Tag: favourites

Whisky 2016 – 106 Old Crow Bar, Zurich

So more traveling this time in Zurich. Jetlagged to hell, I decided that is was worth trying to find the Old Crow Bar. Bloody hell was it worth it! I’ll be going back again during my short stay. 

I had two drams; a Glendronach 15 Revival (geddit??) I’d had many times before but this Ben Nevis is up there with some of the best whisky I have had. Not the huge jammy apricots or marmalade that I associate with Ben Nevis but loads of cocoa and chocolate and so elegant. 

106 – Ben Nevis 1973 1999 Cask 750
Sarsaparilla, maple syrup, medicinal, vanilla, maraschino cherry. Cloves, cocoa, chocolate, vanilla, coffee, green herbs, musk, slight fruit. 

Whisky 2016 – 68-76 (Kavalan Tasting)

68 – Kavalan Solist Manzanilla
Gluey, woody, smells hot and salty, nutty. Unexpected sweetness, dried orange and apricot, Terry’s chocolate orange, floral, mango Weiss bars.

69 – Kavalan Solist Amontillado
Glue, musk, wood, brown sugar, caramel, melted cultured butter. Salty, leather, brown sugar, caramel, walnuts oil, loads of musk on the finish, bitter almonds, toasted almonds. Maybe a bit bitter for me.

70 – Kavalan Solist Moscatel
Chicos, milk chocolate, instant coffee, treacle and I’m reminded of little thyme flowers. Smooth so so smooth, butter loads of it, honey, caramel, maple syrup, maybe some passionfruit and just freaking good.

71 – Kavalan Solist PX (Pedro Ximenez)
Corn tempura, butter, cream, dried fruits. Really smooth big tropical fruits, macerated berries, slight mint, slight motor oil.

72 – Kavalan Solist Fino
Glue, dry sherry (ha!), rock melon, coffee, white peaches and cream. Tropical fruit, caramels, salt, creamy, rose water.

73 – Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique
Vanilla and chocolate, Xmas spice, toasted coconut. Jasmine, cold milk tea, tropical fruits.

74 – Rest and Be Thankful Bunnahabhain 1989
Green grass, old bananas, brown sugar, passionfruit vine. Coffee, cream, caramel, salt, thyme and a slight iodine hit.

75 – Finlaggan The Original
Iodine, sweet, sea water, cream, caramel, cherry wood. Sea water, pepper, prunes and iodine.

76 – Blair Athol Manager’s Choice Cask 5989
Toffee apple, sulphur, brandy, chicos, egg white, aged sake maybe. Cream, apricot delight, toffee, caramel, apples skins.

Whisky 2016 – 57-64 Bruichladdich Tasting

57 – Laddie Classic Batch 16/004
Chicos, green herbs, wood, rubbery, toasted almonds, roses. Caramel, sea salt, leather, custard

58 – Micro Provenance 12YO Sherry Hogshead
Bitter cocoa, hand cream, slight clove cigarette, brown sugar, huge sherry, Chinese herbs. Rubber, dry white wine, brown sugar, rum, sarsaparilla. Lovely.

59 – Port Charlotte Scottish Barley
Fake Parmesan cheese, plastic, iodine, seaweed, boiled sweets, lemon zest. Salty, dry herbs, slight bacon.

60 – Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2008
Glue, new make, tequila, ozone, plastic. Sugary, herby, tobacco smoke, BBQ meats.

61 – Octomore 7.1 Scottish Barley
Butterscotch, caramel, salty sea. Sea weed, iodine, slight smoked meat, dry herbs and salty.

62 – Octomore 7.4 Virgin Oak
Hospital, iodine and clove, strawberry cheese cake. Dry cake spices, clove cigarette. Great!

63 – Arran Private Cask Milano Whisky Festival 2014 6 year sherry Hogshead
Crushed ants, dusty, salt, butter, grilled peaches. Butter, toasted, sarsaparilla, custard, peaches, woody and perfumed. Definitely in my top 5 for the year. 

64 – Adelphi Glenrothes 9 Years
Chicos, dusty, wood glue, cloves, pound cake, prunes, plums, tea. Caramel, custard, cloves, spiced biscuits, white pepper and cream.

Favourites of 2015

I’ll probably have a few more drams this year but these have been my favourites for 2015.

49 – SMWS 124.4 (Miyagikyo) Full of Secret Pleasures
Muscat, port, Sherry fino, rubber, dry warmth, oil soaked rags, spices cloves and anise, maple. German spice biscuits, a rubber fire, cocoa, liquorice, toasted bran, so much going on. Jeezus!

70 – Heartwood Beagle 3
Pine resin, the sweet end of turps, marijuana, chocolate, crushed ants, tomato vine. Tobacco, leather, pepper, beef jerky, super powerful vanilla – it’s really chewy and salty. With time pina colada on the nose and beautiful rich thick caramel. Wow! Really impressed. One of the best for 2015.

121 – Ichiro’s Malt 2015 Tokyo International Bar Show Cask 2360
Wow just wow – favourite for the year!! Banana, ice cream, malty bread with butter, tomato paste, fruit tingles, slight vino cotto, CHICOS. Yeast, brown bread, vanilla, banana bread, prunes, plums, grapes.

143 – Whisky Base Ben Nevis
So much honey, aspirin, maple syrup, butter on crumpets. Melted salted butter, cloves and vanilla cream – it’s such a beautifully structured whisky nothing is offensive or is aggressive, pipe tobacco, tiny bit of pineapple and mango.

164 – Cadenhead Glenrothes-Glenlivet 24
Sulphur, gas, maple syrup, wood, chicos, brown tea and hay. Salt, wood, rubber, maple, dried strawberries or maybe strawberry jam, brown sugar, rum, brandy butter, caramel, chocolate and LPG. So damn complex.

Whisky 2015 – 142-144

142 – SMWS 29.161 (Laphroaig) A bodega is burning
Wow – chocolate, plasticine, peat, leather. Slight iodine, medicinal notes that mix up with cocoa, smoke and chalk, some passionfruit(?!?), wet autumn leaves.

143 – Whiskybase Ben Nevis
So much honey, aspirin, maple syrup, butter on crumpets. Melted salted butter, cloves and vanilla cream – it’s such a beautifully structured whisky nothing is offensive or is aggressive, pipe tobacco, tiny bit of pineapple and mango.

144 – Heartwood Any port in storm
Sarsaparilla, dark chocolate, musk, musty, dark leather, coffee liqueur. Perfume, gasoline, butter, maple syrup, wood, caramels, cloves, leather, salty, dried stone fruits. So good.

Whisky (Whiskey) 2015 – 134-136

134 – Tullamore Dew Whiskey 12 Sherry Cask
Banana, caramel, marshmallows, slight citrus, yeast. Spice biscuits, gooseberry, stone fruits, passion fruit, dried tea leaves.

135 – Teeling 23 Years Vintage Reserve Cask 6836
Grilled peaches with maple syrup cream, dried peach, apricot square, musk, wood. Peaches+++, slight rubber, maple sugar, blossoms, pollen, coffee trifle, iced tea. One of the best for this year.

136 – Teeling Single Cask 1159 White Burgundy
Yeasty bread dough, brown bread, white peaches, underripe apricots, lemon drizzle cake. Stewed peaches, blue vein cheese, passion fruit (& vine), brown bread.

   
 

Favourite Whisky of 2014

A friend asked me for my favourite drops from 2014. Here they are in no order:

  • White Oak Sherry Cask 5 Year
  • Adelphi Glenrothes 2007 7 Year Australian Release (67.6%!!!)
  • Gordon & MacPhail Glenburgie 1964
  • Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu Port Pipe 2009
  • Glengoyne 21

As you can probably tell, I’m a bit of a sherry head. I don’t mind a bit of peat every now and then, but I’ll probably complain about it being like licking a fireplace or too medicinal.