Johnnie Walker Double Black

Rating27.1/40
OriginScotland
BlenderDiageo
SeriesJohnnie Walker
EditionDouble Black
StyleBlended Whisky
PeatedYes
CaskBlend aced in heavily charred casks.
Strength40% (80 Proof)

Introduced around 2012 or so, the Double Black was a new concoction by master blender Jim Beveridge. After blending the whisky is matured in “deep-charred old oak casks” which adds additional smoke and depth. Whether or not the whisky is already cask aged prior to blending I’m not certain. Either way, it’s actually one of my preferred choices in the Johnnie Walker line-up.

Nose: A salty, meaty smoke, kind of like German Landjaegers or ham. Light but quite solid and mildly prickly with a hint of mint emerging on the back end. Satisfying but doesn’t evolve much. (6.8/10)

Palate: The initial impact comes with a weird watery numbness out which the peat smoke from the nose emerges. Though that smoke has now shifted over to a mossier, fuzzier and earthier range on the spectrum. From there the whole thing separates into actual smoke and slightly watery liquid right on the verge of the finish. (6.3/10)

Finish: The smoke that rose out of the liquid hangs around for quite some time in the upper regions of the throat and mouth. It’s now reminiscent of very dry earth. There is even a nice bit of warmth evolving in the chest though it’s limited by the low strength of this whisky. Still the finish is rather enjoyable. (7.4/10)

Balance: While the finish punches above its weight it also, unfortunately, takes the wind out of the sails of the nose and palate on subsequent sips. For that it gets dinged a bit on the balance. Usually I’d rate a whisky that finishes on a high not comparably high on balance but not in this case. (6.6/10)

BenRiach The Smoky Ten, 10yo

Rating27.0/40
OriginScotland, Speyside, Lossie
DistilleryBenRiach
OwnerBrown-Forman
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
CaskBourbon, Jamaican Rum and Toasted Virgin Oak
Strength46% (92 Proof)
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

The Smoky Ten is one of the 4 base-line expressions of BenRiach recently revamped by their master blender, Dr. Rachel Barrie. I had the opportunity to taste all of them side-by-side which always makes for a very interesting experience.

Nose: The peat jumps right out of the glass with some green, herbal notes that turn slightly floral later on. For some reason this is making me think of those little, biodegradable seed starter pots. Not a whole lot of complexity past that but that’s fine. If you pay careful attention you may notice the faint sparkly of bright citrus notes somewhere underneath it all. (6.8/10)

Palate: Simple and direct. The same peat as described for the nose arrives unceremoniously and unfolds with ease, spreading wide but not particularly high, and simply stays right there at the same level and with the same notes carrying straight into the finish. The first few sips seem to leave a thin slathering of watery sweetness on the tongue but that quickly goes away as the finish begins to dominate the experience. (6.8/10)

Finish: The finish picks up seamlessly from the palate and it manages to wipe out those odd watery bits on the palate. However, it’s almost like the finish is running on a slightly undersized engine. It develops a pleasant warmth but keeps struggling to push it into the chest. It continues the flavors from the palate but keeps fading away like a fire fed with cold logs. One has to breathe on it and then it comes back as if nothing happened. (6.7/10)

Balance: A quite lovely basic expression of a quite strongly peated Speysider. Not overly complex but perfectly satisfying. It’s only real shortcoming is that finish struggling to stay alive, dipping and rising like a tired swimmer. A swimmer wearing smoldering peat speedos. Anyhow, it’s perfectly drinkable and delivers all the comforts of peat. B/c it doesn’t require special attention this one would probably be the perfect whisky to drink while reading an engaging book sitting in a comfortable chair near the fireplace. (6.7/10)

Ardbeg K&L Excl. Chieftain’s, 15yo, 2004/2019

Rating35.1/40
OriginScotland, Islay, South Shore
DistilleryArdbeg
OwnerLVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE via Glenmorangie
DistilledMarch 2004
BottlerIan Macleod Distillers
SeriesChieftain’s
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
CaskEx-Bourbon Barrel 700177
BottledAugust 2019
Bottles162
Strength58.8% (117.6 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

The mere 162 bottles of Ardbeg yielded by this particular ex-Bourbon cask turned out to be a very unique expression of a fuzzed out, warm blanket of peaty comfort. Come on in from the biting cold, kick back and relax. A forceful Islay take on what the Germans refer to as Gemütlichkeit. Almost as much of a meal as it is a drink.

Nose: Wait, is my backyard burning down? No. It’s probably just this nose right here. Meaty chunks of sweet peat drizzled with Bordelaise sauce, roasting in a cast iron frying pan over an open fire. Just what the doctor ordered after getting a vigorous back rub with heavily charred wood blocks wrapped in plum skins. I should really check on the backyard though. But that would mean getting up and walking away from this whisky. And that’s just crazy-talk. Over time the nose diminishes just a little. Or maybe it’s simply numbing my sensory apparatus.(8.6/10)

Palate: Prickly chocolate-peat cactus. Spikey bursts of peat bob around in a sea of chocolate milk. The chocolate milk has a thick, almost oily and rather coarse texture to it and leaves a similar coating on my tongue. Clearly whole, perhaps even raw milk was used, and the chocolate wasn’t ground too finely. You can almost eat this with a fork. Later bursts of smoke rise up, nearly a little bitter, as if the whisky has smoldered its way through all of it’s wood and peat resources.(8.9/10)

Finish: A vigorous burn develops on the sides of my tongue and the very back of my throat. Chocolate smoke rises from the depths and fills my head like a balloon. Breathing out is fun with this one. Everything alights and all the embers bloom. I wish it showed more presence deep in my chest but that’s really the only complaint I have. (8.8/10)

Balance: This is quite something. Beautiful. It has a much broader, deeper, warmer and fuzzier structure of peat than I’d usually associate with Ardbeg. I tend to perceive Ardbeg peat as a powerful, sharp blade slicing through my skull like a masterfully crafted Katana. This, however, is big, satisfying and comforting. I love it. A lot. (8.8/10)

Ardbeg Scorch Ardbeg Day 2021 Committee Release

Rating35.8/40
OriginScotland, Islay, South Shore
DistilleryArdbeg
OwnerLVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE via Glenmorangie
SeriesArdbeg Day Committee Release
EditionScorch
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
CaskHeavily Charred Ex-Bourbon
BottledJanuary 2021
Strength51.7% (103.4 Proof)
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

Matured in heavily charred Ex-Bourbon casks and bottled for Ardbeg Day 2021 this is Ardbeg’s latest Committee Release and it is one hell of a unique and interesting experience. Every year these bottles are gone in seconds and by day 2 what’s left in stores fetches double or triple the MSRP. But they’re almost always worth the trouble. Looking forward to comparing it to the bottle strength version soon to be released more widely during the time of Feis Ile 2021.

Nose: When you burn food until there’s splintery bits so charred you can’t tell if they once were food or just wood. Something acidic… like a lemon and vanilla glaze underneath. Almost metallic eventually. Later sweeter notes emerge that ever so slowly evolve into bulging, fuzzy, warm, peaty… blood orange juice poured over a mix of slices from ripe and not so ripe bananas. Does this thing ever stop changing? Between the experience of nosing this whisky straight out of a freshly opened bottle and the experience of nosing it out of one that had a chance to breathe lies a vast and inexplicable chasm. And yet the two are closely related. (9.0/10)

Palate: A large piece of sheet metal, coated with lacquer made from charred wood and ashes, slices horizontally through the palate, leaving nothing alive in its path, heading straight for the back of the throat. Deliberate chewing of subsequent sips awakens flavor in the front but this whisky is not one willing to expand vertically. All moisture has disappeared from my mouth. Lost I wander across the bitter ashes of the tortured plains leading up to the Morannon. (8.3/10)

Finish: The finish lives almost entirely on the air flowing in and out of my lungs. On each breath out, charred embers light up brightly, emitting sharp, acidic smoke. Breathe carefully… this one will make you cough. A drop of water proves to be the magic key. Suddenly the missing dimension of expansion appears and the finish begins to fill the skull. Countless additional notes and flavors appear to create a much more dense, complex and deep experience than one would have expected from first impressions. And, mind you, a much more lasting one too. The staying power of this finish is astonishing. (9.7/10)

Balance: Without water this is the mystical experience of a lifeless, burnt desert covered with the charred traces of a terrible wildfire. With water this becomes an intense, smoldering, smoke-laden alcoholic tea extracted from those very remnants. This is a difficult one to grasp. It’s both very Ardbeg and not Ardbeg at all. Fresh out of an unopened bottle it is almost a bit unfriendly and unwilling to explain itself. Give this a good amount of time and one tiny drop of water. It will turn into a great friend to have a long conversation with. If you don’t make the effort, I’m afraid, you’ll soon forget almost all about this one and move on to lesser drams. The greatest weakness of this whisky, such as it has one, is most certainly its palate. But since the finish almost serves as a palate-like experience this imperfection can be forgiven. (8.8/10)

Caol Ila K&L Excl. Sovereign, 7yo, 2010/2018

Rating34.7/40
OriginScotland, Islay, North Shore
DistilleryCaol Ila
OwnerDiageo
DistilledAugust 2010
BottlerHunter Laing & Company
SeriesSovereign
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt Whisky
Peatedyes
CaskSherry Finished Butt HL15300
BottledJuly 2018
Bottles556
Strength59.9% (119 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

What is a “sherry finished butt” you ask? In this case the bottler has taken a used sherry butt, re-filled it with sherry for a year for a bit of a boost, and then used it to further age some young Caol Ila. This results in a stronger sherry influence than a traditional sherry finish. Basically a fancy form of double maturation in a refreshed sherry cask. Either way, the result is rather convincing and I hope they’ll be doing this a lot more often!

Nose: Big, bite-y, beautiful beat, uh, peat. Velvety, too. Can velvet bite? I guess it can. Faint hints of chocolate flit about playing hard-to-get. This nose is not uber-complex but it is great regardless. (8.1/10)

Palate: Big and expansive right out of the gate. Even the chocolate gets a slight boost but mostly it’s that same thick peat smoke from the nose. A bright and shiny layer that’s almost acidic floats above it all. It’s not exactly citrus though. More like a cask aged vinegar perhaps that’s had a chance to mellow out over time. That vinegar, it seems, may have been used to marinate a few blood oranges. The more velvety aspects of the nose do not present themselves here. (8.5/10)

Finish: Now, this is one of those whiskies that can light a beautiful, warming fire all the way from your mouth down into your belly.  The smoke stays up top and fills the skull, held in place by convections rising from the deep heat far below. Just like the nose the finish is not particularly complex, but, honestly, it really doesn’t have to be. It is so big, smoky, expansive and warm, and it comes alive with vigor on every single breath… what more could I possibly need? (9.1/10)

Balance: What a wonderful dram for those of us who love big, powerful, peated single malts! It starts out great and then keeps on getting better. And it was ridiculously cheap too. Under fifty bucks if I recall correctly. This can easily compete with (and beat) a ton of whiskies that would cost significantly more. The only sad thing about it is, that it was a single barrel bottling and is, by now, long gone. And that’s a serious bummer. (9.0/10)

Caol Ila K&L Excl. SVUC, 8yo, 2009/2018

Rating33.0/40
OriginScotland, Islay, North Shore
DistilleryCaol Ila
OwnerDiageo
DistilledOct 22nd, 2009
BottlerSignatory Vintage
SeriesThe Un-Chillfiltered Collection
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt Whisky
Peatedyes
CaskHogshead 319401
BottledJul 16th, 2018
Bottles287
Strength56.9% (113.8 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

A youthful, energetic and aggressive single barrel bottling from a cask hand-picked by the folks at K&L Wine Merchants back in 2018. Balance is not what this one is about but it has plenty to offer in other areas.

Nose: Sharp, bright peat jumps right out of the glass snapping excitedly at your nose with the sharp and pointy teeth of a young pupper that’s been cooped up inside all day and desperately needs to burn off a good amount of pent up energy. Apparently it tore into a bucket of powdered vanilla cream at some point, which is now caught in its fur. (8.0/10)

Palate: The same sharp, bright peat cuts through the oral cavity like a bright but narrow beam of sunlight that found its way into a dark room through the crack of a door left slightly ajar. While it indirectly lights up everything, it doesn’t itself spread out and you can clearly see the crisp  geometry of the shaft where it lights up countless peaty dust motes in its path. (7.5/10)

Finish: Hoo boy! At first that beam of light illuminates some very young, freshly cut wood, but luckily that somewhat unpleasant, unripe smell burns away quickly. With the distraction of the bright beam gone the peat finally expands into a massive cloud filling the entire mouth and top of the throat. Heat is crawling down into my chest but I keep losing track of it as I’m too busy chewing on that billowing smoke, which intensifies and thickens with every breath. Wait, did I eat chocolate earlier? Where did that suddenly come from? (9.1/10)

Balance: A bit rough in parts and volatile and bouncy as one might expect from a younger whisky. In fact this one feels considerably younger than it actually is. If I had tasted this blind, I would have guessed it might be 5 or 6 years old at best. Water doesn’t really help it calm down or integrate more… it just… lessens it. That big smokey finish though… damn. It makes up for a lot. (8.4/10)

Glengyle Kilkerran Cask Strength, 8yo 2017

Rating28.3/40
OriginScotland, Campbeltown
DistilleryGlengyle
OwnerMitchell Family
SeriesKilkerran
EditionCask Strength
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
CaskEx-Bourbon
Bottled2017
Bottles6,000
Strength55.7% (111.4 Proof)
WhiskybaseWhiskybase
Wine SearcherWine Searcher

This one-off small batch release of a younger and more aggressive expression adds another facet to Glengyle’s Kilkerran line of peated single malts, which already includes a number of “Work In Progress” as well as some heavily peated batch releases. Though the most commonly available bottling is probably the basic bottle strength 12 year old.

Nose:  A soft perfume-y smoke, more bubble bath than peat really. It jumps out and up at you but then, ultimately, it doesn’t amount to much more than a thin bubble pushing some perceptible notes with not a whole lot of substance behind it. Not unpleasant, but also not really a whole lot of… anything. (6.1/10)

Palate: Aha! Stuff! Finally! Pretty aggressive and bouncy in its youthfulness. A sharp hit of smoke, a bunch of loose staves of unripe wood clatter about noisily, but all of that dies down quickly and what’s left can’t quite make itself be heard after the ruckus of the initial impact. Later sips are very candy… probably why the kids were bouncing off the walls like that. (6.5/10)

Finish: The kids have tired out and settled down. Finally it’s a quiet and peaceful around here. Mouth and throat are left feeling empty from the sudden silence. There’s a few wooden toys left scattered about the floor that need tidying up. But someone’s got the fireplace going on the other side of the living room and there’s a welcoming heat beckoning us to come on over from deep inside in the chest, just above the diaphragm. This is nice. (8.5/10)

Balance: The finish makes me want to forgive the whisky for the underdeveloped nose and the irritating palate, but this is a review and I’ve got to be honest. Still that finish is nice to settle into. Don’t bother sniffing. Just sip, swish and swallow, then sit back and let out a deep breath. (7.2/10)

Edradour, Ballechin, The Chronicles, 2009 Vintage

Rating30.5/40
OriginScotland, Highlands, Midlands
DistilleryEdradour
OwnerSignatory Vintage
Distilled2009
SeriesThe Chronicles
Edition2009 Vintage
StyleSmall Batch Single Malt
PeatedYes
CaskFirst Fill Bourbon Barrels
BottledSeptember 25th, 2019
Strength46% (92 Proof)
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

The 2009 Edition of the Chronicles series of the peated Ballechin single malts distilled at the Midlands’ Edradour, one of the few remaining independently owned distilleries in the country.

Nose: Peat. Simple, nice peat. Wait, is there mint? Minty peat? Peat mints? Hmmm… not sure. Either way, it’s not exactly complex but certainly nice. (7.5/10)

Palate: No surprises here. The simple, nice peat continues right off the bat but the minty bits go into hiding. The whisky doesn’t quite want to expand here no matter how vigorously I swish and chew. Perhaps not surprising at 46% (6.5/10)

Finish: Aha! That’s where the minty bits went! They must have dashed to the very back of my mouth and jump off out over the throat to do some recreational paragliding on the thermals of my breath. The peaty parts have finally decided to expand as well once freed from the actual liquid. Very nice! Bright and entertaining. It doesn’t reach very deep but with all that long lasting smoke wafting about it still feels satisfying and like something I could happily spend a lengthy amount of time with. (8.5/10)

Balance: The unexciting drop in the middle doesn’t matter all that much in the end because the finish is quite lovely and rewarding. A perfectly enjoyable little dram from one of Scotland’s most intimate distilleries. (8/10)

Tomintoul Old Ballantruan – The Peated Malt

Rating31/40
OriginScotland, Speyside, Livet
DistilleryTomintoul
OwnerAngus Dundee Distillers
EditionOld Ballantruan
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
Strength50% (100 Proof)
WhiskybaseWhiskybase
Wine SearcherWine Searcher

The “Old Ballantruan” is a peated expression of the single malt distilled at Tomintoul in Speyside. Tomintoul bottles only about 2% of their total output as single malts while the rest is mostly destined for the eight or so brands of blended Scotch produced by owner Angus Dundee.

Nose: Peated sour milk chocolate registers first followed by a mix of some good bits and some strange notes. It remains oddly confusing until it eventually settles into a brighter, grassy peat smoke. But it doesn’t stay there for too long and shifts to fruit… peated bananas and vanilla infused pears perhaps? What IS going on here? The fruits turn mildly perfume-y, eventually. (6.5/10)

Palate: A bright fruity hit descends quickly into scented candles made from shoe polish. The polished shoes must have been stored in my chest cavity because I smell them every time I exhale. Light machine oil and old wood eventually comes through as if I’ve walked into an old office full of old but well maintained typewriters sitting on vintage oak desks. This is actually rather nice! Later it opens up big in the back with a cloud of smoke and crushed blackberries and residual blackberry candy in the front. (8.5/10)

Finish: Warm and smokey on the breath but it does ride rather high before disappearing down the hatch only to reappear near my solar plexus. Oddly quiet in the middle of the chest where it doesn’t really register at all. (8/10)

Balance: This one’s kinda (unexpectedly) wild and kinda (unexpectedly) good. A bumpy ride for sure but not unpleasant at all. It certainly exceeded my expectations for a Tomintoul. That said, the nose does knock some points off of the top here unfortunately. (8/10)

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte PC5 Evolution, 5yo, 2001/2006

Bruichladdich Port Chartlotte PC5, 5yo, close-up
Rating40/40
OriginScotland, Islay, LochIndaal
DistilleryBruichladdich
OwnerRémy Cointreau
DistilledMay 28th, 2001
SeriesPC
Edition5
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes (40 ppm)
CaskBourbon & Sherry Casks
Bottled2006
Bottles6,038
Strength63.5
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

The legendary beast, the one whisky to rule them all, the holy grail of Islay single malts. In this reviewer’s mind anyways. The first experience of this whisky, years back, was a knee-buckling, bar-clutching spell of the vapors followed by an exclamation not well suited for public discourse. It remains among my top 3 whiskies of all time. I could say it’s number 1 and it wouldn’t be a lie but the real truth is that there is a range at the top of the charts where direct comparison and relative ranking of whiskies ceases to make sense. Sometimes different is not better or worse but just different. In any case this was the inaugural release of Bruichladdich’s new line of heavily peated single malts matured in warehouses located in Port Charlotte. The whisky was named in memory of a distillery once located there and named the same as the place, which was closed all the way back in 1929. Supposedly the new spirit was distilled in homage to the original 1881 distillate. It is long sold out save for a few bottles hidden away by savvy store owners which occasionally pop up for a high price and for private bottles surfacing in various whisky auctions here and there.

Nose: Huge wafts of smoke from a roaring fire place stacked with quality walnut, almond and sweet butter logs are caught in an ocean breeze carrying notes of seaweed and salt from afar. There is so much going on it’s hard to even pull out specific details. Just beautiful. (10/10)

Palate: Wow. I always forget just how amazing this is. Huge. Mountainous. A raging tempest that on impact instantly fills the entire head space with everything it has to give. Countless tendrils of delicious smoke from that same fire place swirling around and through me while I eat Austrian plum dumpling dough sprinkled with sugar and drizzled with dark browned butter. This is like sucking nectar from the teats of ancient gods. Big. Really big. Utterly and astonishingly beautiful. Beyond words. The mind can only experience this but not hold onto it. Undoubtedly next time it will be a complete surprise again. (10/10)

Finish: The afterglow cannot possibly keep up with the glorious inferno of the palate but, really, it doesn’t need to. Instead you fall gently into an abyss filled with dense, dark and rich smoke and settle into a deep, relaxed state of peaceful content. Bathing, as it were, in that indescribable delicious, all-permeating peat smoke issuing from near infinite stores of glowing embers. Soaking up a deep heat seemingly radiating from everywhere in the universe. I… am. No thought. (10/10)

Balance: Can perfection have a balance? To talk about balance one would have to be able to distinguish parts of the experience. This is a continuous, almost synesthetic, whole body experience that flows gently or violently but always uninterrupted. How can a liquid be this good? I know instantly that I will once again be unable to recall just how good this is until I return to it at some future point in time. And it will be astonishing and glorious all over. The wheels of life and whisky turn in perfect synchronicity. When I die please soak me in this stuff and then burn me. (10/10)