Whisky Reviews 2020–01–04: Benrinnes Heavy, but some friends and an excellent Bruichladdich
Clearing out a few almost-done bottles, I’ve been writing my impressions on r/scotch, but I’ll aggregate them here too for you.
Benrinnes 23 — Cadenhead Small Batch
I’m starting to get really fond of these square Cadenhead’s Small Batch releases ever after I went to their tasting class at 2018’s Whisky Fair Takao in Taiwan.
This Benrinnes was distilled 1995 and bottled 2019 after 23 years from 3 bourbon hogsheads, giving you 708 bottles. I am not sure if this was Taiwan exclusive or not, but I bought 3 of them there, as the price was just too good to pass up. Where can you get 23 year old cask strength juice for $133?
Tasting notes from the bottle read:
Nose: vanilla pods, a hint of dunnage warehouse and fresh fruit salad
Palate: Kiwi, candy floss and strawberry yoghurt
Finish: Citrus and hop notes, lemon peel, and honeycomb- Color: gold ingot
- Nose: lemon cake, petrichor, ethanol, some bananas
- Taste: citrus fruit tarts, sweet n’ sour gummies, oreo cookies, and cut grass
- Finish: some of the oak comes through at the end, long, honeyed green tea and vanilla
This is a really nice dram, and Cadenhead are really putting out a fantastic product at the price point. I would definitely buy this particular bottle again, and will continue buying Cadenhead’s releases as I see them.
Rating: 91/100
Glen Grant 1996 SMWS 9.158 “Heavy Weight Cake”
This Glen Grant is 22 years old, distilled April 23 1996 and aged in ex-bourbon for 20 years, then a first-fill ex-oloroso sherry hogshead for 3 years, one of 239 bottles. It is also my first review of Glen Grant, a speyside distillery I am not overly familiar with, but apparently (owned by Campari) is the #1 Scotch in Italy.
SMWS notes (it is still available to purchase in Japan btw) are:
From the outset we were entwined in a sticky concoction of dried orange skin, treacle and cherries. Spiced cake mix delivered cinnamon, nutmeg and mace with runny honey, chocolate fudge and tinned fruit cocktail. The viscous texture of linseed oil guided us
towards rye whiskey with caramelised parsnips and burnt toffee closely followed by the sweet fragrance of fuchsia. The palate continued as it began with chewy and rich fruit intermingling with chilli and ginger. Dates, prunes and figs introduced madeira cake and milk chocolate whilst the finish stood firmly in charred wood. After spending 20 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead this was transferred into a 1st fill oloroso hogshead for the remainder of its maturation.- Color: reddish-orange brown
- Nose: sandy dry sherry, fruit leather, candied orange peel, Pledge™ furniture polish, and cinnamon
- Taste: heavy sherry, cherries/oranges, vanilla sponge cake; a nice oily mouthfeel
- Finish: the cherry sticks, some leather; medium length
This reminds me a lot of Swedish-style Spiced Winter Wine (Glögg) in whisky form. I feel like I’ve got no idea what Glen Grant is about, because the Oloroso cask used must have been incredibly active! This is tasty, but not interesting enough for me to buy again.
Rating: 86/100
Imperial 23 Kingsbury
This is an IB Imperial of 167 bottles, 118 which were allocated to the domestic Japan market. Cask #50407 was matured in a hogshead.
I have not reviewed any Imperial yet, but I like it — it’s a rich, creamy, malty dram similar to Littlemill. Drinking with my TW friend we’ve tried a few, and I quite like them.
- Color: canary
- Nose: rotted spinach, egg custard, creme brulee, cough syrop
- Taste: high, round cream, a light grassiness, in the mid-range there’s peaches and some apple
- Finish: extremely creamy and long, deep warmth; apricot, and malty
Think like a super-creamy/slightly-fruity Longmorn and you’ve got Imperial, at least this one. I’m growing quite fond of the shuttered distillery, so if you have any recommendations for non-closed, and therefore, not super-expensive whiskies that have a similar profile, please let me know!
Rating: 92/100
Chivas Regal 18 Mizunara Cask
This is the Chivas blended 18 year old, finished in Mizunara casks. Bottle code LKGM3006. I am not expecting much from this, but the display at the airport was impressive.
- Color: e150a
- Nose: baked bread with salt, pine, some blackcurrant
- Taste: a nice medium-thick mouthfeel heavy on vanilla, with berries and Japanese oak
- Finish: Buttery toffee and resin; medium length
There’s nothing here to hate, this is actually a pretty well executed blend with a unique finish that does come through — a little bit. I would probably recommend this as a present over Blue Label, just because it’s at least trying a bit more.
Rating: 75/100
Signatory Cask Strength Bruichladdich 1990 24 Yr
Big lover of the Signatory Cask Strength line, with their weird awkward bottles and tubes. I’d totally happily pay $20 a bottle less if they could just use normal stock and a paper box….
So today we have the Bruichladdich 1990 aged 24 years; distilled 26/09/1990 and bottled 11/06/2015 cask no 160 of a sherry butt, bottle 176 of 467. Natural colour/non-filtered (of course).
- Color: dark brown
- Nose: pudding, plums and figs, stewed ham, burnt tyres; nosebleed
- Taste: wow! unexpected sweet sherry, campfire smoke, leather and jerky, jelly beans, a hint of cardamom spice
- Finish: all sherry, quite nice and long; a bit of pepperiness
This is excellent, and a perfect example of putting Islay whisky in non-bourbon casks.
Rating: 94/100
Benrinnes SMWS 36.134 14 Year
I bought this bottle in Taiwan, a first fill ex-bourbon cask 14 year old, 2002 vintage, and one of 189 bottles, because it was a Benrinnes, and I’ve started to like some of the SMWS bottlings.
SMWS label notes:
the nose evokes marzipan, vanilla, primroses, and yellow fruits, then hints of tobacco. The palate has silky sweet fruits and tongue-tingling heat.- Color: sunset
- Nose: alcohol, musty grape fungus, gingerbread icing
- Taste: vanilla up front, phenolic and a bit hot; it doesn’t open up, but you get a bit of oak, and some pineapple
- Finish: short, with a lot of sweetness; there’s a bit of spice on the end and a sense of butyric acid
This is a bit of a challenging bottle — it’s not bad, but it probably should have sat in its cask for a few more years. It lacks the classic Benrinnes profile I enjoy, and the spirit feels feisty still for aging.
Rating: 78/100
Benrinnes 21 “Old Speyside”
I bought this in Japan but I cannot remember where; it just says on the label it’s for The Whiskey Exchange — let’s try it. Definitely not a single cask, nor cask strength.
- Color: muddy puddle of straw
- Nose: orchids, pears, and earthy oak
- Taste: soft fuzzy icecream (the good airy kind), unripe grape skins, rich cream
- Finish: short and unsatisfying
This is a vatting of Benrinnes casks to sell to the market — a solid whisky, but there’s not much interesting here to taste.
Rating: 82/100
r/scotch Wardhead 1997 22 Yr
So this is the stickied teaspooned Glenfiddich IB for r/scotch from FineDrams, which I am excited to review! Refill hogshead Cask #40 distilled 20.02.1997 and bottled 07.10.2018.
- Color: amber
- Nose: barnyard horses and straw, anejo vino, dock ropes
- Taste: massive oak that blossems into fruity notes, acerbic dog hair, toluene on the palate; thistle
- Finish: sweet, buttery, long — maybe the best part
This is a rough Glenfiddich; there must be some kind of production pressure to run the tails wide. Drinking 10ml feels like I am already poisoning my body, somehow. With their regular releases they can blend away and age away the imperfections. The general paucity of single cask Glenfiddichs leads me to believe that their process is poor and they are just pumping out as much as they can for their OB blends.
Rating: 58/100
