17 Dec 2012
Compass Box Hedonism. Seriously, that's the name. And it's a grain whiskey. Not sure what that is either. So this is brand new.
It is light, light, light in color. Incredibly light.
The Compass Box is also a light drink -- citrusy and not overwhelming. To be honest, I feel like I need another drink to really have a strong opinion. I liked it, but it was different enough that I'm not sure I can really pinpoint if it was just different, or if it was fantastic.
(Such is life when you're trying 24 whiskies in 24 days.)
Another Japanese whiskey, this time Hibiki 17. I've had the Hibiki 12 year. This version is certainly a good bit smoother and, I'd say, spicier.
It's a rich gold color, and has a great scent. It's not overpowering like some whiskies can be. It's fruity and maybe even a bit of cocoa? I don't know, I may be coming down with a cold, so I'm probably not the best judge.
The Hibiki 17 is wonderfully smooth. It's a blended whiskey, though I'm not sure you could tell. It tastes like a great, smooth single malt. This might be the least alcohol I've ever tasted in a whiskey. Really, it's that smooth. There's definitely some sort of spiciness to the taste.
The only downside might be that it seems to leave a bit of a bitter aftertaste.
Still, it's quite tasty.
15 Dec 2012
Work and life don't mean we miss out on whisk(e)y, but means that we get much, much quicker snippets on the whiskies of the week.
Glenfarclas 105 is a Highland Scotch. It's a cask strength whisky, so it packs a bit of a punch. It's got the same sort of sherry flavor that Macallan brings, but it's really got a nice balance of flavors that I think I like a bit more than Macallan. And, as you can see, it brings a nice dark color.
Longmorn 16 is a Speyside Scotch and it's a great one. I think Speysides tend to be a lot of people's introduction to Scotch (with something like Glenlivet). This would be a great Scotch to have on hand when you've got folks around who might be new to Scotch or just want something smooth. Really fantastic, and something I'd love to get again.
Pikesville Straight Rye. I've never had a rye. I've had it in a drink, but never straight. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It actually was reminiscent of drinking Irish whiskey when you first sip it, but with a lot more of a peppery aftertaste. I quite liked it, though rye definitely feels like it would be more of a base for another drink than something you'd sit and sip. But I think a good rye, like a good bourbon, would be a great drink to sit and sip on a winter evening.
Oban 14. Another Highland Scotch. It was tasty, but I was a bit underwhelmed. I also drank it at 1am after having just seen a concert, so maybe we should leave the jury out on this one.
Old Pulteney 21. And another Highland Scotch. But what a name.
This was really great, incredibly smooth and flavorful. Really flowery (I supposed floral would be a better word) and fruity, but so smooth when drinking. Would love to try this one again.
10 Dec 2012
A Highland Scotch and an Irish Whiskey. Quick reviews.
Dalwhinnie is a Highland Scotch, so it runs less smokey and earthy than the Islays that have been more common over the past few days. The Dalwhinnie has a very sweet smell, not overwhelmingly saccharine, but pleasantly sweet. It has an incredibly smooth taste. It's not a complicated whisky; it's smooth and sweet and fruity, with a little bit of smoke in the background.
It would be a great first Scotch for someone who thinks that Scotch is all about burning your nostrils and making you burn all the way to your belly. This would be a great whisky to have around when you've got guests who don't love the Islays.
The old standard. Jameson Irish Whiskey.
I'm not really sure what to say about it. Irish whiskey runs much sweeter and there's no smokey flavor, due to the way Irish whiskey is created. Jameson is a standby because it's solid. Comparing ameson to a bourbon or Scotch, the big standout difference is how smooth it is. Jameson is a smooth, sweet drink that almost anyone, even a non-whiskey drinker, could sip after a meal or on a cold day.
08 Dec 2012
Another day, another Islay.
As you can tell by the glass I'm drinking out of, 7 straight days of whisky has left be running low on proper glasses.
This is, by my count, the 4th Islay whisky in the 7 days of drinks thus far. As an Islay fan, this is certainly not a bad thing. I've never had Caol Ila before, so I was hoping I was in for a treat.
I was.
This is a mild Islay; you get the whiff of peat and smoke when you pour, but it's not overpowering. It's strong, but it doesn't make the whole room smell like the morning after a bonfire.
It's got a wonderful taste. You immediately get the smoke and peat, but as you continue (and as you let the whisky linger a bit), you pick up the salt and sea of a good Islay. Rounding it all out, there's just some nice sweetness there—I'm not experienced enough a drinker to pick up what it is, but it's a nice touch.
This is just a great, well rounded Islay. Probably a great one to start with if you're not sure the strongest of the whiskies is for you.
(And, it turns out, if you've ever had Johnnie Walker, you may have had some Caol Ila, as it's used in their blends.)
07 Dec 2012
Three more days, three more Scotches. Two of these I've had before (the Laphroaig 18 and Lagavulin 16), but this was a great opportunity to pay them a bit more attention and thought.
I've got a bottle of Laphroaig 10 at home that is sort of a great go-to Islay Scotch. It's smokey and peaty and when you taste it, you get all of those tastes, plus you can taste the salty sea water that surrounds the island where the whisky is made. It's rough around the edges, which makes it a great, flavorful Scotch. It's great.
The Laphroaig 18 has all of those same flavors, plus some sweetness, as it's mellowed in its older age. And that's sort of its downfall. It's a smoother whisky. When you smell it, it's much subtler—still smokey and peaty, but with more sugar on top. When you drink it, you get the same flavors as the 10 year, but they're rounded.
Everything is toned down.
For many people, that would make this an amazing Scotch.
For me, it makes it a bit of a let down. It's still really good, and very, very drinkable. But it's a rare case of me liking the younger sibling over the mature version.
Macallan is sort of everyone's intro Scotch. It's sweet, with lots of wine flavor. It's very drinkable (as I can attest from one very bad night). It's a great way to get into Scotch.
But, I think over time, some of those aspects are what make it less desirable. It's not a terribly distinctive Scotch. It can sometimes be cloyingly sweet. It lacks some of the wonderful earthiness of some of the Islay Scotches.
Auchentoshan Three Wood is a similar whisky to a Macallan. It's aged in a bourbon cask, and then two Spanish wine casks, to give it it's darker red color and sweeter, sherry scent. I was excited to try it, as it is very well reviewed, and I wondered if this might be the whisky that would be the Macallan for people who like rougher whisky.
It might be. I'm not sure.
I wonder if I'd gotten my hopes up a bit too much. It smells a bit like a Macallan, but with some smoke behind all the sweet. That was a great sign.
But the taste, at least the dram I had, was sort of a mish-mash. It was sweet, but not overly sweet. It had some normal peat and earth in the background, but not in a way that melded well together. I don't feel like I can do this justice—I liked it, but was underwhelmed, but I feel like I missed something. I'd like to try it again.
Consider the jury out.
Any Scotch endorsed by Ron Swanson has to be good, right?
Yes. It does.
And it is.
This is a great Scotch. It's an Islay (which seems to be a theme so far in this advent calendar, one I very much approve of)! It has the same big scents of the Laphroaig, but they're in the right balance. It's wonderful.
The taste is what you want out of a more mature Islay. You get the big peat and smoke, but not in an overpowering way (like an Ardbeg 10). It's perfectly balanced. There's some of the salty sea taste, but just enough. And finally, you can taste some of the floral/citrus that is sitting there.
It's an amazing Scotch.
Ron Swanson is right.
04 Dec 2012
December 3rd brings us a bourbon, which is a great sign that the month of December won't be all Scotch-style whiskies, but instead will likely run the spectrum from Scotch to rye and back.
The Four Roses 2012 Single Barrel bourbon has a nice dark copper color, definitely separating it from the lighter colors whiskies we started the month with. It's got a much, much sweeter scent than the Ardbeg did (obviously).
And, it has a much sweeter taste as well. Don't get me wrong, though, this is as strong bourbon. There's a lot going on when you sip it, with some of your typical sweeter bourbon flavors, but a super spicy kick at the end of each sip. For just a moment while drinking it, I numbed the top of my mouth -- 112 proof whiskey will do that sometimes!
(I should note, I've been drinking all of these whiskies neat.)
This is a tasty bourbon. A great change of pace from the Scotches that started the month and one that I've added to my list of "maybe I should pick up a bottle of this."
03 Dec 2012
December 2nd's whisky is one I'm sort of familiar with. Last Christmas, I got a bottle of Ardbeg 10 year. It was a good gift; I'm a big fan of Islay Scotch, and the Ardbeg 10 is a strong Islay. The moment you open the bottle and pour a bit into your glass, whatever room you are in will smell like you just put out a fire. It is that smoky and peaty.
I went through nearly an entire bottle before I realized this is a Scotch that requires a bit of water. Maybe require is a strong word: I required drinking it with water. It mellowed it out considerably and you could actually make out the flavors -- the peat, the sea, the medicinal iodine. Islay's are an acquired taste, but if you like them, the Ardbeg 10 was a strong one. Not my favorite, but it was a fierce drink.
All that is preamble to December 2nd's Ardbeg 18 year Single Cask. Pouring it, the familiar smokey Ardbeg scent was clear, but not nearly as strong as in the 10 year. With the 10 year, my girlfriend could tell I had opened the bottle from the other side of the room; I drank this 18 year next to her with nary a comment.
The color of Ardbeg tends to be lighter than you'd expect from a drink that is this dark and strong. Ardbeg looks almost like white wine. It's a very pale yellow. Lighter than most whiskies I've had. This 18 year is no different.
The scent of the Ardbeg really is a campfire. Maybe a fire on the beach so you're getting some ocean breeze mixed in. (Like I said, I'm not sure you can review a Scotch without sounding like a complete tool.) With the 18 year, there's some more to the scent than just overpowering peat and smoke. I swear there was some leather. I could be insane.
The taste is much mellower and smoother than the 10 year. It's still peaty and smokey and medicinal, like a good Islay, but it's got some sweeter taste to it as well. It reminded me a bit of what is one of my favorite Islays, the Bowmore 12, which is smokey and chocolatey at the same time. The Ardbeg 18 didn't seem chocolatey to me, but it did have some sweeter flavors beyond the peat.
Two days into our Whisky Advent adventure and we're 2 for 2 on whiskies. I figure by the 10th, I'll be sitting in a leather recliner, wearing a robe, with a roaring fire going*. All the better to review these drinks.
* I have neither a recliner, nor robe, nor fireplace.
01 Dec 2012
The first whisky of December is a Japanese whisky! I've tried another Japanese whisky (Hibiki, I think). They're run pretty close to Scotch whiskies in flavor and color (whereas I think a lot of people here whisk(e)y that's not Scotch and think Jameson's or Jack Daniel's).
Oh, I should warn you: whenever I read a whisky review and read all the stuff about people smelling fruits and specific aromas and how they can taste the overtones of leather, I assume they're either full of shit or my nose and tastebuds don't work.
I love whisky, but my reviews will (hopefully) not be that douchey.
The Yamazaki 12 Year smells a lot like your normal Speyside Scotches. It's got that bright, almost flowery smell that you get out of your lighter Scotches, without being overly sweet (the way a Macallan or Irish whiskey might be). It's got a pale yellow, gold color, again very reminiscent of a Glenlivet or your other Speyside Scotches.
Now, the advent calendar only gives you one drink, so I tried to savor it and get as much out of it as I could (as you should with any whisky). Again, it's got that flowery without being sweet taste, though you could pick up some sweetness when you left in your mouth. It's not a harsh whisky at all; the alcohol is there, but not overpowering.
I liked it. It's not a whisky that immediately made me want to go buy a full bottle, but it's one I'd definitely try again.
And yeah, it's pretty hard to review a whisky without sounding douchey. Oh well.
01 Dec 2012
Thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, Christmas arrived a bit early this year when I opened up a gift of a Whisky Advent Calendar. Seriously. I had seen it online and sent her an email. 99% as a joke.
97% as a joke.
Ok, 82% as a joke.
Really, I was hoping to get permission to just buy it for myself.
But, what showed up on November 30th, just in time to kick off the Advent drinking season?
This awesome beast:
Lucky you, for each day until Christmas, you get a whisky review by me of whatever came out of the calendar that day.
So much better than chocolate, right?
23 Nov 2012
Work and life have been quite busy lately, leaving me less time to actually post stuff to this here blog. I've actually been spending a lot of time trying to refine my workflows (the way I get stuff done at work and home) so that I can get stuff done faster and have more time to, you know, live.
Easier said than done.
So, in the interim, here's some handy links to stuff that you might find interesting.
Evernote
Evernote wants to be your "digital brain", where you can just dump stuff so that you can find it later, and it won't clog up your browser/inbox/head. It's always been a great idea, but the client was so incredibly clunky that I could never really get around to using it as much as I should. Last week (or maybe the week before?), they launched overhauled apps for all platforms (Mac/PC/iOS/Android). It's much faster and much nicer to use. I'm trying to use it much more now, so that I can keep stuff handy and searchable.
It's really perfect for holiday shopping -- you can just throw all sorts of links and notes and pictures into Evernote, and then have them around when you're doing some online shopping or walking through the mall.
Inside the Hostess Bakery
Depending on your political point of view, you might find the source unreliable, but the story is worth a read. The entire Hostess saga is an amazing example of executives and private funds sucking the life--and money--out of a company, and leaving the workers behind. Even if this story is only partially true, it's a huge reason why Mitt Romney's politics are untenable (and bad) for America, and why he lost.
At some point, there has to be a reckoning for these corporate raiders who suck the life out of companies. It would be one thing if these executives had cut their own salaries and bonuses to keep the company afloat. But raiding the coffers while the ship is sinking is reprehensible.
The 5by5 Network
I listen to a lot of podcasts, many of the tech-related. The first, and probably still the biggest, is the TWiT network. Sadly, most of their podcasts have moved away from providing solid, well-thought out content and into the realm of just your typical talk-radio half-assed arguing and grandstanding. 5by5 is what TWiT used to be. Find a show that matches your interests and give one a listen.
Happy Thanksgiving.