SmokyBeast

July 15, 2014

Review: Smooth Ambler 8-Year Rye - Private Barrel Program of the Year

The hottest private barrel program this year is Smooth Ambler's Old Scout Rye. John Little and company have been dipping into their stash of LDI (Lawrenceburg Distillers, Indiana) rye and bottling eight year cask strength goodness for liquor outfits around the country. These brilliant picks have been bottled for spots around the country like Astor Wines in New York, Kenwood Liquors in Chicago, and Red Dog Wine & Spirits in Nashville. Basically anyone who's anyone has their own barrel of Smooth Ambler by now.

8-Year Single Barrel Cask Strength Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye, 63.4% ABV

What Are Private Barrels?

We've been getting this question a lot lately, so here's a quick summary about private barrels. Whiskey brands like Smooth Ambler, Four Roses, Willett, High West, Buffalo Trace, and Jefferson's distribute to retailers in a few different ways. They sell cases of their standard bottles, for example Four Roses Small Batch or Buffalo Trace Bourbon. They also sell limited release bottles which are allocated, like Four Roses 125th Anniversary and Buffalo Trace Antique Collection - of which stores would be lucky to get five or six bottles.

Another option for retail stores is to buy a whole barrel of whiskey. Typically when a store buys a barrel, they're not literally purchasing a barrel full of whiskey. In other words there's no man with a donkey cart rolling up and dropping a full barrel on their stoop. The seller still takes care of the bottling, delivering cases of bottles to the store. They will often use a custom label denoting who's chosen the barrel. A barrel is anywhere from 100-250 bottles, so the store gets a big shipment of custom bottles from their private barrel. Here are various private barrel labels of Smooth Ambler:

Kenwood Liquors and other private barrel picks (photo: Josh Nibert Photography)

In addition to liquor stores, various whiskey clubs, restaurants, and bars can also participate in the private barrel program. SmokyBeast hasn't (yet!) gotten to choose our own barrel, but it sounds like a fun task. You either visit the producer or receive barrel pick samples in the mail. Then you taste your way through all the available barrels until you find your ideal choice. There are sometimes options of different proofs (cask strength vs standard proof), ages, recipes, and different finishes (whiskey that completed its aging in a port or sherry cask). Liquor stores will sometimes request to keep the empty barrel for display purposes.

Private Barrel Display at Healthy Spirits

Much like a great butcher will become famous for selecting the best cuts of meat, barrel selection is also an art form. There are huge differences in barrels from the same distillery. Some would say that the warehouse and barrel of a particular whiskey you're drinking is even more important than the age or the recipe. You may also notice that very premium whiskies like Van Winkle, BTAC, or Willett can be the same age and from the same distillery as much cheaper bottles. What is the difference? Most likely proof and barrel selection... We've done extensive "research" into drinking different Willett private barrels, and we can verify that there are gems of barrels that have been chosen by the wise zen master barrel pickers. For this reason, private barrel programs become very hot, and when one shop's barrel is deemed to be very good, everyone wants to choose a barrel from that brand.

Astor Wines Smooth Ambler Private Barrel

One final note, we've been using words like "brand" and "producer" instead of "distillery" because many of these companies are NDPs (non-distiller producers). In other words the barrels being selected were not distilled by Smooth Ambler or High West, they were sourced by them from one of the big distilleries. In Smooth Ambler's case this is Lawrenceburg Distillers Indiana. So in effect, they've been selected from a small subset of barrels that were already chosen via a similar process on a much larger scale.

Appalachian Whiskey Society Private Barrel (photo: Josh Nibert Photography)

This year's private Smooth Ambler barrel from Kenwood Liquors seems to have set the trend, and now stores are hot on Smooth Ambler picks. While these private barrels won't reach the lunatic collectibility of the uber-aged Willett and Van Winkle private barrels, they are some of the best ryes to come out this year. With a very reasonable price point ($45-$65 or so) there are a lot of people stocking up on these at the moment.

Tasting Notes - Smooth Ambler 8 Year Rye Single Barrel 63.4%

Nose: Sweet buttered popcorn, mint, pops of vanilla, bbq sauce, oak, and a tiny hint of pickle brine.

Palate: Very drinkable, staying in the sweet category with mocha/cocoa, a little citrus, some hot chiles, oak & char.

Finish: Solid spirit warmth, a little more char/smoke, sweets and wood.

Line of Smooth Ambler Whiskies (photo: Josh Nibert Photography)

Review

Just about everything Smooth Ambler has put out is pretty good. The 7-year Old Scout Rye, and the 10-year Old Scout Bourbon are both worth picking up. Their former releases of 11, 14, and 19-year Very Old Scout bottles were awesome. But if you can get your hands on any of these cask strength private barrels, pull the trigger without hesitation. Hopefully the success of the first run of this program will mean more honey barrel of SAOS coming soon!

It looks like San Francisco Wine Trading Company has a private Smooth Ambler barrel in stock now. If you're interested, don't wait!

Cheers/SB

July 7, 2014

Review: Willett Small Batch 2-Year Rye, Willett 5-Year Rye - More Willett! More more more!!!

Ok so we're admittedly smitten with Willett. We struck gold with the 25-Year Rye. LeNell's Red Hook was by far the greatest rye we'd ever tasted. We got a tasting with private barrel legend Doug Philips. Even the Willett 4-year (sourced Indiana rye) won our best buy of 2012, for being an awesome barrel of cask strength goodness at under $40.

A couple of months ago we got a rare treat: a personal tour of Willett Distillery from Drew Kulsveen, master distiller. Drew proudly poured us the first original Willett-distilled whiskey in over forty years. Drilling right into the barrel to give us a taste, Drew mentioned in passing "this stuff is just a few months shy of being 'straight.'" Of course he was referring to the regulations for straight rye whiskey, which must be aged for at least two years in new charred oak barrels.

Well it's a few months later and we were lucky enough to get our hands on some of the new 100% Willett-distilled Family Estate Small Batch Rye. As a fitting pairing, we put it next to the new Willett 5-Year rye, which is likely a similar batch as the 4-year (LDI-sourced) rye only a year older.

The new Small Batch Rye on the left, and the 5-Year on the right

New Look

We notice a few immediate differences. Willett has moved away from the handwritten labels and the beautiful hand-dipped wax seals and now has typed ABV and proof and a foil seal. This is a sad turn of events. Tearing through the wax was a beloved moment as you first opened a new bottle of Willett and got to nose what was inside. Also the assorted wax colors just somehow added to the mystery and collectibility. But hey, if this means that they're going to produce a lot more Willett and it's just prohibitively difficult to wax-dip each one, then that's a welcome development. We also notice that they've moved to a synthetic cork, so perhaps there's some issue with wax-dipping here. Anyway we'll sure miss the wonderful wax tops, but it's still a gorgeous presentation. Thankfully they haven't messed with the classic WFE bottle design.

Old wax tops on the left and right, the new foil top in the middle.

Also the bottle and barrel aren't numbered. Presumably a small batch can't be numbered, since it doesn't come from a single barrel. However we've noticed that some of the new single barrels are also missing bottle numbers, which is a shame. It doesn't really matter, but numbering the bottles and yield of a particular barrel is a strong sign of integrity for you as the consumer and we hope they continue to do it.

The 5-Year Label. Notice the hand-written age, ABV, proof, and barrel number.

5-Year Rye Tasting Notes

Nose: Solid big punchy rye nose with lots of cracking spice, some char, a hint of vanilla and mint.

Palate: The taste confirms that this is a brother of the 4-year. It's just a solid rye, very much in the zone for what a rye should be and fitting with a top LDI barrel pick. Very drinkable, particularly at the high 110 proof.

Finish: Not a particularly memorable finish, but again it's very smooth and drinkable with this much ABV and flavor.

The small batch label. Moving to the typed/printed ABV & proof.

2-Year Small Batch Rye Tasting Notes

Nose: The nose is sharp. A big burst of mint, some tree bark, char, and shoe leather. Some creaminess, like vanilla yogurt. But it's definitely a "trebly" nose - meaning not a ton of depth and richness, and a lot of heat & spice in the top of the nose.

Palate: Wow! Don't let that nose fool you, it will get better over time as it picks up the wood. But what they did with the taste is amazing. Sweet with a lot of mint, some tea leaves, and butterscotch. Very fresh tasting and floral. There's a maturity that shouldn't be here at two years, and a complexity of flavor that is very pleasantly surprising.

Finish: Clean finish with a little throat burn but a good balance of sweets, spice, and a little wood.

The 5-Year, left, showing Indiana provenance and hand written bottle/yield; Small batch on right.

The Straight Rye Skinny

Ok first of all it's difficult to be impartial once you've visited a place, met the great people who are involved, tasted the spirit before it's even ready for the bottle, and feel very connected to the story. But we think that this new Willett product will be reviewed very highly even by folks who aren't as biased as us. With so many brands sourcing from LDI, it's nice to taste something that's obviously a completely different animal.

The Family Estate Small Batch is a remarkable achievement for Willett. It has a lot of fresh flavors that speak to great care with the recipe and distillation process. But it also has a richness that's striking considering its age. We prefer it to the 5-year at less than half the age. Also, for a small private operation using local ingredients, the price point of around $40/bottle is right where it should be. We see a lot of small "craft" distillers trying to come to market with spirits that don't taste nearly this good and are priced up at $60 or $70. While we prefer it neat, at this price you won't feel guilty adding an ice cube or making a truly exceptional cocktail if that's your thing.

Those 20+ year bad boys that we've been lucky enough to taste are still the stuff of dreams. But granted that they're going for impossible four-digit figures, and that's if you're lucky enough to find them, we're thrilled to see some great and reasonable drinkers coming out of the new Wileltt. You'd be lucky to pick up a bottle of this first Small Batch Rye.

Cheers/SB

July 1, 2014

Review: The Arran Malt Machrie Moor

Well we've had a few real highlights in recent weeks. The crazy Willett tasting, some great tastes at Jewbilee, our Battle of the Beasts smoke-a-thon... It's been a good run. Sadly this week we've got something of a dud. Consider it a warning for you peat-heads out there that might be looking for something new.

The Arran Malt Machrie Moor

The Arran Distillery was founded in 1995 and is the only whisky operation on the Isle of Arran. Arran is an island directly west of Islay, but separated from the Hebrides by the Kintyre Peninsula (where the Cambeltown region is located). One interesting thing about Arran is that part of the operation is a private barrel program where you as a consumer can own your own cask while it ages in their warehouses.

Today we're trying Machrie Moor, their peated expression. Here's what they have to say about it:

"The Peated Arran. Lightly peated at 20ppm, this mythical malt has proved a popular addition to the Arran range. On the west coast of the Isle of Arran lies a windswept and mystical peat bog called Machrie Moor. Bronze Age stone circles and standing stones are strewn across its barren, undulating terrain. One of the stone circles is known as Fingal’s Cauldron Seat, where sits a stone with a carved hole. The legendary warrior giant Fingal is said to have tethered his favourite dog Bran to this stone. This peated expression of the Arran Single Malt perfectly captures the rugged beauty and lore of the landscape. Unleash the legend that is Machrie Moor."

Tasting Notes

Nose: Something here immediately turns us off. It's rubbery, and has something like rubber cement or white out mixed with a thick putrid greenhouse thing going on. Like palm fronds (fronds?) There is a tiny hint of peat, but not anything that would make us think this was the "peated" expression.

Palate: It's consistent with the nose, overly oily without much flavor or smoke to back it up. It's very white-oak tasting without much char. Sort of like the opposite that we look for in a new beast...

Finish: Unremarkable. Where's the smoke? This is milder than many malts that don't even claim to be peated.

Review: We can't say this malt is "bad". It is quite smooth. But it's not for us. Decidedly, not for us. Something is really weird here. There's like this vegetal oily thing going on. Have you ever had hearts of palm from a salad bar or a can that have sat around too long and they're all gross and white and mushy. That's kind of like this whisky.

Review

It's a "C-" from SmokyBeast. Look elsewhere if you're a peat lover. If you're really looking for a lightly peated malt, you're probably better off with something like a Talisker or Highland Park. Maybe go with a Bunnahabhain or Bowmore. This one is off-putting. Are there any Machrie Moor lovers out there? We'd love to hear from you and maybe there's an element to this one that we're missing.

Cheers/SB

June 26, 2014

Review: LeNell's Red Hook Rye, Bitter Truth Rye, Michter's 20 Year, Van Winkle Lawrenceburg

That's how this trip started. We were taking a happy hour break from a whiskey show... Because sometimes you need to take a break from drinking and just have a few drinks. That's when our new acquaintance started laying down the law.

"As your attorney I advise you to drink some insanely rare Willett rye."

"You're not my attorney."

"Ok pay me one dollar."

"Here."

"Ok, now I'm your attorney. Come on, my office isn't far from here."

Beast Masters III: Beast Master, Esquire, Attorney-at-Law

The view didn't suck.

No, not that view.

Nope, not that one either...

(Yes, that's an A.H. Hirsch "red wax", and a private barrel VWFRR 18 Year hiding near that back)

Getting warmer, but still no...

That's the one!

The Rarest of the Rare

You may remember that we're sort of obsessed with Willett. We got a private tour of their distillery from Drew, the master distiller. We found their Family Estate 25-Year Single Barrel Rye to be some of the best liquor we'd ever tasted. We sat down with Doug Phillips whose legendary Willett private barrels are so collectible, they have been responsible for several coups d'état in third world countries. But there was one rare beast that had yet alluded our hunt...

LeNell

LeNell's Red Hook Rye

LeNell's Red Hook Rye is a private Willett barrel chosen by liquor store owner Tonya LeNell Smothers who owned & operated LeNell's Ltd. in Red Hook Brooklyn from 2003 to 2009. She met with Drew in Kentucky and chose one of the first and now most famous barrels of rye. LeNell's Ltd lost their lease in 2009 and had to close shop. Her and her husband are now working on a new location in her home town of Alabama.

Red Hook Rye is now the rarest of the rare, with a second market value in the thousands. It's been sort of a dream of ours to try it. Who knew that we just had to pick the right lawyer?

LeNell's Red Hook Rye front & back, Barrel #1 Bottle 88/228

On The Essence of Rye

"The truth of being is essence... Being is in and for itself, it does not stop at the immediate and its determinations, but penetrates it on the supposition that behind this being there is something else, something other than being itself, that this background constitutes the truth of being." - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel from Science of Logic, 1816

Hegel's concept of the "essence" of a thing is a deep, preexisting, overarching group of ideal attributes. It's something that is never completed defined, but rather is revealed through experience and commonality, perhaps more clearly expressed through art than science.

Just as Hegel spent most of his life trying to understand and explain the concept of essence, it's difficult to put your finger on the uniqueness of rye. Take something like single malt scotch. There are so many kinds of wonderful scotch. From young fierce beasts to old delicate gems, from big sweet sherry bombs to biting peaters, from salty island drams to woody Speyside malts, scotch has many ideal forms. Even with something like bourbon, you've got ethereal beauties like A.H. Hirsch and ball-kicker powerhouses like George T. Stagg, both gorgeous in their own right.

But rye (and we're talking about Kentucky rye of course) all strives for the same perfect essence. The predetermined ideal concept of rye is a big, rich, and wonderful sensation with waves of vanilla, brown sugar, molasses, deep oak, char, a sharp kick of spice, cocoa, and little hints of candied citrus all wrapped up in a big powerful and clean spirit.

Rather than trying to give tasting notes on LeNell's we'll just say that it comes the closest to that rye essence of any bottle we've tasted so far. Even the Willett 25-Year in hindsight isn't quite there. It's got a little bitterness, just something that's not quite on target, now that we understand better what exactly the target is.

Getting Lonely

"We don't want that Willett to get lonely," our counsel says as he extracts a sister bottle from the cabinet. Unsatisfied with only one utterly impossible whiskey, he pairs the Red Hood Rye with another super-rare Willett called "Bitter Truth." Bitter Truth is a German outfit founded by Munich bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck. Their main bag is producing their own bitters and contributing to the cocktail scene, but they also participated in the early days of the Willett private barrel program. Bitter Truth is perhaps not *quite* as collectible as LeNell's, but it's definitely way way up on the dusty hunter dinosaur list. Never to be found again. If you see it, buy it, hide it under your bed, and don't tell anyone about it.

Bitter Truth is utterly amazing as well. It's sweeter than Red Hook Rye with perhaps a touch less warmth and spice. We give LeNell's the winning grade here, but they're both extraordinary.

"Well it's almost time to start drinking again."

"Damn, I guess we have to go back to that whiskey show don't we?" We'd already forgotten all about the whiskey show and were concocting plans to install a Costanza-esque bed under our new lawyer's desk so that we could grow old here with his whiskey collection.

"Well, I guess we have time for a couple of bourbons before we go," he says.

"Um... Ok."

Michter's 20 Year Bourbon 2014 Release

The 2013 Michter's 20 Year blew us away, and this 2014 release may be even better. Deviously rich and buttery with a thick mouth feel and all that great sweet and powerful bourbon goodness, we probably would have to throw caution to the wind and shell out the $500 price tag on one of these if we saw it in the wild.

Dug's & Willy's Willett 17-Year Bourbon

Who are we to turn down a second chance at Dug'z & Willy'z Willett bourbon?? The second taste was much like the first, unforgettable. That kind funky skunky finish is back and we can't get enough.

Van Winkle 'Lot B' Lawrenceburg

From the pre-Buffalo Trace days, when Julian was bottling Van Winkle from old Stitzel-Weller stock and perhaps other stashes of older "glut" bourbon, the Lawrenceburg Van Winkle absolutely puts the current stuff to shame. The modern releases of Lot B are still very fine bourbon, but this has a richness and flavor that's in a completely different league.

Well that puts a close on perhaps the most epic, and by far the most spontaneous, Beast Master tasting to date. Now, what can we do to end up back in our lawyer's office?? Hm....

June 19, 2014

Jewbilation!

So for those of you who still haven't heard the story... The yearly WhiskeyFest traditionally lands on a Friday night. This poses a big problem for our beast-loving brothers who happen to be religious Jews. So a couple of enterprising young men, Joshua Hatton and Jason Johnstone-Yellin (who also run the malt society Single Cask Nation) produce an annual alternative on a Tuesday/Wednesday night called Whisky Jewbilee. We found last year's to be a very nice combination of an intimate setting, good selection of vendors, and tasteful event planning, so we were excited to come back this year. Here are some of the highlights.

Blend Baby Blend!

Blending Class with David Perkins of High West

Before the festivities commenced in the evening, there was a blending class taught by David Perkins of High West Distillery. This was a very cool and unique opportunity to try your own hand at blending three different spirits into your own custom product. The whiskies provided were a 12 year old "light whiskey" (light whiskey aka grain whiskey is 95% corn aged in refill barrels), an 8 year bourbon (75% corn mashbill) and a 6 year rye (95% rye). Though we hadn't spent much time with light whiskey, David explained that almost all blended whiskies use this ingredient including most Canadian, American, and blended scotch whiskies. After sampling all of them neat, the light whiskey was very strong, with a sweet jelly bean buttered popcorn thing going on. The bourbon was sort of a medium body. The rye was our favorite with a nice char and vanilla notes. David was very high on the light whiskey and some of the class came up with pretty nice blends using predominantly light. We ended up with our mix: 40 parts rye, 19 parts bourbon, 1 part light whiskey. (Not really that much of a blend, but still we dug it). But it was more the process than the final result and the lesson was that even tiny variations in ratios and ingredients can make a huge difference in the final product. We left with a new appreciation for the finesse that folks like High West put into blending spirits.

Who are these badasses?

We caught up with David later on at his booth for some High West product. The Midwinter Night's Dram is their new limited edition port barrel-finished rye whiskey. It is AWESOME! Very nice way to start the show indeed. Here are the details:

"Blend of straight rye whiskeys, finished in port and French oak barrels. Proof: 98.6 ͦ Mashbill: 6-year old straight rye whiskey: 95% rye and 5% barley malt. The 16-year old straight rye: 80% rye, 10% corn, 10% barley malt."

Midwinter Night's Dram

A lot of big rye warmth, with the maturity of the 16-year shining through and adding depth, but still some very bold spicy flavors. And the sweetness of the port influence subtle... present but not overpowering. Really a big surprise how much we dug this one.

New Brand Winner of the Night

Westland Single Malt Whiskey

We'd never heard of these guys before, but their product is definitely worth trying. Our friend Ari Susskind dragged us over to the booth saying "you have to try this stuff, it's like fresh mint right off the farm." They're definitely on to something here, it was a very unique flavor with a lot of character.

Un-Peated Malt of the Night

Glengoyne 21-Year

Glengoyne does this "HIghland distilled, Lowland matured" thing and we have to say that their 21-year was a beautiful example of a sweet and clean un-peated malt with a healthy sherry influence. Lots of cola flavors and berries and sweet stone fruits and chocolates. This is a "can't go wrong" gift for someone who loves Macallan or Glenlivet and wants to try something a little different.

Bourbon(s) of the Night

Elijah Craig 23 Year

Earlier this year at WhiskyLive, Heaven Hill stole the show in the bourbon category with a private barrel Elijah Craig 18-year and the "devil's proof" Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (66.6%). Well this time again the Heaven Hill gang came out swinging for the fences with this 23-year Single Barrel and the new release of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. Though this show seemed to favor malts over bourbon, the EC23 still bested a pretty healthy lineup of other bourbons and we'd say it was the tastiest at the show. And again, for price, you just can't beat the wildly good ECBP...

ECBP

Some folks have been saying that each successive dump of ECBP has been getting worse. We think this is hooey, they're all very good with only very minor differences. This newest fifth release at 134.8 proof is a killer bourbon, and absolutely can't be beat in the $50 price range (if you can find it!!).

Beast of the Night

In terms of a palate-crushing smoky beast winner, our friends at Bruichladdich came in super hot with Octomore 6.1. Peated to a mind-altering 167 ppm, we could smell this tasting table from across the room. The thing about Octomore is that it's not just a pure smoke bomb, it's really so awesome and drinkable at the same time!

Yo Joe!

Our buddy Joe Gratkowski was absolutely beaming about his new gig at Diageo. Congrats Joe! Look at that grin. We'd be grinning too sitting behind all that beautiful Talisker.

Whisky of the Night!

Laphroaig drew us in with their blatant disregard for Manhattan fire regulations. They were burning peat and blowing a cloud of peat smoke right there at the booth! Man it smelled fantastic.

Peat Smoke

But then the surprise of the night was when they reached into a green rubber boot and pulled out the new Laphroaig PX Cask and An Cuan Mor.

Laphroaig PX, An Cuan Mor

The An Cuan Mor, double matured first in American first-fill oak barrels and then in European oak is very clean and nice. But as soon as we tasted the PX Cask, we knew this was our winner for the evening. We've always been huge fans of peated PX malts, and this was no exception. The sweet dark influence of the Pedro Ximenez sherry married up perfectly with the big phenol-rich smoldering campfire stones of the Laphroaig for a synergistic finish. Unfortunately this bottle isn't available in the States yet, but look out once it's on the shelves for a real treat!

Another fantastic time all around at the Jewbilee. Until next time. /SmokyBeast

June 16, 2014

Battle of the Beasts Finale - The Baddest Beast in the Land!

It All Comes Down...

To this! We lined up four of the greatest beasts in the land, assembled our ninja drinking team, tasted them blind until our peat receptors were fried beyond belief, and here at long last are the results. We are ready to officially declare the winner of Battle of the Beasts!

Ok so without further ado...

SmokyBeast Ninja Guest Judge #1

Benny Wolowitz

Tis' Which The Smokiest of the Beasts?

#1 - Octomore
#2 - Kilchoman
#3 - Supernova
#4 - Lagavulin

Choose Your Favorite Beast!

#1 - Octomore
#2 - Supernova
#3 - Lagavulin
#4 - Kilchoman

Aye, so Doctor Wolowitz truly is a lover of the smoke! He picked out the highest ppm and declared it his favorite. Octomore is truly a badass beast. Crickey!

SmokyBeast Ninja Guest Judge #2

Bram Hoogendijk

Tis' Which The Smokiest of the Beasts?

#1 - Supernova
#2 - Kilchoman
#3 - Octomore
#4 - Lagavulin

Choose Your Favorite Beast!

#1 - Kilchoman
#2 - Lagavulin
#3 - Octomore
#4 - Supernova

And our first upset comes from the Dutchman! Bram ranked the two smoke-bombs his least favorite, and found the Octomore less smoky than the Kilchoman. Interesting how ppm doesn't always equate exactly to the sensation of smokiness. And very interesting that the young upstart Kilchoman trumped the very sought-after Supernova!

SmokyBeast Ninja Guest Judge #3

Joshua Gershon Feldman

Tis' Which The Smokiest of the Beasts?

#1 - Octomore
#2 - Supernova
#3 - Kilchoman
#4 - Lagavulin

Choose Your Favorite Beast!

#1 - Kilchoman
#2 - Octomore
#3 - Supernova
#4 - Lagavulin

Aha! Well Josh doesn't claim the title Director of SmokyBeast Special Operations for nothing. He picks the ppm straight down the line. But then, what's this??? Kilchoman strikes #1 favorite again! Even from a veteran bog-sniffer like Josh, the rookie takes the gold!

Judge #4

Mrs. SmokyBeast

Tis' Which The Smokiest of the Beasts?

#1 - Supernova
#2 - Octomore
#3 - Kilchoman
#4 - Lagavulin

Choose Your Favorite Beast!

#1 - Supernova
#2 - Lagavulin
#3 - Octomore
#4 - Kilchoman

Let it be said that wifey has never sat down to a tasting and failed to pick the most expensive are rare whiskey as her favorite. (Yes, it's the same with jewelry). So it's no surprise that she sniffed out Supernova as the #1. It's also no surprise that Lagavulin was #2, since Lag 16 was her first malt love!

And The Winner Is...

Tis' The Smokiest!!!

D'oh! Who's idea was it to have four judges? Bad hubby. We have a tie. Two votes for Octomore and two votes for Supernova as the smokiest beast in the land. Who woulda thunk it??? Well sorry folks we'll just have to repeat the uber-scientific blind study next year. For now, hubby's vote breaks the tie in favor of the Octomore. In terms of pure smokiness, it's totally over the top.

The Smokiest of the Beasts!

Tis' The Tastiest of the Beasts!!!

Well the dark horse took the win with two votes! It's not that surprising, we've been shouting from the rooftops how delicious Kilchoman is, particularly the cask strength sherry barrels (please guys, more single barrel sherry casks!!!). But it is notable that two of our judges picked this very special Kilchoman barrel over the likes of Supernova, Lagavulin, and Octomore. Perhaps being last in this competition was an advantage. Once our palates were thoroughly destroyed by the monsters, this one came out with a delicacy that hit the palate like a blessing. But it's not just the order, since we had enough in the ample pours of this tasting to go back through and compare each one head to head. No the Kilchoman would be something special no matter where it sat in the lineup.

The Tastiest of the Beasts!!

Well that's all she wrote. The Battle of the Beasts is done. But we have a feeling that this may not be the final battle. We'll save some of our legendary beasts and wait for another fire-breathing inspiration to strike. Stay tuned!

Cheers/SB

June 11, 2014

Battle of the Beasts Part Four: Kilchoman Barrel Room

The Final Contender

Battle of the Beasts continues with our final contender, Kilchoman Barrel Room Sherry Cask #3010.

Ok so Ardbeg and Bruichladdich made a lot of whiskey. It's not really fair to compare their special release extra-peated bottles with Kilchoman's standard bottling. While Kilchoman hasn't released a more heavily peated bottle, we were able to snag a cask strength single barrel from their "Barrel Room" selection which was available at Binny's in Chicago. (hint - it was still available online as of yesterday...).

Now honestly maybe Kilchoman shouldn't be in this contest. First of all, they probably wouldn't put themselves in the same category as smoke monsters like Supernova and Octomore. When we did our interview with Kilchoman, James explained that they were going for a middle ground between the heavy smoke of the southern Islay distilleries (Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Ardbeg) and the lighter style of Bunnahabhain up north. Well we'll be honest, we don't like Bunna nearly as much as we like Kilchoman. Yes, they do pull off a huge amount of finesse with their malts. But thank God they're still really smoky, and that's a great thing.

We decided to stick with this one because it's our favorite new scotch bar none, end of conversation. And we wanted to see how some of our aficionados compared it to some of the famous Islays. We feel like it holds up nicely in terms of smokiness and adds a wonderful flavor element, particularly with the sherry cask aging. Anyway we hope we're not showing any disrespect by throwing this beautiful beast into this mix, but here goes!

SmokyBeast Tasting Notes

Nose: We've always loved the mixture of sherry and peat, particularly the way the aroma mixes up grapes and smoke into a thick fruity chutney. There's a new complexity here with some curry and deep candies: chocolate covered cherries and peanuts.

Palate: Very sweet and soft on the palate. More nuts, chocolate, and fruits.

Finish: Long finish with good balance of heat, smoke, and sweets. You can definitely sense (like with all Kilchomans) a few unique characteristics: quality of the spirit - you can tell it's not an old malt, but it has such a quality of the underlying spirit that it doesn't come off hot or young; freshness - there's like a grassy, farm fresh bouquet and taste to it that really speaks to the farm-to-table approach; and balance - equal parts smoke monster, subtle perfumy white chocolate, and rich malty sherry cask.

Guest Judge Comments

"Amber. Nose: Herbal, peaty, grassy, farmy, musky! Color says sherry. Nose says 60%. This one is great, my favorite!"

"Sherry nose, caramel, flowers, tastes like Octomore!"

"Nose- smoke blowing in your face while cooking on the beach (haulover beach is probably too specific). Palate- malty, peaty and some nuttiness from a sherry finish. Finish - intense but medium in length. Lots of char from the barrel comes through. Notes- darkest in color. Also seemed the most familiar and expected. I'd guess Lagavullin"

Hey, look at that, just like we thought, our judges were fooled! One thought it was Octomore, another Lagavulin, and it got the favorite of a third judge! We're not surprised, this one holds up extremely well against older and more well-known Islays. Wonder what would have happened if this wasn't a blind tasting???

So that's it for our contenders. Tune in soon for the finale where we show all the judges rankings and declare the winner of Battle of the Beasts!

June 6, 2014

Battle of the Beasts Part 3: Bruichladdich Octomore 2.1

We're back with the third contender in our Battle of the Beasts showdown: Bruichladdich Octomore 2.1. Octomore is the extra-peated line from Bruichladdich and includes the peatiest scotches ever known to man. This second addition comes in at a whopping 140 parts per million peat level. All of the Octomores to date have been five years old, until last year when they released a ten year variety. The ten year comes in the $250-$300/bottle range so we haven't had the chance to try it yet. (anyone out there want to pour us a glass?? wink wink). One thing we can say definitively is that they have a totally badass looking bottle design...

SmokyBeast Tasting Notes

Nose: Now that is some fire. The Bruichladdich has an even higher ABV than the Supernova (62.5% this time instead of the Ardbeg's 60.1%). It's half the age, only five years in the wood instead of nine or ten. While the 'Nova was very mellow on the nose and you couldn't really feel the smoke until later, we can already tell that this is a different animal. It's a wickedly peaty bouquet with rubber, blackcned rocks, phenols, spicy vegetals (like that hot pickled okra you can get down south in a jar), a little sultana / white wine stuff going on, and after it opens up for a few minutes some sweet lemon meringue action.

Palate: The best phrase we can come up with, particularly since it's allergy season is "sinus-clearing". Or for our friends up in Boston "Wicked Hawt". It's actually very smooth on the tongue, with less body that the Ardbeg (in other words less thick and oily). It slides across the tongue almost like a cognac or a smooth wine. But it's only an illusion because then...

Finish: Let's just say that this is a drink only a true beast master can love. The first time we tried Octomore it came completely out of left field. We were at a bar and just thought the name was interesting so we'd try it. It was way over the top, like sandpaper on the throat. Now that we're hardened peat monsters, we really do appreciate this stuff. But even for us it's not an every day drinker. Sometimes you're in the mood for a true monster, and this is it.

Guest Judge Comments:

"Nose Lingering smoke, faded richness, slowly some apple comes out. Palate- initially very sweet then becomes an outright charred up smoke bomb. Finish- long with a lot of ash like a slow burning campfire or bar-b-que being extinguished. Tannic and dry. Very resin-y, oily, pork grease."

"Apple wine, musty flavor. My second favorite so far."

"Grass, lemon juice, very peaty with distant petrol & sharp vegetal cardamom."

Stay tuned for the final contender: Kilchoman Barrel Room Single Cask, and then the finale, a judgement from our expert panel on the ultimate smoky beast!

/SB

June 3, 2014

Battle of the Beasts Part 2: Ardbeg Supernova

Battle of the Beasts Continues

Last week we commenced an epic battle of our favorite beasties - big, smoky, powerhouses from Islay. Today the contest continues with Contender #2: Ardbeg Supernova.

Supernova

A limited release that first hit the market in 2009, and then came back by popular demand in 2010, Ardbeg Supernova was a phenomenon. It showcased young, bold whisky in a way that opened many peoples eyes. To date, the common wisdom had been that "older is better" - everyone wanted a twenty-five or thirty year scotch and anything under twelve years was déclassé. The youth and power of this nine-year peat monster from Ardbeg opened up a "new world" view of young Islay scotch and paved the way for innovators like Bruichladdich and Kilchoman to explore wide ranges of fresh young peaty masterpieces.

SmokyBeast Tasting Notes

Nose: Wow, it's a really incredible nose on this guy. The smoke is very present, but it's so well integrated into the aroma that it doesn't come off as acrid or overpowering. The main gist here is bee's wax with little hints of paprika pepper, cashews, and white chocolate.

Palate: Mid-body on this, just oily enough to coat the tongue. The palate is half parts perfume and saddle leather. The smoke starts to rise up just as you swallow.

Finish: It's a triumph: one of the smokiest malts we've ever had, but absolutely no burn and perfectly balanced. The spirit, smoke, and age just nestle up with each other into a fruity, chocolately, woody, and smoky dream. Perhaps a new favorite. All the beauty of the Lagavulin, but with more finesse, a richer palate, and a lot more balance. Top marks.

John Hansell of WhiskyAdvocate describes it quite well:

"If you go into this experience expecting to be totally blown away by peat, tar and smoke, you might feel a bit under-challenged initially. But the peat eventually builds to a powerful, lava-like crescendo and you eventually realize that this is no ordinary Ardbeg. The length of the finish is seemingly endless, bold and warming."

Guest Judge Comments

"Bright, grassy, sugars. Herring and putty. Cask Strength for sure."
"Nose- more floral. Open & inviting with smoke in the background, a bit sweeter (with onions??); Palate- sea salt, caramel, honey glaze; Finish- quick. Burst of heat but fades very fast. Opening up, the sweetness is amped up and the smoke is brought out."
"Rich smoke & peat, a 10 out of 10!"
"Rubbery, coarse, and young."

Stay tuned for Contenders 3 and 4: Bruichladdich Octomore and Kilchoman Sherry Cask. And then the finale where we reveal the winner of the Battle of the Beasts!

/SB

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