Affects of Age on the Spirit

In the course of one evening we manage to break a lot of society records.  In one tiny room in Teviot Row House we manged to pack in 28 whisky drinkers, 4 Balvenie Ambassadors, 2 Monkey Shoulder Ambassadors, and the oldest whisky that the society has ever tasted : 38 year old single cask, cask strength Balvenie. Needless to say, we were all doing happy whisky dances throughout the night.

Balvenie New Make 70%
Nose: pear, green fruits, red berries, sweet, grapes, meadow on a sunny day, cereal grain, bread dough, yeastings turning maltings
Taste: not entirely unpleasant

Balvenie 8 year old, 58% American Bourbon Cask
Nose: maple, vanilla, burned sugar, honey, four roses bourbon, muffins, cherries
Taste: apples, sugar, melons
Overall: Quite enjoyable, but the typical signature aspects of Balvenie were absent.

Balvenie 12 year old, 57.7% Re-fill Bourbon Cask
Nose: "smells cask strength", sugary, grassy, vanilla
Taste: honey, coffee finish "like Balvenie". Spiced honey coffee. The age "allows the spirit to talk". Pear drops also present. Needed water to fully develop
Overall: Very good. This is part of the double wood. Here we got the typical Balvenie flavors running throughout the whisky.

Sam swings the dog

Balvenie 30 year old, 49.2% American Oak
Nose: apple, plums, honey, pears and other dark fruits
Taste: Parmaviolet, woody, citrus notes still present 
Overall: Still Balvenie, a different kind of Balvenie (probably because most of us don't drink 30 year old whisky on a regular basis). Still a bit rough around the edges.

Balvenie 38 year old, 47.6% Spanish Sherry Butt
Nose: nice floor polish, jam, mint, grape, cinnamon
Taste: full bodied cooked red fruits. No citrus or honey notes at all.
Overall: a good whisky, a fine experience but it was not Balvenie in terms of typical expressions.

Balvenie 30 year old, Official Release
Nose: creamy, burned sugar, "smells like Balvenie", honey and spice, plums
Taste: cinnamon, oranges, honey with a coffee finish
Overall: The only way to describe this dram is elegant. It had all the elements of Balvenie and delivered them with class and grace.

There was so much amazing whisky present and it was awesome to have both Andy and Sam there to walk us through the affects of age on the spirit. We cannot express our gratitude for such an astonishing experience. Speaking of thanks, I would like to take this time to thank everyone who contributed to my birthday bottle of whisky, Glenfarclas 15 year old. I was thoroughly surprised and grateful to receive this gift for my birthday. So, thank you--to all of you. 

Thank you!

Kampai!!

Japanese Whisky!

On the 9th of February we held a small tasting for those big whisky nerds who wanted to try five different Japanese whiskies side by side. Thursday we packed as many people possible into a tiny room and dissected several whiskies from the East. Coming from the same company, Suntory, I expected to find some of the family similarities within these whiskies that Willie had described the previous week.

Hibiki 12 yo blend
A blend of whiskies taken from both Yamazaki and Hakushu distillies, it is totally dominated by the time it spent in plum wine casks. 
Nose: fruity (peaches, cantaloupe) "marmalade and melon". Deep ruby reds
Taste: very light compared to a decently rich and complex nose. Immediately sat at the back of the tongue and tasted of glue, resin, and tree sap. Quite bitter and fleeting after an initial shock of sweetness. "Candied apple"

Yamazaki 12 yo single malt
This was the first Japanese single malt to ever be produced from Japan's first distillery.
Nose: plums, honey, shredded wheat, vanilla
Taste: a very subtle taste again. Not overpowering. Begins with noodle-y oak nature and quickly turns to a bitter fleeting sensation again.

Yamazaki Puncheon
Matured in a 480-liter virgin oak puncheon cask, 48% and non-chill filtered to boot!
Nose: honeydew melon, pine, roasted pine nuts and walnuts, cream cheese icing, granulated sugar, Haribos, "nail varnish", "pear"
Taste: a bouncy dram, spiced ginger, light and floral, again very fleeting.

Hakushu 12 yo
Coming from Suntory's second distillery, this whisky is widely popular in Japan for its use of peat.
Nose: picked peaty black pepper
Taste: old fireplace cinders. green barley peat kiln   

Hakushu Heavily Peated
A "heavily peated" version of the original spirit. It promises to hold onto the subtle Japanese characteristics without delivering the traditional Scottish heavy peat.  
Nose: irnbru smoke, cinnamon, rust, bubblegum
Taste: "peat Robatayaki",  tobacco and green apples, dry smoke but leaving a behind a very wet palate. "Like an old geisha sitting in a public swimming pool", "peated by someone who has never been to Islay"

The Suntory Family and the Water of Life Society

The more mindful readers out there will notice that I have removed the "overall" category from my tasting notes. Since we decided to compare the whiskies side by side I waited until the very end to take a quick poll of the room to see which whisky would be voted the best. As I proclaimed the five names, hands went up all over the room. There was no single whisky that commanded the room that night. They all shared characteristics particular to Japanese whiskies (notably apple, plums and their light and fleeting nature) but they were different enough to cut across the preferences of all 28 of us present.

A house divided.