#BlindTasting Series 3 - Part 3

The final part of Series 3 of #BlindTasting took place last week and it turned out to be one of our more interesting sessions with a few differences of opinion on the drams we were tasting. That was great because that's what #BlindTasting is all about #NoPreconceivedIdeas #EveryPalateIsDifferent

Brian's Birthday Bash

50 not out and the only way to celebrate was to share a dram with a few friends!

I'd made up my mind last year that I wanted a bottle of 50yo whisky to celebrate my birthday, unfortunately when I started looking at single malts there were none within my price range...

@BoutiqueyWhisky came to my rescue with the Batch 5 release of their 50yo Blended Scotch Whisky.

Distillery Visit - Arran

I visited the Arran distillery in April '18, this was my first time!

Arran is just outside Lochranza at the northern end of the Isle Of Arran, you'll need to catch a ferry to get there, which is exactly what we did from Claonaig on Kintyre.

Distillery Visit - Glen Scotia

I visited the Glen Scotia distillery in April '18, this was my first time!

Glen Scotia is in Campbeltown at the bottom of the Kintyre Peninsula, about 3 hours drive from Glasgow.

Distillery Visit - Glengyle (Kilkerran)

I visited the Glengyle distillery in April '18, this was my first time!

Glengyle is in Campbeltown at the bottom of the Kintyre Peninsula, about 3 hours drive from Glasgow.

Distillery Visit - Springbank

I visited the Springbank distillery in April '18, around 12 years since my previous visit - not much had changed!

Springbank is in Campbeltown at the bottom of the Kintyre Peninsula, about 3 hours drive from Glasgow.

#BlindTasting Series 3 - Part 2 (for Charlotte Victoria)

This is the second part of Series 3 of #BlindTasting, with the extra special bonus of being a celebration of the safe arrival of some Port Charlotte and Glen Scotia Victoriana drams!

Heavily Peated but not from Islay?

Through a couple of #dample swaps I managed to get my hands on a couple of unusual heavily peated drams - now as most of you know I love peated drams - Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Port Charlotte etc but these two are a little different - neither are from Islay and one isn't even from Scotland!

My favourite peated dram of the last year or so was Port Charlotte Islay Barley - this was labelled "Heavily Peated" at 40ppm which I reviewed here. These two drams sit either side of that phenol level, one is 30ppm and one is 50ppm.

So what are they?

First up at 30ppm from Japan is Hakushu Heavily Peated - a 46% NAS from Suntory's second distillery in the Southern Japanese Alps

Distillery: Hakushu
Whisky: Heavily Peated

Characteristics: 48% NAS NCF Pale Gold (looks naturally coloured) 30ppm
Source: #drample swap with @GeoffGilmore1

Nose: light smoke, a distant fire? Damp soil, wood shavings but all very light!
Palate: honey sweetness with a big kick of spice, very smooth on the tongue, a little salt and maybe some citrus?
Finish: long, warming and very smokey, some citrus again but lingering smoke!

Next up at 50ppm is Edradour's Ballechin 10yo Heavily Peated.

Distillery: Edradour

Whisky: Ballechin 10yo Heavily Peated

Characteristics: 46% 10yo NCF Rose Gold Non-coloured 50ppm
Source: #drample swap with @The_Cask_Blog

Nose: in-your-face Smokey Bacon! A big peaty kick in the nose with little hints of tropical fruit.
Palate: very light almost watery, slightly spicy - unusual and not what I was expecting! There's all sorts on the palate - orchard fruit, red fruits but all very fleeting - the smoke covers all - it's also very drying.
Finish: as it goes down your throat it gives you a big kick of smoke to let you know it's there!


Comments: two completely different drams, overall I think I prefered the first - the Japanese one - it might have 'only' been 30ppm but I think it carried it off much better and had a bit more about it. The Edradour was far 'peatier' at 50ppm but was quite rough in it's approach - like Octomore's little brother! Both were hunting out if you like peated drams and want to explore a little away from Islay!

#BlindTasting Series 3 - Part 1

If you've followed us so far on our #BlindTasting journey of discovery you'll know that is a great fun set of evenings here the five of us try to identify drams from each other. sometimes we can get quite close, sometimes we are completely flummoxed. But the key things are we are trying the drams blind with no preconceived ideas and we are having lots of fun!

Hanging out with an old dram

A few weeks ago @MaltMan_Mike tweeted a picture of a 57 year old sample he'd been send from Glenfarclas, we were all insanely jealous!

A few days later a DM came through asking if a few of us were possibly interested in trying a sample? What could we say?

A date was set and some #dramples of the Glenfarclas and 4 other blind tasting samples sent out.

One of these drams was a little older than the others!

Rather than the usual tweet tasting type format that we are used to he held a Google Hangout instead - this meant we had live video and sound - meaning we all got to watch each other try the drams and see & hear the reactions!

@MaltMan_Mike & @Tim_Squixl

So first up was dram #1

Nose : Apples and pears, marzipan, some spice
Palate : Sweet honey, some spice and a little banana
Finish : Short and spicy, slightly creamy
Overall : An OK dram but not great, I felt it just lacked a little something.

We all had a guess at the region, ABV, distillery and expression - Mike kept score!

This turned out to be The Gauldrons Blended Campbeltown Malt from Douglas Laing (46%)

@Whisky_Viking

Next up was another pale dram, #2

Nose : Tropical! Pineapples with vanilla - and a nice spicy element.

Palate : Lots of vanilla, more of the honey and a mild chilli spice.

Finish : The spice came through on this one and a long vanilla finish.

Overall : Definitely thought this was a grain from first nose and turned out to be right - but wasn't expecting a Japanese one!

This turned out to be The Chita Suntory Whisky (43%)

@GentlemanGrimm

Third of the evening was another pale dram #3

Nose : Another tropical nose.

Palate : Honey, some pineapple and a little spice but seemed weak and watered down. 

Finish : Orchard fruits with a little spice.

Overall : I was disappointed with this one, and even more so when a found out what it was - usually a huge fan of GM but this one just didn't do it for me, I think the low ABV let it down.

This turned out to be The Glen Moray 15yo (40%)

@GavsDrams

Fourth up was the Glenfarclas 1957 (50.3%)!

Nose : Road tar, lots of oak, sherry

Palate : Sour blueberries (in a nice way), the ABV stripped the moisture from your mouth. A little vanilla and a gingery spice. 

Finish : More of the oak, a sweet sherry note but masked again by the slightly sour note.

Overall : A nice dram, easily the oldest (57yo) and most expensive (£10k / bottle) I'd ever tried. Some interesting tasting notes from everyone but I felt it was loosing it's whisky identity and taking on too much oak - maybe it had spent to long in the cask? 

Yours truly!

The final dram of the night was one I'd supplied #5

Nose : Peat smoke but with an equally intense salty maritime note.

Palate : Loads of smoke, some salt, can tell its a young whisky.

Finish : Long lingering BBQ smoke.

Overall : A lovely dram, typical Islay but not medicinal - so that narrowed it down a little.

This one was a Creative Whisky Company Islay Single Cask (50%) which is reckoned to be a youngish Bunna!

The Whisky Viking changed hats for each dram!

A really enjoyable night tasting a great range of drams including a real special from Glenfarclas. The Hangouts aspect really made the evening - being able to talk rather the tweet to each other and see the reactions of tasting and each other comments made for a great night.

Thanks to @MaltMan_Mike for the samples and @whisky_viking @GentlemanGrimm @gavsdrams & @Tim_Squixl for making a great evening!

There was even time fro some PorkiePorkiePorkie pies afterwards!