Coming Soon: Johnnie Walker Collection Review

I bought myself an early Christmas present today.

I was in the store and noticed the Johnnie Walker Collection on sale for a significant holiday discount.

The Johnnie Walker Collection contains Black Label (which I reviewed here and found to be all right), Gold Label Reserve, Platinum Label, and Blue Label.  That's three scotches I have never had and one that I think is a solid if unspectacular buy.

My scotch sense started tingling.  I did some quick mental math to see what I'd be paying per ounce for the different liquids, and... well, it wasn't bad.

Glenmorangie Lasanta Tasting Notes and Review

The Story

Glenmorangie is one of the distilleries that is leading the way in experimenting with different cask finishes on their mainstay whisky.  You can think of these whiskies as simply their ten year aged for an extra two years in a different type of cask.  Check out my review of the Glenmorangie 10 Year HERE.

I love cask finishes.  Scotch is great and beautiful and perfect as it is, but it's always nice to experiment with interesting variations.

Ardbeg Uigeadail Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Ardbeg's Uigeadail is a tremendously well regarded scotch, previously named as Jim Murray's World Whisky (not just Scotch!) of the Year in 2009.  It predominantly consists of Ardbeg's peaty malt, but it is combined with some whisky aged in ex-sherry casks.  The ratio is thought to be roughly 80:20 with sherry aged malt consisting of the minority.

As you know, I'm a pretty big fan of the Corryvreckan.  I'm also a fan of sherry, although I consider peated malts to be the true definition of heaven on earth.

Thus, Ardbeg's Uigeadail offering sounds like a match made in heaven for me, right?  Made by the artists behind the Corryvreckan.  Some subtle sherry notes mingled in.  And those miles and miles of peat we have come to expect from Ardbeg.

Match made in heaven, right?

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Ahhh, yes.  Laphroaig.

Laphroaig was and always will be my first true love in scotch.  It was a warm summer day... okay, I won't go there.  But Laphroaig's 10 Year offering was the first scotch I truly fell in love with, and it remains among my favorites and among the best values in scotch.

Naturally, I consider myself a friend of Laphroaig, and naturally, I have to get my hands on Laphroaig's yearly Cairdeas offering.

"Cairdeas" means friend in Gaelic, and each year, Laphroaig's master distillers craft the annual Cairdeas malt.  Typically, they put a spin of some sort on it.

In 2015, it was Laphroaig's 200th anniversary, so the goal for the Cairdeas offering was to craft a dram much like it might have been made 200 years ago.

GlenDronach 12 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

As an avowed sherry lover and big time fan of the Aberlour A'bunadh and the Dalmore's 15 year offering, it was only a matter of time before I made my way over to GlenDronach.  When sherried malts are the topic discussion, the GlenDronach drams always find their way into the conversation of the sherriest of the sherries.  It even calls itself "The Sherry Cask Connoisseur."

Although it has clearly earned this reputation, recently GlenDronach has followed the Glenmorangie path and begun to produce other wine cask finished expressions, including Sauternes, Port, and Madeira.  I, for one, would love to try those, bank account permitting.

GlenDronach's 12 year expression is exclusively aged in sherry casks, a mix of Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso.

Three Open Bottles, What To Do, What To Do?

I keep my bottles of scotch on top of the fridge.  Well, all my liquor goes there, but it just so happens that most of it is scotch.

Over the last six months, since I've been blogging, my scotch tasting has gone into an absolute frenzy.  I have scoured stores and the internet for good deals on bottles to taste and to review.

It got expensive.

I also arrived at a - great! - problem to have:

I had tons and tons of scotch.

However, scotch doesn't last forever.  Once opened, the length of time before the bottle starts to lose flavor is inversely related to how much of the bottle has been drunk.  Put differently, the less there is in the bottle, the more quickly it'll go bad.

Dalmore 15 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

The Dalmore is among the most highly regarded scotch distilleries and is well known for its characteristic orange peel flavor profile.

The Dalmore 15 spends its first 12 years maturing in American white oak ex-bourbon casks.  However, this is where things get far, far more interesting, as the whisky is then split into three even shares which spend the final 3 years of maturation in 3 different types of sherry casks, Amoroso, Apostles, and Matusalem oloroso.  At the end of this, the final maturation occurs when the three strains are mixed into a single sherry butt to allow the flavors to optimally fuse.

I was very excited about this bottle.  As a sherried scotch lover, a simple sherry cask finish will get me going, but three different types of sherry casks mingled into one scotch!  A fifteen year old blend, which was at the time of my first tasting, the oldest scotch I'd ever had!  Plus, at ~$75 (depending on who you buy from) it was definitely at the upper limit of my price range.

I'll Be Back Soon!

Hey guys!

I just wanted to post to say that I'll be back soon.  I know it has been a while since the last review.

Don't worry!  I have NOT given up scotch (blasphemy), and I'm doing fine.

I had a (very) minor surgery, and the recovery period cut into my drinking/reviewing schedule quite a bit.  That said, there should be some good ones coming down in the next week or so.

Thank you to those that emailed in!
Scotch Dreams

Ardbeg Corryvreckan Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Ardbeg is among the companies that has been leading the NAS (no age statement) wave in scotch, and their Corryvreckan just might be the world's most acclaimed NAS scotch.

The Corryvreckan is a beast that has achieved superlative reviews and phenomenal ratings across whisky magazines and review sites.  It won the World's Best Single Malt Whisky award at the 2010 World Whisky Awards, and Jim Murray rated it as the best NAS scotch in his famed Whisky Bible.

The whisky takes its name from the famous whirlpool that lies North of the Islay, and the distiller reports that just like the whirlpool, it is "not for the faint of heart."  Having sipped of this liquid, I would tend to agree.  It is bottled at cask strength at 57.1% ABV and is not chill filtered.

Glenmorangie 10 The Original Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Glenmorangie 10 The Original is a well regarded entry level single malt scotch from one of the most highly regarded distilleries.  It also happens to be among the cheaper 10 years that you can find out there.

The distillery was founded in 1843 in the Highland Region and reports having the tallest still in Scotland.  This stills are just shy of 17 feet tall, and the distiller reports that because only the "lightest and purest vapors make it to the top," their whisky is gifted with a smoother elegance.

This distiller is well known for using extra finishing casks after basic maturation and produces well regarded whiskies that have received an additional year or two in port, sherry, and wine casks.  However, The Original does not receive this additional treatment.

Bulleit Bourbon Review and Tasting Notes

The Story 

Remember that time I titled a website Scotch Dreams then proceeded to review mostly bourbons for the next several months?

Yeah.  Me too.

Whoops.

Don't worry.  I promise I'll get back to the scotch soon!

Anyway, here comes another bourbon review.  I've been on a little bit of a bourbon kick lately.  It's my father's favorite, and we've been spending a lot of time together.

Bulleit Bourbon is considered a solid American mid/lower tier bourbon.  It is known for its high rye content which the distiller reports provides it with an enhanced spicy character.

Buffalo Trace Straight Bourbon Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

The Buffalo Trace Distillery is classic American distiller.  It claims that it is the oldest continuously operating distillery in the US, with production dating back to 1775; to be entirely fair, this claim gets a little fuzzy in terms of how you define distillery, but either way, they've been around a long damn time.

The thing is, they've clearly learned something somewhere in those 200+ years, because they produce some damn good bourbon.  They've received a lengthy list of awards over the years, not least of which is the title of "Whisky Distiller of the Year 2014" by Whisky Magazine.

The Buffalo Trace Bourbon is the distiller's entry level bourbon.  It is batched from no more than 40 barrels at a time, and the distiller reports that it is aged on the middle floor of the warehouse where the whisky will experience the greatest possible temperature fluctuation.

Glenlivet 12 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Glenlivet 12 is the entry level whisky of the best selling single malt brand in the world.

I have to admit to having two different feelings towards Glenlivet 12, one positive and one less positive.

First, I appreciate it.  It is perhaps the most accessible single malt in the world, both in terms of pricing and availability.  At $34 for a bottle, the price is reasonable.  At the same time, the flavor of Glenlivet is middle of the road enough to appeal to a broad market.

Thus, it serves the noble job of bringing single malt scotch to the world.

You have to love that.

Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

The other weekend I was eating a burger at one of my favorite bars.  I cast my eye over the whiskies behind the bar and was immediately blown away.

To give a little background on this bar, however, you'll understand why trepidation struck me just after the awe did.

This place is expensive.  Very expensive.  In fact, I make a point to only dine there on the "burger deal" night, when the burger and draft beer are half off (even at 50% off, the burger is still $11!).

My curiosity got the better of me, however, so I asked the bartender for the booze menu.  I roamed down the list.  Macallan 18, a perennial leader on my "to-try" list for $30 dollars.  Several other favorites at similarly crazy costs.

Johnnie Walker Black Label - Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

Ahhhhh, Johnnie Walker Black Label, one of the most well known (and well marketed) scotch brands in the world.

I have to admit, I have a history with Johnnie Walker.

As I described in my real Aberlour A'bunadh Review, my scotch journey began with the sherried malts.

But that's not quite the whole story.

Aberlour A'bunadh Batch 52 Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

I have been excited to try the Aberlour A'bunadh.

I spent the last six months on a lengthy exploration of the world's peatier malts, and for whatever reason, I was deep into the caramelly and fruity scotch world before that.

Which is to say, I hadn't had a glass of sherry styled scotch in... a while.

A long while.

Until a week ago.

I happened to be at a liquor store trying to decide which Islay flavor to explore next when I saw a mini bottle of Macallan 12 Sherry Cask at a decent price.  I picked it up, brought it home, and I was immediately sucked into the sherry flavors.