My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff
This bottle was labelled #3031 from Batch 0887 and bottled at 45.2% ABV. The nose was very nice, herbal tea with mint and sweet vanilla notes. The mouthfeel is fresh, light and oily, bittersweet on palate with more vanilla, candy, black coffee and dark chocolate. The finish has peppermint, wood and grassy rye notes. With water it gets sweeter, even honeyed, while heat builds in the finish with chilli spiced dark chocolate. Overall very delicious; a light and subtle of straight rye.
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In a distant galaxy, long long ago I wrote about Madeira finished Glenmorganie and it has become a unicorn whisky for me. So I was delighted to see this release of a Malmsey Madeira cask finished Private Edition release at 46% ABV.
The nose is sweet with raisins, fresh cut grass and citrus. The taste is brown sugar, maple syrup, plums. Milk chocolate and some spice that continues into finish with stewed black tea, ginger and oak. With water it becomes a little smoother and sweeter, even creamy. Overall this is complex, sweet, rich and a little bit awesome.
In all honesty probably not a Unicorn, but definately a donkey with a horn on its head. You would pay to see that right? Of course you would.
Like so many people around the world I am stuck in the house and working from home for at least 4 weeks (and probably more) so I am going to take this opportunity to catch up on my long neglected blog and post some whisky notes and reviews over the next month. I tried to write a few tasting notes last night as a warm up and was shocked how out of shape my "tasting muscles" have become. My notes looked as barren and empty as the toilet paper shelves in my local supermarket. Much work to be done....
Location: Oyster Bar, NY, NY
Date: March 2020
Price: $14.00 USD
Recipe: Makers Mark, Sweet Vermouth, Angostora Bitters
Garnish: 1 orange peel
Served: Rocks
Comments: Classic components to make excellent Manhattan in Manhattan at reasonable price
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: Le Bernadin, NY, NY
Date: March 2020
Price: $21.00 USD
Recipe: Michter's Rye, Montanaro Dry Vermouth, Amaro Averna, Bendictine, Angostora Bitters
Garnish: 1 black cherry
Served: Up
Comments: Complex and expensive but not sure about the Dry Vermouth, lacked sweetness.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
This release is part of the Glenfiddich Experimental series and bottled at 43% ABV (which is quite unusual from Glenfiddich). It is a peated malt that is finished in rum casks, hence the Fire and Cane (as in sugarcane) name. The nose is smokey, but more camp fire rather than strong peat. Fire before the Cane. The taste is spicy and nutty, chocolate, pepper, brown sugar and some honey and a hint of the phenol from peat. The finish is a little hot, like eating burnt cake batter off a wooden spoon. Water brings up more brown sugar and some lemon peel. Very nicely done but not sure I would pair peat and rum casks, personnally I prefer peat and sherry casks.
For the whiskey pedants this tasting was from bottle 3532 of batch 0194 which was bottled at 45.2% ABV. The nose had familiar notes of fresh corn and spearmint chewing gum. The taste was fresh cut grass, more mint, diet soda, lemon peel and milk chocolate. The finish had peppercorns, charred oak and yet more mint, this time perhaps peppermint. A classic rye with all the grassy, minty, chocolately rye notes I am used too.
Location: Perry's Steakhouse, Houston, Texas
Date: October 2019
Price: $15.00 USD
Recipe: Redemption Rye with Vya Vermouth and bitters
Garnish: 2 Luxardo cherries
Served: Up
Comments: Great and nicely balanced Manhattan but could have been chilled more. Maybe next time I will try on the rocks.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
If you had not of heard of this French blended malt you are not alone, because it was new to me as well when I saw it in the Air France Lounge in Paris. A little online research suggests this is a blend of 3 single malts of different regions of France and finished in new French oak casks. It is bottled at 40% ABV but nosed like it was much stronger. Very feisty and malty with barnyard, floral and even perfurmed notes in the nose. Hot and sweet on the palate with some flashes of toffee which were quickly masked by pepper and even a slightly acrid smokey note. The finish has some chilli heat with a hint of lemon peel marmalade. A splash of water improves it greatly, smooths out the grainy mouth feel and brings out some more fruity and sweet flavours. It is not bad but posseses little elegance or sophistication so in that respect it is not a very French French whisky.
This is the third expression in the Bushmills Steamship Collection travel retail series and the most expensive. There is lots of red fruits and wine in the nose. The mouthfeel is smooth and the taste has dates, digestive biscuits, red grape skins, cinnamon and a little oak which carries into the finish. With water it gets much sweeter and even smoother with an almost glassy mouthfeel and toffee. Even at 40% ABV this needs a little water. A very smooth, easy drinking Irish whiskey and maybe the first in this series I might order instead of my go to Bushmills product Black Bush (....unless I am paying).
I am very happy to announce that I will returning to Houston Texas this summer after almost 4 years working overseas. Most of that time has been spent in Dubai which has not been a great place to blog about whisky but once I am back in Texas I hope to refresh the website (which is well overdue) and promise to try and post more regular blogs and whisky reviews that everyone out there can then just ignore much more frequently. In summary, everything will be just like it was before....