Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Whisk(e)y Wednesday - 2025-04-23

All right... another Wednesday... another Whisk(e)y Wednesday (: I have been saving 2 oz samples from bottles before they are empty, and now have about 30 of these. They are unlabelled other than a 2 letter code that I can then check against an answer key to see what I'm drinking after I have the sample blind. Tonight is the first of these, let's see how this goes.

On the nose I get malt, a light citrus, ash, tar, a touch of sulfur, some iodine and some alcohol burn. The nose is really pleasant, and at this point I'm fairly confident it is a peaty Scotch (likely) or a peaty American Single Malt (less likely).

The taste is sweet, hot spicy pepper, malt, tar and ash. The finish is similar with a sweet syrup finish followed by a hot spicy pepper that lingers and some ash. Really quite good, but if I was to guess this seems a little young in that the finish is not as impressive as the nose or taste. 

Adding water, the nose is sweeter for sure. It still has a bit of the alcohol burn, along with some ash and tire rubber. The taste is sweet as well, and the pepper is more tame - I'm getting some fruit too - most likely from sherry finishing. The finish is still peppery, sweet, syrupy. 

Overall I like this one quite a bit. I'm wondering if it's one of the Ardbeg one-offs I've had lately as there are several samples in the mix. I will give it a 4.25/5.0 ... quite enjoyable tonight, about my only complaint would be that it seems a bit random and not very well balanced.

Turns out it was the Smokehead High Voltage Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Cask Strength coming in at 58.0% ABV from Ian Macleod Distillers. No Age Statement on this one. I originally rated this 4.25, then dropping it down to 4.00 last week during the Peaty Scotch shootout, and now back to 4.25. Looks like I like it (: Cheers!

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Whisk(e)y Wednesday - 2025-04-16

Happy Wednesday, today we have the last of the 4 sample shootouts, tonight trying the Peaty Scotch Whiskies from 2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y head to head. We have The Smoky Twelve, Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky from BenRiach, Talisker Distiller Edition from 2023, Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 10 Year, Original Cask Strength, and Smokehead High Voltage Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Ian Macleod Distillers. The BenRiach was 46% ABV, the Tailisker was 45.8% ABV, the Laphroaig was 58.5% ABV and the Smokehead was 58% ABV - I was interesting to see how the lower proof pours did against the higher proof pours, as I usually enjoy higher proof whisk(e)y more.

As usual, I poured 1 oz samples of these into marked glasses, randomized them, the nosed and tasted each one. Let's see which one came out on top.

Glass 1 : The nose I get ash, meaty bbq, a touch of brine, savory, rich fruit and a touch of floral. The taste is ash, hot pepper that builds, bbq, hint of brine, sherry fruit notes. The finish starts with hot pepper, then goes to ash and sweet bbq, then back to a hot pepper that lingers along with some tar. Overall this is pretty good.

Glass 2 : On the nose, I get sweet honey molasses, a touch of iodine and burnt wood. The taste is sweet, honey, wood, smoke, iodine in the back, and some sherry fruit. The finish has a burst of fruit up front that lingers, then a touch of smoke, a touch of spice, but mostly the fruit. This is really quite good.

Glass 3 : On the nose, I get orange, ash in the back, sweet bbq meat. The taste is orange cream-sickle, ash, sweet bbq meat, hot pepper in the back. The finish is the hot pepper, then sweet, then ash and peppery that lingers along with a little bit of pepper tingle. This one is pretty good as well.

Glass 4 : Here I get some earthy notes on the nose, sweet bbq, and some strike anywhere matchstick sulphur as well. The taste is burnt char, tar, dirt, sweet bbq, leading to hot peppermint eventually. The finish is sweet sherry, sulphur, earthy dirt, it's nice and lingers. While the sulphur notes that I got were unique, at least tonight I found that it did distract from the whisky overall.

This was a bit tough. All these were pretty good overall, and my palate was certainly getting overwhelmed after running through these from the peat and the higher proofs from some of them. I couldn't specifically say which were the cask strength ones, though I was pretty sure glass 3 was one of the lower proofs. Overall, I felt glass 2 and 4 were better than 1 and 3. 

Tasting glass 1 and 3 side by side, I had to give glass 1 the nod. Coming in last place was glass 3, the BenRiach, but even so I would give it a 4.0, which is what I gave it originally as well. In 3rd place was glass 1, which was the Laphroaig. Originally I rated it 4.25 - tonight I would give it a 4.0... a solid whisky for sure.

Drinking glass 2 and 4 side by side, I have to give the edge to glass 2. In glass 4 was the Smokehead. Depending on my mood, I could see this one winning, but I have not been drinking very many peaty scotch whiskies lately, so this might have been a bit too much for me tonight. Originally I gave this a 4.25, tonight I would give it a 4.0.

Leaving us with glass 2, the Talisker. I was surprised by this one during 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - it was just so much better than the previous version that I had several years ago. I would rate this 4.25 tonight, which is what I gave it previously.

Good stuff overall, cheers!!! 


Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Whisk(e)y Wednesday - 2025-04-09

All right, what time is it? American Single Malt time... tonight we have Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey, Cask Strength from Santa Fe Spirits, coming in at 59% ABV... vs Stranahan's Original Colorado Single Malt Whiskey, 47% ABV... vs Wanderback Whiskey out of Hood River, OR - for this release they partnered with Balcones in TX, 52% ABV... vs McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt Whiskey, 6 Year, PX Sherry Cask Finished, also from Hood River, OR by Clear Creek Distillery, Cask Strength, 56.13% ABV. 

As usual, I poured these, randomized the order, and then ran through them a few times.

One nice thing about American Single Malt is the variety you can get from different releases - you can have anything from bourbonish to Irish to Scottish to most anything in between. It also makes it a bit hard to compare and rank then though, because they can be so different.

Glass 1 : The nose I get ash, smoke, dirt, rich fruit, malt, touch of sweet bbq. Every time I go back to the nose, it gets better and better. The taste I get sweet bbq, ash, smoke, peppery, it's very nice. The finish I get a hot pepper numbing sensation, a nice mint freshness tingle, sweet bbq, then ash and smoke that lingers... with a touch of sour way in the background. This is really nice.

Glass 2 : The nose is malty, sweet, lemon and some dill and/or pickle. The taste is malty with that dill as well. The finish I get a sweet pickle... it's not the greatest finish but it does seem to linger. It feels a bit off tonight, for whatever reason I'm not particularly enjoying it. It's good, but it's certainly a letdown after Glass 1.

Glass 3 : The nose is malty and sweet with a chocolate fudge note. The taste follows closely - malty, sweet, chocolate, touch of pepper/cinnamon spice as well. The finish I get that pepper spice tingle, then it turns malty with maybe some orange. It's solid but nothing overly special. 

Glass 4 : On the nose I get smoke, ash, fruit, malt... the nose is a bit odd with alcohol burn so I'm guessing this is pretty high proof. The taste is bold, with sweet fruit and a light smoke turning to cinnamon spice. The finish has that cinnamon, smoke, ash and a heat that lingers. This is very nice as well. 

Tasting Glass 2 vs 3 ... 2 is clearly the last place pour tonight with 3 coming in 3rd place. Glass 2 was the Stranahan's ... for whatever reason, this one just didn't wow me tonight. I still gave it a 3.5/5.0 vs the original 3.75/5.0 ... so I still enjoyed it overall. Glass 3 was the Wanderback ... I give it a 3.75 both nights. Originally I got a TON of butterscotch... tonight that butterscotch was chocolate for me. 

For the Glass 1 vs 4 comparison, Glass 1 is the clear winner, everything about it was superior. Glass 4 was the Colkegan... and I rated it 4.0/5.0 both nights. Glass 1 was the McCarthy's ... originally I rated that a 4.5 and tonight I would rate it 4.25. It's still *really* good and I would drink it all night if I could.

Until next time... cheers!!!






Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Whisk(e)y Wednesday - 2025-04-02

Here again for a 4 way tasting - this time trying the four 'unpeated' Scotch Whiskies from the 2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y. Which one will I like the best? I'm going to skip the photo and get to the taste test. I poured about an ounce of each into glasses that were labelled and then randomized them.

Glass 1 : On the nose I got fruit, honey, malt, some perfume ... this was very nice overall. The taste I got the floral along with honey and malt - some black pepper as well. The finish was peppery and honey. Overall this was very nice and I'd rate it a 3.75/5.0 tonight.

Glass 2 : On this one, the nose I got sulfur and strike anywhere matchstick, some orange furniture polish, creme brûlée. The taste tonight the matchstick just took over and it was a little bit bitter. I've not been drinking things like this lately, so maybe I wasn't prepared for it. The finish I found burnt molasses, pepper, and that matchstick note as well. If I was in the mood for this, it would have been the winner, but tonight it's getting a 3.50/5.0.

Glass 3 : I get malt and a touch of smoke along with some honey. The taste I get the honey and some fruit... I'm enjoying this one. The finish has a nice numbing quality to it, peppery. Very nice finish here. Tonight this is getting a 3.75/5.0.

Glass 4 : The nose was fairly tame, some pear and honeydew, a touch of perfume, but just not much there overall. The taste I got some pepper, honey and perfume. The finish is mild, perfume and some green pepper, a sour note that seems to linger. This one was just a bit dull overall, but still enjoyable and I'll give it a 3.5/5.0

Tasting Glass 2 and 4 against each other, Glass 2 is a bit better, it is certainly more unique. This was the Black Bull, which I rated 4.0 previously. On a different night I could see this one being my favorite. Glass 4 was the Deanston 12 Year, which I rated 3.5 both nights.

Tasting Glass 1 and 3 against each other, I have to give the win to Glass 3. Glass 1 was the anCnoc. I rated this 4.0 originally and 3.75 tonight. I know last time I really enjoyed it. Glass 3 was the Compass Box Glasgow Blend. Tonight it just hit the right notes for me, though I did rate it 3.75 both nights. 

These were quite enjoyable ... until next time, cheers!