Cask Strength Night - the #MiniTasting gang take on 3 cask strength drams for our 9th #MiniTasting.
One of the things we were trying to work out is whether cask strength drams need water adding, here are our thoughts:
| Dram | Aberlour A'Bunadh Batch #62 | Glenfarclas 105 | Douglas Laing Big Peat Christmas Edn. 2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | 59.9% ABV | 60% ABV | 53.9% ABV | |
| Distillery info | Nose: Aromas of mixed spices, praline and spiced orange harmonising with rich, deep notes of Oloroso Sherry Palate: Orange, black cherries, dried fruit and ginger spiked with dark bitter chocolate and enriched with Sherry and Oak. Full bodied and creamy Finish: Robust and intense with bitter-sweet notes of exotic spices, dark chocolate and oak | Nose: Complex, oaky, apples & pears and a tempting dark toffee sweetness. Flavour: Dry and assertive, develops quickly to reveal a rich spiciness, combined with a hint of oak and sherried fruit. Finish: Amazingly smooth for the strength, wonderful warming with a lingering spiciness, yet very rounded. | In this bottle you can expect a big ashy, beachy, creosoted, oceanic, pelagic, smoky and tarry message, all the way from the island of Islay. | |
| Appearance |  | |||
| A rich gold in the glass, swirls bead up immediately and fall as slow thick legs. | Another lovely dark gold colour - not quite as dark as the A'Bunadh. Swirls leave tiny lines which bead up and again fall as thin slow legs. | Very pale almost transparent in the glass, swirls fall as thick slow legs. | ||
| Nose | Brian | The ABV hits you immediately 59.9% is not to be sniffed at! Classic dunnage warehouse notes - sherry, strawberry jam, earth, musty oak. After a little time in the glass the ABV seems to reduce a little, the complexity of this dram shines through - hints of smoke, milk chocolate raisins and some BBQed pineapple? ---------- A little water slides over the whisky like oil before being absorbed. I've add about 2ml to 15ml of whisky. With the water the nose gives more of the strawberry jam notes, there's a little toffee too which wasn't there before. The toffee really comes through with the water - yummy! | Initial nose strawberry toffos! Again the ABV bites at your nose - up from 59.9% to 60% with this one - so not a lot in it! Sherry - red fruit - toffee. As John said a dry note and some orchard fruit - nothing tropical here like the A'Bunadh ---------- With water, nose: as Paul suggest there's a little more of the oaky notes now, the fruit is still there but again like the A'Bunadh slightly subdued. | Loads of smoke immediately, a little acetone - this is quite young - maritime notes and a little citrus. ---------- With water if anything the nose is intensified - bonfire on a beach stuff, wind blown smoke and salt tingling together perfectly. |
| John | The ABV is clearly there but it's not totally overpowering, notes of well worn leather, polish and red fruits, maybe a touch of peach as well... Getting loads of sweet stewed fruits now... ---------- So I added a little water... removes a little of the heat and I find it makes it drier, getting more of the wood coming through now... not sure if that's really improved it or not. | Initially on the nose this is much more oily and drier, less fruity sweetness. The earthy dunnage thing is there, which I really like, getting a dry sweetness like icing sugar and the crisp green fruits... tangy? Time and oxidation... this is lovely, really big, but soft and comforting... a whisky blanket if you will | Once past the initial peat, there are smoked meats, some damp earthy notes, floral, also a dry sweetness and a touch of citrus - these @DLaingWhisky whiskies tend to be very well put together and this is no exception. ---------- I added a little water... now wishing I hadn't | |
| Paul | Been poured for about 20 mins and it's only just starting to give anything. Raisins, stewed strawberries and raspberries, slight menthol. Lots of sherry oak. Just what you would expect really. Agree with John, the ABV doesn't whack you in the nose. ----------
With water nose hasn't changed to much, seems to of taken away the sherry notes and added some sweet fudge. A bit of polished oak.
| Ok, I'm going to own up to my bias straight away, I love this distillery, my favorite. Shame they are rubbish at social media. But on wards to the reasonable priced 105. You get the dunnage notes, the leather, the old books, slightly earthy, the red fruit, polished oak, but everything is all that little bit fresher. Getting some green fruit as well, apples pears. ---------- I'm going 1.5ml again to about 15ml of whisky.... again, I don't seem to get much change on the nose. If anything, it brings out the wood slightly. | This has had plenty of time to open up now. Earthy bacon Frazzles. Slight green fruit, but a fair old slab of acetone? ---------- With water I really don't think that has changed much at all, maybe dulled down the slight fruitiness it had? | |
| Scott | Alcohol burn initially, then it settles down into a sweet strawberry jammy number. Also some musty dunnage warehouse and sherry wood | On the nose, it's strawberry toffos (Thanks @MaltMusings ), fudge and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. More bright and fresh than the A'Bunadh and for me better. Green apples, pear and that icing sugar @jwbassman_ mentioned. Also a wee touch of Mr Sheen about it | Frazzles, extinguished bonfire , bitter lemon, sea spray, ozone, wee bit of acetone. Peat obviously and a lot of freshly malted barley | |
| Palate | Brian | Again the ABV bites, it's thick and oily. There are huge spice notes, thick strawberry jam and the pineapple from the nose. A few more sips and the ABV is quashed, the sherry notes again shine through - I'm still getting a little smoke too. ---------- With the water the palate offers a little more complexity to the jam notes - strawberries, cherries and maybe blackberries. The toffee note is there again and a lot of oaky dryness - moisture being stripped from my mouth. | Again thick, but syrupy rather than oily. Again the ABV bites and the spice is there - the jam follows along behind - mixed fruit this time - strawberry and apple dominate. ---------- With water the jam jumps out now - strawberries, raspberries, apples, pears linger on the tongue then the spice takes over and tingles everything. | Oily arrival, a big kick of ABV, smoke dominates with a little citrus but with a big note of sweet peanuts.... ---------- With water smoke and maritime notes are still there but the citrus has gone, as have the sweet peanuts notes (good!) There's a little sweetness added too! |
| John | Oily and mouth-coating, the the ABV starts to make itself more evident, a build up of heat, then a little numbing. | Thick, coating, texture, warming, lovely stuff - there is no part of me who wants to add any water to this... Science be damned, I'm not spoiling this - it's great as it is 😋 Syrup, yes - not oily, that was what I was looking for Brian! | This is a little thinner on the palate than the previous couple of drams and the higher ABV isn't really evident at all... I'm guessing that's partly due to the context in which we're drinking it. The dry earthiness really come through on the palate, more floral and a touch of bitter orange? | |
| Paul | Oh the ABV gets you a bit more there, lots of spicy sherry wood. Brown sugar, still getting the stewed red fruits, abit of sour grapefruit. Not to complex for me but some lovely flavours in there. ---------- With water still slight spice, has all calmed down quite a lot though. A lot more sweetness, fudge, toffee. Red fruits but not really stewed anymore. | The abv does hit you, but its a sweet red fruit sherbet sourness. Get the green maltyness that you smell when your near their washbacks. Lots of bitter chocolate, toffee, sweet fruity fudge, dunnage. Love this, its a proper oily sherry bomb. ---------- With water it's sweeter, similar with the flavours but they are more smudged together. | Initially a bit of sweetness, burnt buttery toast, lots of peat - as you would expect. Very savory vegital earthy maritime, the acetone is still there, but only a touch. Burnt to a crisp bbq meat. Quite enjoying it. Something quite fruity about the finish, lemon? touch of orange and covered with a slight smoke. Not to complex for me, but I dont think it's meant to be. ---------- Big Pete/Peat (the bloke on the bottle is Pete) with water dulls everything, flavours are the same I think, maybe a touch more citrus. | |
| Scott | The arrival is very understated considering the big powerful nose. But then it hits you with a big dry, spicy sherry hammer. More jammy notes, pineapple. Also the taste of how a leather cricket ball smells strangely. ---------- Unsurprisingly, with water it isn't as full on. More sweet shop with fudge, toffee and pineapple cubes. | Oily arrival and the ABV iis there but not in your face. Toffee apple, toffee pear and toffee strawberry. A toffo variety pack! This isn't as cloying in the mouth as the A'Bunadh and I love it! I'm with you John - no water shall enter this glass | Initially thin, young spirity tasting. Big Peat flavours (see what I did there), costal, and some lemon, Not overly complex and pretty straightforward. Nice! | |
| Finish | Brian | It's long and warming, spice and sherry in balance. Some tropical notes and again that hint of smoke. I don't think this needs any water but let's give it a tiny bit. ---------- With the water the finish is a bit more subdued than without - the spice it still there but with more faint strawberry and pineapple notes. | Another lovely warming dram, more spice than fruit on the finish. ---------- With water milk chocolate comes to the fore with a little fruit and again the spice takes over - seems to have lost the warming note as the A'Bunadh did. | Peat dominates, the smoke seeming to chimney back up your throat, A little citrus and slightly drying. |
| John | The power of the dram lingers and the spicy prickle remains... warming all the way down | Soft spices and a gentle warmth - pretty sure these notes would be totally different if the bottle had only just been opened. Lovely dram, massive thanks to @WhiskynStuff for sharing this one 👍 | Soft peat, medium length, warming, very pleasant | |
| Paul | Lovely and warming all the way down. abit of cask char and grapefruit. Quite a short finish. Goes quite quickly. ---------- With water more red fruits, abit of grapefruit and dunnage warehouse. | Lots of sweetness, slight chili chocolate turning to milk chocolate. Again quite a short finish. ---------- With water sweet watery milk chocolate. | Ashy, almost everything else has gone. | |
| Scott | The finish isn't overly long. Quite bitter grapefruit and usual spicy sherry dryness. Like this but not as big a wow factor as the first batch I had (think it was 59). Maybe that's just me tho! | The finish isn't bitter for me like a lot of other sherried whiskies. Milk chocolate, red fruits now and more toffee/fudge. This is the winner of the CS NAS sherry bombs for me | The finish is more or less an extension of the taste. Nothing really that different. It hangs on for an age though. As a down the line heavily peated dram it works well. Not sure it's Christmasy tho.. | |
| Overall | Brian | I've had about 6 different batches and they do all differ slightly. For me it's better without the water, it's a nice slow sipper on a cold winter's night kind of dram. Yes you don't get all the fruit complexity that the water gives but the cask strength gives you the warming finish. Lovely dram. | 105 was better without the water - again more warming in the finish - perfect for a cold night. The sherry and fruit in balance and a lovely spice kick. Affordable I totally agree with Scott, buy the @glenfarclas 105, but on flavour and enjoyment I think the @AberlourVC A'Bunadh still has it. I won't bring myself to buy another bottle though.... | Big Pete Christmas 2018 doesn't work without the water, purely down to the sweet peanut notes I get - not nice. The water dulls them and leave the dram as a lovely Islay smoke chimney - nice! I preferred them in the order we tried them @AberlourVC A'Bunadh, @glenfarclas 105 and @DLaingWhisky Big Peat Christmas 2018 but all were great cask strength drams. |
| John | I don't think these 'needs' water, once you adjust to the ABV and with small sips, it's just full of flavour... better tonight than I remember it, must be the company 😀 Very interesting, I think it's good, but it's certainly not the best batch I've ever had. I've had a handful of different batches and they do differ. Better without the water for me, richer, fuller and more flavoursome. | This is a massively different experience to the last time I had a 105... which was the evening after touring the distillery, the ABV was so much more evident then than now, how long has this been open @WhiskynStuff? I needed to add water that night, not tonight 🤔: about 9-10 months. Bottle half full. | I've tried one this before... it's very consistent, it's a good solid, very well put together dram. Better without water for me... but what do I know? 105 the winner for me, followed by the Big Peat and the Aberlour in a close 3rd place. Generally better without... time > water | |
| Paul | I'm going 50/50 on this one, it definitely changed it, although I thought it smelled very similar. But I can enjoy that both ways. Lovely dram, shame the price went up so much. | Overall, let it breath, dont add water. And it's cheap so buy it :) | Big Peter Overall. Whos idea was that, adding water?! No! | |
| Scott | Prefer it neat. | Looking for an affordable , cask strength sherry bomb? @GlenfarclasDist 105 is where it's at. | Can't believe we were at it for two hours. Flew by. @glenfarclas 105 the winner for me 🥇 | |
For me this #MiniTasting was about the question of "add water or not?" For the first two drams the answer is definitely no but for the 3rd it was a definite yes! So not conclusive! I'd suggest try neat, then with a little water and make your own mind up! #EveryPalateIsDifferent
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