2013 Balblair Tweeter Tasting

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I had the opportunity (and luck) to join and be part of a Tweeter tasting centered around the Balblair Distillery whiskies. I never had any of the Balblair whiskies before, and even though I already put my eye on a 1990 Islay cask bottle (after all, me being peat head) – I was very happy to be given a chance to taste it before purchasing it. But when the tasting event ended, another Balblair whisky jumped higher into my wishlist… Balblair have some good stuff!

Balblair 1997 – 2nd Release (46% ABV, £53)

Balblair 1997Nose: Creamy, light lovely vanilla aromas hiding beneath a river of fruits – pears and apples comes to mind. sweet honey shows up as well. after a few minutes, some oranges and pineapples notes coming up. very fruity nose. lovely candy!

Palate: apples and pineapples on the front porch, vanilla, sweet honey and lemon custard, then continue with peppery wood notes. ginger and grapefruits

Finish: Very clean, quickly fade tho. makes you want to sip another one!

Conclusion: Fresh and fruity like a fruits salad. This is a fantastic summer evening whisky to sip when the sun sets down into the sea. A dangerous and tempting dram!

Balblair 1990 Islay cask – Exclusive for MoM (50.4% ABV, £125)

Balblair 1990 Islay Cask 1466Nose: Comparing to the 1997 above, much more restrained – less fruity and heavier. The Vanilla and honey notes shows some muscle here. nail varnish, some sherry-like notes of sultanas and red berries, cinnamon, peat that crawls to the front over time

Palate: starts with gentle peat and brine. Oily and chewable. Then the fruits comes up.apples, Chinese fried banana desert.

Finish: very long, lingering spices, warming wood notes. some lemon notes after a while and peat is covering it all gently.

Conclusion: Yummy one! An excellent choice by the folks at Master Of Malt.

Balblair 1975 – 2nd Release (46% ABV, £208)

Balblair 1975 - 2nd ReleaseNose: Starts with strong varnish and wax notes, then malty, zesty spices, old dusty wood. Some sherry notes dropped here and there like lightly dripping rain. Spices and fruity. After a while tobacco too, old leather, cocoa and some background light peat. then after another a minute or two, some bananas notes. it’s crazy stuff!

Palate: Oily. Old leather, spicy oak notes. Tobacco. Sherry notes of raisins, some nutty cocoa, zesty spiced fruits

Finish: Long and HEAVENLY, wood notes lingers forever. Surprisingly not strong notes but gentle waves with spices. relaxed long finish without turning bitter.

Conclusion: Monster dram. the king of the evening. A perfect textbook example of amazing old whisky with top of the notch wood management. sublime! Jumped to a very high place in my wish list. Anyone willing to buy me one? 🙂

My whisky of the year 2012

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Yeah I know, we’re deep into into 2013, but this is my (new) blog so I’ll do whatever I want – now is my time to declare on my WotY 2012 🙂

Of course, I’ll stick to whiskies which I actually tasted this year and although I didn’t taste hundreds of whiskies, I was lucky enough to taste some very good drams and even own a few of those.

So my whisky of the year is: *drums please*

Benriach Solstice 2nd Edition (50%, Bourbon / Tawny Port Finish)

My brother in law brought me a bottle from cold Vienna over a year ago (January 2012), and boy – what a wintery dram is it… even the color is amazing – dark winery amber, just lovely!

Benriach Solstice 17

Benriach Solstice 17

Nose: peat.. you can’t mistake this. This one is heavily peated, but it’s not hammering straightforward into your brain – the peat is civilized, mellow and sweet. The Port finish shines with berries, sweet raisins – they actually mesh together in harmony.

Palate: starts with the port and then the peat comes in! oranges, spices. fades a bit and shows some roasted BBQ wood bitterness

Finish: berries, and some chocolate. very long and the peat lingers forever.

Conclusion: Peat and Port in a good way – I’ve read that many bottles of this combination cannot make it work, but this one does! Amazingly even now after a full year has passed there are bottles left in the original price – go get a bottle!

Rate: Go get a bottle while you can!

Bruichladdich tasting event

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bruichladdich

1,2,3 this is a test. Do you hear me well? Good! This is the first post in this blog and I’m very excited – Never thought I’ll be opening a blog and actually publishing something 🙂

Not long ago I helped organized a private Bruichladdich testing event for whisky fans, enthusiasts and friends and I thought it may be a great reason to start this blog going.

Couple of months ago I’ve laid my hands on a Bruichladdich Black Art 3.1 bottle and was waiting for the proper opportunity to open it up. As one can expect, such moments never materialized when you need them :-). So after realizing that I need to force that moment, I came up with the idea to organize Bruichladdich tasting event as an excuse to open the bottle…

After couple of months (Summer vacations, family events and holidays intervened..) we finally arrived to that moment: 9 great whisky fans and friends met to taste 7 Bruichladdich whiskies – some ‘standard’ laddies and some peated expressions

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