Tag Archives: tasting notes

Finnegan’s Eight


Posted by MealaCaimbeul

Prologue

As with all good things Irish, this will start with a story of how I came to be tasting this dram on St. Patrick’s Day this year.

Finnegan 8 Year

Finnegan 8 Year

I figured St. Patrick’s Day would be a perfect occasion to sample a nice Irish Whiskey and do a write up on my findings; but when I checked the liquor cabinet, and the auxiliary cabinet where I store the tall bottles, and the display shelf for the pretty ones (well you get the idea) I couldn’t find a single bottle of Irish Whiskey. Nine bottles of Scotch, one from Taiwan, one American bourbon; but nothing from the Emerald Isle.

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Big Bottom Zinfandel Finish and Single Cask Zin series review!


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

img_5404This past weekend (well, black Friday, technically) I was able to help out over at Big Bottom Whiskey again and bottle up three different single cask runs of their Zinfandel Finish Bourbon warehouse series to complement the more widely available blend. I’m quite privileged to be friends with the owner, Ted, and more so to get some sneak peaks into the business and what’s to come.

I’ve know about the warehouse series zin bottlings for a while now and even had some small samples when I stopped in a while back as Ted was prepping the blend. Now that the warehouse series are bottled and I had some time to sit at home and really run through a decent side-by-side tasting, I figured I give you all the run down of what I think.

Following are the notes of the three warehouse series single cask bottlings as well as the commercially available blend (Note that I had a clean palate prior to sitting down to taste, cleared with both a small cup of black coffee followed by water prior to and after each glass.):

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  • Bottling: Amy’s Vineyard cask, finished 6 months.
  • Nose: Red licorice, currants, cardamom, and a citric whiff of orange and cranberry
  • Flavour: Fruit and oak tannins up front, followed by some white pepper and a return of red licorice
  • Finish: Light vanilla combined with the fullness of red fruit, almost jammy, then balanced quickly by the rye spice and dry finish.
  • Viscocity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous Notes: Complex and subtle notes from the zin barrel come through, as well as the zinfandel itself. Heavier on the rye notes as well.

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  • Bottling: RedwoodValley cask, finished 6 months.
  • Nose: More red licorice and berries with a heavier oakiness.Orange as well, works into a cinnamon finish on the nose.
  • Flavour: Dry tannins roll into the oakiness of a heavy zinfandel with muted rye spice notes.
  • Finish: As the zin fades, the rye spice returns forward and finally balanced with the sweetness of cinnamon Christmas candies.
  • Viscocity: 3
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous Notes: The explicit barrel notes really come through with this bottling.

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  • Bottling: Ancient Vineyard cask, finished 6 months.
  • Nose: Pepper and red fruit indicative of a good zinfandel. More red licorice with a slight toastiness that presents the entire dram quite big on the nose.
  • Flavour: Round sweetness and charred oak. Big fruit gives way to coffee and char, then moves right into a rye spice.
  • Finish: As the coffee and char fade, the ry spice and fruit comes back to linger with a distinct but mild alcohol burn.
  • Viscocity: 4
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: A
  • Extraneous Notes: Big and complex. Much more of the French oak. A great marriage of zin and bourbon here.

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  • Bottling: Zinfandel Finish, blend of four different zin casks. Same winery, but different vineyards.
  • Nose: Cardamom and red licorice, with orange, cinnamon, and very light oak.
  • Flavour: Berries and oak tannins move into a complex mix of char, toast, and a melange of spices including rye, cinnamon, cardamom, and white pepper.
  • Finish: The spice moves back to the sweetness of berries with a slight chocolate espresso note that lingers at the end.
  • Viscocity: 3
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: A
  • Extraneous Notes: This dram is surprisingly greater than the sum of its parts. The blend exemplifies how critical barrel choice and blending percentages can be. The blend results in a dram that is entirely new but still maintains the best qualities of the included casks. 

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All in all, I am amazingly pleased with how the entire vertical series turned out. While I enjoy the final blend the most of all four bottlings, I actually enjoy it more as a direct result of being able to compare it with the single casks that went into it. Of the single cask bottlings, I do have to side with the complexity of the Ancient Vineyard cask as it reminds me so much of the high quality and BIG California Zinfandels my palate grew up with; the rye spice in the bourbon being the perfect complement to the pepper in a good zin. The finished blend is a wine and bourbon lover’s dream come true.

The good news for you all local to the Portland area, the warehouse series should be on sale this coming weekend exclusively at the Big Bottom Tasting Room in Hillsboro, Oregon.  For the rest of you all, you may be out of luck, unless you can find an on-line retailer (connected to one of these distributors) to special order and ship you some of the Zin Finish Blend… unless you’re lucky enough to happen upon some in your local store  🙂

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Review: Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt (Shackleton’s Replica)


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

img_4456 This is probably the single dram I have ever actually looked forward to. Most drams I am simply pleasantly surprised to find out they exist, but this one… this one has been on my radar since it was announced after the Shackleton expedition find hit the news sites. Imagine, a replica whisky built off of actual exemplars which have literally been on ice for a hundred years, preserving the contents in a spectacular fashion!

For some of our newer readers, I’ll remind you that whiskies do not age in the bottle, so what was discovered in the crates in Ernest Shackleton’s hundred year old base camp was unchanged from when it when in the bottle so many years back. This provided an amazing opportunity for some lucky few (one being Richard Patterson, also known as “The Nose”, of Whyte & Mackay) to test, sample, and ultimately reproduce a new blend whisky to replicate the original as closely as possible with today’s available stock.

If you’ve not seen the show, I highly recommend checking out NatGeo’s “Shackleton’s Whisky” episode on the discovery of the whiskies he’d purchased for his expedition. This show delves into a good balance of the history of the expedition, as well as the process used in recreating the replica bottling. They really treated the bottles with utmost care and respect; amazing they held up so well for so long in such harsh conditions, but they do show their age 😉

So, of course, when I heard the replica was finally released and available in the States, I had to grab a bottle for my shelves. (Can’t quite say collection, as I don’t collect…. though this one will likely be opened far fewer times than most bottles on my shelves.) Well, it just arrived today, so I took the opportunity to snap a few photos then crack her open for a wee dram to take some studious notes and share for you all to drool over…

My first amusement was the packaging, which does a great job at mimicking the original crates. Of course the bottles weren’t individually packaged for Shackleton’s voyage, so Whyte & Mackay had to take some small liberties with the individual cases. The packaging could have been gimmicky and simple novelty, but thought was obviously put into this and resulted in a job well done. I will admit, as I stood in my kitchen opening the box, I did feel a bit of an explorer uncovering a long lost treasure, and a slight silly pang of guilt for not wearing my white gloves for the job. Gingerly pulling off the tissue paper wrapping, noting tears in expected places from the boxing, I was greeted by a lovely sight:

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But, as I noted above, I’m not a collector and can’t leave well enough alone, so I grabbed a tulip glass and gently shuffled the tin wrapper up and off without causing a tear (easily replaced back to original effect once I poured my dram). Right off the bat I noted how surprisingly light the whisky actually appeared. A few pictures later and I got down to tasting…  here are my notes:

 

Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt “Shackleton” Whiskey

  • Nose: A bit of heat at the start, then straight into the sweetness from the sherry butts and a waft of smoke to compliment. Next some subtle spices like a Major Grey’s chutney slink in, but hang around the shadows while lightly buttered toast enters only to highlight the orange zest originally hidden by the initial ethanol heat.
  • Flavour: Mild and subtle are the two words to spring to mind at first taste. There is very little bite from the alcohol, which at a higher 47.3% was as surprising as the light colouring. The first flavours to hit my palate are cheesecake with a nice toasted graham-cracker crust into a smokey fine quality toffee, then the oak follows to balance the sweet with the dry.
  • Finish: This dram has a middle to long finish which moves into heavier oak on the end. Quite dry during the last half of the finish as it slowly fades away leaving a nice woody tannin dryness to contrast the sweetness from the start.
  • Viscosity: 4   (it looks quite crisp in the glass, but in the mouth it is surprisingly and pleasantly chewy)
  • Boldness: 2
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste:  A+
  • Extraneous Notes: It is very light in colour than what I was expecting for the age and casks of the distillates used in creating this replica, as well as the final marrying. This really is a quintessential Speyside dram though, as it drinks with far more depth than the colour would initially indicate. Like all quality aged whiskies, the subtleties really shine here, as the recipe is perfectly balanced to highlight each of the mild and balanced tones coming through. Not only is this dram balance at every point on the palate, but the balance transcends the immediate taste and works effortlessly to balance the entire length of the story; a task easily but brilliantly achieved by this blending.

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I’m sure none of you are surprised to find this rated so highly on my personal taste; after all it is an expensive dram with a Speyside pedigree which I have been looking forward to for a while now. And yes, that may well indeed cloud my perception of this dram to some extent. But I tell you this: I’ve had far older, and far more expensive drams which don’t compare to the complexities and balance of Shackleton’s whisky. There is an impressive marriage of notes to this whisky which take it from a simple good dram, to an outstanding dram which may now take the top spot as my favourite (bumping the Balvenie 21 Portwood to a meager second place), but I think another dram or two will be needed before I close the books on that end. I’m quite pleased to have obtained a bottle for what I did, as I can imagine the price increasing exponentially from here on out as supplies become more limited. This IS a strictly limited 50,000 bottle run. Once gone, well… you’re only hope will be if another adventurer stocks away a case or two which are later rediscovered and replicated within your lifetime.

If you’re a fan of slightly smoked Speyside whiskies, do yourself a favour and pick up this bottle soon… you’ll regret it if you don’t. Thus far, my only regret is that I can’t buy more!

 

 


PDX Whisky tasting notes from May 11th, 2012


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

This was a tasting I was personally looking forward to with great anticipation as we were to be sampling the Aberlour 12 Double Cask, Aberlour 12 Non-Chill Filtered, Caol Ila Distiller’s Edition, and Compass Box The Last Vatted Malt. Since we can’t get this last bottle retail in theU.S., I was really looking forward to being able to sample it. I even made some idle threats in Ian’s direction that I may kick him in the shins and abscond with the bottle…  I don’t think he was swayed by my warnings though…

Luckily, I didn’t have to resort to violence, as we soon got to the tasting and began passing the bottles around… here’s the notes I took on each:

Aberlour 12yr, Double Cask, 43% abv

  • Nose: Immediate Sherry and vanilla, into a deep oak.
  • Flavour: Nice mellow caramel notes, a bit hot, then red fruit, followed by a touch of cinnamon and a hint of dark chocolate.
  • Finish: Moves back into a crisp lingering heat
  • Viscocity: 3
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 1
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous Notes: This dram had a shockingly short story. While good, the palate simply vanishes quickly.

 

Aberlour 12yr, Non-Chill Filetered, 48% abv

  • Nose: Light vanilla and oak. It presents as a rather simple nose in the middle, then shows just a hint of brine
  • Flavour: Mildly chewy mouth feel then some direct heat. A little tire rubber followed by a slight nuttiness on the back.
  • Finish: The nuttiness hangs for a while then moves into a nice round finish of balanced caramel and oak notes
  • Viscocity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B-
  • Extraneous Notes: I enjoyed the double cask more, but likely due to the use of sherry casks in half of the matured spirit of that dram. This one proved slightly more challenging, though I’d likely have been very pleased had I sampled this first and the double cask second.

Caol Ila, Distiller’s Edition, 13yr, 43% abv

  • Nose: Mild smoke into brine. This noses as a quite complex dram, but very clean as well.
  • Flavour: Mild brown sugar into smoke. I noted here that this was oddly balanced with brine and smoke, as the 18yr I’m used to is much heaver on the smoke.
  • Finish: Fades consistently with the nose, in that the smoke dissipates revealing the brine again, and finishes as a complex but clean dram on the palate.
  • Viscocity: 3
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous Notes: Complex and enjoyable. I’d continue to cook with the 18yr but happily drink this along side.

Compass Box, The Last Vatted Malt, 53.7% abv, Recipe is 22% from the younger of the two distilleries in Aberlour 36yr / remaining 78% from Caol Ila 26yr

  • Nose: Nice heavy maltiness with a deep toasty grain and cereal note, with a hint of caramel running throughout.
  • Flavour: Hot, very hot, even for a 108 proof dram. Much like the nose this hits with a good balance of oak and toast.
  • Finish: I was surprised that at such a high proofing this dram took a long while to finish, though not a complex story it finished with lingering cereal notes.
  • Viscocity: 2
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous Notes: A solidly good dram, but lacking the complexity of what I would have expected from whiskies at 26 and 36 years of age respectively. This would be a stellar dram at a different price point. As it stands, I am please to have tried it but likely won’t be searching it out purely based on cost.

And since we were talking about how The Last Vatted Malt wasn’t available in theU.S., Ian decided to pull out another Compass Box offering only available inCanada. Ian had actually pulled out this particular bottling once before so the notes below will be a combination of both times I’ve tasted this:

Compass Box, The Magic Cask, Limited Edition, 46% abv

  • Nose: Light brine, mild heat, and green olive. This second nosing was light on the nose, but still showing hints of the brine and olive.
  • Flavour: Spicy and watery, but hot. Much like an oaked Rye. The second tasting showed more complexity with a balance of grain and cereal, while still remaining hot.
  • Finish: Hot, Oak and final toast with some brine. The second finish showed the same cereal and toast notes but a bit lighter than previously mentioned.
  • Viscocity: 2
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B+

And then came the final bottle I enjoyed that night. Sadly I stopped taking tasting notes just prior, though to my benefit I was able to enjoy the little bit that was left in the final two drams of the bottle… I will say, the Tobermory 1798, 15yr is a spectacularly wonderful dram to finish out an even of amazing drams.

Sometimes, it is indeed good to be me 🙂

 

 

 

 


PDX Whisky tasting notes from 4-06-2012


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

Last Friday evening was another gathering of the PDXWhisky group, hosted again by the incomparable Ian Itschner. As we’ve come to expect, Ian outdid himself yet again with the ‘light meal’ he provides, this time opting to produce 20 or so individual Guinness meat pies, and even adjusting the recipe for the vegetarians in the group. Leave me wondering what he’s got left up his sleeves for the next tasting.

It seemed this time around we were all raring to go and dug in to the tasting quickly after having fortified ourselves with the delicious savory Guinness pies…

We enjoyed four selections during this tasting:
Springbank 12 yr – Claret cask finish. After finishing for 3 yrs in claret casks, this was put back into bourbon barrels to smooth out the wine influence.
Tobermory 15 yr – A new limited edition from the Isle of Mull, matured in González Byass Oloroso sherry casks.
Ardbeg Alligator – This Islay whisky is aged in heavily charred new oak casks. Highly rated.
Laphroaig Triple Wood – Bourbon casks, quarter casks and sherry butts. Softer and richer than the standard Laphroaig.

 

 

Following are my tasting notes for each expression:

Springbank 12 yr – Claret finish, 54% abv

  • Nose: Red fruit sweetness with a slight earthiness (raw vegetation and mineral mix) like damp potting soil.
  • Flavour: Oak into unburnt caramel, contained the richness just not the toasted quality of caramel. Quite hot and bitey at the front of the tongue.
  • Finish: Moves into mild brine and then a weak salted caramel profile.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 3.5
  • Length of story: 4
  • Personal Taste: B
  • Extraneous notes: This struck me as if a Speyside spent some time on holiday in Islay. Slightly challenging and complex because of this, but a fun tasty dram.
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Tobermory 15 yr – Limited edition, 46.7% abv

  • Nose: slight brined raisin and soft rubber.
  • Flavour: Peat and brine with a hint of unsweetened fig newton. All flavours here have been married well and balance without challenging the palate too greatly.
  • Finish: Savory into a rich sweet wild cherry with a whisper of mint
  • Viscosity: 5
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of story: 3
  • Personal Taste: A
  • Extraneous notes: This was my favourite dram of the night, and seemed to be so for a large portion of the rest of the group too. I found it complex and interesting. I came back to this after a dram of the Ardbeg Aligator which transformed this dram of Tobermory into a surprisingly wonderful fruitcake bomb.
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Laphroaig Triple Wood- 48% abv

  • Nose: Heavy iodine and peat, with a bit of band-aid like rubber notes.
  • Flavour: Mild smoke with a surprising sweetness in the middle.
  • Finish: Brine into oak with a hint of spice late at the end.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of story: 4
  • Personal Taste: B-
  • Extraneous notes: I quipped at some point during this dram that it tastes like the Springfield Tire Fire so oft referred to on episodes of the Simpsons. But don’t take that as a bad thing, I actually enjoyed this dram far more than the Laphroiag 10yr, and would likely partake again if offered.
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Ardbeg Alligator- 51% abv

  • Nose:First and foremost smoke, then moves into a touch of iodine and peat.
  • Flavour: Tannins and charcoal, then the heat hits. Some semi-sweet burnt chocolate makes its way in as well.
  • Finish: More heat, then it vanishes with just lingering smoke and a final chalky dry finish.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of story: 3
  • Personal Taste: C+
  • Extraneous notes: Surprising heat for a 51% dram, I’d have expected upwards of 54% to have that much bite. My least favourite of the night, given it is a single trick pony. No complexity or grace. It is as if an American designed this dram to simply be excessive.

 

All in all, another rousingly fun evening learning about whiskies. In part that was due to having such a wonderful crew of newcomers to the tasting, which provided interesting conversation and differing points of view, as well as my own vicarious way of rediscovering new whiskies through newer eyes/palates.

As always, any of you who are local to Portland, Oregon need to make an effort to join in on one of Ian’s tastings. I can assure you, you will NOT be disappointed!

Image credit: (c) 2012 PDXWhisky


Jason’s “Age your own” experiment results


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

You may recall last year I picked up Woodinville’s White dog aging kit to test test run as a novelty experiment. My apologies for the delay, but I now have the results from the experiment which ran from May 2011 until late December 2011 (my notes got buried on my desk).

Woodinville’s White dog bourbon mash was barreled at 110 proof on May 22, 2011. I tasted at various times, frequently at first, then tapering off later, but averaging about a taste every 6 weeks. On December 27th, 2011 I determined that no more time would benefit the whiskey and bottled it up. Following are the tasting notes I took down on Dec 27th after 7 months of aging:

 

  • Nose: Heavy on the mash notes still. Corn followed by the expected mild caramel notes imparted from wood aging. Balanced sweetness as I have come to expect from bourbons.
  • Flavour: Immediate oak and hard tannins, followed by caramel and a jarring shift into the corn mash. Heat all the way through with a trail of bitterness.
  • Finish: Fades from the distinct mash notes into caramel again, finally ending on a bitterness either remaining from the early raw/vegetative mash or imparted directly from the barrel itself.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of story: 2
  • Personal taste: C-
  • Extraneous notes: Not a whiskey I will enjoy drinking straight. Even after 7 months in the barrel, the bitterness on the finish still stuck around and makes this dram less than enjoyable. I have noted, however, that as an aged spirit, it mixes quite well with cola for a surprisingly delightful cocktail. A solid B grade if used to mix.

 

After being relatively disappointed with the results, I dove in to some ideas for a second use of the barrel. My third use will be for barrel aging cocktails, likely Manhattans, but I still needed a second run distillate. Luckily, I happened upon House Spirits’ White dog whiskey bottled only at 100 proof, but made with 100% malted barley, ah, just what I was looking for…

But that’s a story for another day.

 

 


PDX Whisky Blind Tasting, Feb, 24th, 2012


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

This past weekend was another PDXWhisky tasting hosted by Ian Itschner. As always, we had a lively group show up, all interested to see what this blind tasting had in store for us.

Unlike prior PDXWhisky tastings, this time around Ian went to pains to obfuscate the Distilleries/brands to keep preconceived notions away from the drams and allow our senses to do all the work; to find our favourites without the benefits of advertising or other biases. Of course that didn’t stop us from guessing and taking pot shots based on bottle shape, the colour of the whisky itself, or the general characteristics of the dram once we were tasting. (After all some bottles are so distinct in shape, you just KNOW if it is a Highland park, a Bruichladdich, or a Glenfiddich… its hard NOT to guess!)

To help you get the sense of what I’m talking about here…. these are the four bottles as presented to us:

You’re guessing already, aren’t you? See, it’s hard NOT to immediately start in with those biases and preconceptions! I’ll bet you even have some good guesses based on #2 and #4’s shape, as well as #1’s neck height, don’t you? I know we did! But don’t let that cloud your mind… work through it and you WILL be rewarded with some fun surprises.

In the spirit of the evening, I am going to present my tasting notes in the same blind fashion: showing you the notes without indicating the distillery or other bottling notes:

Bottle #1

  • Nose: Hotter than expected, and briney with mild caramel, cereal comes in late and then a light char.
  • Flavour: Hot and bitey. Some brine then light smoke and bran.
  • Finish: Toast into balanced cinnamon and smoke. Some said redhots, others said a higher quality cinnamon instead. The room was divided.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 2 (despite being so hot, not exactly a bold dram)
  • Length of Story: 2
  • Personal Taste: B-
  • Extraneous notes: On nosing I guessed this was at 45%abv, on tasting I upped it to 50%abv. First guess was Auchentoshan, then I scratched that out and changed a second guess to Kilchoman.

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Bottle #2

  • Nose: Grilled plantains, presenting a mild vegetative sweetness
  • Flavour: light and watery, hint of caramel, but rather bright and crisp.
  • Finish: middle oak and lingers with mild tannins
  • Viscosity: 2
  • Boldness: 2
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: B+
  • Extraneous notes: No abv guess here as it generally felt like a standard 40%abv. I took a guess at the region rather than distiller and put this in the Lowlands and aged at 12- 14 years based on the tannins that came out at the end.

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Bottle #3

  • Nose: Port, then heavy port, into wet dirt with a side note of ‘red fruit’.
  • Flavour: Brine and port, astringent and hot.
  • Finish: Heavy but wet tannins at first, which then dry out to the end. A constant port finish through out.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: B+
  • Extraneous notes: This was another hot one, but a bit more mild than the first. My guess from nosing was at 41%abv while I upped it to 45%abv on the palate. Normally I love port finishes, but this one threw me for a loop as it nosed like a Speyside, but drank like an Islay. My guess put this as an Islay with a port cask finish aged 16 years.

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Bottle #4

  • Nose: Fruit, a smokey apple hookah tobacco type scent.
  • Flavour: Immediate anise, which moved straight to peat and then into fruit with semi-sweet almost bitter chocolate (akin to a 77% cocoa)
  • Finish: Balanced oak and sweetness of fruit without the acidity.
  • Viscosity: 2
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: A
  • Extraneous notes: This was quickly noted as my favourite of the night, guessing region as Highland and aged 18 years given the balanced sweetness with a hint of peat.

 

… and to push the reveal text far enough down so as you can’t see it while reading the tasting notes above, here’s another look at them:

There, now that you have the tasting notes, and obfuscated images of the bottles I’ll stop the torture and reveal what each bottling was in relation to my guesses above. So, without further ado, the BIG REVEAL:

 

 

  • Bottle #1: Auchentoshan Valinch, 2011 limited edition, bottled at 57.5%abv
  • Bottle #2: Compass Box, Great King Street
  • Bottle #3: Glen Scotia, 19 year, single cask port finish, bottled at 59.5%abv
  • Bottle #4: Ledaig 10 years, 46.3%abv

 

 

I should have trusted my first instinct on bottle number one and not second guessed my distillery choice as I was apparently right on with my initial guess! I WILL come clean and note that was primarily driven from the bottle shape and my knowledge of what Auchentoshans typically taste like. Still, I was surprised to have been so close on my first guess.

The second bottle was a bit of a shock as I’d gone through two bottles of Compass Box’ Great King Street with friends since November. I’m a bit settled by the fact that the bottle is comprised of 51.4% Lowland grain whiskies, letting me breathe a bit better when I guessed lowland as the region. Unfortunately, not having done a proper tasting note for the GKS, I don’t have a personal taste comparison to show how close or off this blind tasting was. I’m guessing that blind, this rated a bit lower than I likely would have rated it otherwise, given my predilection to towards anything Compass Box produces. Nice to keep me honest. That said, even at a B+ I’m absolutely going to continue buying this bottle for whisky & sodas!

The Glen Scotia came as a real surprise being a Cambeltown, not an Islay. This one to me was like a Johnny Walker Green: I loved to nose it, but wasn’t pleased with the palate at all. That said, I did guess the port finish correctly, and was even a bit closer on the age than I expected with my guess of 16 years versus the actual 19 years.

The real surprise for me came with the fourth bottle: the Ledaig 10 year. After the Glen Scotia at 59%, its no wonder this one didn’t rate as hot for me, coming in at 46%. Colour me shocked, however, that I’d guessed 18 years when in reality this Ledaig is only aged 10 years. And again, it is an Isle of Mull whisky when I’d originally guessed it as a Highland.

Ah, well, you win some, and even when you lose in this game, well you still win! In fact, I was so pleased with the Ledaig after this blind tasting, I opted to pop over to my local whisky shop and pick up a bottle (shock of shocks, they actually HAD it!). I have to say, this was also the least expensive dram of the night, generally around $50/bottle. Seeing As to where it was my personal favourite of the night, how could I not grab a bottle?

 

All images used by permission: (c) 2012 PDXWhisky.com


PDX Whisky tasting notes from 10-28-2011


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

Ah, whiskies… where would I be without them? Well, likely with a larger bankroll and more time on my hands, but alas, I can not ignore the siren calls of local tastings! None of you will be surprised then, as I share my tasting notes of the four bottlings we tasted during the latest PDX Whisky event, this time hosted by Amit Armstrong, Ian Itchner’s whisky cohort.

As usual, the light dinner provided was outstanding (both Ian and Amit are exemplary cooks, Amit’s specialty being Indian cuisine), and the group of both new and old faces was as talkative as ever. Each of the PDX Whisky tastings I’ve been to this year has seen around 5 or 6 regulars, and another 10 or so people who filter in and out making each tasting a new adventure in meeting people and sharing our different takes on the drams presented. Always such interesting perspectives followed with some great laughs as well.
But I digress, on to the tasting notes….

 

Auchroisk 20yr, 118 proof. (59% abv) Cask Strength

  • Nose: Caramel and a hint of smoke, some slight almost negligible brine
  • Flavour: very hot, but a pure speyside profile of balanced sweetness, with a hint of peat and smoke
  • Finish: sweet richness of graham cracker, toast, and more peat
  • Viscosity: 2
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: B+
  • Extraneous Notes: Darn good dram. Water adds a bur to the nose that didn’t exist before. Also adds caramel and butterscotch flavors to the palate.

Stronachie 12yr

  • Nose: Light toast, mildly sweet, talc with a hint of banana with a rich spice back (like banana bread)
  • Flavour: hot, deeper rich spiced bread in to a chocolate back evocative of 88% cocoa.
  • Finish: falters into nothingness. Surprisingly short story that just vanishes.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 2
  • Personal Taste: B+
  • Extraneous Notes: This was a sleeper. Very tasty, far better than initially expected.

Penderyn, Aur Cymru, Madeira cask finished

  • Nose: Over ripe cantaloupe, a waxy sour greenness.
  • Flavour: Heavy oak then mimics the nose of slightly rotten fruit.
  • Finish: A final hit of caramel, but comes too late to save the dram.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 2
  • Length of Story: 2
  • Personal Taste: C-/D+
  • Extraneous Notes: This dram can’t figure out what it wanted to be. Too many competing flavours fighting for center stage rather than working in conjunction to be stellar. No single bad taste, just quite neurotic as a whiskey.

Redbreast 15yr

  • Nose: Rich spice, vanilla and mild pepper, balanced and complex.
  • Flavour: Caramel and mild chocolate into a bit of oak, slightly hotter than expected.
  • Finish: Heavier chocolate notes linger with a long balanced story. Complexly warm and rich.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 5
  • Personal Taste: A
  • Extraneous Notes: The exception to the rule of light Irish whiskies with grassy floral notes, this is the darker more angry big brother that brings the bottom end of warmth and richness to the party, proving once again that you just can’t go wrong with Redbreast.

As a closing point, if any of you reading are local to Portland, Or. or find yourself in the area during one of these tasting events, you’d be a fool not to stop by. The settings remain intimate and conducive to connecting with everyone attending, making for both a technical tasting as well as a social event for any level of whiskies enthusiast. You don’t need to know a thing about whiskies to enjoy the PDX Whisky events, even though there’s a level of technical tasting going on as well that would appeal to the more experienced enthusiasts. Somehow the group always strikes that perfect balance for newbie and expert alike. I hope you’ll join us at the next one!


A PDX Whisky tasting, from a 3DC perspective


Posted by Jason O'Donnell

Friday night, I -finally- had the pleasure of attending a PDX Whisky tasting, hosted by the incomparable Ian Itschner. I’ve been trying to get out to one of Ian’s tastings since moving to the Portland Metro area in 2007. Yeah, four years of trying, and four years of bad scheduling luck as it would seem I was always booked those weekends Ian would put on a tasting. But no more. I finally made it and am happy to report back a successful gathering.

 

Because Ian hosts at his home, the atmosphere is far more intimate than a traditional seated tasting, and he goes out of his way to ensure guests are comfortable, and fed. For a paltry $25 donation, Ian provides (what he calls) a light dinner and a 4 bottle tasting course. At the caliber of bottles he is providing, the fee is indeed nominal for an evening out. With a capacity of sixteen guests, I think we hovered around nine or ten Friday evening, just enough to make a round-robin tasting table alive with one conversation, not the multiple sub-conversations which you may see with larger groups.

 

After some early ‘getting to know you’ time over dinner, we gathered round the outdoor patio table and dug in to the four bottles of the evening:

 

First up was the Nikka, from the barrel at 51%abv:

  • Nose: iodine, but only slightly medicinal, a hint of brine
  • Flavour: toasted new wood oak, not much else.
  • Finish: hot and bitey. A few drops of water adds a mild floral sweetness into caramel.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3.5
  • Personal Taste: B/B+

 

Next, we moved on to the an Cnoc 16yr:

  • Nose: peat, hint of oaked caramel and then into a hint of brine.
  • Flavour: young and vegetative, into oaky lumber. Hot, but oddly thin on the mouthfeel.
  • Finish: Citrus, then burnt chocolate, almost espresso
  • Viscosity: 1
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 4
  • Personal Taste: B+

 

We followed the an Cnoc with the Balvenie 17yr Sherry cask:

  • Nose: big caramel, small oak, hint of iodine on the back.
  • Flavour: sweetness of the sherry comes through heavily, into toast, combining into Pepsi.
  • Finish: Toasted malt and sherry butt, finishes with fairly heavy tannins leaving a dry mouthfeel.
  • Viscosity: 4
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 3.5
  • Personal Taste: A-

 

And finished off with the Oban Distiller’s Edition, 1993:

  • Nose: Hint of orange citrus and vanilla, chocolate, then raspberry.
  • Flavour: wet sherry, not as much of the oak coming through, then into a toasty richness
  • Finish: heavily sweet caramel, followed by mild oak tannins, a quintessential Speyside flavour profile though it is a Highland.
  • Viscosity: 4.5
  • Boldness: 3
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: A-

 

While I said ‘finished off’ above, what I really meant was finished the ‘official’ portion of the tasting, as we then moved on to a few other bottles from Ian’s collection after conversation brought certain bottles to the forefront of our attention. We moved on to a German distillery, called Slrys:

 

Slyrs, 2007 3yr

  • Nose: 1950’s locker room, old musty oak. Young mash but with a heavy mash complexity to the nose. Diner pie crust
  • Flavour: Smoke and peat. Not much complexity. Hard angles. Very German.
  • Finish: Short, structured, technical. (interested to see what their 12yr will produce)
  • Viscosity: 2
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: C+

 

And then on to the Brora 20yr, cask strength at 58.1%abv

  • Nose: Hot, brine.
  • Flavour: quite medicinal. peat, then heavy peat followed by brine.
  • Finish: Hot. the flavours simply vanish into the heat of the 58.1% alcohol.
  • Viscosity: 3
  • Boldness: 4
  • Length of Story: 3
  • Personal Taste: C+ (I didn’t bother cutting at this point, likely would be into a ‘B’ range when cut)

 

By this point, I scribbled in my tasting notebook: “palate gone”, indicating that the ability to pick out any sense of refinement in my tasting notes wasn’t going to happen from this point forward… which is probably a good thing as we moved on to a comparison of Arbeg’s Supernova, and Bruichladdich’s Octomore. Having imbibed in the Supernova first, I’d have to set the Octomore as less smokey and more to my liking as a decided non-peat head. Though, from this posting over on All things Whisky, I may have to change my tune soon as I am beginning to fall into the descriptors of a peat head. We’ll see how that pans out in the next few years I guess 😉

 

All said and done, it was a fabulous night out enjoying fines whiskies with some great conversation amongst like minded individuals. We laughed and carried on as though we’d known each other for far longer than the few hours of Friday night. And yes, I am kicking myself for not rearranging my schedules in the past to accommodate this tasting. Oh what I have been missing!


Aging my own whiskey: weeks 1, 2, and 3


Posted by Seamus

Jason/Seamus here again… I know I missed a few weeks of tasting notes, so I’m playing a little catch-up to share what is happening inside my little 1.875 liter barrel from Woodinville Whiskey Co.

I last left off right at the beginning. I had just set two 750ml bottles down in the charred new oak barrel and began the process of waiting. I’ll tell you, that first week of not taking sips was tough! I was dying to see what the oak was doing minute by minute! I -was- however to steer clear of any tastes that first week, leading to a fun discovery on day 7 when I was finally able to pour a wee dram: Colour!

 

Pictures of week one:

Here are the tasting notes from week one (May 30th, 2011):

  • Colour: Light caramel colouring very similar to the levels of colour in Knappogue Castle and other lighter Irish whiskies.
  • Nose: Sweet and floral followed by a bit of iodine.
  • Palate: Toasty chocolate with a light oak. Woody, still mash heavy, but clean and hot.
  • Finish: Short story, as expected at this point. Finishes very clean with a mild caramel way at the end, almost as if the dram realized it ended its story too soon and came back to finish it.

 

Week two I ended up tasting two days early, and as I didn’t discern much change between the first week’s tasting and this one five days later, I opted not to write down my findings (really, I had no findings other than ‘no discernible change’).

 

Which brings us to week three (June 12, 2011):

  • Colour: Light caramel, again much like a light Irish whiskey similar though ever-so-slightly more rich than week one though barely even worth a mention.
  • Nose: Light oak notes followed by a heavier corn mash / rye spice overtone (which is odd since I don’t believe any rye is used in this distillate). Still young.
  • Palate: Initial sense is of the corn/wheat/barley mash, moves into a light oak with a brief bitterness in the middle reminiscent of week one’s bitterness, only slightly more muted.
  • Finish: sweet and hot. Not as clean as week one with the mouth-feel imparting more lingering oils.

 

Since week three was a slight disappointment in terms of changes seen (not surprising mind you, but I was hoping none-the-less), I opted to cut another taste with water at a 1 part water to 2 parts whiskey ration to bring it down from the 110 proof to a more reasonable 80 or thereabouts.

  • Nose: Floral notes become more evident after cutting. In this case the water really did ‘bloom’ the dram and coaxed it enough to release those florals.
  • Palate: Still hot, but with a diametrically opposed watteriness. The alcohol bites, but the rest of the dram tastes thin now. Only hints of toast followed by the mash again.
  • Finish: back to the clean finish of week one with greatly reduced oils, but still a big alcohol burn to contend with.

 

So there you go. At this point I think I will sit on this for a while before coming back to taste again. Woodinville indicates a finished product in 3-6 months, so I’ll likely cut down the frequency of tastes to once a month at this point in order to keep enough distillate in to actually fill a bottle when the process completes! Of course I’m also starting to think ahead of this run and see what I may change and do differently in the next run… my main idea being use of a different distillate…

 

 

If you’re dying for even MORE whiskies related content, you can also check out the 3DC’s “Whiskies News & Reviews Daily” over on paper.li: http://bit.ly/k3XNbj It is a GREAT way to stay abreast of all the cool things going on in the world of whiskies!