PURE KENTUCKY XO KSBW
N: fresh-hewn hickory and sassafras root; grilled
orange, clove, and candied cherries; honeysuckle, ginger snaps and just-turned
bottom soil; long tobacco hung in an august barn; the tiniest breath of
campfire on the outro
P: earthy, bloody cinnamon and lime zest; juniper
berry and banana bread; clean sweet clay and chai tea; vanilla icing and pine
needles; orange pith and brine on the back end.
Medium-bodied, sophisticated,
and pleasingly dry, this is a 12-year whiskey produced by Kentucky Bourbon
Distillers, who also make Rowan’s Creek and Noah’s Mill. It’s my current favorite in the $40-$50
range.
GLENMORANGIE NECTAR D’OR
N: Warm apple compote with cinnamon-crumb crust;
lime zest and creamy cherimoya; an almost bourbon-like spice in the center;
herbs on the finish: rosemary, tarragon
P: sweet creamy cedarwood and marzipan; delicious
oxidized-winey notes of roasted filberts and grilled lemon; a hint of brine,
pencil lead, and pine needles on the medium-long finish
I probably
prefer the sherry-cask Lasanta to this pretty bottling, but it shows all the
purity and plushness for which Glenmorangie are justly famous.
CLYNELISH 14-year
N: delicate, airy sun-dried grass; lime pith and
molten caramel; big, broad, and just slightly maritime, with warm, buttered
banana bread and pencil shavings
P: first hit is classic highland, elegant and
nutty, with old-library-pages, sweet tobacco, and vanilla crème fraiche;
cinnamon toast and grape skins, a breath of lychee syrup and white pepper on
the finish.
A
delicious single-malt, one of the most northerly produced on the mainland, this
Clynelish is some juice I will reapproach with pleasure. I look forward to exploring their further
expressions.
LEDAIG 10-year (Isle of Mull)
N: extremely tight at cork’s pull; needs at least
a week to open up, until which it smells more like inexpensive blended whisky
than anything else… after its week of air, sweet cherryladen smoke and dried
mango show some briny notes on the tail end…
P: banana bread and incense ash flow into
cinnamon sticks and creamy smoke; green tropical flavors like underripe
mamosillos (Spanish limes, we called ‘em) and coconut hull; the finish is
salty, with ginger and a touch of salt
This was
an odd whisky (pron. "led-chig," so i read) that took some time to warm up to. Its label proudly proclaims “wonderfully-peated,”
which, though surely a matter of opinion, mightn’t be the way I’d describe this
rather mildly-peated Island malt. The
disconnect between nose and palate is fascinating rather than off-putting, for
some reason. With some time under air,
it is an eminently enjoyable dram.
CONNEMARA PEATED IRISH SINGLE MALT
N: sweet bubblegum and peach syrup, coiled round
with mossy fir needles and next-morning campfire (barely a-crackle, here and
there a spiraling whorl of ruby heat that shimmers like a wind-shoal over white
ashes)
P: once more that bright yummy sweetness that I
so want to call something more fancified than bubble-gum (strawberry-banana
yogurt? Fruit Slices gum [the one with the zebra on the package]? …damn, gum again), not least as the idea of
that flavor in a whiskey sounds so- well, gross- but is in fact delicious and grinningly
compelling here. The smoke is subtle,
but present, particularly on the finish, which is rather short, but dense with
character and nearly refreshing (Erin go braugh!).
With its
flavors of smoke and bubble gum, it’s a whiskey reminiscent of one’s first 9th-grade
make out sessions. Made by Cooley- who
else, with all these riotous fruit flavors?
