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• Whisky (30)
•   Irish (8)
•   Rye (6)
•   Scotch (16)

Silent, but still drinking!

Well, well, well, almost eight months without an update: that is embarrassing! I hope you will forgive us (assuming any one actually reads this stuff) however, when you learn that these months have seen us move to a new apartment and, eventually, become the parents of a tiny little girl: well, not so very tiny any more already. This, in conjunction with many other exciting things and a lack of internet connection at home has made it difficult to update this blog as often as we would have wished. But, but, but, it did not stop us from drinking most delicious fluids whenever we could get them, and, what's more, reflect upon their virtues. Below, then, you will find five more reviews which have accumulated through these eventful months, bringing the total number of reviewed Whiskies to the proud, round number of 30! Enjoy!

Some other notes:

• Due to our inabilities to review them often enough, Beers and Wines have now moved to a category called Etc until we get around to reviewing them more regularly again.
• Some of the reviews which we feel deserve special attention will now have pictures added to them. Wyborowa is the first such review, but we hope many others will follow.
• We hope to add more to this blog soon: in particular, we would like to start reviewing Teas, as well as add a few recipes and articles regarding spirits, the use of spirits, and the art of tasting them. Wish us luck...

Cheers!

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Glenmorangie (10yrs)


Price

$41.03/750ML

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

A very well known Whisky which I had somehow managed to ignore until now; but at last, in a quest for a new single malt under $50, I was compelled to give it a try. The smell is light and clean, wreathed in honey with hints of oranges. The taste begins sweet in the mouth, malty, perfumed with flowers, fennel, and a whiff of the sea; it then opens up and deepens, keeping those self-same flavours, but intensified, adding to them a feeling not unlike that of autumn sunlight reflecting upon the sea: the effect is very rich and lush. But, as this taste evolves and the time to swallow comes, the slightly green taste imparted by the oak, as well as a hint of peat, merge in, making the rich richer still, and marrying together to bring about a finish reminiscent of smoke and mint. But, perhaps most intriguing of all with this Whisky is the freshness of pears which comes in at about the same time as the flavours broaden (usually as the mouthful travels towards the back of the mouth), taking a richness which might otherwise have been very littoral and making it more airy in nature. This pear flavour is often found in Irish Whiskies, but it is the first time I encounter such a bold instance of it in Scotch; the effect is both pleasing and addictive. Such sweet flavours and dazzling pyrotechnics obviously make GlenMorangie a very palatable drink, but what really makes it worthy of praise, in my opinion, is the way in which they come together to produce a very well balanced experience. From sniff to aftertaste, this Whisky is elegant and the experience it provides is very pleasant and undoubtedly memorable: it is not so hard to find a tasty Whisky, it is rather harder to find one that is so well balanced. For $47 (with taxes), this is a steal. In fact, it has just slipped in second place behind Balvenie as my favourite Scotch, excluding Islays, which I keep in a category of their own.

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Bruichladdich "16th Hole Augusta" (14yrs)


Price

Approx. $80/750ML; paid around $40

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

I was fortunate enough to pick up a bottle of this during a pre-holidays clearance sale at the liquor store for a significantly reduced price. It is a numbered, special run (18000 bottles), as I understand it, which makes it all the more interesting; though, as I have not had the opportunity to taste their more regular offerings, I will not be able to say exactly in what way it is special.

This Whisky definitely has an elegant, even delicate, smell for an Islay, the peat serving as backdrop for malt, caramel, and a touch of sea to refresh the nose. It all starts gently, with a silky texture and a creamy taste of malt, strengthened, perhaps, by a hint of vanilla floating around the mouth, then it expands to include a certain oaken sharpness which comes just in time to balance out the sweetness of the malt; but it is just before swallowing that the taste truly opens up, exploding into a kaleidoscope of salt and sweet, as though a great wave had come to crash on a shore where sweet herbs and fragrant flowers grew, perhaps whilst being caressed by a light breeze laden with the scent of distant lands, where orange groves are. Upon swallowing is when the peat really steps out of this tapestry of tastes and stands proud, accompanied and abated by a sweet fruity breath, which I surmise comes from the sherry cask finish this Whisky has undergone. This is a damned fine Whisky; most of my complaints are with the marketing behind it, which can seem a little tacky at times, but the drink itself, at least in this case, is beyond reproach. It is certainly lighter than many Islays I have tasted, but it is also slightly older, and it returns in complexity what it may seem to some to lack in power.

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Benromach Traditional Malt


Price

$6.41/50ML, $45.79/700ML

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

I picked up a sampler of this Whisky upon one of my more recent visits to the liquor store, curious of what I would find within this adorable bottle, as I had never encountered this distillery before. Well, it certainly smells good, with a more pungent perfume than what I would normally expect from a Speyside, with peat fairly strong and a hint of some smoked sweet wood, cherry perhaps; the effect is very refreshing, being somewhat reminiscent of a deep breath of fresh air taken in the heart of the country on a quiet night. The taste is somewhat of a surprise, following that smell; it is much lighter than one might expect and not very smoky in comparison. The first thing that strikes the tongue is a saltiness which one finds occasionally in some Scotch, though more usually Islays, Then follows a very interesting blend of the more usual Speyside characteristics, such as a more flowery bouquet, a fairly light body, and a certain leathery taste about mid-palate, along with very unique characteristics, such as a heavier peatiness and a slightly more earthy taste. The whole experience concludes with a finish strongly laden with peat and smoke strewn with flowers which certainly does not go gentle into that good night. I find this Whisky very interesting and I would certainly like to try a full-size bottle of it; it straddles the line between Speysides and Islays in much the same way that Connemara does for the world of Irish Whiskies, and, in fact, some of its characteristics, especially the saltiness and over all refreshing effect remind me strongly of this latter fellow. If you're looking for a Speyside Scotch with a pleasantly schizoid personality, this one is definitely worth a try.

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Crown Royal (Special Reserve)


Price

$43.67/750ML

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

A free sampler of this came with a bottle of Black Bush I bought last Christmas. Though I did not write a full review on it, I took the following notes.

Smell: flowers, oak, vanilla

Nice, smooth texture, starting light and then deepening to blossom out with sweet flowers, toffey, and a fruitiness uncommon in Rye; the sweetness is then partly countered by a slight green oakenness. Light, well-balanced and fragrant, definitely one of the very best ryes; but is it really worth the price?

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Golden Wedding


Price

$20.62/750ML

Bought at

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (Halifax)

This is one of the Ryes I have been avoiding, mostly because the name is cheesy and I happen to know they produce a Vodka named Silver Wedding; but as a sample of it came with a bottle of Black Velvet I bought some time ago, I now have the opportunity to review it. The smell it exudes is strong in alcohol and is somewhat sweet, reminding one of raisins; not a tonne of subtlety there, for sure, but nor is it in any way unpleasant. In fact, the taste is definitely less pleasant than the smell, as it exhibits the characteristic which I like least in some Ryes: that vague sweet oakenness reminiscent of bad Rums. Luckily, it isn't as strong in this Whisky as in others, but it is indubitably there, lurking, and so I can quite easily say that I would not buy a whole bottle of this. The finish is nice and light-hearted, though, reminiscent of a ground strewn with fresh flowers on a cool summer morning. Unfortunately, it gets spoilt as what I shall call the rumminess takes over for the after taste. It seems my unwillingness to buy this Whisky has caused me no loss, though I see how someone not minding the slight rumminess might enjoy the crisper side of this drink.

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