Benromach – Hermitage Finish 2005 “High Tea in the Kiln Room”

The Benromach 10 has earned it’s place among many folks’ cabinets, as a solid bang for your buck whisky but one with more dimensions that are used to seeing at this age. It has that rare chameleon quality, each time you have a dram it seems to have changed a bit, one day sherry focused, another more peat and malt forward.

This hermitage finish is part of what Benromach dubs their contrast series, these are various versions of their spirit, be it finishes or experiments to show against the standard line-up of  their 10-15 yr old whisky. It can be a smart way for a company that does not yet have many decades of stocks to draw upon, we’ve seen this used by Bruichladdich, Arran and many others but not always successfully.

Enjoy this terrible photo of my bottle.

This bottle was purchased as part of our club’s selection on the strength of my experience with Ben 10, I wanted to use it as a contrast against some other sherry matured malts.

Nose: Spicy, paraffin, there is peat but it mixes with the fruits from the wine cask, it’s like smoked blackberries…alas I have tried this time+smoker=smoked everything. Green peppercorns, digestive biscuits, honey drizzled figs, there is some sulfur like a tinge of spent matches and ginger. The nose is pretty tame, I like the interplay between the waxy peaty side and the fruits from the cask.

Palate: Sweet, oily, malty, earthy and bitter on the first sip, almost like Amaro (don’t call me a hipster). Damp concrete basement, slight barn funk, apricot jam, wet grains, again that feeling of smoked berries from the nose.

Finish: Short, a mossy and sweet earthy taste remains, a drying astringency, vanilla and dark chocolate.

I found this pleasant but the sulfur has increased with time, I feel like the peat saves it from being OTT.  The Benromach spirit style takes well to sherry as we get from the regular editions, this wine finish shows some promise but it’s not entirely successful. I am unsure if it’s the style of wine used, the ABV or perhaps it would be better if they vatted some bourbon barrels in to bring equilibrium?  I like it but it lacks the superb blending of the Ben10.

Benromach 2005 Hermitage Wood Finish series 

45% ABV

83/100

Johnnie Walker Blenders’ Batch Wine Cask Finish – “A Pour Decision at the Whine Bar”

Johnnie Walker Blender’s Batch Wine Cask Finish 

40% ABV

This set of reviews are from the last in-store tasting I attended in early April. I arrived a bit later which meant it was less crowded and I could take my sweet ass time taking notes and somewhat antisocial.

First whisky of the night was this Blenders’ Batch edition. I believe there are 3 or 4 of these featuring different finishes or highlighting the grains used.

The Diageo blab says it supposed to be 10± years old, despite being NAS, relying on malt from Clynelish and grain from Cameronbridge.

I hate looking like a paparazzo at these events, so I end up taking these awkward photos.

Nose: a fair amount of sulfur, loads of vanilla, sour fruit and oak. A touch of damp earthy peat, wet cardboard, cooked fruits.

Palate: red fruits, currants, cherry, creamy vanilla. Then malty, bread, it’s fairly hot on the arrival. Marzipan, cardboard, sour fruits, like summer pudding left out in sun and fermenting. Lots of oak present throughout.

Finish: it’s limp watery, keeps on with the burn and sour oak/jam

Many people raved about this at the tasting, surprised by how much they liked it and “for the price” they kept saying. There are some aspects that I liked but it felt messy overall, maybe in cocktails but I still don’t see what makes this specifically a JW product. Maybe I’m taking this too seriously or perhaps I’m just not the intended consumer for this product.

76/100

Franck

Kavalan Whisky reviews, SAQ tastings return Part 1: Podium & bourbon oak

SAQ Tasting session are back! I missed these Thursday rendez-vous. They were on summer hiatus and I’m not sure when they resumed. Our monopoly received a lot of interesting whiskys lately among them some good single cask shit, Kilchoman, Benromach, Edradour and then it appeared Kavalan…the first mention of it (that I’m aware of) in our stores. The line-up is somewhat limited considering the range of cask types the distillery offers. The options are Podium, Ex-Bourbon oak and two Solist CS releases, a bourbon and sherry cask respectively.

I have no experience trying any kavalan and I was mentally preparing to cajole a store clerk in order to get a small taste of whatever bottle they must have open in the back when low and behold this week’s in store tasting was all of them!

I’ll break up the reviews over two posts to avoid dragging it out. We’ll cover the standard line-up fist.

He was a good friend, may he rest in peace.

 

Kavalan Podium: NAS 46% abv.  virgin American oak and in-house refill casks

Nose: Sweet, bubble-gummy, definitely wine cask influences, you feel the dark berries, tree buds and the oak. The alcohol is a bit sharp at first, it opens up after time, floral, slight sulfur, a bit of ripe creamy tropical fruits, apple skins, milk chocolate and nuts, plum wine.

Palate: It is indeed sweet, ginger, the oak is present and there is a touch of worn leather, the texture is nice & viscous. Vanilla, cocoa powder a kind of sweet oak and green fruits, none of the jujube/tropical fruits from the nose.

The finish is mid length very drying with a fair amount of pepper, ginger and bitterness

Grade: B

It’s good but not earth shattering, the nose is beautiful just not very malt whisky like. In hindsight the cask play is an interesting way to provide some of what makes the Solist series so intriguing. At a fair price I would be tempted to have some of this around the house at 200$ no way.

Kavalan Ex-Bourbon Oak: NAS 46% abv. The name says it all.

Nose: It is kind of mute at first, coconut, a fair amount of varnish. jujubes, carnuba wax. I have to stick my nose in it to get something, creamy, rising pastries…not much else.

Palate: Bitter sweet, all on oaky vanilla, coconut & toffee. Sharp on the attack, it has a bit of charred wood, it’s that pleasant bourbon barrel thing, sweet and woody, liquid toffee.

The finish is light, more jujubes, wine gums a bit of creamy butter and coconut oils.

Grade B-

The nose was practically non existant and rather uninspiring, the palate had a sharpness that was off-putting and then it was all like T&A with not much content.

The boring opinions bit

In a quick browse of reviews of the lower strength offerings of Kavalan, they generally get pretty lukewarm reviews, the bourbon vatting is extremely disappointing. I would be tempted to say it shows the limitations of the hot climate/young whisky scheme but I am really smitten with the basic Amrut single malt which functions on similar principals but is in every way superior to this.

Franck

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kings County Distillery wine cask finished bourbon.

I visited Kings County Distillery in early March of this year, when I arrived at the gates of the site I stopped into the tasting room and was told I’d just missed the beginning of a tour. With 30 minutes or so to kill I was offered the chance to warm up, have a drink and bask in the cozy atmosphere.

The bar is well decorated and honestly stands up on it’s own as a nice place to hangout and have a few drinks. The menu has many original drinks all made with products from the distillery, while studying it my eyes fell upon a wine cask finished bourbon. I was definitely curious and since it’s not something I’m likely to see much of back home I jumped at the chance to sample it.

The color is coppery with a rosy hue.

Nose: The alcohol hits first with some varnish, freshly dumped whisky cask that wet oak smell, corn porridge, ginger and baking spices, rye bread, bubblegum.

Palate: Sweet arrival, fizzy, jammy fruits. Fresh baked Bundt cake, a touch of toffee or milk jam. There is some rawness from the alcohol.

The finish is long on caraway and cloves, creamy vanilla and dark berries.

It was an interesting experiment, I think bourbon’s sweetness and proclivity towards cherry and caramel is at times a better pairing for a wine barrique than Scotch, if you can stand the sweetness. I would love to see a nice aged rye get this treatment I suppose High West Yippie ki yay or Midwinter nights dram are what I might be looking for. That said it is a bit immature, the nose felt closed up and the palate too narrow, lots of solvent notes at the beginning as well. 

I’ve since come across an article where the new head blender of KCD is interviewed and he gives the specs on this whisky. They used a mix of 13 month old bourbons from quarter casks that were vatted into a 63 gallon barrel that previously held fortified Cabarnet franc. This was finished for 8 weeks of the summer in order to obtain maximum extraction of the flavour, it is sold exclusively at the distillery.

Franck