Notes, unvarnished

Here are some raw tasting notes, that I will polish a bit and hammer into discrete postings later... Unitl then, my take on these whisk(i)(e)(y)s...

BULLEIT 10-yr

N: Seawater, grape bubble-yum, green coconut flesh, cinnamon, and hot pavement; bananas, spearmint, and lemon candies.  Allspicy rye notes and fresh-turned soil.

P: White peppercorn and juniper, sweet stonefruit vinous notes, calvados, smoky cherryskins and hickory stems; orange pekoe tea and lemon zest.  Big airy rye hit on the foretongue slides into more tropical notes before a crispy, herbal/bitter finish

ARDBEG GALILEO 1999

N: Delicate woodsmoke; glossy 1960s-era paper; Easter lily, juniper, and orange compôte.  Mossy wet sandstone, peppercorn, allspice, and brine.  Fleshy, funky, low-tide undertone. 

P: Cheesy (e.g. Grenouille) Chablislike terroir over roasted Meyer lemons; black, then red, licorice sticks; a gorgeous bloodsmoky hit that lingers in the mouth,  ringing with iron and braised fennel;  sexy and rough in the best way… pistachios, salt, smoke, and blood.  Superlong oceanside incense ash campfire finish, almond-bitter, all ‘round salted butter cookies.  A mouthful of seawater and sex.    Bloody and intimate while somehow maintaining impeccable propriety; titillating w/o being prurient…very long indeed… It is expressive both of its provenance and the brilliance of its home distillery.

    

     Flaunting the trademark savory complexity (read: briny and sexy and hugely compelling) of its house’s higher-end bottlings,  this precocious 12-year old,  finished in Bourbon and Marsala casks, displays fantastic complexity and character… this is fuckin NICE.  Galileo  is well worth the coin.