It has always bothered me, this holiday. It is the celebration of the French-speaking community of Belgium, not of the French living in Belgium!
Invergordon 37yo 1972/2009 (46.6%, Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask, Bourbon Barrel CC#60478/63675, 259b, b#236): nose: tea-time custard-cream biscuits, meaning a mix of sweetness and salty crunchiness. Sweet-and-salty popcorn, cooked swedes, sweetened cereals. Fruits soon join, with glazed apples and soft pears leading the march, bringing ripe pineapple and papaya in their wake. Fruity beer, orangeade, crystallised pomelo segments, steamed bananas and marmalade. The more one noses it, the fruitier it seems to become, too. Unexpectedly, the fruits are mostly yellow and exotic, though. At this point, no trace of the trademark blackcurrant. That might still come... Later on, caramelised-onion relish shows up, as well as some kind of oil that I refuse to call palm, yet might just be that. Mouth: soft, sweet and velvety, the palate sees a similar influx of fruits -- steamed bananas, glazed apples, pears (unripe, this time), softly acidic pineapple, even papaya. This time, in the back of the throat, blackcurrant appears, overshadowing dried raspberry slices and wood varnish. The wood varnish morphs into bold walnut stain, though it is balanced by lovely fruit, and never becomes invading. Rum toft, stewed rhubarb, and some sort of fruit drops I cannot seem to place. Finish: at this ideal strength (for me), it has squashed blackcurrant to supplement steamed banana, baked pineapple cubes and honey-glazed apples. It is sweet, fruity and comforting. with a very subtle bitterness that makes me think of almond liqueur. Almost none of the wood varnish subsists, nor does the walnut stain. The palm oil has also all but disappeared to leave only that glorious Invergordon fruit. Love it! 8/10 (Thanks PS and JS)
Garnheath 27yo 1972/2000 (59.4%, Signatory Vintage Silent Stills, C#386516, 190b, b#182, 00/81): I promised a couple of days ago that I would review this. Now is as good a time as any. This is the only grain whisky in this amazing collection, as far as I know. Nose: full-on cereal, at first, with chaff, baked potatoes and boiled corn. It only takes a second sniff to find more, however: fresh paint, shrinkwrap (vinyl freaks know what I am talking about), pine essence, but also rum toft, banana rum, stewed mixed peel and lime-juice-sprinkled pineapple chunks. Perhaps there is a vague warm-metal impression too, not unlike a lukewarm radiator from the 1970s -- the technology is very different, these days, and they do not feel (or smell) the same way, anymore. The shrinkwrap / cellophane grows in intensity, and despite the fruit, the straight nose is solvent-driven and intimidating. With water, only cellophane remains, though it is being made, this time: a warm and amorphous goo being stretched into elongated plastic film. Fresh paint appears too, yet the nose as a whole seems less distinct. Mouth: fruitier than expected, the palate is quickly overrun by powerful alcohol, which, without being a nuisance, is rather anaesthetising indeed. Once the numbness subsides and the taste buds come back to life, we find tangerine peels, Seville-orange marmalade, waxy mandarin peel, stewed mixed peel again, yet also poultry food, digestive biscuits and hot spreading honey. A metallic note goes hand in hand with solvents (still that cellophane), and the tip of the tongue feels as if licking citric powder cut with American cream soda. Entertaining. Water makes the palate more tolerable, in terms of strength. Minty lozenges, lemon-and-banana drops and softer marmalade. Finish: huge, obviously (it is 59.4%, after all), long and powerful, it warms up a true man's soul like a Kipling novel (Victorian-England propaganda aside). The various citrus peels are well represented, almost sparkling like a lemonade. The finish combines bitterness and acidity, as if lime and pomelo peels has been mixed with Alka-Seltzer, but -- hey! It works. I detect virtually no wood, today, even though the Death comes with crushed bay leaves, which brings additional, gentle-but-spicy bitterness for good measure. With water, the finish loses its bitterness almost entirely, leaving but the citric acidity to be enjoyed. Oh! and it is dialled down with a drop of blackcurrant juice to boot. What a dram! 8/10
G1.7 19yo d.1990 Flamed Christmas pudding (62.4%, SMWS Society Single Cask, Refill ex-Sherry Butt, 506b): sherry-matured grain whiskies do not roam the streets, as the Belgians say in French. I remember an old Girvan bottled by The Whisky Agency that was very good. Let us see this one... Nose: well, it is very bready, with overly-baked bread crust, fluffy bread slices, English muffins, prior to toasting, mashed potatoes and corn (corn bread?) Sweeter notes come up, after a moment -- mead, glycerine, baking shortbread and, maybe, nuts. Suddenly, a drinks cabinet appears out of nowhere, with brandy (a bit bland, somehow -- blandy?), white Port, rum. A more industrial side then rocks up, nowhere near heady industrial glue, but it does have a quaint, synthetic quality to it. Perhaps paint? Sweet fruit paste unfolds too, chemical, if that makes sense. After the first sip, toasted aromas reach the nostrils, betraying the sherry cask at last: coffee grounds, roasted malt and a pinch of earth. H₂O accentuates the coffee feel, though it also adds lychee to the mix -- very subtle, mind. Mouth: peachy and thin, the mouth starts soft and plateaus on the low side of powerful, considering the strength. Lots of pine-y paint, here, mingling with cooked fruits (baked apple, stewed rhubarb and unidentified jams) and chlorophyll-flavoured chewing gum. One would be hard pressed to detect any sherry influence, at this stage. The second sip brings out the toasts, just as it did on the nose, yet it remains subtle. A pinch of coffee grounds and some malt. Water turns it softer, and it seems to welcome sweet-cabbage relish (not kimchi) and more lychee. Finish: the bread comes back, then marmalade, then a mix of chocolate and coffee (chococino), finally revealing the influence of the cask. It all feels balanced and pleasant, which, once again, is surprising, at this relatively high ABV. The finish is long and breakfast-like, with its bread, coffee and chocolate. In the medium run, it even sees berries (elderberry, blueberry, blackcurrant), reinforcing that breakfast-y impression. Oddly enough, the alcohol bite seems stronger with water. Other than that, it has a sweeter touch to accompany the coffee grounds. Nice, all in all. 7/10 (Thanks for the sample, PS)
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