Of malt whisky, cider and other drinkables. Carpe aqua vitae.
From a barrel with cask number 1782, June 1998-2010.
Nose: Clementine peel, especially the white part, quite sweet malt, grist (a lot of flour), leather sofas. With water the grist solidifies into whole barley and I get some lemon as well.
Palate: Asphalt dust, cold smoke and coal.
Comments: Yummy. Very nice mix of grains/grist and smoke.
Nose: Light smoke, newly baked buns with egg cream filling. Sweet orange. Water adds bite and bitterness and some green wood.
Palate: Cold smoke and ashes, coal. Water brings out vanilla and malt and (honeydew?) melon.
Comments: It’s Laphroaig and it’s nice, but I am somewhat underwhelmed.
Nose: Pear, a little oak, a hint of black pepper.
Palate: Cloying, varnished oak and some acetone.
Comments: Not nice. The nose is ok, but faint and not very exciting, and the palate is simply off-putting. I poured most of my dram down the drain, and passed the bottle to Arve, who drank a couple of drams while enjoying a pipe. However, once the pipe was done and he had a sip, he discovered just how horrid the whisky really was, and stopped drinking. The conclusion, therefore: Dinkable with a pipe (a cigar probably works as well), but generally not drinkable.
Distilled 19 January 1998, bottled 10 February 2014.
Nose: Vanilla, citrus and flowery notes. Cinnamon and nutmeg with water, after a while green apples.
Palate: Vanilla and sap. A little more bitter with water, but also more depth. A hint of cigar smoke and spice.
Comments: A fantastic nose, and a nice taste. A little bitterness on the finish detracts, but overall a very, very nice dram and pretty much perfect on a warm spring evening in Trondheim. A good candidate for this year’s summer whisky.
Tasted half-blind. I knew the importer, but not the whisky. I’d never have guessed that this was from a sherry cask, but with hindsight I see that the spices and the cigar smoke are clues I should have picked up.