This is the SMWS embassy in Seoul -- or consulate, really, since it is a partner bar. It is well out of the way in Gangnam, one of the most-affluent districts, a place seldom visited by tourists. Locals, on the other hand, are plentiful: there is a twenty-minute wait to get a table for two, a period during which I see many sipping cocktails or regaling guests with their private bottles (the bar offers a dramcierge service).
We are in soon enough. The staff give us a menu and explain there is no list for the single casks (my words, not theirs) because they rotate too quickly. We are encouraged to go see the shelves and select, with their help, if needed. Yay!
I swiftly scan the SMWS bottles. The guy asks me if I know the SMWS. I explain we have been members for many years. His reaction suggests he does not hear that very often.
39.303 14yo 2009/2024 Champagne cupcakes (56.1%, The Artisanal Spirits Company for SMWS Society Cask In celebration of Korea's diverse cities and unique gastronomic culture imported by FJ Korea, 1st Fill PX ex-Bodega Barrique, 242b)
Nose: it has a similarity with
117.3 in that it has cut fruits and metal. Oh! it is, of course, not at all in the same league. It is a remote resemblance. Sultanas appear shortly thereafter. The second nose has perhaps a few flowers, but it remains a fruity, metallic number.
Mouth: fruity and metallic here too, it displays some horsepower, but it is not a brute. Mostly a lovely fruity affair. The second sip is more drying, a little sandy, if not gritty.
Finish: long and fruity. The sultanas from earlier welcome currants and prunes. The whole turns more purple at second gulp, then fresher: cut green grapes, all of a sudden.
Comment: we get the last full dram of the bottle and are treated to the last few drops as a bonus. Only then do I realise it is bottling .303. Totes fortuitous.
Score: 7/10
39.304 12yo 2011/2024 Pâtisserie next to a flower shop (61.7%, The Artisanal Spirits Company SMWS Society Cask In celebration of Korea's diverse cities and unique gastronomic culture imported by FJ Korea, 1st Fill ex-Bourbon Barrel, 215b)
Nose: it is a similar story to the dram before it, bursting with fruits and metal, but also herbs, this time -- oregano and tarragon. At a push, one may detect shoe polish or crayon shavings. The second nose confirms crayons and adds watercolour.
Mouth: well, it is even juicier than its sibling, despite the higher ABV. There is a dash of hot cocoa poured on warm papaya and mango cubes. Yes, really. Chewing adds a soft vegetal bitterness, yet it is hardly worth crying about.
Finish: long and fruity, it has fruit turnovers, hot mango slices, hot papaya cubes, hot choux dough, lush and comforting. It has the lingering bitter-sweetness of milk coffee.
Comment: even better.
Score: 8/10
As we try these beauties, the two girls next to us look intently in our direction. They clearly want to understand what it is that we are drinking. Since I am a gentleman (sometimes), I show them the bottles and explain the concept of the SMWS. The youngest is shocked: she lives around the corner, this is her local and she has never heard what this long nose has to say. I let her try 39.304, which she ends up polishing in a couple of sips. Serves me well. Ha! Ha!
They become very talkative, proving once and for all that alcohol is the ultimate social lubricant. She is local, the other is her mother, and they are celebrating the latter's birthday in this here bar. We move from, "What brings you to Korea" to, "I studied at NYU" in no time, but it still surprises me how quickly the conversation goes from, "Not many foreigners come to this part of town" to, "Are you interested in K-beauty?" and, "I do laser-lifting regularly." The best part is perhaps when the mother starts dancing. Judging by the distraught look on the staff's faces, they find it much weirder than I do. Ha! Ha!
We (she) talk a lot about "Korean moms." Social status seem to dictate they send their children to study in the States and pursue certain careers. How the country functions when everyone is trying to do one of two jobs is a question for another day.
tOMoH: "The real questions are: piano or violin? (Violin.) Law or medicine? (Neither; cannot remember what she studied and she emphasises the party aspect of her NYU days. She now works in cryptocurrency.)"
Glen Scotia 5yo 2016/2022 (57.7%, OB Exclusive Cask in Commemoration of the 3rd Anniversary of Tea and Proof, First Fill Bordeaux Red Wine Hogshead, C#21/756-10, 283b)
Nose: sweet, syrupy, it has lots of grapes, not too dark, but not green either (Red Muscat comes to mind). There is a whiff of tobacco in the back.
Mouth: super thick, it has honey-glazed almonds, stewed marmalade, and nuts simmering in it. Chewing releases some wood. we have wood dust and decayed wood at second sip. It is elegant and not at all a decrepit number.
Finish: lichen-covered wood staves dominate an otherwise liqueur-like finish, sweet, yet robust and a trifle mineral. It has nut liqueur at second sip, and a growing bitterness.
Comment: this is a sister cask of
the one we had in 2023. Not sure why Korea got so many Glen Scotia, but this is another good one.
Score: 8/10
An Orkney Distillery 14yo 2008/2022 (63.6%, WhiskyNAVI Exclusive Bottling for Bar Purple label imported by Young Spirit, First Fill Amontillado Octave Cask Finish, C#122103)
Nose: grilled steak, then the wooden board the steak was cut on. Perhaps this has a whisper of smoke from burning hay at second nose too.
Mouth: lovely leather, polished sofas, soft-leather shoes and dried Medjool dates. It is a bit drying at second sip, peppery, with a bold alcohol kick.
Finish: huge, dry, earthy and fruity. Prunes, dates, raisins. It is not farm-y in the slightest, compared to
the one from this afternoon. It has a lick of smoke, on the other hand.
Comment: one of a series of four Orkney whiskies with four different Sherry maturation, bottled by WhiskyNAVI for four different bars in Seoul. One can only buy all four bottles in one lot. This was the staff's pick of the four. I chose before they told me that, but I agree with them that it is good.
Score: 8/10
The rapport with the two girls next to us is now so relaxed that I tell the youngest that, if we do not catch the last train, we will have to stay at hers for the night. She casually replies we are welcome to.
We will make our train, though. tOMoH does not sleep at strangers' on the first night!
Before that, however, the bar manager treats us to another dram.
The GlenAllachie15yo 2007/2023 (60%, OB Single Cask to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Tea & Proof, PX Hogshead, C#6958, 358b)
Nose: desert-dirt dry, it has tanned leather and dried-as-rock blackberry jam.
Mouth: softer and more mellow than anticipated, with prunes, dried figs and dried cranberries.
Finish: long, comforting, it has more blackberry jam, now supplemented with blackcurrant jelly, both less dry than on the nose.
Comment: how cool to try yet another exclusivity! And it pleases even this non-fan of The GlenAllachie (the brand, not the distillery). Stunningly, the back label gives a Belgian address for The GlenAllachie Distillers Co. Limited.
Score: 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, 바텐더 박성민)
Neat little place full of interesting goodies and a nice vibe. My only regret is that we talked with the girls so much we had to renounce a third flight.
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Hidden at our feet, a plethora of bottles of Azul.
JS's favourite tequila since Limburg.
We see it everywhere! |
Ben Nevis 1970/1988 (46%, Brae Dean Int. for Moon Import The Sea, Sherry Butt, C#2913, 360b, b#267): nose: a marvellous combination of brown shoe polish applied onto soft-leather moccasins, hazelnut spread and light cigars (Laguito No. 3, perhaps, or Carlotta). It has a dirty, funky background, something I did not notice (as much) in previous encounters (here and here), but it is a Ben Nevis, so it is not really surprising. Walnut spread and chestnut purée gradually replace the hazelnut and, at the same time, a soft metallic touch emerges. It is somehow reminiscent of that unmistakable smell of a new motherboard wrapped in an anti-static plastic bag. Anyone who has ever assembled a desktop from individual parts will know. Finally, it peddles coffee, ashes in the desk ashtray and black liquorice rolls. Fun! The second nose pumps coffee and caramel into the mix, or an enticing mocha custard. Take it from someone who is not a fan of mocha. There is something else in the back that may be caramelised orange slices. It adds a gentle fruitiness that is most welcome. Mouth: mellow and sweet, it feels like chewy sweets such as Gummy Sweet Cherries or Cola Bottles. Chewing adds a mild sting (ginger or stem ginger), yet it fans the Cola-Bottle flames most of all. It is at once spicy and syrupy, which confirms the stem-ginger note, but has so much more to tell: milk coffee, Mokatine, caramel, sweet and a little bitter. It has more wood than honey, yet that wood, despite its bitterness, is undeniably sweet too -- and that is not plain resin. Maybe Gocce Pino filling applied on clustered splinters? The second sip is thinner for a second, then turns into thick marmalade sprinkled with mocha grounds. The alcohol bite fleetingly hints at warm zinc or galvanised iron, or a hot Moka tin pot. It is breakfast-y, in any case: marmalade, custard, mocha. Finish: long, it glows heat and conifer goodies (resin, bark) as well as Mokatine and caramel coffee. Considering how coating and syrupy this is, it would be tempting to call stem ginger again, but there is none of the spicy heat that ginger provides. Instead, it is caramel coffee spilled onto cypress shelves. The second gulp opens with candied citrus (bergamot, bitter orange), chewy and vegetal as if the foliage had been candied too. That, of course, means a gentle bitterness to balance what could otherwise become overly sweet. We find mocha grounds at the death, or grated mocha chocolate. I want to say gunpowder tea, but it is not that bitter, and it is earthier. It is staggeringly good, that is for sure. 9/10
