March 12, 2004
The Macallan 18 (1985)
The Macallan 18 is a Speyside whisky. Macallan uses sherry oak casks from the Jerez region of Spain for a two year finish.
It has a scent of wood and sherry, and the main flavours are consistent with its nose. The sherry makes it taste quite unlike a straight-ahead scotch, which makes me unlikely to drink it except for special occasions. As finished scotches go, however, it's very subtle. The Macallan 18 doesn't taste as flavoured as The Glenlivet French Oak.
This whisky has a sweet, charcoal finish. I can recommend it highly.
More notes:
After tasting it with water: some of the flavor moves into the nose, separating the sweetness on the tongue from an intense charcoal flavor in the sinuses. The taste of sherry is greatly diminished. I prefer this scotch with water.
Posted by peter at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2004
The Glenrothes Vintage Malt 21 (1979)
the Glenrothes Speyside Vintage Malt 21, and I know now what a loss that has been. This spirit came attractively bottled with a label showing its vintage and bottling information and was an amazing rich copper, almost, in color. The flavor was just amazing, and this was judged by our crew the best 'straight whisky' out of the bunch. It has a complexity that you have to hold it in your mouth for several seconds to find, and even then, different amounts will produce different balances of yum. There was a slight vanillin, perhaps from the Sherry Oak casks, and several florals that weren't individually identifiable. Overlaying it was a sharp spicy wood, almost cedarlike without being oily. A very wide taste. I'd walk a damn long way for one of these, and if I had one of my fave stogies, too, well...
Posted by jbz at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
The Glenlivet (French Oak Finish)
The Glenlivet French Oak 12 was one of the evening favorites. The rough edges of the still-slightly-young Scotch are not so much muted as complemented by the complex wood flavoring imparted by the French Oak finishing. The Scotch is 'finished' - i.e. spends the last year or two, perhaps - in Cognac barrels of French oak from the Limousin region. The resulting woody nose rides alongside the slightly sharp burn of the malt, and together they produce a flavor quite distinctive from the other tipples of the tasting. Highly recommended as a flavorful way to finish a mild but satisfying meal, or to enjoy with a cigar as most Scotches excel with tobacco.
Posted by jbz at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
The Glenlivet 18 yr.
the Glenlivet 18. A very, very nice whisky - smooth, with the strong smoke and malt rounded down, burnished to a mellow shine without any real acridity or sharp burn. The strength is apparent if you hold it in your mouth, but at no time does it feel like it's trying to damage you - just educate you, heh. A straightforward flavor, with some less complex florals and herbals, but those serve to accentuate the malt and peat rather than overlay it.
Posted by jbz at 12:04 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2004
The Balvenie Portwood 21
The Balvenie Portwood 21 is delicious.
It's a Speyside malt - the distillery is next door to Glenfiddich. It's a nice, round, slightly fruity flavor. It's incredibly smooth. The finish is very dry and woody - cedar perhaps?
It would be fantastic with a pipe - there's a little charcoal in the finish.
The port casks don't change the flavor of this whisky nearly as much as the Cognac casks do with The Glenlivet's French Oak. The end result is a great straight-ahead whisky.
Posted by peter at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)