What did you drink last night

[whiskytime]

JW Dant Bourbon BIB - 50% ABV - distilled by Heaven Hill. I bought this bottle on a whim - very inexpensive ($14.99 USD). You don't find this outside KY very often & has an ugly old fashioned label. Tried it last night - not expecting much more than a bourbon mixer....I was wrong! Don't judge a whiskey by its price or label. This is quite respectable & immediately reminded me of Elijah Craig - a younger version, less wood & less complex but still very good & a nice sipper. For those who find EC too oaky - this would probably be more pleasing. Has oak, vanilla, caramel, molasses, & bit of sweet corn.

Then on to a small dram of High West Double Rye - 46% ABV - no CF - This one has greatly improved since initial opening of the bottle; the bottle is less than a 1/4 down. Less dill (just a hint now), less alcohol blast, more vanilla, rye spice, nutmeg & cinnamon - delicious. This proves - don't judge a whiskey on first sniff/taste. Some take longer to open. I probably would not have put this on my replace-when-finished list after the first try but now I will replace; it's really good & reasonably priced ($35 USD).

[bpbleus]

Black & White with metal pop-up cap (bottled in the 60ies?). Unlike any whisky I've tried before. Motor oil, forest floor after rain, moss, moldy (good) summer apples and green grapes, some sweetness (from the grain, I guess), dash of curry powder. Mouth congruent with the nose. Its limitation shows in the finish which is shortish and a tad bitter. Very entertaining and a great surprise. Anyone knows what went in this one in the 60ies and 70ies?

[athlete cured]

Anyone knows what went in this one in the 60ies and 70ies?

I tried to figure out what might be in it now, but all I could find was that Convalmore and Glentauchers were main components at some point in the past.

[Pudge72]

... This proves - don't judge a whiskey on first sniff/taste. Some take longer to open. I probably would not have put this on my replace-when-finished list after the first try but now I will replace; it's really good & reasonably priced ($35 USD).

I have noticed myself, and read in reviews, that this phenomenon seems to be more prevalent and more dramatic with bourbons and ryes, compared to Scotch. One example I had read about, IIRC, was an Elijah Craig 12 that had a distracting soapy note upon opening the bottle. 18 months later, that note had disappeared and dramatically altered the overall impression of the bottle.

[whiskytime]

... This proves - don't judge a whiskey on first sniff/taste. Some take longer to open. I probably would not have put this on my replace-when-finished list after the first try but now I will replace; it's really good & reasonably priced ($35 USD).

I have noticed myself, and read in reviews, that this phenomenon seems to be more prevalent and more dramatic with bourbons and ryes, compared to Scotch. One example I had read about, IIRC, was an Elijah Craig 12 that had a distracting soapy note upon opening the bottle. 18 months later, that note had disappeared and dramatically altered the overall impression of the bottle.

Yes - I notice that most often with US whiskey. I actually left the cork out of the HW DRye for @ 8 hours after my initial taste. Made a huge difference. I've never had to wait 18 mo for a whiskey though. But my bottles of HW Rendezvous (which have older rye) didn't need any extra airing other than 10 minutes in the glass - they were wonderful right away & stayed wonderful until the last drop out of the bottle. I find that bourbon & rye generally keep much longer than scotch or any other whisky. And whiskies that have sherry cask influence seem to deteriorate even faster in my experience. They tend to get funky; bad tasting but the US whiskey just seems to lose its power/complexity; doesn't get bad tasting. But I'm sure there are contradictions to my experience.

[bpbleus]

Anyone knows what went in this one in the 60ies and 70ies?

I tried to figure out what might be in it now, but all I could find was that Convalmore and Glentauchers were main components at some point in the past.

Thanks! Interesting. Unfortunately, I have little (Convalmore) or no (Glentauchers) exposure to them to recognize them.

I like to pick up an oldie from eBay once in a while. Although all the oldies I got this way were miles better than their contemporary namesakes, this is the first one I'd seek out again. It's not an easy drinker, more an academic one as some would say, which seems a bit odd for a mainstream blend.

[ktothec]

Balvenie 21yo Portwood - mediocre imho

[jsaliga]

JW Dant Bourbon BIB - 50% ABVThen on to a small dram of High West Double Rye - 46% ABV - no CF - This one has greatly improved since initial opening of the bottle; the bottle is less than a 1/4 down. Less dill (just a hint now), less alcohol blast, more vanilla, rye spice, nutmeg & cinnamon - delicious. This proves - don't judge a whiskey on first sniff/taste. Some take longer to open. I probably would not have put this on my replace-when-finished list after the first try but now I will replace; it's really good & reasonably priced ($35 USD).

I have a bottle of the High West Rendezvous Rye. The first dram really put me off. Dill weed dominates the nose and did this rye in for me. I hope this whisky improves as I work my way through the bottle, but at the moment I remain unimpressed. I found nosing the Rendezvous Rye to be very similar to Bulleit Rye, the former is a blend with some 16 yr old rye in it and it shows on the palate. Both are made by LDI. High West is also distilling its own spirit, but that is still aging in barrels and will not be ready for a few more years.

--Jerome

[Lawrence]

I had a couple of drams of Aberlour a'buandh batch #14; what a sensational dram.

[Jazz Lover]

Lawrence if my memory is correct this was a favorite of yours.

[Lawrence]

good memory! Yes, it's a favourite and a new favourite is batch #30.

Lawrence

[John Barleycorn]

Went to the SMWS tastings evening in Inverness last night with Mrs B. Mine host, Olaf Meier, had brought up a selection of five malts from next month’s ‘First Friday’ bottling’s from Edinburgh.

We started off with a 125.60 ‘Expanding universe of flavour’ a Glenmorangie 10yo 60.8%ABV ex-bourbon hogshead refill a very palatable dram and even more so with a wee drop of water added, a very characteristic bottling of Glenmorangie from the society. A sweetness on both the nose and the palate with notes of vanilla, fruit cake and a few more which Mrs B was able to detect but which somehow past me by.

The next offering was a Longmorn 7.72 ‘Buxom and comforting’, to drew any similarity between the title of this bottling and my companion for the evening would I think land me in a spot of trouble, only to say that like Mrs B this was a 21yo. This dram had an ABV of 52.9% and was a refill ex-bourbon barrel. A light sweet dram, the sweetness was not as intense in comparison to the Glenmo, with notes of vanilla, chocolate and lemon. In my opinion this was far the best offering of the evening.

We then moved on to a 9yo Arran 121.50 ‘Xmas cake and Afghan coats’ a sherry butt refill with a 61.3%ABV. Got the Xmas cake part with hints of liquorice, as for the Afghan coat I can only say that there are probable too many old hippies on the tasting panel in Queen Street. Not a dram which I warmed too, I did detect a slight hint of sulphur.

The penultimate offering was a Glen Scotia 93.52 ‘Wench with a wrench’. A smoky 9yo dram with an AVB of 58.4% this was a refill bourbon barrel. There was vanilla on the nose and a syrupy sweetness with hints of pear on the pallet. No comparison what so ever can be made towards my good lady on this one, I don’t think she knows what a wrench is for.

The final dram of the night was a Caol Ila 53.161 ‘Manuka honey and Rooibos red tea’. This 10yo had a 57.6%ABV and was from a refill bourbon hogshead. A smoky peaty dram with a hint of TCP on the nose but it was not over powering and a lemony zest on the pallet. I don’t know how the panel come up with the titles for their bottlings, Rooibos red tea! I’ve never seen that on the shelves in Tesco’s

Cheers John

[solera]

Went to the SMWS tastings evening in Inverness last night with Mrs B. Mine host, Olaf Meier, had brought up a selection of five malts from next month’s ‘First Friday’ bottling’s from Edinburgh.

We started off with a 125.60 ‘Expanding universe of flavour’ a Glenmorangie 10yo 60.8%ABV ex-bourbon hogshead refill a very palatable dram and even more so with a wee drop of water added, a very characteristic bottling of Glenmorangie from the society. A sweetness on both the nose and the palate with notes of vanilla, fruit cake and a few more which Mrs B was able to detect but which somehow past me by.

The next offering was a Longmorn 7.72 ‘Buxom and comforting’, to drew any similarity between the title of this bottling and my companion for the evening would I think land me in a spot of trouble, only to say that like Mrs B this was a 21yo. This dram had an ABV of 52.9% and was a refill ex-bourbon barrel. A light sweet dram, the sweetness was not as intense in comparison to the Glenmo, with notes of vanilla, chocolate and lemon. In my opinion this was far the best offering of the evening.

We then moved on to a 9yo Arran 121.50 ‘Xmas cake and Afghan coats’ a sherry butt refill with a 61.3%ABV. Got the Xmas cake part with hints of liquorice, as for the Afghan coat I can only say that there are probable too many old hippies on the tasting panel in Queen Street. Not a dram which I warmed too, I did detect a slight hint of sulphur.

The penultimate offering was a Glen Scotia 93.52 ‘Wench with a wrench’. A smoky 9yo dram with an AVB of 58.4% this was a refill bourbon barrel. There was vanilla on the nose and a syrupy sweetness with hints of pear on the pallet. No comparison what so ever can be made towards my good lady on this one, I don’t think she knows what a wrench is for.

The final dram of the night was a Caol Ila 53.161 ‘Manuka honey and Rooibos red tea’. This 10yo had a 57.6%ABV and was from a refill bourbon hogshead. A smoky peaty dram with a hint of TCP on the nose but it was not over powering and a lemony zest on the pallet. I don’t know how the panel come up with the titles for their bottlings, Rooibos red tea! I’ve never seen that on the shelves in Tesco’s

Cheers John

Interesting review. SMWS have had a good run of Longmorn's recently - I've walked a way with a couple from tastings - 7.57 and 7.63. Both excellent.

[cato]

Bushmills 16 YO, Three Wood, 40%, db - Typical Irish, cute stuff, not complicated, easy to drink, short finish
Glen Scotia 19, A.D. Rattray, 59.6%, 375ml - Sherry bomb, needs a few minutes to breath and some water, complex and bold palate, log finish --with some time and patience this is really nice stuff.

[dramtastic]

log finish --

Sounds overly woody......

[MacDeffe]

I went to a wineshops annual whiskyfair in Hadsten which gave me a chance to fill up a few holes of the whiskies imported by Juul's

1. Ardmore 1999 Tramline 8 46% (danish botling of Ardmore)
2. Ardmore 1996 cask 3516 54.1% Exclusive for Denmark. G&M

A couple of nice Ardmore's the latter being sherrycasked

3. Glendullan 1998 also exclusively for Denmark G&M, 46% a distillery not often seen. This was a very nice one as well

4. Springbank Roundlets and Kinderkin. A little to woody and bitter for me on the finish

5 Isawa Single malt 25yo 43% Monde Shuzo Distillery
6 Ootori Blend 15yo Merician Distillery Kuraizawa 40% (Decent)
7 Isawa Single malt 10 40% Monde Shuzo Distillery
8. Isawa blend NAS 40% Monde Shuzo Distillery
9. Akashi Blend. White Oak Distillery 40%
10. Kawasaiki 1981 single cask 62.4%

Apart from the last, a single grain, which was really good, a horrible japanese experience. Especially the Isawa's had a plastic rubber taste and nose which led one to comment this is like nosing a new Toyota

11. Elijah Craig 18. Good
12. Middleton Barry Crockett. Good
13. Glencadam 21yo. good
14. Longmorn 30yo G&M also very good
15. Benromach 18. Someone bought a bottle and left it unattended on the table. Mistake. It was good
16. Glen Grant 25yo G&M. I really like these bottlings. Great Quality for money as well
17. Longmorn 64 G&M Sherry Cask. Dark and Licorise. Family Reserve. Quite good but very black and sherried
18. Flaming Heart. Good. The peat dominates in these blends
19. Port Askaig 30. By far the best in a good series
20. Rosebank from Chieftains 18yo 46%
21 Linkwood 1969 G&M 43% not as good as the other old G&M's we had yesterday but still drinkable!
22 Springbank Portwood. 1995. 53%. I am never really gonna be a great fan of port wood casked whisky

Steffen

[Willie JJ]

Thanks for that Steffen, its really useful info. I really like those old Kawasakis too.

[Willie JJ]

log finish --

Sounds overly woody......

[dramtastic]

Thanks for that Steffen, its really useful info. I really like those old Kawasakis too.

The '82 for Whisky Live Japan 2011 which you may have a sample of , is quite a bit better than the '81 IMO....

[Willie JJ]

The '82 for Whisky Live Japan 2011 which you may have a sample of , is quite a bit better than the '81 IMO....

I'll be investigating that shortly

[mongo]

amrut cs
amrut peated cs
amrut fusion
amrut two continents 2nd ed.

i liked the two continents, but it's not a great whisky--i'm a little bemused by all the fuss that some have made over it.

[Pete Smoke]

The '82 for Whisky Live Japan 2011 which you may have a sample of , is quite a bit better than the '81 IMO....

I'll be investigating that shortly

I have one sat patiently waiting for my attention (more patiently than the missus ).

[whiskytime]

JW Dant Bourbon BIB - 50% ABVThen on to a small dram of High West Double Rye - 46% ABV - no CF - This one has greatly improved since initial opening of the bottle; the bottle is less than a 1/4 down. Less dill (just a hint now), less alcohol blast, more vanilla, rye spice, nutmeg & cinnamon - delicious. This proves - don't judge a whiskey on first sniff/taste. Some take longer to open. I probably would not have put this on my replace-when-finished list after the first try but now I will replace; it's really good & reasonably priced ($35 USD).

I have a bottle of the High West Rendezvous Rye. The first dram really put me off. Dill weed dominates the nose and did this rye in for me. I hope this whisky improves as I work my way through the bottle, but at the moment I remain unimpressed. I found nosing the Rendezvous Rye to be very similar to Bulleit Rye, the former is a blend with some 16 yr old rye in it and it shows on the palate. Both are made by LDI. High West is also distilling its own spirit, but that is still aging in barrels and will not be ready for a few more years.

--Jerome

Oh wow - I have never had the dill thing w/Rendezvous...do you know which batch you have? Although dill is a common flavor to rye, I don't like it to be prominent. I also find no Bulleit in my Rendezvous - I'm not a big fan of Bulleit; I like it fine but I prefer other rye (I think it could taste better w/more age). My first bottle of Rendezvous was Batch 11C18 & it was INCREDIBLE. I still have 2 more of these gems stored away. My most recent batch is 12A24 - it's not quite as good as the other batch IMO but still magnificent - I bought 6 bottles & have 1 open now. Maybe you should try leaving the cork out of your bottle for several hours - that greatly improved my Double Rye - put the dill in the background as just a herbal hint.

[jsaliga]

I had another dram of Rendezvous Rye last night. This time I let the glass sit uncovered for an hour before nosing and tasting it. It was an improvement over my first pour, but not enough of one. Dill is still the dominant aroma in the nose, but after sitting in the glass for an hour it receeds enough to allow some vanilla and spice to surface. This is batch 12A31.

Not that I think this means much but sometimes when I am trying a new whisky, after I finish the dram I like to leave the empty glass sit overnight. The next morning I will nose it. It has produced some rather surprising results from time to time and I file the experience away as a data point. For example, last week I tried a Bowmore 12yr 40% OB. I won't go into what the dram was like in this post but the next moring I got maple flavored bacon aromas from the empty glass. With the Rendezvous Rye this experiment left a rancid aroma in the glass, sort of like vomit but not quite as strong and offensive.

Tonight I am going to do a three-way comparison between Rendezvous, Rittenhouse and, my favorite rye of all, Whistlepig.

At some point I will probably pour a glass and let it sit several hours before nosing and tasting and see where that gets me. My only complaint about Rendezvous Rye is with the nose and want to make that clear. It is quite enjoyable on the palate...but since nosing is at least half the experience (for me anyway) the strong dill aromas detract greatly from the enjoyment.

Now it could be that this rye just doesn't agree with me, and if I reach that conclusion then I will relegate whatever I have left in the bottle for mixing and will not use it for sipping. There's No point in suffering through a whisky you aren't enjoying.

--Jerome

[Jazz Lover]

Balvenie Tun #3