I haven't been up on here in a few, and i apologize for the lapse... I'll be posting the notes I've written over the interim, so's we can all catch up again!
Here's a taste-off of my two favorite affordable Islay malts... Both compare quite favorably to Lagavulin 16, head-to-head, and though the Laggy is unquestionably the superior dram, when price is factored in (~ $85 for Lagavulin 16, ~$50 for the whiskies below), the jury remain stubbornly out.
Caol
Ila 12 yr
Nose: A wave of honeyed citric tropicality: Meyer lemon and
papaya; fresh apple cider… Maritime clay, creekmud, and franjipani… All coiled ‘round
with sexy, briny campfire smoke.
Palate: Sweet speysidey roasted walnuts burst apart in smoky
delicacy, with a concupiscent, briny hit that makes one unable to resist
waves-on-basalt imagery… This hit flows on into more tightly wound, smoked
salmon flavors that finally leave one with the slightest echo of the taste of
seawater and kisses on the tongue. An
after-echo almost like gruyere. Complex
and compelling.
Laphroaig
10 yr
Nose: A higher-toned, ashy smoke with the marked aroma of
heavily roasted oolong tea; crushed shells and tidewater sand. Sweet, soft saddle leather that fades to old
books and black peppercorns.
Grand-avuncular and somehow reassuring; masculine.
Palate: Immediate sweetness of raw almonds that shimmers
into sylvan, mossy smoke, the black earth under a rotting cedar hulk; a much
woodier, ashy smoke on the finish, showing pepper and cherryskins and then,
just at the end, iodine blood, before finally breathing its last as a waft of
marzipan
No comments:
Post a Comment