Tag: Rating: Excellent Page 3 of 41

Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for whiskies that I rated as Excellent. Excellent means that after tasting the whisky, I want to pour a second and third glass. It is whisky that I want to keep on drinking and when the bottle is finished, I will buy another one. See more HERE.

Belgian Owl Passion Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 04/24/2023

In Single Malt whisky

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Belgian Owl Evolution whisky I tasted as part of a tasting pack. Evolution was John’s favourite of all five samples. My favourite was the Belgian Owl Passion single malt whisky.

You can read more about Belgian Owl in my previous blog post. I also captured my notes on Identity a couple of years ago. Today I want to look at Etienne Bouillon’s sustainable farming philosophy behind Belgian Owl. Etienne is passionate about Belgium and the soil and spent time with Jim McEwan at Bruichladdich distillery.

The focus is very much on the terroir; 2-eared spring barley is grown in the region around Hesbaye. Nature is left to take its course around the fields where the barley is grown. Water for the distillery comes straight from a 38 m deep well right next to the distillery.

There are two stills from the Caperdonich distillery installed at the distillery. Care is shown not only in the growing and distilling process but also in the choice of casks. Belgian Owl whisky is non-chill-filtered and without artificial colouring. Over the years, the care and attention to quality have been recognised with many awards.

The Belgian Owl Passion is an unseated single cask edition, and each bottling series is unique. Passion was aged for between 36 – 60 months in American white oak.

Belgian Owl Passion Whisky Review

COUNTRY: Belgium

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Bright gold

NOSE: Creamy condensed milk, baked pear drizzled with honey, oak with faint citrus hints. Warming and inviting.

PALATE: Banana and tropical fruit, bits of grilled pineapple, hints of wood and vanilla with shortbread creaminess. Big and bold with soft pepper and citrus. I finished my first glass without water. Just delicious and drinkable.

FINISH: Medium length with a creamy sweetness and black pepper.

RATING: EXCELLENT

Just like the Identity, Passion has that distinctive Belgian Owl fruity sweetness balanced with soft spices that are the defining characteristic of this Belgian distillery. This sweeter dram suited my sweet palate very well.

Now I need to capture my tasting notes for the Belgian Owl Intense release. I also saw the new bottling from this distillery. They are gorgeous! I want to buy and finish a bottle just to have the beautiful bottle!

Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the SA Belgian Owl team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair and independent thoughts about the whisky.

Also Read: Bain’s 15 yo Whisky

Dunville’s PX Cask 12 year old Irish Whiskey

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/05/2022

In Irish Whiskey

An Irish whiskey for me to try today. Dunville Irish whiskey is relatively new to South Africa, and I have not yet tasted anything from this Northern Ireland-based distillery. I received three different Danville samples from Truman & Orange, and I loved the packaging on this Dunville’s PX Cask 12 year old single malt Irish whiskey, so I decided to try it first.

The Dunville Company initially began as a tea and spirits merchant company based in Belfast, founded by John Dumville. He soon ditched the tea portion and became successful as an Irish whiskey blender, and in 1869 built his own distillery, the Royal Irish Distilleries. The distillery occupied an impressive four-storey red-brick building and was amongst the most modern in Ireland.

Prohibition in the USA caused Dunville to lose access to its most important market. And when the last heir and chairman of Dunville, Robert Lambart Dunville, died in 1931, the company was liquidated.

Also Read: Teeling Small Batch Whiskey

In 2013, almost 80 years after the last Dunville’s spirits was distilled, the Echlinville distillery revived the Dunville’s brand and began distilling it at their farm distillery in the Ards Peninsula. Before they began distilling their own, they purchased spirits elsewhere and finished them in their own warehouse.

Dunville’s core range features the Dunville’s PX 12 year old single malt, Dunville’s Three Crowns Vintage blend and Dunville’s Three Crowns Peated – one of only a small handful of peated Irish whiskeys.

The Dunville’s PX 12 year old whiskey from Dunville’s Very Rare range has been matured exclusively in Pedro Ximénez casks.

Dunville’s PX Cask 12 year old Whiskey Review

COUNTRY: Ireland

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Reddish gold

NOSE: Fresh-cut grass and pine needles with elegant pepper and bits of oak. Sultanas and sherry notes with a creamy undertone. Lovely and inviting.

PALATE: Baking spice and oak with dry fruit sweetness. Vanilla and hints of Christmas cake mixed with baked Granny Smith apples, lemon peel and black pepper. Medium body with a bit of alcohol heat.

The sherry comes through soft and elegant, and not overwhelming. It is lovely without water. Water softens the alcohol heat but also brings more pepper and pectin spice to the front.

FINISH: Medium length with drying oak and soft sherry and pepper notes.

RATING: EXCELLENT

The Dunville’s PX cask 12 year old single malt is smooth and delicious, and very drinkable. Complex enough to entice without losing the accessibility of Irish whiskey.

The Dunville’s range is brought to South Africa by Truman & Orange, a premium drinks company seeking to bring greater choice to the South African spirits landscape. They also have Highland Park, Sexton whisky and The Naked Range in their portfolio.

The Dunville’s whiskey range is available at WhiskyShop and Whiskybrother&Co and also online at Cutlerdrinks.

Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the Truman & Orange team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair and independent thoughts about the whiskey.

Helden Hickory Wood Spirit

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 10/24/2022

In Single Malt whisky

On the 24th of September, South Africa celebrates Heritage Day. I was invited to the Whisky Shop’s Heritage Day celebrations and got the opportunity to try some proudly South African whisky. Except for Bain’s whisky, there was also Boplaas with their whisky and brandy, as well as the Helden Distillery with the Helden Hickory Wood single malt spirit.

I know that WhiskyBrother& Co have bottled a Young Single Malt from Helden distillery. And if the WhiskyBrother &Co team liked it enough to bottle something from here, I had to explore more of this Free States distillery.

The Helden Distillery is a South African whisky distillery situated in Parys in the Vredefort Dome. The Vredefort Dome is a UNESCO World Heritage area, the world’s largest meteor impact site. Helden is the Dutch word for “hero”.

Also Read: Benriach The Smoky Twelve Whisky

The Lead Distiller, Pieter van Helden was first exposed to the concept of distillation while at school. He went on to obtain a PhD in Chemistry. Pieter gradually matured from producing hobby-level fruit brandies (locally known as mampoer) to focusing on the art of whisky.

With a passion for Africa and innovation, the Helden Distillery was founded in 2018. They share premises with their brewing partner, the well-known The Dog & Fig Brewery. The focus is on combining sustainable African malted grains with innovative African wood maturation for their single malt and single grain spirits.

The Helden Hickory Wood spirit is a small batch single malt spirit is made from specially roasted South African malts and then distilled in a pot and column still. It is matured in toasted Hickory wood using AccelerAge technology.

With this technology, the Helden team seeks to “accelerate” ageing and bring products to market. At the same time, their traditional whisky matures in cask.

Helden Hickory Wood Single Malt Spirit Review

The Helden Hickory Wood is about 5 months old. It is not chill-filtered and is a natural colour. Only 174 bottles were produced. I have bottle 20/174.

COUNTRY: South Africa

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Light Gold

NOSE: Caramel with ripe red grapes. A fruity sweetness with pepper and a floral note.

PALATE: Dry leather and wood with malt and fruity sweetness. Hints of nutmeg and cardamom mixed with cream and traces of toasted nuts. After standing for a few minutes, I get notes of fragrant tea roses. A medium body. A few drops of water makes it smooth and drinkable.

FINISH: Short finish with lemon pepper and wood. Floral notes with bits of rose and nutmeg.

RATING: EXCELLENT

The Helden Hickory Wood single malt spirit is too young to be called a whisky, but it drinks smoother than a 3 yo dram. Interesting and different. This young malt explores and expands the boundaries of what whisky can be. It moves away from the older way of thinking about whisky and looks at embracing new taste experiences. A distillery worth celebrating.

When you combine passion, technology and innovation, you get something individual. And if you like unique wood finishes, the Helden range should get a place in your collection.

The Helden Hickory Wood spirit retail for around R 450 is available online from the distillery, WhiskyShop and WhiskyBrother &Co. If you visit Parys, it is worth booking a private Helden whisky tasting experience. That way, you can experience the whole range of whiskies and learn about the production process and brand.

More from the Helden Range

The Helden whisky range consists of the Innovate Range, Limited and Premium, and the Summer collection. The Innovate range includes Cherrywood, Hickory wood finish, and New Make spirits.

An African Bonfire whisky will be part of the Premium collection. This will be a sorghum malt-based whisky that is matured using indigenous African Camel Thorn wood. I have tasted a bit of this, and it is delicious. It is going to be perfect for a bushveld braai.

Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the Helden Distillery team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair and independent thoughts about the whisky.

Rhino Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 10/10/2022

In Single Malt whisky

Today I look at a delicious whisky with a great cause. That is a win-win situation. A week ago, this bottle of Rhino whisky arrived. I love the design and packaging, and it comes with an extraordinary story.

Southern Africa is facing a poaching crisis. The killing of rhinos for their horns has reached unprecedented levels. In just a decade, more than 7,500 African rhinos have been killed in the mistaken belief that the horn can heal illness. The horn is mainly composed of keratin, the same protein found in hair and fingernails and holds no medicinal value.

Two friends were sitting around a campfire lamenting the rhino poaching crisis and the possible extinction of these magnificent animals. Tired of just talking, they decided to do something about it.

Also Read: Benriach The Smoky Twelve Whisky

Gerrit Wagener and Brin Kuchner (a qualified ranger) decided to create a whisky that would highlight the plight of the African rhino and give back to rhino conservation in Africa. They committed to donating 5% of all sales to rehabilitating orphaned baby rhinos at the Rhino Orphanage in the Limpopo province. And so Rhino whisky was born.

The Rhino whisky is a Scotch single malt whisky from an undisclosed distillery in Strathspey, the area around the River Spey in Northeastern Scotland. Rhino whisky is double matured in Rum Casks and bottled as a NAS release.

Rhino whisky retails for around R 590.00 and is available online via Takealot and WhiskyBrother & Co in South Africa and at a few select retailers.

Review and Tasting Notes for the Rhino Whisky

REGION: Speyside

ABV: 43%

COLOUR: Gold red

NOSE: Elegant tropical fruit sweetness with bits of baking spice and malt. Hints of cream and vanilla with a green undertone.

PALATE: Freshly baked vanilla shortbread and toasted oak. Then comes the tropical fruit sweetness with overripe guava and hints of honey and floral notes. There are hints of cinnamon and black pepper in the background. Nice balance between the oaky spices and the sweetness. Medium body. A drop or two of water brings more spices to the front.

FINISH: Medium length with malt oiliness and vanilla.

RATING: EXCELLENT

The Rhino whisky is an easy drinking and approachable dram. Perfect for a novice but well-rounded enough for a connoisseur to also enjoy. The whisky worked for my palate as I prefer sweeter drams. This is a delicious whisky and will make a great gift for the whisky lover in your life.

The Rhino Orphanage

The Rhino Orphanage, a non-profit organisation, is the world’s first rhino orphanage. The orphanage is a specialist, dedicated, a non-commercial centre that cares for orphaned and injured baby rhinos with the only aim of releasing them back into the wild.

Visit www.therhinoorphanage.co.za for more information.

Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the Rhino Whisky PR team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair and independent thoughts about the whisky.

Bain’s Shiraz Cask 10 yo Single Grain Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 09/19/2022

In Grain Whisky

We went away on holiday, and I took some whisky with us. I have been loving the Bain’s 15 yo and was keen to try the Bain’s Shiraz Cask finish 10 yo single grain whisky.

We explored Mauritius, and the warm, tropical island was a great place to take a grain whisky to. The Bain’s Shiraz cask finish whisky is a new limited edition launched in 2020. It is available in travel retail and at the James Sedgwick distillery shop.

Like the standard Bain’s whisky, the Shiraz cask is a grain whisky double matured in ex-bourbon casks for about five years. Following its initial double maturation, this whisky was finished in ex-Shiraz American oak casks for five years.

A Shiraz finish is rarely selected as a whisky finish; however, it is not the first time that the James Sedgwick distillery has experimented with this type of cask. A couple of years ago, a Three Ships Shiraz cask finish whisky was released as part of their Masters Collection.

Looking online, I also found a High West Double Syrah Finish and the Mythology Syrah Finish whiskey. However, this is one of the only grain whisky releases aged in Shiraz, and that makes this genuinely unique.

Shiraz is a red wine cultivar with a distinct smoky flavour. In some parts of the world, it is referred to as Syrah. Shiraz wines generally have smoky, peppery, spicy and ripe plum and berry flavour.

The Bain’s Shiraz Cask Finish is a single grain whisky bottled at cask strength, non-chill-filtered and natural in colour.

I wrote down my tasting notes for this whisky on the beautiful island during our holiday and just captured them here to remind us of our fabulous trip.

Also Read: Bain’s 15 yo Sonically Matured whisky

Bain’s Shiraz Cask 10 yo Whisky Review

I have bottle 4368 of 4650.

COUNTRY: South Africa

ABV: 63.5%

COLOUR: Golden red

NOSE: As I opened the bottle, the red wine nearly overpowers everything else. After the glass stood for a few minutes, the more traditional Bains tropical fruit and sweetness came through. Hints of oak, vanilla and red fruits with pepper.

PALATE: The first sip has loads of drying red wine and tannins. Big and bold and a bit overwhelming. The alcohol doesn’t burn, but you know you are drinking a high ABV dram.

After standing for a little while, the red wine notes wafted off and left ripe red fruits, spicy toffee, pineapples and vanilla. Hints of rum and raisin ice cream with a woody undertone. Water softens the alcohol but brings more red wine to the front.

FINISH: Long and lingering with notes of spice and tropical sweetness.

RATING: EXCELLENT

Smooth and delicious but not an easy drinking whisky. Well balanced and complex, this grain whisky is uniquely different. It is unlike anything I have tasted before.

Drinking the standard Bain’s whisky is like sitting around a dinner table with an old friend. You don’t have to dress up or fuss; you can kick back and talk about frivolous things the whole evening.

Sipping the Shiraz Cask is like sitting down for an hour with Albert Einstein. You dress formally, listen more than speak, and come away dazed but overwhelmed. The Shiraz Cask is a whisky to savour and appreciate.

It is not for the faint of heart or for a newbie. Let it breathe for 5 to 6 minutes before trying it. Andy Watts, the Master Distiller, has again shown his brilliance and his amazing skill. The whisky retail for R975, and I have bought mine online from the James Sedgwick shop.

Also Read: Three Ships 10 yo Whisky