Review 104: Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 12 Yr

Review 104

10/31/12

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 12 yr: 46% abv

So we figured we had such good luck with the last one, we figured we would give it another go. Does Glenmorangie have three gems in a row? Let’s start with what Quinta Ruban is. At a nearly identical price to the Lasanta, the Quinta Ruban is a similar Malt with a different view. Instead of being aged in sherry casks, the whisky is aged in port wine casks. If you don’t know what port wine is like, then please see our Terra d’Oro review of a Zinfindel Port. So what’s the difference between the two? Let’s just compare from tasting notes. 

On the nose, there is a big malt and floral character to the spirit, along with interesting notes of red wine, wood, red grape. There is a wheatiness and light subtle vanilla to the nose. After adding water, the nose opens up and contributes a larger spiciness and sweet malt to the nose. Nothing about this is overtly complex, but we dug further. On the arrival, there is a very slight peat smoke to it which we found peculiar with Glenmorangie. There is a combination of brininess and sweetness to the arrival, but no distinctive flavors jumped out to the group. 

The body carries more definition, carrying some unique fruit flavors to go along with the malty character. There is a sweetness and dark fruit flavor to this malt. Among the flavors, one can find dark chocolate, cranberry, cinnamon, raspberry, sweet citrus notes, and strawberry. After you expose this malt to water, you’ll start to see ginger and molasses come out. Again, we were not blown away by the complexity of this malt, but it did represent some form of uniqueness. The finish was much more detailed, but represented a different side of this whisky. It came off as briny and salty in the beginning with caramel, black pepper, cinnamon, slight smokiness, strawberry, and some cabernet. With water though, we can pick up some more flavors, including the sweet molasses notes we got in the body, some hazelnut and cherry notes, and an Old Pulteney-esque saltiness, which has a mixture of refreshing and dry impressions to it. And just to mix it up, we even caught some slight notes of bubblegum. 

The group had a couple of comments to make about this malt. For starters, the malt took on a lot of different characters, with some spiciness, salt, hotness, and dark fruity berries to it. The group described the malt as being unsorted and confused, like it was having an identity crisis and didn’t know who it wanted to be. Although there was a large discussion on scoring, the group agreed that it didn’t measure up to Glenmorangie’s other statements and it’s lackluster complexity didn’t do it any favor. For a bargain malt, this would be an excellent choice, but at a price of around $65-70 a bottle, we would expect much more from it. 

Score: 7.75/10

Review 103: Glenmorangie Lasanta 12 Yr

Review 103

10/29/12

Glenmorangie Lasanta 12 Year: 46% abv

So, if you look back, Glenmorangie is a single malt Scotch distillery, and they like to tell us that they have the tallest stills in Scotland. The stills are probably not relevant to you, but let’s take a quick second to discuss why that matters. Because of the science of distillation, flux and still geometry make huge impacts on what’s in the still and how long it spends there. So what do taller stills do? Well, in Glenmorangie they generally make a lighter, more floral and sweet whisky. We can talk more about science later. Class dismissed. So this Lasanta stuff...what’s different from this and the Original Glenmorangie. Besides being 12 years instead of 10 years old, it is aged in a different cask. In fact, that cask is an Oloroso Sherry Cask. We like those casks, and we like the effect it has on whisky. So how about this one? 

Well, on the nose, you get a blend of flavors, greeted by the floral and light oak scents you would expect from Glenmorangie, but also big maltiness, grain, vanilla, honey, caramel apple, red grape and sweet, sweet sherry. Ahh! How refreshing. So then we drink. In the arrival, you’ll start to understand this whisky, with instant notes of citrus, apples, malt grain, gingerbread, and allspice. The arrival is crisp and refreshing, and after putting water in it, honey comes out. 

The body is moderate, with wheat, malt, sherry, wood flavors, honey, hay, caramel, gingerbread and allspice. Again, this is a pleasant, but easy taste. The finish is largely complex. There is malt, caramel, dry oak, sherry, raspberry, slightly tart cherry which becomes sweeter over time, and confectioner’s sugar. After adding water, the whisky softens up in general, but adds some spicy fruits and more vanilla to it. There is a bigger wheat flavor and less malt and sherry. In the finish, there is also a dark chocolate bitterness. 

Overall, we like the fact that Glenmorangie is bottling at 46%, and it pays off. This has good flavors and good balance, although complexity isn’t groundbreaking. This is a strong, solid statement. Worth a try if you like sherry-aged whiskys. 

Score: 9.0/10

Review 102: Goose Island Bourbon County

Review 102

10/28/12

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout: 15% abv

Breaking the record for the strongest alcohol content in a beer that we’ve ever reviewed, Bourbon County takes the idea of barrel aged stouts to a new level of intensity. And that’s not just because of the alcohol content. You might ask yourself, can you really tell the difference? Yes. The intensity of this beer is unmatched, not only in how it will make you feel, but also in how it will fill you up. I’m inclined to say it is probably wise to drink this beer with another backup on hand. That’s all I’ve got to say regarding the warning labels. Now, about the beer itself. Is this something new? Not necessary. Is it something that you’ll never see again? Again, that’s not really the case. Bourbon County is just a yearly special, which kicks you between the legs if you’re not careful. From this point on,  we will go into the land of tasting notes.

The nose on this beer will start off pretty powerful. You might have guessed this, but there are some pretty obvious notes to this one, starting with chocolate, vanilla, cocoa, oak, coffee and grain. The graininess comes from some wheat and rye character. If you look beyond these huge flavors though, you start to see some raspberry and strawberry open up. This obviously isn’t hugely complex, partially because the over-balance of dark flavors. This is consistent throughout the beer, so for sake of time, I won’t repeat myself. The arrival is very strong when you go to try the beer. There is strong notes of vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, but also contain a sprite-like citrus note that couples with the carbonation. 

Into the body, there is a huge fudgy chocolate taste, with tons of coffee, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, toffee, and butterscotch. There is also a strong fruitiness in the form of sweet, dark berries like raspberry, blackberry, strawberry and cherry. There is even a slight nuttiness at the end of the beer. The finish contains caramel, oak, cream, chocolate, nuttiness, and some strawberry. Overall, this beer is a statement to the uniqueness of bourbon barrel aging, but certainly doesn’t do much for the complexity and balance that we enjoy in our stouts. It was concluded that besides the fact that this could be mistaken for liquid coal, or chocolate syrup you might put on your ice cream, this is a very select beer that should only be enjoyed by those who can handle it. It’s good, but without a good balance, and super sweetness, it lacks the practicality and enjoyability of other beers. Maybe the other Bourbon County’s will be even better. 

Score: 8.5/10

Review 101: Glengoyne 10 Yr

Review 101

10/20/12

Glengoyne 10 Year: 43% abv

Glengoyne is a unique distillery, or at least advertises themselves as such. They really like to promote the fact that they dry their barley by air, as per their slogan, “The pure taste of malt”. What does this mean? Well lots of methods of drying barley exist, including peat. I’m also happy to report that their whisky doesn’t have any caramel colorant, and at 43% abv, this whisky certainly approaches a craft presentation. So what does the “pure taste of malt” tastes like. 

On the nose, you will get a strong, grainy smell right up front. There is a ton of malt character to it, with barley sugar, wheat and mild oak right up front. There is a vegetal quality to the smell, which starts to approach a smell of subtle fresh cut grass, and contains a slightly floral scent. This natural grain and greenness is complimented by sweet champagne, sugarcane, vanilla, green apple and pear. Because of this wonderful smell, the taste was an encouraging following. And it is. 

The arrival is mellow at first, with vanilla, slight ginger zip, and big malt flavor. The arrival was crisp and light, but grainy. Now the taste is big. It is hugely malty, wheat-like grain, and then a ton of spices. The spicy notes include hutmeg, cumin, mint, and after water, subtle pepper. There is also sherry, slightly mellowed banana, and cream. It is really enjoyable. From here, the finish is very complex, holding light tartness, and sweet lemon. 

The malt is most prominent here that lasts for a long time. There is also vanilla, green apple, pleasant sherry, and mint. There is also a sweet cake batter-y like sweetness, and it becomes dry at the end of the finish, with some cinnamon. So this a fantastic malt whisky, and water mellows it out. It is very well balanced, with a great amount of flavor. Recommended for the price. 

8.5/10

Review 100: Woodford Reserve Master's Collection New Cask Rye

Review 100
10/13/12
Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection New Cask Rye: 46.2% abv

Wow...that’s a mouthful. Can you imagine asking for that at the bar? You probably wouldn’t, because there is a 99% likelihood that they don’t have it. So this is it! It is KCM’s 100th review, and man what an exciting one it is. We worked hard not to review anything until we got the perfect thing for it, and it’s a two part series. This is a half of a two bottle set of rye whiskies, and so Review 101 will be of the other one, but I won’t go into the details of that until the next review. So...why are we doing this one? Well, it’s our first rye whiskey, and it’s a rather expensive and rare bottling. Woodford Reserve’s Master’s Collection is a series of craft whiskies that get released yearly around Christmas time. For example, in 2010 they had a Maple Wood Finished Bourbon that they produced (that we will also be reviewing sometime in the future), and in 2011 these Ryes. They are expensive, but having already tried the Bourbon once, I had good faith that this wouldn’t be a bomb. So here’s a little background on Rye whiskies, since this is our first one. Rye whiskey is almost exactly like Bourbon in the fact that it can only be aged in new charred white oak casks, and it has to be bottled between 40 and 80% abv. The difference is that while Bourbon has to made up of 51% corn, Rye has to be made of 51%...take a guess...rye!

So now let’s talk about the whiskey itself. If you’ve ever taken a big smell of a whiskey, you have probably leaned in and smelled, and then felt like your nose was on fire. The alcohol can be really off-putting, and at 46.2%, we expected similar things from this one, but to our surprise, it was not at all like this. The nose was balanced and tame, but not understated. It had a lot of complexities to it as it opened up. And open up it did. There is so much to this nose, I don’t know how to proceed. The nose was very spicy, with some mild sweet notes, but even moreso, there was a subtle floral, aromatic character to the nose. The aroma greets you with dark sweetness of brown sugar, honey, molasses, caramel, vanilla, and even a slightly buttery character. There is also a smooth, but powerful oakiness in the smell, followed by very diverse set of spices. Here was our best crack at trying to identify these spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread, and light cloves all adorned the aroma of this rye. Even more unique, though, was the subtle banana and coconut smells that came out later on, when the rye opened up even further.

The arrival isn’t anything to write home about, and for that matter neither is the body of this rye. The arrival is definitely spicy, but quick and not very prominent. The body takes on a dry, almost tannin-y character. There is prominent cinnamon and nutmeg, with warm oak to please your mouth, and even some creamy and banana notes to it. After adding water, the body will start to open up and you’ll get some good grainy rye character to it, and more oakiness, as well as some definite salt. If you don’t like salt, you can drink this without water. The finish is pretty much what takes the cake with this. Not that the body isn’t good, but it doesn’t compare to the finish. The finish has so much to it, and after that whiskey goes down, you’ll spend time basking in the experience. Spiciness defines rye, and thus a Christmas spice collage is what you’ll get here, with strong nutmeg overpowering the cinnamon, but also gingerbread, allspice, cloves, and mint all mixed in there. The mint and cinnamon will be accentuated after a fair bit of water. There is an earthiness to the finish, and you’ll still get the darker, sweeter notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak. Interestingly though, a slight, dry piny bitterness comes through, as well as the butter that we smelled at the beginning. So that’s it.

Here are some closing notes for review 100; This rye is fantastic, and worth trying at least once. The nose and finish are great, and the finish sticks around for a while, but the body and arrival to the spirit is a little lacking in comparison. After water, the slight sweetness backs off on this one, and it adds to the spiciness and hotness, while still remaining smooth and enjoyable. If you are looking for a more mild experience by adding water, you’ll not be happy with the result, but it adds some different dimensions to the rye. A few of our reviewers said they preferred it without the water, while others were ambivalent. Either way, this is a wonderful expression of a craft whiskey and it’s well worth the time and money. We can’t wait to try the next one. 

Score: 9.25/10