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Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


JW Black has some fairly prevalent peat. Not the strongest, not by a long shot, but it's definitely there. Much more than in Glenlivet at least. I haven't had Chivas. It's the smokey, astringent taste in JW Black.

Balvenie 12 DoubleWood is tasty stuff but it is very low in peat flavor.

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J Hume
Apr 23, 2013

What is the best number?
Thanks. I'll try Highland Park next. Also good to know that I don't dislike peat.

edit: v soda water, I use San Pellegrino a lot since I have it around anyway.

J Hume fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Apr 8, 2014

rxcowboy
Sep 13, 2008

I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth; fucked both a chick and her mom

I will get anal. Oh yes.

J Hume posted:

After years of thinking I didn't like Scotch, I had a scotch & soda with Johnny Walker Black and liked it enough that I bought a bottle and have been making them at home.

I like the smokiness of JWB. There's a flavor in other scotches (maybe peat?) that isn't so prevalent in JWB, which I also like about it. I've started drinking it neat and now I'm ready to try something new.

My only other Scotch experience is with Chivas and Glenlivet. I didn't love either of them neat and ended up using them to make Rob Roys. I am considering the scotches listed in the OP (Aberlour 12, Highland Park 12, Balvenie 12 Double Wood), but would love any advice or recommendations about what to try next.

By soda do you mean club soda or cola? If you mean club, get Teachers because it tastes amazing.

Also Balvinie DW 12 is bland as poo poo and is truly the only bottle of liquor I regret buying in the past two years.

rxcowboy fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Apr 8, 2014

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope

Marshall Louis posted:

Sorry for late reply. Thank you.
Here's another set of tasting notes for Talisker Storm as copied from Dramming by Oliver Klimek:

Colour: Medium gold
Nose: Smoked pineapples, banana, vanilla, liquorice, hints of bacon, cloves, nutmeg, hints of pepper.
Palate: Medium peat, tinned topical fruit salad, vanilla, liquorice, cardamom, nutmeg and pepper.
Finish: Long, fruity and smoky with a good dose of spice
Overall: Following the trend of wood-engineered NAS whisky, this Talisker offers a different, fruitier, angle on the distillery than the regular 10 yo; good but not necessarily better – and more expensive.

We both seem to have agreed on pepper and liquorice at least.


Easter weekend is going to be long and there's probably time enough there somewhere to sit down and taste some new things. With that in mind I ordered myself samples of two 33yo Caol Ilas from 1980 and three different Blanton's samples (Gold Edition, Straight From the Barrel 87 & Single Barrel 202). I don't have any open bottles of old Caol Ila to compare the two samples with but I think if I put them up against two known good younger samples from my archive I should be able to tell whether the old ones are worth their price or not.

Admin Understudy
Apr 17, 2002

Captain Pope-tastic

Chuck Biscuits posted:

Found a bottle of Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Heavily Peated single malt at the local Bevmo yesterday. I can't grade it in relation to other Bruichladdich releases since I've only had the Laddie 10, but I think it's delicious. It has the same oiliness and citrus notes as the Laddie 10, but with a healthy does of peat and smoke. They say that it is smoked to 40 ppm, but it seems a little less smokey than Laphroaig 10 and a lot less medicinal. Also seems quite a bit more delicate and lighter than Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig 10 or Lagavulin 16.

Overall, I like it a lot and would like to get my hands on some of their other releases. Does anyone have experience with any of the Octomore releases?

We just tried an Octomore actually, unfortunately I'm not certain what release/year/batch it was. I was expecting something undrinkable, but it was surprisingly fruity and had a pleasant meatiness to it. Glazed ham? Anyway it was much more balanced than I was expecting. It does however saturate your mouth with peat, beyond the long peat finish and the continuing peat on your exhale, it just coats your entire mouth and seeps into your pores. Your saliva tastes like peat for another good several minutes. It's interesting stuff, I need to try some more but I'd rate it reasonably high.


As far as Bruichladdich Scotch goes, my favorite at its price point is the Organic. It has a perfect barley flavor, great balance of flavors and is so amazingly drinkable.

Dr. Pangloss
Apr 5, 2014
Ask me about metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. I'm here to help!
Have a wedding coming up and a new flask that needs to be broken in. As Best Man, I'll be expected to provide a certain amount of libations. Any suggestions for something that is relatively approachable for the guys that aren't regular whiskey drinkers while being something I can tolerate all day? Right now I'm drinking templeton rye, bulleit 10, macallan 12 to give you an idea, but looking to possibly try something new.

Appreciate any responses!

rxcowboy
Sep 13, 2008

I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth; fucked both a chick and her mom

I will get anal. Oh yes.

Dr. Pangloss posted:

Have a wedding coming up and a new flask that needs to be broken in. As Best Man, I'll be expected to provide a certain amount of libations. Any suggestions for something that is relatively approachable for the guys that aren't regular whiskey drinkers while being something I can tolerate all day? Right now I'm drinking templeton rye, bulleit 10, macallan 12 to give you an idea, but looking to possibly try something new.

Appreciate any responses!

Makers 46, Angels Envy, Tullamore Dew Single Malt, Pike Creek Port Finished Rye, Glenlivet/fiddich/farclas 12.

All smooth, sweet but not cloying and with enough flavor not to bore you or scare them.

KhyrosFinalCut
Dec 16, 2004

Get it?

Dr. Pangloss posted:

Have a wedding coming up and a new flask that needs to be broken in. As Best Man, I'll be expected to provide a certain amount of libations. Any suggestions for something that is relatively approachable for the guys that aren't regular whiskey drinkers while being something I can tolerate all day? Right now I'm drinking templeton rye, bulleit 10, macallan 12 to give you an idea, but looking to possibly try something new.

Appreciate any responses!

If you want to kick it up a little bit while staying approachable, Bernheim wheat whiskey is also sweet but far from boring.

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


I'm loving Bulleit. Recommend me some other whiskeys with heavier rye content. Rye whiskey or just stuff like Bulleit bourbon that has a relatively high rye content.

PatMarshall
Apr 6, 2009

Ryes: Templeton, High West stuff (gimmicky, but awful good), Sazerac, Rittenhouse Bonded. Bulleit also makes a nice rye, but I assume you've tried it.
Bourbon: Wild Turkey 101 (this has a real bite to it).

ChickenArise
May 12, 2010

POWER
= MEAT +
OPPORTUNITY
= BATTLEWORMS

Shugojin posted:

I'm loving Bulleit. Recommend me some other whiskeys with heavier rye content. Rye whiskey or just stuff like Bulleit bourbon that has a relatively high rye content.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout. IMO the flavors border on 'good rye' but it's a bourbon.

Voodoofly
Jul 3, 2002

Some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help

Willett Family Estate Rye is one of my favorite whiskeys on the market. I bought the two bottles I have for around $45 - $50, but I think the price has gone up considerably since then. I also have only had the four year old version. From what I understand they started selling younger versions to keep up with demand, but I have no idea if they are any worse than the four year version. For what it's worth in regard to pricing, though, I'd take the Willett over Whistlepig any day.

KhyrosFinalCut
Dec 16, 2004

Get it?

ChickenArise posted:

Smooth Ambler Old Scout. IMO the flavors border on 'good rye' but it's a bourbon.

If you want more Rye I just reviewed a smooth ambler 7 year old that has more rye in the mashbill than old scout.

And my favorite Rye remains the Hudson valley distillery in the small bottles.

Ren and Stimpire
Oct 28, 2013

Fun Shoe

Deleuzionist posted:

Here's another set of tasting notes for Talisker Storm as copied from Dramming by Oliver Klimek:

Colour: Medium gold
Nose: Smoked pineapples, banana, vanilla, liquorice, hints of bacon, cloves, nutmeg, hints of pepper.
Palate: Medium peat, tinned topical fruit salad, vanilla, liquorice, cardamom, nutmeg and pepper.
Finish: Long, fruity and smoky with a good dose of spice
Overall: Following the trend of wood-engineered NAS whisky, this Talisker offers a different, fruitier, angle on the distillery than the regular 10 yo; good but not necessarily better – and more expensive.

We both seem to have agreed on pepper and liquorice at least.


Easter weekend is going to be long and there's probably time enough there somewhere to sit down and taste some new things. With that in mind I ordered myself samples of two 33yo Caol Ilas from 1980 and three different Blanton's samples (Gold Edition, Straight From the Barrel 87 & Single Barrel 202). I don't have any open bottles of old Caol Ila to compare the two samples with but I think if I put them up against two known good younger samples from my archive I should be able to tell whether the old ones are worth their price or not.

The tasting notes you have provided serve as an excellent testament to why I will stop bothering with tasting notes after 2-3 drams. Quite different than what I remember, perhaps I was overserved :)

Thanks

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






Marshall Louis posted:

The tasting notes you have provided serve as an excellent testament to why I will stop bothering with tasting notes after 2-3 drams. Quite different than what I remember, perhaps I was overserved :)

Thanks

No, yours are just as valid, because it's what the whisky tastes like to you is what matters in the end.

A lot of the tasting notes use ridiculous language anyway (smoked pineapple? Come on...)

Ren and Stimpire
Oct 28, 2013

Fun Shoe

spankmeister posted:

No, yours are just as valid, because it's what the whisky tastes like to you is what matters in the end.

A lot of the tasting notes use ridiculous language anyway (smoked pineapple? Come on...)

Mine were "buttered popcorn" I was drunk and...

My goal when I go to a whiskey bar is to try new stuff before buying bottles to take home. I will have to try Talisker Storm again before buying a bottle, which is a moot point as Okinawa has a limited selection of good liquor stores.


I had the chance to try Talisker 12 this weekend, and although it was quite good, I would probably buy the 10 yr bottling (again) if faced with a choice between the two.

EDIT: Even after I quit smoking, and my taste buds are getting better, I don't get what some of these tasting notes people are...smoking? :iiam:

zgrowler2
Oct 29, 2011

HOW DOES THE IPHONE APP WORK?? I WILL SPAM ENDLESSLY EVERYWHERE AND DISREGARD ANY REPLIES

Marshall Louis posted:

I will have to try Talisker Storm again before buying a bottle, which is a moot point as Okinawa has a limited selection of good liquor stores.

I want to say there's a liquor store somewhere around Sunabe, possibly in the vicinity of the San-A there, but I can't vouch for its quality (it's probably not up to par for this thread) and I've been off-island for two years. Good liquor is indeed hard to find there.

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope

Marshall Louis posted:

The tasting notes you have provided serve as an excellent testament to why I will stop bothering with tasting notes after 2-3 drams. Quite different than what I remember, perhaps I was overserved :)

Thanks
It could be you experience the whisky differently, or it could be your palate getting tired like you suspect. I've had my palate become confused before so it definitely can happen. For what it's worth I think the 3cl sample of Storm I had was the first thing I opened that night and IIRC I contrasted it to Talisker DE which I had open at the time.

Dr. Pangloss
Apr 5, 2014
Ask me about metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. I'm here to help!

rxcowboy posted:

Makers 46, Angels Envy, Tullamore Dew Single Malt, Pike Creek Port Finished Rye, Glenlivet/fiddich/farclas 12.

All smooth, sweet but not cloying and with enough flavor not to bore you or scare them.

Thanks! Sorry for the delayed response, life... I'll grab two of the above!

Dr. Pangloss
Apr 5, 2014
Ask me about metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. I'm here to help!

KhyrosFinalCut posted:

If you want to kick it up a little bit while staying approachable, Bernheim wheat whiskey is also sweet but far from boring.

Thanks!

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope
My thanks to King & Mouse whisky bar/shop in Vilnius who still had this in stock.



HP25 2006 release. Must be quite a lot more sherry in it than in the 2012. The difference in their colour can be seen to the left of the HP engraving where the 2012 on the left tends to orange and the 2006 on the right does not. Against the light the 2006 is a much deeper red.

TobinHatesYou
Aug 14, 2007

wacky cycling inflatable
tube man
Isn't the natural color of a whisky influenced mostly by the type of oak, tannins, and the number of fills rather than the previous liquid held in it? Look at any bourbon, they are deep brown to copper in color from new white oak. Fino shery is pale gold in color, but whiskies matured in those casks turn out as brown as ever.

zgrowler2
Oct 29, 2011

HOW DOES THE IPHONE APP WORK?? I WILL SPAM ENDLESSLY EVERYWHERE AND DISREGARD ANY REPLIES
Got a 375ml bottle of Buffalo Trace at the ABC store because I didn't want to pay for a full fifth of rye whiskey and goons seem to favor it. It's decent for a bourbon; has a slight bite to it when drank neat. I handily prefer Bulleit; might use the Buffalo Trace as a mixer with coke once football season starts back up.

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope

kidsafe posted:

Isn't the natural color of a whisky influenced mostly by the type of oak, tannins, and the number of fills rather than the previous liquid held in it? Look at any bourbon, they are deep brown to copper in color from new white oak. Fino shery is pale gold in color, but whiskies matured in those casks turn out as brown as ever.
It's influenced by both. The number of fills is a key point in the depth of the colour and what kind of taste the cask imparts, but the colour is also dependent on what exactly it is that the whisky was put in. Sherry matured whiskys (at least PX and Oloroso) tend to be many shades darker than bourbon of any fill and for example first fill oloroso and first fill PX do tend to produce slightly different colours, one more ruby red and the other more brownish. In the HP's case I assume the amount of sherry casks being different in the two releases not just because of the colour but also because of the much more present sherry taste in the older one.

This 32yo Springbank that spent its entire life in a sherry cask is a bit of an extreme example but I would not expect to find a colour like this in any bourbon untouched by food colouring:

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






It's common to talk about first-fill sherry casks ( or any other wine or liquor ) and I'm sure a second fill would impart some extra flavor as well, but a second fill cask is technically already a refill cask. They cannot be marketed as sherry casks at all so if a whisky has sherry on the label, it must by definition be first fill.

Not meant as criticism just an observation

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope
I think they find ways around that, those sneaky scotsmen :) I have a Mortlach in my cabinet that's tagged as 'sherrywood' which could be interpreted in a couple of different ways (excluding finishes and vattings because it's a single cask) but based on its taste and colour which have what could be described as the ghost of sherry in them I doubt it's first-fill. I don't know what SWA says about what's acceptable nomenclature though, haven't checked, so of course it's possible I'm wrong and the whisky came from a very, very inactive cask.

edit: if anybody has any familiarity with the business side of casks it would genuinely be interesting to know if what HP claims on the 25's box, that sherry casks are 10 times as expensive, is in any way attached to reality.

Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Apr 13, 2014

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






Deleuzionist posted:

I think they find ways around that, those sneaky scotsmen :) I have a Mortlach in my cabinet that's tagged as 'sherrywood' which could be interpreted in a couple of different ways (excluding finishes and vattings because it's a single cask) but based on its taste and colour which have what could be described as the ghost of sherry in them I doubt it's first-fill. I don't know what SWA says about what's acceptable nomenclature though, haven't checked, so of course it's possible I'm wrong and the whisky came from a very, very inactive cask.
Yeah tbqh I'll need to look up the exact regulations on that.

e: Actually I'll just ask the SWA.

quote:

edit: if anybody has any familiarity with the business side of casks it would genuinely be interesting to know if what HP claims on the 25's box, that sherry casks are 10 times as expensive, is in any way attached to reality.

Well, given the fact that less and less sherry and other fortified wine is consumed these days, plus the fact that the Bourbon industry by law has to use new casks every time there's a very slanted used cask market. This means that bourbon casks will be significantly cheaper than sherry casks.

spankmeister fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Apr 13, 2014

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope
A couple of glasses into A'bunadh batch 47 and this bottle is starting to win me over. I tried it against some batch 41 and even though I'd liked 41 this current one is much more aromatic. Most of it is probably pretty young and there's a strong vanilla aroma in there that the 41 doesn't have and even some meatiness that the 41 definitely doesn't, but I don't really care what kind of mix produced this since it's got everything the 41 has and then some. The only issue is that it needs a lot of water to loose the heavy booze note and hitting the perfect amount without diluting it too far isn't easy. Nice to find out a newer batch I bought is an improvement over the last one.

edit: This is definitely better after having something else first so the tongue is more dulled to the booze and it no longer bothers at all. Giving it 5-10 min after giving it a teaspoon or two of water helps too.

Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Apr 14, 2014

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope
Double post but on the topic of wildly differing taste sensations (re: the posts on Talisker Storm above) I just went through Blanton's samples I bought (more later, this travel retail/foreign market bourbon is worth a couple of words although I'm more drunk than impressed as a result) and next to them a control glass of Compass Box Hedonism put out aromas I never noticed before. Sawdust and pine. General school woodshop smells, even a little glue. I don't think I mentioned any of these things in what I previously wrote about Hedonism but tonight I can't shake them. If anything can be drawn from this it is that it's drat difficult to give an opinion on anything with less than half a bottle and time. I know Hedonism well by now, I know what I like about it and what I dislike about it, but it feels like today I learned a bit more about the reasons I don't like it, and it was all because there was something new to contrast it to.

Gregorio
Aug 9, 2010
Hi all,

Just got back from holiday and visited a couple of good whisky bars I can recommend as well as showing off some bottles I picked up in my travels.

Auld Alliance in Singapore was amazing with every sort of Japanese whisky you could imagine as well as a load of Scottish stuff. It was quite an incredible place and I spent 4 nights out of 5 there trying out different odd bottles including a French single malt :). Other than the French malt I think I had a random Glencadam, a tasting flight of 4 very dark Sherried Yamazakis (incredible), a Springbank Madeira Cask (a Springbank representative actually turned up that night just as I was leaving and I didn't want to bother him too much because I think he was on holiday too) and probably a couple of other whiskies which I have photos of on my fiance's camera.
I also went to the Highlander bar but that wasn't nearly as exciting and I ended up back at Auld Alliance afterwards anyway haha. The brewery next to the Highlander though was pretty good and had a massive tasting paddle to sample everything.

In Kuala Lumpur I went to The Whisky Bar and it was great but not nearly as huge a selection as Auld Alliance but still pretty good. Things are cheaper in KL though so I still enjoyed the visit. I got to try Kavalan Solist Bourbon and Sherry cask and Amrut Fusion. The Kavalan's were available in a local bottle shop but I decided to hold off buying anything since we were heading to Langkawi afterwards which is a Duty Free zone in Malaysia. There I picked up a 33 year old Glen Grant from Murray McDavid Mission and an Old Pulteney Issabella Fortuna (2nd edition, only 46% not 52% unfortunately but still have never bought an Old Pulteney and didn't want to take a punt on the brand new Sherry/Bourbon aged travel bottles). The 17 and 21yo were also available but I can get them any time so I went for the more unusual bottle. Then at KL airport I grabbed the Isle of Jura 16yo Diurach's Own (haven't had a Jura since my old Superstition bottle was finished) and just for fun I grabbed a 23yo Ron Zacapa rum. I tried the rum a few years back at Whisky Live Sydney at the racecourse and quite enjoyed it so thought I may as well get something completely different since I didn't really feel like any of the other whiskies at the Airport duty free.

Arriving back in Sydney I could have still bought one more bottle (which would have been the 16yo Triplewood Balvenie) but decided to save my money since it too was relatively new and unknown.

Now I'm home and it's getting colder I can get back into finishing off some of the bottles which have been hanging around the last couple of years, free up some cabinet space :)

Somebody fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Apr 28, 2014

KhyrosFinalCut
Dec 16, 2004

Get it?
Bought a JW sampler pack with Black, Gold, the new ish Platinum, and Blue. Impressions soon

Argyle
Jun 7, 2001

I'd like to pick up a nice-ish bottle of something for my upcoming 30th birthday. I've had my eye on a bottle of Whistle Pig for some time, even though I haven't actually tried it yet. Any recommendations for a rye or bourbon in the ~$100 bottle range?

cryme
Apr 9, 2004

by zen death robot

Argyle posted:

I'd like to pick up a nice-ish bottle of something for my upcoming 30th birthday. I've had my eye on a bottle of Whistle Pig for some time, even though I haven't actually tried it yet. Any recommendations for a rye or bourbon in the ~$100 bottle range?

Whistle Pig is fine but you can do much better in the price range. Bourbon/Rye in that price range is generally fairly limited, any idea what's on your local shelves?

Voodoofly
Jul 3, 2002

Some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help

Argyle posted:

I'd like to pick up a nice-ish bottle of something for my upcoming 30th birthday. I've had my eye on a bottle of Whistle Pig for some time, even though I haven't actually tried it yet. Any recommendations for a rye or bourbon in the ~$100 bottle range?

Going to quote myself from up the page. If you are really set on going that high in price for bourbon or rye, I'd find a really good local shop and get their recommendations for something special.

I'd also probably just go for two nice bottles in the 40-60 range myself. Throw in a nice rum or tequila with the rye.

Voodoofly posted:

Willett Family Estate Rye is one of my favorite whiskeys on the market. I bought the two bottles I have for around $45 - $50, but I think the price has gone up considerably since then. I also have only had the four year old version. From what I understand they started selling younger versions to keep up with demand, but I have no idea if they are any worse than the four year version. For what it's worth in regard to pricing, though, I'd take the Willett over Whistlepig any day.

Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

Has anyone tried 1835 bourbon? It's supposedly "Texas Made" aka bottled in Texas but made somewhere else and I picked up a bottle for $20 today at a spec's. I'm not breaking into it until monday night when my semester is over, but any impressions would be welcomed.

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope


Blanton's bourbons are a Buffalo Trace product line apparently sold only on international and duty free markets. Out of curiosity I bought samples of three of their releases, Gold, Single Barrel 202 and Straight From the Barrel cask 77.



The three are pretty close to each other in colour with the Gold being brownish golden (not copper, more yellow and brown), SB a shade darker than Gold and SFTB still a bit deeper with a slightly reddish tint compared to the two others. My first impression on opening the sample bottles was gummi bears and on a second nosing certainly there is that kind of resinous berry concentrate sweetness here. Gold and SFTB are a bit closed up, probably owing to their high bottling ABV, while the Single Barrel bottled at 46,5% feels a little easier on the nose, so I'm going to go ahead and put half a teaspoon of water into both Gold and SFTB in hopes of getting a bit more out of them before the first sip.

Blanton's Gold Edition (51,5%)
Between the Gold and the SFTB the Gold's nose is boozier which is kind of surprising considering the SFTB is over 10% ABV stronger. Both are a bit perfumey but the fumes are heavy and a bit nutty rather than light and vanillaish like in Compass Box Hedonism I'm bouncing these off of. The SFTB is actually pretty pleasing, like some etheric oil. Gold is very corn-sweet and boozy reminding me of Four Roses Single Barrel but woodier. Gold's too hot at half a spoon. Spicy and peppery as hell but still tending to booze a little too much. Beyond the initial almost tequilaish attack there is some perfumey wood and rosewater, and some black tea in the finish, but the total mouthfeel and especially the aftertaste are noticeably hollow. A spoonful of water more and now the aftertaste sticks around a bit better. Still, I can't shake the feeling that I have here a young spirit, with a good kick and dark flavour deeper than regular Buffalo Trace, but ultimately this is a little thin for my taste at the price it commands, much like how I'd feel about paying the price of 12 yo Scotch for a 5yo bottle. A whiff of cinnamon comes out with water, and the cornlike sweetness and gummi bears take a big step back turning this into spice rack/perfume shelf stuff rather than candy isle. Next to this Hedonism's nose gives me sawdust and pine and general woodshop ambience, almost as if the Blanton's is helping tune my nose to spot the stereotypical new wood smells among the Hedonism's bouquet.

Blanton's Straight From the Barrel cask 77 (65,15%)
The marketing blurb for Straight From the Barrel on the distillery webpage is "Un-filtered, un-cut, unbelievable," but about 10 lines below it says "Filtration: Chill Filtered." Hoisted by your own petard, Col. Blanton? Wood smell like a sauna bench. A smell of gummi bears and lacquer, then wood tones that feel more mature than in the two others. Very, very hot on the tongue but thankfully bends into blackpepper and wood rather than straight up tequilaness. The heaviest mouthfeel at 1 teaspoon so far but the alcohol anesthesized my tongue so there's very little taste I can discern. Better put in some more water. At 3 teaspoons I'm still completely overwhelmed. Just too much alcohol burn although it doesn't come through in the taste that much. I wish I could remember what the taste is that hit me very strong here, something familiar but I can't place it. Cloves are strong in this one. Altogether this is just way too overpowering with no or very little dilution but also becomes a bit bland after being reduced to drinkable levels. Maybe ice would help with this but seeing as it is the most expensive of the three I think it should be able to stand tall unchilled.

Blanton's Original Single Barrel 202 (46,5%)
In the single barrel the gummi bears aren't quite as strong and neither is the booziness. Here there is a definite smell of varnish instead. On the tongue some pepperiness but not that tequila attack of the Gold. Woodier and more fragrant, sticks to the tongue better and leaves a more lasting aftertaste of cloves, cardamom and vanilla with some floral notes included. I felt this was the best of the three as it lacked the unpleasant characteristics of the two others, namely the tequila entry of the Gold and the difficulty or impossibility of reducing the SFTB without losing the taste, and in total I feel this rates pretty close in quality to what I remember of Woodford Reserve. Neither of the others, reduced to same-ish ABV with water, retained as good a mouthfeel as this one.

If I had to pick one it would be the Single Barrel, but none of these was an instant hit with me.

The two Caol Ila samples that came with the Blantons are both from really outstanding bottles but gently caress these prices. I can maybe, just maybe understand Cadenhead's €190 price tag for their 33yo release as being indicative of general current prices for CIs of this age and vintage although I'm not ready to pay it, but Douglas Laing shoots for the stars at €360 for theirs. Both whiskys turned out to be excellent stereotypical Caol Ilas very robust for their age with the DL one a hair better and an awesome whisky overall but there's just no way to justify that price.

Deleuzionist fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Apr 28, 2014

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






I got a decent deal on a Longmorn 16 today, only before I allow myself to open it it has to sit in my cabinet for a while until I finish a couple of bottles that are over 2/3rds empty.

TobinHatesYou
Aug 14, 2007

wacky cycling inflatable
tube man
I can assure you Blanton's is not international/duty-free only. (Where international means outside the country of origin.)

TobinHatesYou fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Apr 29, 2014

Deleuzionist
Jul 20, 2010

we respect the antelope; for the antelope is not a mere antelope
Rechecked their website. Turns out Gold and SFTB are marked as being sold only on international/duty free markets but Single Barrel carries no such mark.

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zgrowler2
Oct 29, 2011

HOW DOES THE IPHONE APP WORK?? I WILL SPAM ENDLESSLY EVERYWHERE AND DISREGARD ANY REPLIES
Blanton's normal and SB are in the ABC stores in AL. I'm really curious about the SB offering since the normal variant is already fantastic in my book.

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