 *McCallan Edition No.3
-smelled slight oak, bourbon -tasted peppery oak -with water smelled slight caramel, vanilla -tinge of rubbery oak -tastes peppery oak -trails bitter oak Nothing I would go out of my way for but a nice, easy to drink whisky.
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 Well I'm only about two years behind at this point. I do not remember where this tasting happened, but it's a good bet it was at my house. Unfortunately this year, 2020, we are breaking the tradition and not having a meeting for St Patrick's Day at Castle MacDonald. COVID-19 is a concern and our club is on hiatus anyway. Seeing everyone is always fun and next year is a new year. *Knappogue Castle 16yr 40% ABV TwinWood Sherry Finished -smelled sweet birthday cake w/vanilla -tasted vanilla -with water smelled sweet oak vanilla -tasted slight oak w/touch bread, doughy -trailed bitter oak quickly  *Knappogue Castle 12yr 40% ABV
-smelled sweet candy oak w/dessert icing -tasted peppery oak w/toasted bread -with water smelled powdered donuts Tasted slight sweet with oak Once again I would like to apologize for lost notes, pics, time delay and general lateness of this posting. The presenter greeted us with a range of Glenfiddich whiskies. I have noted previous dates for tasting notes of each. However the exact expression may be different from that in the Highland Games tasting since my pictures are gone. Here is what I have for you: *Glenfiddich 12yr –refer to previous notes 8/9/14 *Glenfiddich 14yr – refer to previous notes 9/18/15 (Bourbon Barrel Reserve) *Glenfiddich 15yr – refer to previous notes 2/24/17 (Solera Reserve)  *Glenfiddich IPA Cask 43% ABV -smelled sweet cherry candy w/tinge beer -smelled apples after 10 minutes -tasted light beer/light oak w/no pepper -with water smelled fruity, apples -tasted peppery! -trailed quickly!  *Glenfiddich Project XX Experimental Series ’02 47% ABV [Blenders got together and chose 20 barrels to marry] -smelled apples, fruit -tasted peppery/cherry candy/dark chocolate -with water smelled floral- almost soapy and lemon -tasted very peppery! -trailed oak Water is not good for this. *Exclusive Malts 14yr 57.4% ABV -smelled cinnamon bun w/shortbread -with water smelled very sweet taffy/vanilla w/touch of floral -tasted peppery floral and salty pretzel! Wow! -trailed pepper  I am at a loss on this particular event. My phone from that period did not swim well with me and said phone must have contained photos of this event. The owner of the phone, me, did not save the photos to Google Drive or any device. With that said, there are two spirits that I noted. Also I do not remember where the meeting took place. I would, of course, like to thank our hosts. Thank you meeting hosts! Please comment on this one and add some pics. *Vikingernes Mjod 19% ABV Nordic Honey Wine with Hops -smelled sweet wine -tasted sweet wine with hoppiness No surprises here.  *Robert Grahams Allt a Bhainne 15yr 43% ABV -smelled cinnamon bun -tasted oaky with touch of bread -with water smelled floral, sweet citrus -tasted bitter oak Not much better with water.  Our own POTWC (President of the Whisky Club) , Todd, was once again gracious enough to open his home and host a meeting even though we made jokes and called him old for his birthday.   *Balblair ’93 53% ABV (Angle’s Share filming location) -smelled bananas, strong vanilla -tasted slight floral w/pepper -with water smelled fruit salad -tasted fruity wood -trailed oaky pepper slowly *Glenrothes 40% ABV Select Reserve NAS -smelled sliced apples -tasted apple, pastry, very light oak -with water strong apples -tasted slight oak and trailed quickly!
*Grangestone Double Cask Matured – Finished in Sherry NAS -smelled doughy, raisins -tasted raisin with vanilla and touch of oak -with water smelled floral raisin -tasted very light oak w/raisin -trailed light oak  *Palm Ridge Reserve 9th Anniversary
-smelled strong oak w/citrus sweet -tasted strong oak!, no citrus -citrus aftertaste -with water smelled Scotch tape/oak -tasted like a piece of oak -tannin aftertaste with touch of citrus *Springbank 16yr 54.2% ABV – Special Bottling given to me by Willie Cotting -smelled oak wood, tar, peat lightly -tasted tinge of rubber w/smoke, tar, peat -with water smelled lighter -tasted peaty, peppery -trailed spicy Tasted the peat with no smoke. As promised I am reaching way back in my notes. Todd, in honor of his half a century celebration, opened a few bottles of whisky that I thought would never touch the air. Thank you Todd! This is what we tasted:  *Gordon & MacPhael Longmorn 30yr 40% ABV -smelled cinnamon, grassy -tasted peppery oak -with water smelled soap w/ slight oak -tastes slight oak *Old Malt Cask – Port Ellen 26yr 50% ABV -smelled floral with baked bread -tasted smoky peat w/oak -trailed quickly! -with water smelled cinnamon bun -tasted lighter peat w/lots of pepper -trailed oak  *Caol Ila 25yr 58% ABV -smelled slight peat w/shortbread and fruit -taste slight peat, pepper -trailed fruit to oak -with water smells sherry, fruity dessert -tasted pepper -trailed oak quickly! -water ruined this! *Murray McDavid – Linkwood (distilled 1979) 17yr 46% ABV -smelled caramel, sherry oak -tasted oak, sherry/bourbon, slight peat -trailed oak -with water smelled toffee, grape juice -tasted peated oak to shortbread to burnt oak Water doesn’t necessarily ruin this. Less water is better.  *Clontarf Single Malt 40% ABV (“Mellowed Through Atlantic Irish Oak Charcoal”) - smelled caramel, vanilla, grassy and cinnamon quickly into sugar cookie -tasted slight pepper with cinnamon toast -with water smelled very sweet cinnamon floral -tasted grassy w/touch of oak I want to apologize for my lack of postings in the last two years! You see, I've changed careers. That change required a couple years of intense schooling. Actually it was forty hours a week. All the while I drank, tasted and enjoyed in stolen hours from study, but on a budget. The task for me now is to wade through the notes and post them. There are even whiskies from Ireland that I rolled past my lips while there. Stay tuned! Impressions to follow.  A huge thank you to Tanya and Ken for hosting the whisky miscreants of Jacksonville and providing two forms of pork (the other white meat)!! Aly and I were exhausted from our day in Orlando and were able to stay awake and enjoy some tasty beverages with our friends. Ken, always hard at work brewing something, let us taste an apple cider aged in Palm Ridge Reserve barrels. It was an very nice cider. Keep in mind that I do not like ciders. This one tasted apple (cut and left out for a few hours) with citrus and oak. The flavor of the Palm Ridge came through in the nose and aftertaste. The cider itself was not overly sweet with a good flavor of apple. Since we were tasting it before bottling, it was not carbonated. I made the parallel to mojitos. Both taste so good that you can easily gulp them down. The danger is real with those kind of beverages. Good stuff!  *Bunnahababhain Ceobanach 46.3% ABV -smells band-aid, grassy -tasted medicinal, slight oak -with water smelled grassy like dandelion -tasted toasted bread, peppery oak -trailed bitter oak This whisky retained its characteristic oily, rich flavor with a lighter element.  *Tamnavulin-Glenlivet 46% ABV -smelled slightly moldy fungus wood with cinnamon -sweet oak and slightly floral as well -with water smelled cinnamon bun -tasted oak. leathery -trailed very quickly with a hint of floral This was a bottle from Byron that Todd brought out. Since it was bottled in the early eighties, it's a sure bet that paxarette was in the barrels for the aging. That explains the sweet aromas. Also at the time a number of distillers added Glenlivet to the name of the expression thinking it would help with sales. This was actually a Cadenhead whisky (Springbank).  *Glenlivet Nadurra 16 yr 56.2% ABV
- smelled sweet cinnamon dessert -tasted strong pepper vanilla oak -with water smelled sweet floral -tasted slight oak -trailed quickly oak I guess I expected more from a 16 year old whisky. There was not much here to make me choose it over a Glenlivet 12 yr. Well it would be tough to hide the fact that I have not posted anything in a few weeks - about 18 of 'em. Yeah that's four months. It has been a busy summer. Apparently not for any of my tasting notes though. Cindy and Doug were gracious enough to host our tribe of whisky carousers for an evening of fun and food. Thank you again! Sorry it is four months late. There were excellent vittles prepared and a few stories shared. The evening's conversations ranged from substitute teaching to travels (possibly travails) in Ireland and Scotland to Springbank Whisky School and Highland Games. The tasting for the night was Sherried Whiskies. Here is what I tasted:  Edradour Natural Cask Strength The tasting notes for this expression can be found in our 2016 Christmas gathering at Cindy and Doug's. *Glenfiddich Small Batch Reserve 18 yr 43% ABV  -Smelled like grape cool-aid -tasted like fruit - went to pepper quickly! -with water smelled light fruit and vanilla -tasted light wood -went quickly to oak with very little bitter  *Springbank 21 yr 46% ABV
-smelled sherry with grape -tasted sweet fruit and oak with pepper -with water smelled fruity, floral with cinnamon -tasted light wood with sweet that went quickly to light oak Paxarette! I think. | AuthorJM is a long standing member of the Iron Mountain Whiskey Club. ArchivesSeptember 2014 Categories |
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