Laphroaig 18 / Auchentoshan Three Wood / Lagavulin 16

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.

Four Roses 2012 Single Barrel

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."

Ardbeg 18 Year Single Cask

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.

Yamazaki 12 Year

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.

(Drunk) Christmas Comes Early!

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?

When You Have Nothing to Say ...

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.

Flashy Touchscreen Coke Machines Sort of Suck →

"It’s got a touchscreen. It’s got 187 flavor combinations. It’s the Way of the Future™.

Unfortunately, these machines provide an awful user experience."

I was going to write a bunch of stuff about how awful the UI on the touchscreen Coca-Cola dispensers is, the Coke Freestyle, but a bit of googling found that Matt Swanson had pretty much said it all.

• Only one person can get a drink at a time
• It's not super clear how you get ice
• If you leave your cup in the position you get ice, you end up with soda all over your hand/side of your cup
• The touchscreen is laggy as all hell

Style over substance. A dispenser that could serve multiple people at once, be used one handed, and was extremely intuitive, replaced by a dispenser that serves one person at once, is confusing for most people, and generally requires two hands.

But it has more options. And a touchscreen.

Want to Watch a Movie? Don't Upgrade Your iPad Before You Get On a Flight

Here's just a little tip for you. If you plan to watch an awesome historical movie rented from iTunes on your flight home, don't upgrade your iPad to the latest version (for me, 6.0.1) before you get on the flight.

Or, if you do, at least connect to the internet and make sure iTunes reauthorizes your iPad to watch the movie.

Otherwise, you'll get on the plane, hunker down to watch it, and instead, get a nice error message of "Cannot Open" over and over again until you give up and realize it ain't going to happen.

Thankfully, I've got another leg of my trip and I found wifi in between. Open up the Videos app, and all of a sudden the iPad remembers it's allowed to play the movie.

Now I need to go learn about the history of our 16th President and how he ended the vampire plague.

My Favorite Part of Utah

Small victories.

Some Thoughts on the Music of 2012

Looking through my iTunes and Spotify playlists, I've been starting to cobble together some thoughts on the best (or at least most interesting music) in 2012. This is just a sampling of this year. It's been a pretty good one, with at least a couple big albums left. (These links go through Amazon, so if you buy any of them there, I make like 4 cents. Just sayin'.)

The Heist -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
This album caught me by surprise. It's most notable song is the marriage equality anthem "Same Love", which is a) awesome, and b) a surprisingly coherent argument for marriage equality (or at least pointing out that there's no reason to be against it. But this album also has two ridiculously fun songs in "Can't Hold Us" and "Thrift Shop".

Delta Spirit -- Delta Spirit
Every time Delta Spirit put out an album, I remember how great they are. Then I see them live and really remember how great they are. Awesomely fun live band, and this album is full of great songs. It moves a bit more into the straight rock area, out of the folk-rock world, but for the most part, it works. The best example is "Empty House".

"Myth" -- Beach House
This song won me over the first time I heard it. I'm not sure why, but it just gets in your head and never leaves.

Correct Behavior -- Eternal Summers
Somehow, I'd never head of this band. Then I think I heard a couple of tracks on KEXP and NPR, and I had to seek them out. Some rock, female lead singer, and a driving beat. Always works for me. Always. "Millions" and "Wonder" lead off the album and are two of the best songs of the year.

Shut Down the Streets -- A.C. Newman
Probably the premier writer of good pop/rock music (like The Beach Boys and Beatles used to make), this new album draws even closer to that sound. It sounds like that album from the 70s that you pull out and listen to and wonder why bands don't sound this good any more. Backing vocals by Neko Case on a bunch of songs just make it sound all that much better. "I'm Not Talking" is a brooding 70s-style song, with "Encyclopedia of Classic Takedowns" a much more typical A.C. Newman/New Pornographers track.

← Older Newer →