Arran 12 Cask Strength Batch 5 50ml
$6.29
This is the 4th batch of Arran's 12 Year Cask Strength, bottled at 53.2%, one of the best value whiskies on the shelf.
Andrew's Tasting Note on Batch 5 (From the 2016 KWM Whisky Advent Calendar)
Nose: creamy, honeyed and fruity; melon with loads of malt, some soft leather and burnt orange; floral and delicate there is no trace of the higher alcohol; soft leather and dark chocolate.
Palate: big rich and more heavily sherried on the palate than expected, but pleasantly so; still creamy, honeyed and buttery but with rich spices and loads more fruit than the shyer nose let on; very tropical, juicy malt sugars and sweet milk chocolate.
Finish: drying, medium-light but layered and long; very pleasant and refreshing.
Comment: this is a very lively but complex whisky; lots of layers and depth, and superb value for $80!
Glenmorangie Original 10 Year 50ml
$7.12
The Glenmorangie Original 10 Year is the distillery's flagship whisky. Matured exclusively in American oak and bottled at 40%.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: soft, silky and velvety; loads of white fruit, Red Delicious apples, citrus: hand pick California desert oranges; soft toffee, marzipan and grassy malt; floral with peaches.
Palate: still soft, silky and velvety; layers of white, citrus and stone fruits; more sliced apple, pears, orange, lemon and peaches; more toffee chews, chewy-grassy-malt, soft floral notes and gentle toasted oak notes.
Finish: medium and light, but layered and pleasant; vanilla, fruits and oak gently fade.
Comment: this may not be the world's most complex whisky, but for 10 years and sub $70 it is pretty bloody good.
Hyde 10 Year Sherry Finish 50ml
$11.99
The whisky is named for Ireland's first President, Douglas Hyde. This 10 year old Irish single malt whiskey has been matured 10 years in Ex-Bourbon and finished for 6 months in Ex-Oloroso Sherry Butts. Bottled at 46%, this whiskey has won a number of awards.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: floral, loads of vanilla, marzipan and silky caramel tones and polished oak shelves; candied fruits and Christmas cake, mom's orange heavy mince meat pie in a buttery crust warm from the oven.
Palate: round, soft, chewy and silky; loads of big juicy barley, more vanilla and some lovely toasted oak notes; creamed honey leads to melon, orange and some darker fruits; candied fruits and Christmas cake are still there and build with some firm spice; a touch meaty, like a mom's mince meat pie right out of the oven!
Finish: rich, coating and long; although the creamy vein continues to the finish, it is the darker elements (fruits and spices) that dominate.
Comment: this is a lovely malt, loads of character and depth; Irish whiskey is in the middle of being reborn, and whiskies like Hyde are doing their part in its surge!
Teeling Single Grain 50ml
$7.99
This is a mini/50mL bottle of the the Single Grain Irish Whiskey from Teeling Whiskey Company was fully matured in California red wine barrels before being bottled at 46% ABV. This whiskey was awarded "World's Best Grain" at the 2014 World Whiskies Awards.
Teeling Trinity 3x50ml
$34.99
This three pack of minis from Teeling Irish Whiskey is a good chance to introduce yourself to their lineup. The Teeling Whiskey Company now has their new distillery open in Dublin, Ireland. These bottlings are sourced barrels from their previous distillery called Cooley.
The Teeling Whiskey Company seems to excel at cask finishing in many of their releases. These three 50mL bottles are:
- Teeling Single Grain - matured in Cabernet Sauvignon wine casks.
- Teeling Small Batch - finished in 6 months in rum casks.
- Teeling Single Malt - matured in a combination of five different wine casks - Sherry, Port Madeira, White Burgundy and Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of the whiskey in here is up to 23 years of age!
Glenfarclas 15 Year 50ml
$11.99
A stalwart classic Speyside single malt, from one of Scotland's oldest family owned distilleries. Matured in Ex-Sherry and bottled at 46%.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: nutty, leathery and earthy; walking through damp old dunnage warehouses in wet leather boots; a touch of burn bacon, dried dark fruits, wet jujubes and bitter choclate.
Palate: muscular, malty, honeyed and very sherried; big nutty Oloroso notes, wet leather, dark spices: (clove, fennel, Dutch licorice); more Jujubes, slightly urnt bacon and musty old oak in a dunnage warehouse; some orange and melon beneathm but the sherry is running roughsod; bitter chocolate on the palate too.
Finish: long, leathery, nutty and very sherried; loads of dark spices, drying as it fades.
Comment: this has always been a sherry bomb and a beast of a whisky, darker and spicier than I recall, but it has been a while; and it might be my palate too, saved half the bottle to revisit it tomorrow.
Compass Box Great King Street 50ml
$5.99
Compass Box is a maverick boutique blending firm that is doing its party to bring the sexy back to Blended Scotch whisky. The firms founder and whisky maker John Glaser is one of Scotland's most respected Blenders.
This original Great King Street is composed of 46% Lowland Grain, 45% Single Malt from the Northern Highlands and 9% Speyside Single Malt. 66% of the whisky was matured in 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon, 26% in New French Oak and 8% in 1st Fill Sherry. The result is a very complex, balanced and easy drinking malt.
Producer's Description: Five key things set apart our approach to making Great King Street:
Great Grain. We use the very highest quality single grain Scotchwhiskies which are the foundation of good Blended Scotch. All are aged in “first fill” American oak barrels, which makes the grain whisky much richer and sweeter on the palate.
More Malt. We use a higher proportion of malt whisky than most other Blends. Artist’s Blend consists of almost 50% malt whisky. This provides more character and complexity.
Better Oak. Every cask of whisky used to make Artist’s Blend is of the highest quality: first-fill American oak casks, first-fill European oak ex-Sherry butts and new heavily-toasted French oak.
Bottled Naturally. Artist’s Blend is bottled at its natural colour and without chill filtration. This leaves the whisky full of its natural complexity and mouthfeel.
Traditional Strength. We bottle Artist’s Blend at 43% alcohol by volume, a strength traditionally used in Scotland many years ago.
Glendronach 8 Year Hielan 50ml
$9.99
Bottled at 46% the Hielan is composed of a mix of Ex-Bourbon & Ex-Sherry Casks. The name is a "a heartfelt tip of the hat to the extraordinary Forgue distillery, Glendronach’s spiritual home in the Highlands and one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries." We're not entirely sure what that means, but we'll take it as is. Looking forward to sampling it and providing our own tasting note.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: malty, a touch of barnyard and wet hay; raisins and waxy chocolates; Fig Newtons, juicy orange and Bananas Foster.
Palate: big, rich, nutty and fruity; loads of caramel, more malt and wet hay; Sunrype boxed raisins and Glosset Raisins; more Fig Newtons, juicy orange and cooked banana; soft new leather and a touch of spice.
Finish: medium in length and light; leather, dark fruits and spice last the longest.
Comment: surprisingly pleasant and complex for just 8 years... not mind blowing, but very good for 8 years of age!
Glendronach Peated 50ml
$9.99
The first ever peated offering of Glendronach, and a new core range release. Billy Walker hand his team at BenRiach Distillery Co. have made hay with their peated expressions of BenRiach. It was a logical extension to make a peated version of Glendronach too. It isn't old, BenRiach only bought Glendronach in 2008, so this whisky isn't likely to be older than 6 or 7 years, but don't let that get in your way. Other peated malts like Kilchoman have shown well at as young as 3 years. Bottled at 46% without colouring or chill-filtering the whisky has been matured in sherry from peated malt. In some way it is a truer style to what the distillery would have first produced in 1826, than what they produce today! The whisky was matured in Ex-Bourbon and finished in Oloroso and PX Sherry.
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: honey, Glosette raisins and hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick by the peat fire; juicy malt and clean smoke with marmalade and green grasses.
Palate: very honeyed, more dark fruits: Glosette raisins and prosciutto warp figs with date bars; only a hint of smoke at the start but successive waves bring phenols and gradually build up the strength of the peat; still very juicy and malty, the smoke is clean and ashy, not unlike BenRiach's with late soft leather and tobacco adding weight.
Finish: honey, malt, dark fruits and clean ashy smoke linger long.
Comment: not as heavily peated in feel as the BenRiach Curiositas or most peated Islay whiskies, and a little bolder than that in standard Benromachs; the interplay between the sherry notes and the youthful moderately peated malt creates a fine balance!