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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I always question "bourbon cask" finished as a feature of any whisky as most Scotch and Irish is matured in Bourbon casks. It is like saying a "metal car" or a "terrible Brexit plan"; it's a bit redundant. Bushmills have highlghted the #3 char of oak casks used (meaning a few seconds less exposure to fire than the more common #4) as the USP of this expression. The nose is malty with banana, vanilla and milk chocolate. The taste also has malt and nuts, lemon citrus peel and sweet peanut brittle. The finish is initially sugar coating on tongue with a spicy note of cinnamon and tamale hots candy at the end. At end of the day it is another bourbon cask finished whisky and there is not much here that stands out so if you are in mood for no-age expression Bushmills (and why not) I would probably recommend Black Bush over this one.
Not long after I wrote the blog a few weeks ago the news was full, as I once predicted, of news around fake whisky (so actual fake news). An example story from BBC is below but in summary twenty-one out of fifty five bottles of rare Scotch were proven to be outright fakes. In short I felt this required me to update my prior blog to include my new, Fourth Law of Whisky Invesment as follows:
Law 1 Investing: Allocate for investment in Whisky exactly the same amount of money you would be willing throw onto a fire and watch burn
Law 2 Buying: If you are reading on the internet or in a magazine about a great investment, then it isn't. Law 3 now applies.
Law 3 Selling: Appear in a series of magazine articles and internet postings about how great whisky investing is. Then sell your shit.
Law 4 Owning: The "rare" whisky you own is quite possibly a fake and worthless. For that reason do not under any circumtances allow it to be checked. Law 3 still applies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-46566703
Note: This was first attempt to limit my increasingly rare tasting notes to 280 characters so I can also tweet full review rather than link for all my millenial readers....
London Distillery LV 1767 Edition
54.3% ABV, 100% Rye and aged for 1400 days
Nose: Black cherry, plum, Cadbury Fruit and Nut with biscuit
Taste: Sweet, chocolate, coffee and more fruit
Finish: Peppermint and oak bitterness. Slight grain note indicative of youth
Location: Xian Bar, Bossa Nova Mall, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Date: December 2018
Price: 80 rials ($21.53 USD)
Recipe: Requested Makers Mark
Garnish: Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: For this price it had to be good... and it was. Much better than previous visit to Rio (Experiment #27)
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
Location: The Chart Room, QE2, Dubai, UAE
Date: December 2018
Price: 75 AED ($20.42 USD)
Recipe: Described as Bourbon whisky (no e) and Martini Rosso
Garnish: Cherry
Served: Up
Comments: As you might expect for the iconic QE2 it was excellent, balanced sweet and woody but perhaps missed the bitters
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii
This was picked by Mike Raymond of Houston's Reserve 101 as their 10th anniversary bottling. As the regular readers (both of them) know by now I love Maker's Mark, I love Houston, I love Reserve101 and I have very strong feelings for Mike. But for some reason this one did not quite work for me, but give it a try as it might for you. The nose is oaky with some fruity wine notes as well. Some heat from the 55.65% ABV along with classic vanilla, corn and cola notes. The taste is hot and a little sharp at first with some black cherry, dark chocolate, jalepeno, burnt caramel and oak char. The finish is pepper and even a little sour. With water it gets creamier with some brown sugar and more vanilla. It definately needs a little water (or ice or time) to open it up.
To be honest this name slightly annoys me and I was expecting that to influence how I liked / disliked the liquid but the truth is that this 40% abv travel expression was good enough to overcome this obstacle. The name refers to first fill bourbon casks, sherry casks and what the label describes as "traditional whisky casks" which means I assume re-used bourbon or sherry casks. So to call this a "triple cask' is sort of like saying Brexit is "the will of the people" when less than 50% of the country actually voted to Leave. The nose is fruity with green apples and polished wood. The taste has toffee sweetness, vanilla, barley sugar, marmalade and hints of oak that build into a bitter sweet but balanced finish. Drink neat as water does nothing for this, it just gets thin in mouth feel. Still don't like the name but a great product.
Although the image I chose for this blog is of Einsten I don't try to pretend that this is rocket science. In fact I think Whisky investing is really so simple that I have summarized it in my Three Laws of Whisky Investing below. I can condense this further in just two words and in any future publication on the subject I would suggest they take their cue from The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and print on the cover, in large friendly letters, the same two words: "Don't Bother".
Law 1 Investing: Allocate for investment in Whisky exactly the same amount of money you would be willing throw onto a fire and watch burn
Law 2 Buying: If you are reading on the internet or in a magazine about a great investment, then it isn't. Law 3 now applies.
Law 3 Selling: Appear in a series of magazine articles and internet postings about how great whisky investing is. Then sell your shit.
This is a Texas bourbon finished in Pinot Noir red wine casks at the Western Son distillery in Pilot Point Texas. If you haven't heard of Pilot Point, dont worry about it, neither had I and I have lived and / or worked in Texas for over quarter of a century! The nose has some red berry fruits and sweet port wine along with the usual suspects of corn and sawdust. The taste is smooth on palate with some oak, brown sugar and cola. The finish has white pepper, green oak and ends with drying wine notes. It's good... but for me this 42.1% ABV expression misses the fruit from the nose in the taste and finish that would help balance out the bitter / oaky notes of the finish.
Location: Bottled barrel-aged Manhattan at 34% ABV
Date: July 2018
Price: Approx. $40.00 USD a bottle (or +/- $5 a 3 oz measure)
Recipe: Described as Manhattan but a little reseach indicates it is a "Perfect" recipe with both dry and sweet vermouth
Garnish: None
Served: Rocks
Comments: Acceptable and at a good price point but I am not a fan of perfect Manhattans and usually prefer the sweeter versions.
What is this about? Check out http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii