Tag: Rating: Very Good Page 18 of 21

Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for whisky I rated Very Good. When the dram is enjoyable and memorable, and we don’t mind having another glass later in the week. This is bottles I might use for cocktails and the occasional afternoon sipper. Rating: Very Good

WL Weller 12 year old Bourbon Whiskey

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 01/12/2015

In Bourbon whiskey

In honour of good friends from America visiting, I start 2015 by opening a new bottle of bourbon. WL Weller 12 year old is a brand of wheated bourbon whiskey produced in Frankfort, Kentucky.

The Stitzel-Weller Distilling Company originally owned the brand. Currently, it is owned by the Sazerac Company and made at the Buffalo Trace distillery.

Distilled from a mash composed of at least 51% corn, WL Weller is similar to most bourbons. Wheated means the mash recipe uses wheat and not rye as the secondary grain. The majority is still corn and a little malted barley to convert the mash.

The first person credited to use wheat as the flavouring grain for Kentucky straight bourbon was WL Weller. He also managed to build a successful business on the idea. The resulting recipe makes for generally a sweeter and milder whiskey.

The character isn’t directly related to the use of wheat as much as the lack of rye. Also, a wheated bourbon ages better. His wheated bourbon was first produced in 1849.

Both the WL Weller 12 year old bourbon and the famous Pappy Van Winkle bourbon whiskey is made at Buffalo Trace’s distillery since Stitzel-Weller closed down in 1992. The WL Weller whiskey has won numerous awards. Most recently, a 2014 Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Jim Murray has given this wheated bourbon a 93.5 in his Whisky Bible. Understandable, I am excited to try this exciting bourbon. In South Africa, this is probably the closest I will come to anything remotely resembling a Pappy van Winkle.

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WL Weller 12 year old Bourbon Whiskey Review

COUNTRY: USA

ABV: 45%.

COLOUR: Dark copper colour with hints of red. It is a thick and oily spirit and points to great dram.

NOSE: The WL Weller 12 year old bourbon has a pleasant, sweet bourbon aroma on the nose. In the background, there are notes of butterscotch, rich vanilla and cereals. There are faint hints of wheat and creamed corn on the nose.

PALATE: Without water, the palate is rich and creamy with hints of spice. After adding some water, it is still very smooth, with cinnamon and ginger spices coming through. Some of the bourbon sweetness disappears, and the wheat and oak take over. The vanilla and honey sweetness lingers in the background.

FINISH: Medium length finish that ends in notes of oak and hints of spicy citrus marmalade.

RATING: VERY GOOD

This bourbon whiskey from the Buffalo Trace distillery is a good start to a busy year. With all these spicy notes, I wonder if this bourbon will pair well with an apple pie? I might bake one for dessert and try it with the WL Weller 12 year old bourbon again.

The WL Weller works well with a creamy French Camembert cheese. The spices does not overwhelm the delicate cheese and the creamy cheese smoothes out the whiskey.

Also Read:Heavenhill Old Style Bourbon

Compass Box The Peat Monster Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/08/2014

In Blended Malt Whisky

The Peat Monster whisky is part of the Signature Range from the Compass Box Whisky Co. Compass Box is a specialist, small batch Scotch whisky maker. American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company in 2000.

His vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the industry’s standards for quality and style.Compass Box does not distil any of the whiskies used in its blends.

The company’s whisky makers select distillates from several existing Scotch whisky distilleries, including malts from Ardmore, Caol Ila, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Glen Elgin, Laphroaig and Teaninich.

They also make use of grain whiskies from Cameronbridge and Cambus. The selected whiskies are then blended, and the resulting blend is matured further. According to Compass Box, blending these various whiskies and then ageing them in selected woods allows for a more complex, multi-layered whisky.

This Peat Monster malt Scotch contains whisky from a few distilleries. Some were from the village of Port Askaig in Islay, with a few south coast Islay whisky too, vatted with Ardmore. It was matured in a mix of first-fill and refill American oak casks.

None of the Compass Box bottlings is chill-filtered, nor is any colouring added and are all married exclusively in American oak.

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Compass Box The Peat Monster Whisky Review

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Compass Box The Peat Monster has a light golden colour, and it seems to be a thick oily whisky in the glass.

NOSE: The peat hits you on first nosing the whisky. It has the classic Islay notes of sea and salt. It seems softer than the other Islay whiskies such as the Ardbeg on the nose. But the notes iodine and medicinal TCP lingers in the background as expected. It has faint hints of fruit lingering in the nose that comes through.

PALATE: On the palate, without the addition of water, the peat comes through straight away. With the addition of water, there are medicinal notes intertwined with hints of sweetness and fruit. The Compass Box Peat Monster is a medium-bodied whisky.

FINISH: Medium and ends in notes of peat and bits of orange and kumquat.

RATING: VERY GOOD.

It is not a very complex whisky. Compared to some of the distilleries that go into this, the Compass Box Peat Monster is more toned down and refined. The name of the whisky creates a certain expectation and sadly this does not quite life up to it. It is drinkable peaty whisky, however, it is by no means a Monster.

This dram also made it onto my favourite peated whisky list. You can read this article all the other peated drams that also made it onto the list.

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The Macallan 10 year old Fine Oak Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 11/24/2014

In Single Malt whisky

Today I look at something from Macallan, the Macallan 10 year old Fine Oak single malt Scotch whisky. The Macallan distillery is a single malt whisky distillery in Craigellachie, Moray.

The Macallan Distillers Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Edrington Group. Even though Macallan is located right in the middle of the Speyside region, it’s not labelled as such.

Craigellachie falls outside of the defined “Speyside ward” boundaries as defined by the Scotch Whisky Regulations. Our bottle of The Macallan 10 year old Fine Oak whisky denotes that it is a Highland single malt.

The name Macallan is most likely derived from two Gaelic words, ‘Magh’ meaning a fertile piece of ground and ‘ellan’, meaning ‘of St Fillan’. He was an Irish-born monk who travelled widely in Scotland, spreading Christianity during the eighth century.

The River Spey, one of Scotland’s most famous salmon rivers, borders the Macallan Estate to the south and south-east. The Macallan Estate lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Initially, The Macallan releases were matured in ex-sherry casks brought to the distillery from Jerez, Spain.

During 2004, The Macallan introduced a new product range, the Fine Oak series. These whiskies are aged in ex-bourbon oak casks as well as ex-sherry casks. This range has been around for a few years now and seems to have weathered the storm it caused when it was first released.

According to John Hansell, quoted in the Malt Advocate Magazine, “The Fine Oak range is more approachable, and has the potential to be embraced by a greater percentage of whisky drinkers cutting back on the sherry reveals more of the Macallan spirit, which is first-class.”

Related Article: Glenlivet 12 yo whisky

Macallan 10 year old Single Malt Whisky Review

REGION: Highland

ABV: 43%.

COLOUR: The Macallan 10 year old has a light golden colour and is an oily whisky. The official colour description is ‘pale straw’. The long fingers on the inside of the glass point to a lot of potential.

NOSE: The first impression upon nosing the whisky is honey sweetness, oak and spice. There are notes of florals and fruit and faint hints of cereal and barley in the background. The Macallan nose is complex and crisp.

PALATE: Quite spicy without adding water. There are hints of vanilla and caramel. Water smooths the spirit and releases soft notes of butter and florals. The 10 yo has an abundance of oak notes mixed with flowers and fruit. It is a delicate whisky, and the palate is not too complex. The nose hinted at a bit more complexity and body.

FINISH: A dry medium-length finish that ends in notes of oak and leather. There are hints of spice at the end.

RATING: VERY GOOD

The nose on the Macallan 10 year old whisky promised more than what the palate delivered. I was hoping for something bolder. Sadly, I think this Highland whisky is a bit nondescript. Still, an easy-drinking whisky and a great addition to our collection. Which Macallan is your favourite?

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Benromach 10 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 11/17/2014

In Single Malt whisky

A while ago, my brother brought me a bottle of Benromach 10 year old whisky from one of his trips abroad. Benromach is a Speyside distillery situated near Forres in Morayshire.

It was founded by Duncan McCallum and F.W. Brickman in 1898. The Benromach name originates from the Gaelic words for ‘shaggy mountain’. Benromach is fed with spring water from the Chapelton Springs in the Romach Hills beside Forres.

Together with Aberlour, Dufftown and Balblair, Benromach was one of the many Speyside distilleries designed by the renowned architect Charles Doig.

The distillery was mothballed in 1983. Before the middle 1960s, Speyside distilleries malted their own barley. They would top up their fires with cuts of local peat when coal was running low. These segments were enough to convey a touch of smoke to some of the early Speyside whiskies.

But with the arrival of new processes in the 1960s, this subtle Speyside smokiness disappeared. That is until 1993, when Gordon and Macphail reopened the distillery.

They started to produce whiskies in the classic pre-1960’s lightly smoked Speyside character. Benromach is the smallest working distillery in Speyside. The distillery prides itself on using absolutely no computers or even pressure gauges. The team manage the entire process by how the developing spirit sounds, smells and feels.

They only make use of first-fill sherry and bourbon casks. The Benromach 10 year old single malt Scotch whisky was released in 2009. It was the first aged statement bottling since Gordon and Macphail took over the distillery.

Sales have grown noticeably since the reopening. The company now exports Benromach to 42 countries across the world.

Related Article: Laphroaig 10 yo whisky

Benromach 10 year old Whisky Review

REGION: Speyside

ABV: 43%.

COLOUR: A rich deep golden colour. It is a thick oily whisky with long fingers on the side of the glass.

NOSE: First impressions on nosing it brings spice and a bit of oak. It is not a very complex nose. After the addition of some water, the oak, cereals and barley come through with hints of sweetness and marzipan. There are slight hints of smoke in the background intermingling with more spicy hints. Adding water to this Benromach 10 yo really opens up the nose.

PALATE: This is a medium body whisky and moderately delicate. The main notes on tasting are wood and spice. There are notes of barley, hints of green herbs with tiny sparks of sweetness. Faintly you can sense more traces of the smoke in the background.

FINISH: Long and ends in notes of spice and wood. It is not a very complex whisky and has a few rough edges.

RATING: VERY GOOD

It is a relatively spicy whisky that should pair well with dark chocolate. I will have to try it again, but for now, it will not be one of my favourites. What did you think of the Benromach 10 year old whisky?

In 2013 Gordon and Macphail announced an expansion to meet growing demand. It included the recruitment of a third distiller and the building of more warehouses. At the World Whisky Awards 2014, Benromach 10 years old won Gold in the “Best Speyside Single Malt – 12 Years and Under” category.

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New Zealand Whisky Company 1990 Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 10/06/2014

In Single Malt whisky

My whisky goal is to collect a single malt whisky from every country that produces single malt whiskies. When an opportunity comes along to add a New Zealand whisky to my collection, I grab it with both hands. I have some whisky from Australia as well.

Last year, my mom went to the UK. I managed to find a The New Zealand Whisky Company single malt whisky at the Whiskey Exchange, and mom brought it back.

The Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, call their home ‘Aotearoa’ – ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’. New Zealand is well-known for its magnificent beauty of snow-capped mountains, tranquil forest and sweeping green vistas.

New Zealand is a country renowned for its clean air and pure water. Whiskies from the famous Willowbank Distillery are often said to have similar characteristics to single malt whisky produced in the Lowland or Speyside regions of Scotland – such as delicate aromas, a lighter body, hints of sweetness and a smooth finish.

The Baker family established the Willowbank Distillery. Production commenced in December 1969. In 1974 the first whisky went on sale and the company was renamed Wilson Distillers Ltd. Located in Dunedin on the South Island, Willowbank was the most southerly whisky distillery in the world.

Seagram Company Ltd acquired the distillery in 1981. Sadly, the distillery ceased production in 1997 as Seagram’s rationalised their business portfolio and sold the business to the Foster’s Group. The distillery was mothballed in 2000.

The hundreds of barrels of Cask Strength whisky was auctioned off or mothballed. In 2010, The New Zealand Whisky Company bought the last 80,000 litres in 443 barrels from what had previously been stored in an old aeroplane hangar. The whisky now resides in the towering seaside bonds store in Oamaru.

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New Zealand Whisky Company 1990 Vintage Review

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This particular whisky was distilled at the Willowbank distillery on New Zealand’s South Island in 1990. The date, 1990, is boldly displayed on the bottle. I have bottle #26 from barrel #90. It has a bottling date of September 2012.

REGION: New Zealand

ABV: 61.7%

COLOUR: The appearance of the whisky in the bottle is quite dark. In the glass, it is a light copper-gold colour. It is medium oily whisky.

NOSE: Quite subtle and soft. Notes of Christmas pudding and flowers with hints of toffee and cereals. In the background, there are bits of fresh summer fruit.

PALATE: Christmas cake and minced fruit. There are notes of oak and cereals mixed with florals and sherry sweetness. We added quite a bit of water before the high alcohol content softened a bit.

FINISH: Long and lingering. It is warming and ends in notes of spice and leather.

RATING: VERY GOOD

A great bottle added to my collection, and I will try to find more releases from this New Zealand distillery and hopefully more from this beautiful country.

This New Zealand whisky is fairly subtle and uncomplicated; the thing that makes this whisky uniquq is the finish. It is the last warming spice and leather notes that makes you want to have another glass.

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