French Toast: The Glenlivet 15yo

The Glenlivet 15yo French Oak Reserve is a Speyside single malt which has been finished (per its name) in Limousin French Oak (similarly used for many Cognacs). This royal marriage is assured given the whiskies onwers, the French alcoholic beverages company Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard's brands include single malts from Aberlour, Glendronach and Strathisla, plus the blended Scotches of Ballantines and Chivas, and Jameson Irish whisky.

At first glance we have the packaging which is solid, but nothing amazing. I like the bottle with its traditional dark green glass, it cloaks the colour of the contents. It features the quintessential Glenlivet long-neck, slightly bulging at the centre. The label on the bottle speaks of traditional refinement. By contrast the box within which it is kept is thin and papery, taking away from that refined feel.

A sniff reveals the musty innards. I once attended a wine tasting class and they explained a tasting note referred to as 'wet animal.' It is this musty wet-dog smell associated with old world wines, from regions like Burgundy, and that's what I get on the nose here. The mustiness envelopes a strong, cream and dried fruit richness. The alcoholic fragrances are subtle and for reference the whisky has a 40% ABV (alcohol-by-volume).

The taste compliments the nose; dried fruit and a rich creaminess. These initial flavours fade to a bold vanilla-bean oakiness. Overall, a very smooth dram, but quite heavy on the wood-oak. The heaviness somewhat akin to drinking strongly wooded Chardonnay. A winter whisky for sure, and I highly recommend as a digestive with some fruit 'n nut infused dark chocolate. I don't know how many Saturday nights I sat up late during winter...consuming 'livet 15yo and some Nestle Club chocolate, an awesome match.

The dram-ometer says 5.25 (from 7). Would I buy it again? Yes, a winter dram for sure...but surely next time the 18yo will be in my sights, as I need to verify El Capitan's seven-from-seven rating!

Secretary-Generale,
D.T.W.C.

WTF? Glenfarclas 25yo

This post is meant to be a review of the club whisky for the third meeting of the D.T.W.C, a Glenfarclas 25yo. I can honestly say this is the hardest post I’ve ever tried to write, a review of a whisky that I cannot taste and have to complete from memory. Not only that, but the two occasions on which I have tasted the whisky (Whisky Live & D.T.W.C. meeting 3), occurred whilst I have to admit, I was not in peak condition, due to the copious consumption of numerous drams. This leaves me in a rather precarious position I’m sure you’ll agree.

What I can tell you is that the Glenfarclas 25yo is a great whisky. It is very smooth with a complex flavour. Everybody who attended on the night enjoyed it, and the whole bottle was consumed within the first couple of hours. That speaks volumes about member satisfaction. Both previous whiskies purchased by the club had left overs after the night (or would have if El Capitan didn't make one whisky a personal challenge)!

For reference, here are the tasting notes from the distillery:

Colour: Amber with dark gold highlights.
Nose: Complex, yet refined, delicately peated, with fresh tempting aromas of marmalade, honey, freshly ground coffee, sherry and nuts. Some oaky tannins’.
Flavour: Full-bodied and robust, the sherry and the oak fight for your attention yet neither is overpowering. A powerful nutty smokiness.
Finish: Intense, long lasting, dry smoky and malty. A beautiful dark Belgium chocolate taste at the back of your mouth to complete the flavour of the 25 Years Old.
Comment: A great after-dinner whisky so rich and full that it is a dessert in itself, with a finish that goes on forever.

Now to be honest, I recall discussing that description on the evening, and my recollection of the member consensus was that this was not a good description of the whisky. As I said in my last post, there was some obvious smoke, some citrus and that’s about it. I encourage members to add their comments below.

Given my somewhat hazy recall, I do not think it fair, and do not propose to give the Glenfarclas 25yo a lighting bolt rating, although if pressed, I would rate it highly.

Colonel-in-Chief,
D.T.W.C.

Can I Have Chips With That? Talisker 10yo

There are some malts you hear about, often claiming many grand things that sometimes it becomes hard to believe any of them as true. The Talisker 10yo is a seriously grand single malt deserving of it's reputation. Our club is named after the Talisker 20yo, and though I have never had it, I dare say the Talisker 10yo is not far off the mark.

I was first was introduced to the world of Talisker at the D.T.W.C.'s first ever official event (though many unofficial events occurred long before). Not long after at El Capitans bucks evening we had a blind tasting of the Talisker 10yo which everyone flatly failed to recognise. HOW!? Who knows, but I can say since then I have not forgotten the flavour and have desired the purchase of a bottle once my stocks got low enough. Was it as good? Even better, so on with the notes...

Colour: is a dark rich caramel.

Nose: immediately one gets salty, fresh seaweed, with a medium smokey peat. I find it is certainly abrupt and may in fact put a few off that have never had it before because it is so different to most of the other standard release Scotch whisky's here in Australia.

Taste: one gets gets sweet and salty at the same time which plays really well on the senses. After the initial taste one may get iodine, mild peat, earthy spice, and a tickle of alcohol. For all the extremes it is a really amazing balance.

Finish: certainly warming and grows with intensity over several minutes. It is almost as though it moves down to the stomach before proceeding back up with doubled intensity to a warming blaze. A very interesting experience.

Value: at the moment is great and a bottle can easily be picked up for A$75.

If I was to give a dram I would certainly give it a 6 1/2 out of 7. I would award the extra half-point but I really want to taste the Talisker 18yo (and other family members), so I have to leave at least one step on the ladder to climb.

Highly recommend not just for the taste but also the experience.

As a side note following up on the blind tasting comment above it is quite possible that the first time tasting the Talisker 10yo simply lacked focus. It was a busy night with a degree of consumption of cheesy corn chips (or something similar) before hand that probably just totally masked the flavour. I remember liking it but no where near as much as on the 2nd time round at the blind tasting. What had I been eating prior to this blind tasting you may ask? A heavy stew with lot's of earthy flavours, memorably salted and deep texture. Could this have been an influence? Maybe so I am keen to continue experimenting with food and whisky.

Keep it away from the pesky single malt seagulls, as a well salted Talisker will certainly dram their attention.

Dram on!

The Salted Baron,
D.T.W.C.

Meeting Three

Comrades, on Saturday evening I hosted the third meeting of the Distant Thunder Whisky Club at my home. Unfortunately, the full membership was unable to attend due to illness and other commitments. Despite this, the evening was a success. I would thank those who were able to attend, and their spouses, who as always provided great support to the meeting (driving us back and forth, and absconding in the middle bit). Without them, club meetings wouldn’t be half as fun and we should all spare a thought for those who have to drive home whisky sodden life partners (I myself attempted to thank Mrs Colonel that night after getting to bed, but she wasn’t interested).

The ‘Club Whisky’ for the evening was the very enjoyable Glenfarclas 25yo, Single Highland Malt Whisky. I purchased the bottle from my local Dan Murhpy's after an extensive national search during my recent holidays. I remembered that many of the club members (including me) had tasted and enjoyed the 25yo at last years Whisky Live and that was the decisive factor in my decision-making. The bottle cost $169, which to me seems quite reasonable for a quarter century in the cask. Certainly it compared favourably with other bottles in that age group. I had hoped to be able to afford a 30yo, but my experience was that I couldn’t get a bottle for less than $400. Perhaps next Christmas we could afford it?

Of note, Dan Murphy’s has quite a large selection of Glanfarclas whisky’s including an 8, 10, 12, 15, 21 and 30yo bottles in addition to the 25yo. Whilst this might seem a lot, the distillery website lists several more including two different 40yo’s and a 50yo bottle.

I intend to do a separate post on the Glenfarclas later in the week, but beware, Ill have to do it from memory. The bottle was dispatched within the first hour, a testament to how agreeable the contents were. I have some hazy memories of my impressions, and I made a few notes after the meeting finished. I defiantly recall some debate about the degree of peaty-ness in the whisky, and some discussion from the Secretary about citrus flavours. My abiding recollection though is of a very smooth dram. If anybody has some thoughts which may assist me, please forward them through, I would be much obliged.

The night was also positive for the inclusion of a new member to the club – The Unclean. His very presence was enough to lower the standard of conversation and etiquette to the gutter. The number of lewd jokes skyrocketed. Double-entendre’s that would have been let through to the keeper at previous meetings were ruthlessly dispatched to the boundary and the offender duly humiliated.

Another first for the evening was the change in status of two inaugural members of the club. Both the Dog and The Converted were noted to be consuming more whisky than usual. It would seem that they have finally succumbed to the mysterious allure of the water of life. I am sure that this will be good for them in the long term; improving both quality and length of life (however in the immortal words of the Secretary, the D.T.W.C. yield curve is falling and we may need to replace them with other non-drinkers).

The next meeting is to be held in April at the home of the Grey Bush. No doubt members are all looking forward to it, and especially the ‘crystal tour’ that was promised during the evening.

Colonel-in-Chief,
D.T.W.C.

Don't come a knock'n: Bruichladdich Rocks

Well I have been busy demolishing yet another Bruichladdich until something more exciting entered the cellars. Nonetheless, I promised last month to post about this sucker...so I am and by the end of this would have done so.

Bruchladdich Rocks, a non-peated Islay single malt, alcoholic volume of 46%.

The name is noted to be inspired from the rocks which filter the water near the distillery.

Overall opinion: vanilla cake with sugar baked to a caramel crusting. I would like to say sticky date pudding, but that is too far. Another relationship would be freshly baked banana bread. Without a doubt this is what it is. No, don't take that too literally, as with all these metaphors. It's just what my taste buds tell me and make me think of.

To nose: the caramel is strong but not overpowering. Fresh sea air with that salty overtone.

To taste: crisp and sharp. Alcohol is a wee bit strong for me but cleansing at the same time. Slightly wooded but again not strong. Leaves a tingle on the lips.

To finish: short and spicy.

If you were to be entering the world of single malts and not wanting to go down the track of the "oh well you really need to try Glenfiddich for a base single malt," then I think the Rocks is a simple clean slate. Enjoyable, vaguely interesting, forgettable, but not leaving you with the, "I just drank from the dog bowl, god why did I do it" reaction.

4 out of 7 if I was to give a dram.

No booty scale.

Things of note:

• The flavours changes dramatically when tasted after a meal. Can become extremely soft and palatable. The first time it happened I had to check I had poured from the right bottle.
• You would not find any relationship between this taste and the peated Bruichladdich's. It is actually an enjoyable experience to not just be drinking variations of a single flavour like so many other single malt families.
  

Das Baron,
D.T.W.C.

The Green Lantern: Johnny Walker Green Label

The Johnny Walker Green Label is a vatted or pure malt* distilled by Johnny Walker & Sons (parent Diageo). The expression features 15yo minimum aged single malts from Diageo's 'Classic Malt' stable, namely:

• Talisker (Isle of Skye)
• Linkwood (Speyside, doesn't appear to be affiliated with Diageo)
  
• Craggamore (Speyside)
• Caol Ila (Isle of Islay)
  

I find the packaging, whilst having no bearing on taste, important for the portrayed story of the whisky, much like the cover of a book (for more details why, see here). Here we have the classic Johnny Walker square bottle, cork sealed, seemingly more refined than the Black Label. The box is a metallic green and presents the single malts used on the back with their key flavours.

On first whiff I note a peculiar blend of seaweed/salty air and a certain sweet-richness. This seems to indicate a level of complexity that I will probably not be able to give justice too and could be indicative of its blended pedigree. I recently heard someone say that they had tasted a blend so well balanced that they actually had difficulty identifying flavours. The sign of a good blend must surely be the balancing of many complex flavours.

On tasting you immediately get the iodine pepperiness associated with Talisker. The whisky sweetens through the mouth to sandlewood, before finishing with a very slight oak flavour. There maybe some burnt butter in there as well, which could be the Caol Ila peat-sweetness.

This is definitively not a beginners whisky, furthermore I feel its a 'quiet moment' whisky...something to dwell upon, a mystery woman with mysterious ways...so I try to get to know her slowly. I really enjoy the saltiness of the Green Label, but I struggle with the strong Caol Ila sweetness (I am not generally a fan of the Caol Ila malt). I keep finding my opinion changing on this whisky...does this have more to do with my uncommitted and indecisive nature? Notwithstanding this, it must be noted my post regarding 'mood & whisky' was prompted by the Green Label's multiple personality...a sweet lady one night and bitterly twisted the next. In the latter circumstances I recommend reducing the tasting to wee-small sips. A drop on the tongue, let the flavour unfurl without the threat of oral explosion occasionally induced with larger mouthfuls.

Anyway, enough of the vagaries. The alcoholic volume sits at 43%, but it feels more than that. The mouth feel is quite alcoholic and very rich in brine-saltiness.

If I was looking for a food companion, I would choose some game, maybe venison. Could also be a haggis whisky (not that I have ever had it), perhaps followed with a soft smelly cheese.

My internal dram-ometer points the needle towards 5.25 lightning bolts (from a possible 7). But I always think the question is: would I buy it again? Answer: Possibly. I would because it is the only pure malt I have had, with the exception of a small dram of Blue Label (sometime ago). But the Green Label hasn't been a 'go to' whisky for me. In fact I have drunk the whole bottle myself trying to write this review, my first review. If I did buy one I am sure my opinion would keep changing, no matter how many times I have it.

I think Bono best encapsulates this whisky, 'it's alright, [but] she moves in mysterious ways.'

Secretary,
D.W.T.C.

* pure or vatted malts can be (1) blended and bottled almost immediately; or (2) blended and further aged (or 'married') once in the cask. I am unsure if Johnny Walker chooses to marry its Green Label (or the Blue Label for that matter).