Monthly Archives: November 2010

Field Trip!

WhiskyFest NYC – So much time, so little to do…scratch that, reverse it!!

‘Twas the night before WhiskyFest and all through the land, a lot of whisky was sipped on, especially Arran (yes, I know it doesn’t really rhyme).

Busy, busy, busy.  Here I was, the evening before WhiskyFest and I had a big whisky pouring event I was doing for the Kosher Wine Society.  Whiskies poured that night were: Glenmorangie Original, Usquaebach Reserve Premium, Usquaebach 15 Year Old, Usquaebach ‘Old-Rare’ and the new Arran 14yr.  The event was at Solo on Madison Ave – an amazing Glatt Kosher restaurant, BTW.

Put quickly & simply, I was honored to have been asked to speak at the event.  A big thanks to Aron Ritter of the Kosher Wine Society for asking me to speak.

Prior to this, I met up with Andy Hogan of Arran Distillery and we shared a few beers at St. Andrews.  Just as we ordered our little snickety-snacks, John Hansell of Malt Advocate, and shortly after that Richard “The Nose” Paterson of Whyte & Mackay, (with his freshly shaved mustache) walked in.

I met up with Andy for a few reasons:

A) He’s a heck of a guy and fun to drink with.

B) I asked him if he’d join us at our dinner with the Kosher Wine Society and he jumped at the chance.

C) Andy had some Arran 14yr for me to pour at the dinner and, for my own personal consumption, a bottle of the Arran 15yr Open Day, Distillery Only whisky!  Wham-bam-thank-you-Andy!

While talking with John Hansell, he eyed the two Arran beauties and remarked that he’s never had the Open Day bottling (not many people had — only 600 bottles ever produced).  Being the nice guy that I am, I took a running jump at a chance to share my Arran with someone such as Mr. Hansell.  He graciously jumped at the chance to taste the stuff 🙂

Andy did a fine job talking about both the 14yr and 15yr Arran whiskies.  Both are super fine drams (as pointed out by all of us at the table – tasting notes to come in a couple fo weeks).

After this private tasting, Andy and I headed off to Solo for the whisky pairing event.  While there, we met up with many, many good people including Noah Goldstein of Usquaebach and Aron Ritter, President of the Kosher Wine Society.  It was a pleasure to be a part of the event.  Again, thanks Aron!

So there we were, Andy Hogan & Joshua Hatton, bellies full of food & whisky — what to do next?  Well, head over to Ward III to meet Parker Beam and taste his new Evan Williams 2001 Single Barrel whiskey!  Sadly, we were too late and missed that event completely.  We did, however, get to meet up with Greenie D McGee (World traveler, prankster…Ladies’ man!).

So, what now?

Let’s fast forward about 20 hours into the future to the evening of WhiskyFest.

The folks at Malt Advocate were nice enough to comp a press pass for me to join the festivities (thank you again!).  Sadly, this detail did not make it to the press-pass list and with the place so packed, I had a bit of a fight to get the folks in charge of the passes to let me in.  Thankfully, Amy Westlake (John Hansell’s wife and basically the person in command of the event) was passing by and she vouched for me.  Thanks Amy!

Into WhiskyFest I went – Glencairn in hand and ready to sip on some VIP hour whisky goodness!  First stop — Arran.  I had to try some of the new Machrie Moor PEATED Arran.  A cask strength beauty which was lightly peated and complimented the Arran spirit so well.  Andy had a bottle in hand and was at the ready to pour.  Watch out!  Peated Arran, coming your way!

Stop number 2 – Compass Box to taste the new 10th Anniversary dram – The Flaming Heart.  People who say they do not like blends will miss out on the specialness that is Compass Box.  Robin Robinson, Compass Box Ambassador and all around nice guy, poured an ample sample for me.  I was happy.

Where to next? Angel’s Envy to finally meet Wes Henderson (who I recently interviewed here) and his dad, Lincoln Henderson, the artist who designed the new Angel’s Envy Bourbon (review of that whiskey here).

I’ve been in contact with Wes for sometime now and have heard from him bits and pieces of the many issues that present themselves when you go about releasing new whiskies.  It’s a tough process, no doubt.  So, as a way of saying “congrats” on the pending launch of Angel’s Envy, I presented Wes with his very own Jewish Single Malt Whisky Society (Honorary Whisky Heeb) T-Shirt.

After this, I hoped from table to table seeing what else there was to see/taste.

I made a point to stop at the Amrut table to meet Raj.  Raj, of Purple Valley Importers fame, was the person kind enough to send me samples of the Amrut line for review.  I had to say hello, say thank you and taste some of the limited Amrut Intermediate Sherry expression.  The Intermediate Sherry whisky was a big spicy dram though easily tamed with a dash of water.  I’ve got a sample on it’s way to me for a formal review.  Expect to see my tasting notes soon.

Other whiskies of note – Dry Fly 100% Wheat whiskey out of Washington state.  Duncan Taylor 12yr peated Bunnahabhain (one of my faves of the evening), Springbank CV, Longrow CV, Yamazaki 1984 (at $600/bottle, it was nice to have a chance to taste this nectar), Stranahan’s Colorado “Snowflake” triple wood whiskey and Glenrothes 1975 vintage.

Lots of whiskies were missed — with more than 300 whiskies on hand to taste, it’s to be expected.

I did get to try the new Black Grouse – a solid blend folks!  While at the Grouse table, I met up with Dan Friedman of The Jewish Daily Forward and we got a chance to talk about whisky.  And actually, Dan was nice enough to lay down some of our conversation here.

All of the seminars looked great to me but I was only able to attend one – Suntory’s seminar with their Master Distiller, Mike Miyamoto.  Mike did a great job taking us through the Yamazaki & Hibiki line as well as give a good history of the Suntory owned Japanese distilleries.  We learned quite a bit about the importance of oak on their whiskies; not just type of oak (American, European & Japanese) but type of cask used.  It was all very interesting.  Mike is a VERY serious guy and extremely passionate about his whiskies.  It was great to see him sip on the stuff and start spouting out tasting notes.  Eyes closed, mind working, taste buds tasting.

I got to the event, and was in the door, by 5:30 and before I knew it my iPhone was telling me that it was 9:15.  Time is fun when you’re having flies.

Earlier in the evening, when I was at the Angel’s Envy table, I missed an opportunity to meet/talk with Lincoln Henderson (creator of Woodford Reserve Bourbon and now, Angel’s Envy) so I rushed back to see if he was there.  Luckily for me, he was.  What a charming guy!  I had a nice quick conversation with him but, had I the chance, I would have loved to talk with him longer – with over 40yrs in the business, he’s got to have some AMAZING stories!

So, this brings us to the end of my experience.  A complete whirlwind tour of the event.  Almost overwhelming.  Actually, it was overwhelming.  I could envision this being a fantastic two day event (hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

I’ve heard complaints recently of the cost of a ticket — $120 (regular admission) $160 (VIP admission).  The VIP hour alone is worth the cash.  First off, most of these whiskies are hard to find in one place and, if you did find them, you’d pay double or triple that (at least) to taste them all.  Plus, the food is spectacular.  Great seminars to attend, etc…

If it comes close to where you are, do not miss this next year.  And, if you do go – make sure you come prepared.  Like having a birthing plan for when a woman goes into labor, I’d suggest you come to one of these events with a clear cut agenda.  What do you need to discover, who do you need to talk to, what seminars are available, etc…  Map it all out and STICK TO THAT PLAN.  I would have done that but I left my plan at home.  Oy.

A World of Discovery, Karuizawa, Let's celebrate!

Karuizawa 32yr Single cask – 1977 – Cask number 4592

Japan – 60.7%ABV – full bottle is 70cl, my sample from Master of Malt was 3cl – $243 | £150 | €173

This is not available in US stores and not available in a full bottle from MoM anymore though, as of November 8th, 2010, you can still get a 3cl sample for $14 | £8.65 | €10 – I’d grab a sample while you can.

We in the United States of America are deprived.  Deprived and sheltered I tells ya!  When it comes to whisky, Japanese whisky that is, we in the US don’t have much to choose from.  Please do not misunderstand – I’m not discounting the Japanese whiskies we do have.  The Yamazaki 12yr and 18yr whiskies are fantastic.  So is the Hibiki 12yr blended whisky (to be reviewed soon).  We do not have, however, any Nikka whiskies like the cask strength beauty “Nikka Whisky from the Barrel” or any of their Yoichi whiskies like their vintage and younger single cask series, 10yr, 12yr, 15yr, 20yr, etc…

On top of this (and many, many other great ones out there), we do not have local access to any Karuizawa.  A crying shame.

These 1977 single cask Karuizawa bottles sold out from Master of Malt in about a day (update — these bottles sold out in 17 minutes!).  At £150 each, that’s impressive (if’n you ask me).  I had to get a sample – a mere taste of this stuff to see what I was missing.

Thankfully, the good folks at Master of Malt were kind enough to gift me a sample (todah rabah, gracias, danke, you rock).

Beyond the tasting notes I’ve read (I usually try not to read other people’s tasting notes prior to a review of a gifted sample as I do not want to be influenced in any way), I was intrigued by how the color of this whisky was described.  The folks at Master of Malt say “the whisky is tinged slightly green in colour, a product of the cask maturation.”  Let’s see if they’re right…

Color — Deep gold – no, green.  No… gold.  Perhaps the color of oloroso sherry but with a tricked-out iridescence to it.  Very cool.

On the nose – Big hot pokers up my big Jew nose – at 60.7% ABV, I shouldn’t expect much less.

Getting past this now…

Boiled red cherries and crushed sesame seeds.

Thick cut orange marmalade.

Sort of a meaty quality to it.

Swedish meatballs.

Deeply sweet and savory at the same time.

On the mouth – Not as hot as the nose but there’s a big sumo pepper fight going on in my mouth.

Light and bright in both flavor and feel then, a savoriness kicks in…

Roasted walnuts.

After the second sip, the mouth feel changes completely – this is some big league chewy stuff.

Unlit cigars with a side of Godiva chocolates containing ooey cherry and raspberry filling.

Finish – It’s all on bitter cherries and walnuts.

Long and pleasingly hot.

In sum – This is a G-d damn powerhouse of a whisky!  I’d say I only scratched the surface of its complexity.  Flavor-wise the balance was impeccable; everything worked.  It was so dead on with the palate but the nose was a bit hot for me.  While I wanted to add water to calm the nose down, I was a bit nervous to adversely affect the flavors & mouthfeel so I just manned up and dealt with the heat on the nose.  This is a contemplative dram, there’s no doubt about it.

Kavalan, Springtime, Takin' It Easy

Kavalan Single Malt Whisky “Solist”, ex-bourbon, cask strength

Taiwan – 58.2%ABV – 200ml sample (thanks to Ian Chang of Kavalan for the sample)

This is the final day Gal of Whisky Israel and I will be sharing our thoughts on the Kavalan range.  While I’m not tasting these whiskies blindly, Gal and I will not be sharing our thoughts on these whiskies prior to our posting them.  Be sure to check out Gal’s notes on this whisky (a link to Gal’s review is listed below my notes).

Well, so far, for the Kavalan range, I’ve really enjoyed their King Car whisky.  The “Concertmaster” port finished whisky was good (if a little off balance) and the Sherry cask “Solist” was quite the delicious pick-me-up.

This final “Solist” is also a cask strength whisky.  Kavalan have an ex-bourbon cask strength (this one I’m reviewing today) and an ex-sherry (yesterday’s review).

I am a big fan of ex-bourbon cask whiskies and if they’re cask strength… bonus!

Let’s see what we get:

On the nose – Big bright bourbony nose filled with vanilla and coconut (almost like a Sno-ball.

Also rubbing alcohol and tropical fruits (think pineapples and even a little guanabana).

Fresh cream (and creamy smelling).

On the mouth – Creamy mouth feel – very nice.

Vanilla and honey.

Birch beer with some high effervescence – it’s all fizzy in my mouth.

Finish – Long, more fizziness, lemon drops and vanilla ice cream.

In sum – A straight forward, light and fruity whisky.  Very impressed with the mouth feel – creamier than I expected, but with some lasting fizz to it – right up my alley.

This is a big, young sweet treat.  Early spring in a warming sun is just right for her.

I truly had a lot of fun reviewing these whiskies (and doing so with Gal!).  I look forward to their being more widely available and feel the world is ready for more “world” whiskies.

Be sure to read Gal’s review here.