Review 127: Terra d'Oro Moscato

Review 127

12/30/12

Terra d’Oro Moscato

We’re back with Terra d’Oro. This is a California wine maker that does a multitude of different wines. The original Terra d’Oro review was their Zinfandel Port, but now we’re moving to another sweet wine. Their Moscato, as part of the Heritage collection, sits along side their Pinot Grigio, Barbera, and Sangiovese wines. What’s next is naturally a quick lesson on moscatos. 

Moscato comes from a variety of grape known as Muscat, which is grown around the world and wildly grown for table grapes, wine, and raisons. Moscato is generally a lightly “sparkling” wine, with a naturally sweeter type of style. Muscats are a family of grapes, and Moscato Bianco is a member of that family that is used to produce Moscato. 

Terra d’Oro gives us a splendid list of details regarding this wine, so if you are curious about learning more about the winemaking process, there is a place to start. We’re going to tell you about our second wine review. This moscato starts on the nose with a light acidy nose, vanilla, wood, and light grape aromas. There is also pink grapefruit note, anise, slight cream, citrus, and even some strawberry. There is a good balance of fruit and sweetness on the nose, and some minimal spice. 

Once you taste this, you’ll be greeted by...sweetness. This isn’t a shock with a Moscato. The arrival starts sweet and short, with raisons, sugar, and grape. The body comes in not much bigger with white grape, cream and custard, raisons, slight acidity, and grapefruits. Finally, there is a simple finish. It remains to be short, but there is a slight wood note, sweet grape, apple, and slight tartness. The finish is clean and fresh, but simple. 

In general, this is a simple wine. There is no complexity to this, but it does a good job of simply stating the sweetness of a wine. As we get deeper into the world of wines, we’ll start to tell you more about the differences between wines in different areas. For this one, it’s hard to go wrong with a cheap, simple wine. 

Score: 7.5/10

Review 126: Aberlour 12 Year Double Cask

Review 126

12/23/12

Aberlour 12 Year Double Cask: 43% abv

Another review for your liking, and we’re taking a look at another single malt Scotch. This one is done by Aberlour Distillery, in Strathspey, Scotland. They produce a Speyside single malt, and generally have affiliations with making a good “sherried” whisky. Aberlour A’bunadh is a great example of such a whisky. It makes sense that one would consider them to be a producer of sherried single malts, as the 12 and 16 also have very obvious sherry notes in them. Aberlour is currently owned by Pernod Ricard, and was initially founded in 1879 (wikipedia says differently) , so there is some history to the distillery. 

Here’s a little bit about the whisky in question. The most important first fact to note about the Aberlour 12 Year, is that it isn’t alone. If you look around, you can find an Aberlour 12 Year Non-Chill Filtered variant. This individual bottling has a 48% abv and obviously no chill-filtration, but you are paying nearly the same price as the 16 year for that treatment. It seems like a bold move by Aberlour, but let’s focus on our friend here. This will run you around the same price as a Glenlivet 12, Glenfiddich 12, or Macallan 10, plus some change, but it really competes with the likes of Macallan 10, Macallan 12, Glenfarclas 12, Balvenie 12, and others. 

So how does it hold up in the stiff $40 base single malt range? Well we’re here to tell you. The nose gives you a nice blast of oak right off the bat, with the barley malt as a close second. There is a slightly vegetal quality to the nose, and retains a nice mixture of grain, sherry, slight bourbon influence, vanilla, and fruits. There is wheat on the nose, maple, molasses, raisons, light spice, a subtle lemon and grape presence, and just a general fruit sweetness. The nose provides some level of complexity, but you have to reach for it to truly grasp it. 

The arrival provides a decent introduction into the flavor, with barley, slight spice, caramel, and weak wine grape flavors. Not much is added in the body with oak, vanilla, malted barley, white grape, and some grape-like acidity. The body remains quite disappointing, due to the lack of complexity. After a little bit of water, the body becomes more wine-like and there is the addition of small spicy notes. 

The finish begins to introduce a large sherry character to the malt, and both cask influences become evident. There is oak, vanilla, raisons, cinnamon, ginger, molasses, maple, hot pepper, slight cherry, caramel, and powdered sugar. After adding water, the finish becomes more peppery. The finish is probably the most prominent part of the malt, and we didn’t find it mind-blowing by any means. 

This malt is generally an okay buy, but it lacks the overall complexity to shred with the big boys. Perhaps that 12 Year Non-Chill Filtered version might come into play here, but by no means is this a bad whisky. The problem is it doesn’t really spark any sort of excitement. As a casual sipper, though, it sure is a smooth Scotch to enjoy. It seems that Macallan 10 year has more depth, but not quite the same sherry impact as Aberlour presents here. Either way, not one you’ll spit out in disgust, so try it and see if it fits the bill for your taste. 

Score: 7.75/10

Review 125: Founders Bolt Cutter

Review 125

12/19/12

Founders Bolt Cutter: 15% abv

Well, it has been a while, Founders, but we’re back with another review, and hopefully it isn’t a roast. We have high expectations for Founders because they produce a high quality product consistently. This should be no different, and unfortunately for Founders, there has been a lot of hype around this particular beer. Almost to the point of it being annoying, we’ve heard about the 15th anniversary of Founders. We are happy for you, we baked you a cake, but my understanding was that there were TICKETS for buying this beer. TICKETS. This beer is not going to see the London Symphony Orchestra, here. Now it is time to see if Founders did it right for their 15th birthday, or if all the hype was just the usual marketing nonsense. 

Founders Bolt Cutter is a barleywine. As we have said in the past, barleywines are heavy in alcohol content, which gives them the “wine” designation, but they are definitely beers. Most barleywines will sit at about 10-15%, with beers rarely exceeding the 15% limit. This one certainly does its best to be up there at 15%. Don’t be afraid my friends. Just as Devil Dancer could be tamed, so too can the Bolt Cutter. Also, for your information, pouring this over any type of metal will effectively do nothing, despite the name. 

This beer, as soon as you start to smell it, will come off with big fruitiness and sweetness. Notes include honey, grapefruit, cantaloupe, strawberry, kiwi, pineapple, lime, green apple, barley, wheat, green grape, oak, and even some vegetal notes. This is a very sweet, complex nose, and gives us a huge variety of smells that you would expect and enjoy out of a barleywine style ale. 

When you taste the beer, the arrival contains a lot of the same sweet flavors that the nose has. This includes honey, vanilla, barley, molasses, toffee, lemon, melon, and some cream. It’s a relatively satisfactory arrival, which leads into a relatively satisfactory body. The body has more sweetness, with caramel, butterscotch, honey, maple, grain, barley, wheat, cream and melon. Finally, in the finish there is slightly more hoppy, piney bitterness that accompanies the sweetness. There is definitely grapefruit and pine, but there is also cream, honey, caramel, toffee, barley, orange, apple skins, and allspice. The finish is medium in length, but admittedly not totally impressive. 

This is not an unworthy beer. Let’s be honest though: if you don’t have this one by now, you’re probably never getting it. We were very excited to do this review, but paid a hefty price to try this beer. The end result is a good, enjoyable experience that will get you drunk, breaks the bank, and is virtually impossible to procure. We still think it is good quality and we will score it based off of our standard criteria. Nonetheless, if you want a good barleywine, visit some of the standards  first and see if they treat you better. 

Score: 8.75/10

Review 124: El Dorado 12 Year

Review 124

12/18/12

El Dorado 12 Year: 40% abv

“Aged”, “Anejo”, “Old” rums, turns out, sort of carry their own category. The reason I provided several monikers for these kinds of rums is because the term “aged” can be misleading. Although rums don’t have to be aged (some countries require at least 1 year of aging), a lot of them are. This is a different kind of thing from an “aged” rum, you see. This one, in particular, is 12 years old. This sounds like a bottom shelf single malt Scotch age, but don’t think of this anything but very good. And not many rum producers tag an age statement on their bottles, and we really like this practice: it encourages quality. 

On to El Dorado. If you’re looking for a rum producer to provide you with a good variety of rums, this could be the place to look. El Dorado, from Demerara, produce a multitude of rums. Their ranges are the luxury cask aged, fine cask aged, connoisseur range, superior standards and specialty products. We are reviewing the 12 Year Luxury Cask Edition, which means the cask itself owned a Maserati before being filled with rum. The more you know. If you want to go older, El Dorado even has a 25 year old rum but you might need to sell your car to buy it. 

Okay, all this talk about the distiller, and not the rum. But let’s just take ONE more second to discuss the finer details of this rum. The 12 Year is aged in bourbon casks for 12 years, but even more interesting is the blends that make it. There are three stills where this rum hails from and one of them is called the Port Mourant Double Wooden Still. Yes, this rum was distilled from one of the last two remaining original wooden stills in the world. So that is an interesting fact. Let’s move on. 

El Dorado 12 year is a fantastic rum, but let’s find out more about it. On the nose, there is a balanced composition of sweetness and spiciness. There is a fresh sugarcane smell, coupled with sweet molasses, and includes more smells of oak, honey, caramel, apple, cinnamon, vanilla, slight grain, banana and coconut. This is a different, rather complex smelling rum, and if all you have been drinking is Captain Morgan, this will throw you off of your seat. This smell does have a slightly alcohol-like presence to it. There is no doubt to it, although this strikes as some surprise given its mile, if not disappointing alcohol content. 

The arrival begins with a simple, gentle, sweet arrival of vanilla, caramel, molasses and even some melon. It’s probably the most disappointing, eventless part of the rum. But don’t worry, the body comes to the rescue with complexity. There is a big raisony note in the body, with sweetness attributed to honey and agave, and plenty of notes further. These include grapes, mint, fresh herbs, molasses, vanilla, orange, honeydew, and nutmeg. After adding some water, there is an oaky presence adding in mild spices and ginger, with a better blend of flavors.

The finish closes with that same raisony, honey-like flavor, but there is more of a sherry-like presence. There is confectioner’s sugar, grapefruit, ginger, mild pepper, agave, orange, peark skin, citrus, and slight dryness. This changes slightly in balance after water, and there is the addition of enhanced apple and tropical fruits.

So this is a relatively complex spirit. If you are asking if it is worth what it demands in cost, then we’d quickly say without a doubt. The problem is that Appleton Estate 12 Year still exists, and we think Appleton has outdone themselves, and outdone El Dorado. That does not make these two rums the same, and it is easy to tell how one would enjoy them both, or prefer the contrasting flavors. This rum is not overly dominant in any particular fashion and even goes so far to become better balanced after some water. Next time you see it, give it a try and see what we mean. 

Score: 9.0/10

Review 123: Pampero Aniversario

Review 123

12/17/12

Pampero Aniversario Reserva Exclusiva: 40% abv

We are talking another quick look at rums today, and for that we have all the way from Venezuela, Pampero. Now, these marketing folks always like to piss me off with their stupid marketing nonsense, but I guess we’ll start with the facts. Venezuelan rums tend to be rich rums, and this little guy is no exception. This rum was bought purely because it comes in a leather satchel, and we’re always suckers for packaging. Now Pampero might not be a big player in the world of rums, but it certainly is unique, and at a reasonable price, deserves a second look. Unfortunately for it, it is shredding against the big dogs like Appleton Estate, Mount Gay, and El Dorado. 

It appears as if some marketing monkeys have compared this rum to having better complexity as a sipper than Cognac or Scotch, so here’s my five minute rant. Complexity is not defined by what the spirit is, but rather the quality of the spirit and the craftsmanship involved. Pampero does have some things to be said for it, but I can think of a number of Scotches that would leave it to the dust. Therefore, let’s not compare apples to oranges, and stick with the fact that this is indeed a good rum. 

And it is. Let’s look at what we found in it: On the nose, there is a huge creamy molasses note right up front, with cocoa, maple wood, nutmeg, gingerbread, banana, apple, strawberry, caramel, powdered sugar, honey and vanilla all being present. This is a relatively complex nose, but the theme here is sweet. It certainly contrasts the rums we’ve had in the past, so that’s good. 

When you start tasting this thing, you realize that the sweetness in the nose isn’t just made up. And rich it is. This is certainly a sipping rum, because there’s nothing else you could do with it. Interestingly, the arrival is big, and provides you with cinnamon, molasses, caramel, sugar, cream, mint and even some raisons. It is complex and up front, and it doesn’t make you wait. The body contains a big sherry raison taste, and keeps up with the molasses. The dark sweet notes of caramel, nutmeg, maple, and vanilla keep the body full, with additional notes of cherry, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, banana, coconut, and mint. 

The body is busy, but not impossibly complex. The finish is dark, and has the most prominent presence of raisons and sherry, but keeps most of the notes of the body, with some powdered sugar and honey to add. And granted, this is not a bad thing. This rum is different and unique and, if enjoyed slowly, is an easy smooth sipper for anybody who enjoys a sweeter rum. As we reviewed this one, we grew into it a little more. It takes understanding, but even for those who don’t particularly seek the sweeter of rums, this can be enjoyed. 

Score: 8.5/10

Review 122: Dogfish Head Bitches Brew

Review 122

12/16/12

Dogfish Head Miles Davis Bitches Brew: 9% abv

Back with another Dogfish Head review. And this one is one of the more limited edition Dogfish Heads. This is a dark ale brewed with honey and gesho. So you might not know what gesho is like we didn’t, or maybe you’re more intelligent than us. Gesho is formally known as Rhamnus prinoides if you’re going to look it up, and it is used in Ethiopia like hops is used here. The stems are collected from the plant and boiled, and the extract is mixed with honey to make mead. That’s an interesting little fact for us all, and it gives some context to this beer, and maybe the bottle art too. 

So this is a dark ale, but this is a dark ale like Cabin Fever is a brown ale. In other words, it is kind of a stout. The nose confirms this for you with notes of coffee, vanilla, caramel, roasted barley, chocolate, toffee and some wheat. This is a pretty typical nose. The arrival is coffee-like, with some small lemon-lime influence, vanilla, and even soft cream. 

The body contains coffee, toffee, grain, barley, wheat, cream, raisons, and even almonds. This is turning out to be pretty typical of a stout, with a little bit of nuttiness to change things up. The finish is big in the barley flavor, with wheat and chocolate on the back end, coupled with some small hops notes, coffee, toffee, cream, and almonds. The finish is long and big, and very enjoyable. 

So this isn’t really a terribly complex ale, and it is pretty typical for the stout/dark ale character. This doesn’t make it good, but it isn’t cutting edge. And frankly, we like to see our expensive beers in smaller bottles, because drinking a full fifth of a 9% beer in a night doesn’t lead to appreciation, it leads to drooling. None the less, this is a nice beer and we think you’d enjoy it, but I wouldn’t break my legs to get another bottle of it. 

Score: 8.25/10

Review 121: Jolly Pumpkin La Roja

Review 121

12/16/12

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja: 7.2% abv

Jolly Pumpkin is something else. A brewery around several areas in Michigan including Traverse City and Ann Arbor, JP specializes in sour beers. The last time we did a sour beer, the result wasn’t the best in our minds. Despite this, we aren’t going to be deterred and wanted to try another one. Remember, KCM uses three main criteria for scoring their reviews: uniqueness, complexity, and quality. A second tier of qualifiers includes drinkability, price, and personal preference if the panel isn’t decisive enough. I say that because I need to preface this review. The idea of a sour beer is that while the mash is being created, the beer is allowed to be infected by bacteria (science can be gross, folks) and this bacteria produces a sour biproduct. This is the core concept behind a sour mash, for you Jim Beam/Jack Daniels fans. 

La Roja is an amber ale which uses this ideology and barrel aging to give it a distinct flavor. Spoiler alert, we don’t think it worked. The nose is the first encouraging part. The nose contains a decent number of fruity flavors like strawberry daquiri, grape, sweet red wine, pear, floral notes, acidity, lemon, light pine, tangerine, nutmeg and even some subtle raison. We were content with this, and it foreshadowed to a good complex beer. Here ends the encouraging part. 

The arrival contained very concentrated fruit flavors of red grape juice, cranberry, grapefruit, slight oak, and some acidity. We are getting more hardcore with the cran/grape juice as we push into the flavor, with no sign of bitterness, but rather citrus notes like tart lemon and grapefruit. There is a SLIGHT hint of grain here, but you probably won’t notice it unless you’re looking for it. The finish....is the same. There is an addition of slight yeast is all. Okay. So this beer doesn’t taste like beer, and doesn’t taste like there is alcohol in it. If you handed this to a five year old, they probably wouldn’t know you replaced their Juicy Juice. This would be okay if we felt there was a greater complexity to it, but it wasn’t found in this bottle. Jolly Pumpkin may have some great beers, and we have experienced them, but KCM doesn’t recommend this one. 

Score: 5.0/10

Review 120: Gosling's Black Seal Rum

Review 120

12/15/12

Gosling’s Black Seal Rum: 40% abv

We got back into the rum bandwagon and it certainly has been a while. This is Gosling’s  dark rum, and if you look at our first mixology post, it is the feature ingredient in the Dark N’ Stormy. Just like the mixed drink, this rum comes from Bermuda, and unlike Kraken it is not a spiced rum. But how does it compare? Well we can tell you first hand. 

On the nose, you start off with complex notes of wheat, cane sugar and brown sugar, molasses, allspice, slight anise, nutmeg, ginger, herbal notes, mild vanilla, mint, and  maybe even some coriander. The nose is pretty unique and spicy, and it was surprisingly enjoyable at this price point. The arrival provided big sweetness, with honey, caramel, cinnamon, and ginger. 

The body continued some of these notes with ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, honey, caramel, molasses, sweet fruits, mint, and allspice. After the addition of water, this body becomes mellower and sweeter, but does not lose its flavor. The finish contains brown sugar, molasses, ginger, coriander, nutmeg, black pepper, slight bitterness, an undertone of sweet fruits, and mint. As you might be able to tell, this is a fairly complex finish, but is comprised of many spice notes. Overall, the finish evens out with a slight splash of water. 

Here are some general notes about Gosling’s Black Seal Rum for you. This rum is not terribly fruity, but contains a good mixture of sweetness and spiciness. The finish is dry in this, and a small amount of water will definitely smooth this rum out, as well as taking away a bit of the edge from the peppery bitterness of the finish. This rum is exactly what makes a Dark N’ Stormy a Dark N’ Stormy. This is a cheap rum, which makes it a great buy for the value, but the question becomes whether or not this competes with Kraken, at a very similar price point. The short answer is no. Kraken will probably be the better buy, but if you like the character of this better, or the bigger sweetness, this will not do you wrong. 

Score: 8.5/10

Review 119: Innis and Gunn Winter Beer 2012

Review 119

12/15/12

Innis and Gunn Winter Beer 2012: 7.4% abv

There is nothing better than a reunion. And we’ve had some good ones with Innis and Gunn. This is more like a high school reunion. A poor one. I recently had an Innis and Gunn Rum Cask, which is a fantastic Scotch Ale. This particular beer is a “porter”, but it doesn’t have that ominous black oil-like color that a porter normally does, so maybe the porter was...under-roasted? Despite this, it sounds like a pretty interesting beer, being an oak aged Scotch porter brewed with molasses, it is certainly unique. It is also a limited run beer, so we had to grab it. 

Well all of this self-hype was unnecessary, as the beer is not worth it’s cost if you’re looking for the same quality you got with the rum-cask Innis and Gunn. This isn’t against the company, but this just simply doesn’t do it. Here’s why: The nose gives off some good notes, shooting off raisons, caramel, vanilla, honey, milk chocolate, a slight sweet coffee flavor, cream, cantaloupe, molasses, and a moderate background tartness. This is the best part of the beer. 

The arrival is eventless, being sweet and light, with a slight lemon-lime character and some raisons. The taste contains raisons, coffee, slight hops, toffee, soda water/mineral water, and water in general. The body does contain a larger amount of wateriness, and there is more to be said about this later. The finish contains raisons, coffee, molasses, slight hops, toffee, earthy mineral notes, caramel, and an out of place tartness. So what’s the end result? 

KCM loves that beer makers can produce new ideas at a much faster rate than distillers, but this particular statement by Innis and Gunn is light, watery and inconsistent in flavors. The complexity isn’t there to speak of and there was a general disappointment in the lack of quality. Go grab a Rum Cask Innis and Gunn. It is still a fantastic brew.

Score: 6.25/10

Review 118: Kilchoman Machir Bay

Review 118

12/14/12

Kilchoman Machir Bay: 46% abv

First of all, the “c” in Kilchoman is silent, so you can wipe the sweat off of your brow, Choman. Stupid jokes. Secondly, here’s a little bit about Kilchoman: This is our second Islay Scotch review, and it is a particularly interesting one. You’ll be amazed to know that Kilchoman as a distillery started producing whisky in 2005. If that doesn’t make you more interested, then let me put this in perspective. Laphroaig Distillery, the Islay Scotch maker we reviewed last, was founded in 1815. Kilchoman is hardly even a toddler in the world of Scotch. So you’re probably asking yourself, what could that possibly mean for how old the Scotch is? This particular statement is a mixture of three, four, and five year old whisky, with the four year old whisky being aged in Oloroso Sherry butts. That makes this the youngest Scotch we’ve reviewed on KCM by 7 years. 

Does that mean it will be harsh, horrible whisky? Well we’re here to tell you more about how Machir Bay tastes. Here’s some tasting notes for you. On the nose, there is a large number of flavors to taste. Included in those flavors is a bready grain smell, with wheat, rye, and even a yeast scent. There is salt and fresh peat smell, earthy notes, seaweed, and green, vegetal notes including grass. One can catch black pepper, smoke, and tobacco on the nose. 

In the arrival, there is big flavors of tobacco and peat right off the bat, but also the additions of salt, dry rye and wheat, and even some slight honey. In the body, one can find ginger spice, nutmeg, bread notes, tobacco, yeast, wheat, salt, rye, and a little barley. The finish is what will overload your senses. It starts with that big peat you know, some tobacco, salt, dry grain notes of rye and wheat, big black pepper notes, ginger, earthy and vegetal notes, big salt, more tobacco, a mild red pepper flavor, ashy wood, slight berry fruitiness, and some bitterness carried on by the black pepper flavor. 

After adding water to the whisky, it generally takes down the intensity and calms the bitterness just slightly, but the tobacco flavor in this malt is still a big player in the flavor. So to give you an idea of the difference between this and Laphroaig on a general level, it’s pretty easy to outline. Laphroaig has a much more woody, ashy flavor with some prominent fruit notes, adding some sweetness to it. Kilchoman takes on that big tobacco flavor with dry grain notes, and has a fresh, peaty taste which outlines less woodiness or campfire type flavors, but rather a subtler, more refined smoke. It is complex and pleasant, and you probably wouldn’t guess it was less than 12 years old. Either way, it is, and if you can find it, it’s worth a buy. We can’t wait for older statements from Kilchoman.

Score: 9.0/10

Review 117: Wehenstephaner Korbinian

Review 117

12/12/12

Weihenstephaner Korbinian: 7.4% abv

Here we go. We wanted to bring back the dopplebock beers for another go. The first dopplebock we tried had us so confused with life, it was hard to move forward (Charkoota Rye). As a reminder, a dopplebock is a heavier lager, generally darker in color. So let’s give this type of beer a better shot. 

On the nose, this one has dark, sweet notes like chocolate fudge, caramel, molasses, nutmeg, coffee, vanilla, roasted malt, cream, toffee and even oak. Besides this, you can find fruitiness and spiciness in blackberries, apple, red grape, and some cloves. The nose is complex and starts off with a musty sort of barnyard hay smell, which is unique, but not horribly off-putting. The arrival of the beer isn’t big, but it has sweet notes of molasses,  and caramel, with the addition of some oak, coffee and even tart citrus. 

The body contains a lot of woody notes, butterscotch, caramel, dry spices, apple and a mild coffee. This isn’t coffee like you’ll find in a stout, mind you. It is much milder, less rich, and more grainy of a flavor than what is found in a stout. The finish contains just said graininess, with dry malt, wheat and then continues with blueberry, chocolate, and coffee beans. 

Now, this may seem like a short list of tasting notes, and that’s because it is. Don’t be deterred though, friends. This beer is a lighter style to the heavier, more complex stout and IPAs in the world of beers. What this beer accomplishes, then, is the ability to have a light mouth-feel, lighter drinking experience while still offering the user a range of prominent flavors. For this, we recognize what a dopplebock is supposed to be. German beers generally don’t take the heavy, dark flavors that American beers do, so this makes it much more tolerable than for beginners or drinkers who want a lighter style beer. For that, we like this dopplebock. It doesn’t scare us as much as Charkoota. 

Score: 9.0/10

Review 116: Laphroaig 10 Yr

Review 116

12/11/12

Laphroaig 10 Yr: 43% abv

Cue the epic music, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve got it here for you. Our first peated Scotch review. This is already a point of contention, before I even start writing this review. Peated Scotch is a completely different animal than its non-peated counterparts, so there was some hesitation about posting the review. Peated Malts can be complex and hard to handle, and we didn’t want to do it disservice. 

So what is a peated Scotch, first of all? Peat is a moss, found in Scotland in rainier areas, used as a fuel source. The history behind peat moss is an interesting one. One characteristic of it is that it burns slow, so it is a good source for heating homes. Due to economic strife, distillers in the Isle of Islay turned to peat to dry their barley in the malting process, but this generally added a strong smokey flavor to the whiskies. Peated whisky has been regarded as so medicinal tasting, that people got away with selling it during prohibition because it wasn’t regarded as drinkable for pleasure. 

Now this is somewhat of a trend for Islay distillers, so now we have some pretty unique whiskies on the market. This was actually my first bottle of peated Single Malt, because it is known to be one of the more heavily peated whiskies in mass production right now as a brand. So what is peat like? Think of a campfire. That smell is sort of what you’ll taste. And we’ll get more into that. Here are some tasting notes for the 10 year Laphroaig. 

On the nose, you’ll get exactly what I just described. A campfire peatiness, with ashy wood in direct contact. Beyond this, you’ll find salty notes of seaweed and sea water. This is counteracted by the sweet barley smell and wheat, some slight vanilla, and some lemon scent. The challenge in dealing with a peated whisky is working past the peat notes to further understand what makes the whisky unique. 

The arrival presents briny sea salt, vegetal flavors, seaweed, but even some sweet melon, vanilla, molasses, and a hint of slight apple. The taste leads some bigger, more complex notes, including peat smoke, barley, malt, salt, sweet light melon, honey flavors, and some sugar. After adding water, there is a sweet breadiness to the whisky, with rye, and mild spices. The finish is big in this whisky, and will linger with you for a while. Notes include seaweed, sea salt, vegetal flavors, slight olive oil, slight maltiness, dark peat, ashy taste, sugar, sweet fruits, black pepper big smokiness, menthol, subtle medicinal notes, and charred oak. This finish is oddly very uninhibited by the addition of water. 

So in general, this is a BIG flavored whisky, with a surprisingly calm arrival, thin body, and a huge finish. It is well blended in its array of flavors. It is important to note that Islay Scotches generally provoke descriptors that are a little more obscure or maybe bizarre to the normal drinker. This might include notes like engine oil, phenol, and we’ve even heard once “greasy rope”. Don’t let this drive you away from tasting one of these whiskies. We are going to stay away from these descriptors because we generally aren’t chewing on greasy ropes. Imagine that...So this is a great whisky. 

Score: 8.75/10

Review 115: Macallan 10 Yr

Review 115

12/10/12

Macallan 10 Yr Fine Oak: 40% abv

Macallan. Macallan is among the more well-known Scotches in the world. Generally speaking, if you compare Macallan to Glenfiddich or Glenlivet, you’ll generally pay more per year with a Macallan. Does this mean much of anything? No. Macallan has several lines of whisky. Two kinds of Macallan 10 Yr exist. This one is labeled as the “Fine Oak” variant. So let’s talk briefly about what kinds of oak are used in this Malt. 

This whisky actually blends three kinds of oak influences: European oak “seasoned” w/ sherry, American oak “seasoned” w/ sherry, and American oak “seasoned” w/ bourbon. I put quotations around the seasoned because I’ve never heard anybody use this before, but I’m fairly sure that’s the same as aging something. After all, they probably aren’t sprinkling on some dried bourbon flakes, I imagine. So what do you get from this? 

The nose provides a good grain note, malt, sherry, raisons, vanilla, slight lemon citrus, nutmeg, wheat, and light fruits. The nose doesn’t appear to be overly complex, but it contains some enjoyable aromas. The arrival on this whisky, once tasted, provides a a few tasting notes. Among these flavors, you get sweet fruit, light citrus, vanilla, a mild tartness, grain, and even some buttery character. The taste adds with smooth vanilla, grain, malt, wheat, barley, orange, and mild pepper. The body hits with a hugely grainy palate, but dissipates quickly. The finish comes in and introduces the sherry to the palate, with big raison and soft cocoa notes, sherry, malt, vanilla, toffee, butterscotch, wheat and caramel. The finish is medium in length, and misses on great complexity. 

This whisky isn’t horribly complex, as you might be able to tell, but it does do a number of things better than Glenfiddich or Glenlivet would with their youngest statement, including perfect blended balance, defined flavors, and smooth quality. This truly is a great beginners Scotch, but lacks in complexity.

Score: 8.25/10

Review 114: Glenfarclas 12 Yr

Review 114

12/8/12

Glenfarclas 12 Yr: 43% abv

Glenfarclas is a Highland Single Malt distillery, which is actually not very well known in Michigan. They provide their bottling in a practical cardboard canister that doesn’t really jump out at people when they see it, which might be its only crime against humanity. I can assure you that this whisky is worth that second look, despite the plain looking packaging. At 43% and an affordable price, Glenfarclas 12 hits the right marks. This whisky also does a great job of demonstrating that there whiskies with the influence of sherry that don’t need to be predominantly sweet. 

So on the nose, we’ll start off by saying there is that sherry. Sherry is coupled by malt, butterscotch, agave, gingerbread, caramel, sugar, vanilla, slight black pepper, rye, slight wet grass, and cream. It is a light, mellow nose that won’t jump out at you, but it does have a subtle complexity with a huge spectrum of flavors. The arrival does give you a great introduction into the Scotch, with vanilla, sherry, caramel, malt, sweet sugar, and a slight pepper bitterness. The body adds to this with butterscotch, slight floral notes, pear, pepper, vanilla, malt, spiciness, dry oak, and herbal notes, with some saltiness to it as well. After water, there is more saltiness and herbal notes to the whisky. The finish gives off sherry, raisons, caramel, malt, slight salty brininess, vanilla, pepper, pear, mint, tobacco, greens and herbs. 

There is a slight heat to the finish, but it is pleasant and not overbearing. Sot his might not necessarily sound like the longest list of tasting notes, so you might not think it’s the most complex, but in reality, the balanced blend of flavors does a great job of adding an intrinsic quality and complexity to this Scotch. As far as sherried Scotches go, this one takes the cake for uniqueness, mixing a weird herbal and tobacco flavor with sweetness. We also didn’t get the full scope of flavors, so we think there is more to this whisky than we’ve gathered. Highly recommended. 

Score: 9.0/10

Review 113: Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Review 113

12/7/12

Dogfish Head Olde School: 15% abv

Dogfish Head again, with a limited production barleywine. We’ve done a few barleywines, but they are not frequent. Since we’re waiting to do Bolt Cutter by Founders, it seems we will give you a teaser with this beer. What makes this beer interesting is it is brewed with figs and dates, which means something somewhere. This barleywine is obviously strong, at 15%, and we haven’t tried a whole lot of 15% beers that are easy drinkers. At this level, flavor is huge and the beers are sippers. This is no exception. But let’s see how it treats us. 

On the nose, you get apple, pear, barley sugars, sweet sugars, raspberry, light peach, caramel, wheat, malt, and honey. You can tell right off the bad that this beer does reflect quite a few sweeter flavors, but doesn’t hold a large amount of complexity. The arrival is actually a little more complex than we are used to in a beer, with caramel, berries, apples, blackberry, honey, lemon-lime soda, and maple. Again, there is a theme here. The body is pretty light in the variety of flavors, containing malted barley, wheat, sweet apple, caramel, and maple. The finish gets slightly more complex with honey, banana, wheat, barley, dry red wine, grain, maple, yeast, and a slight sourness. 

This beer is straight forward then. Not terribly complex, but super sweet and prominent. This isn’t like other barleywines in that it lacks the bitterness or slight hoppiness that counterbalances the sweetness. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you prefer your drinks. This is a rich drink, so it will probably be your only one for the night, lest you desire a cavity. There was some disagreement amount the group on how to score this beer. It lacks a lot of complexity, but it is a unique offering among a group of barleywines, and you might like that. Originally slotted for a 7.5 out of 10, but on further consideration, it seems this still has the potential to be an enjoyable, quality beverage. It might not be worth your cash unless you want a sweet, relaxing beer. 

Score: 8.0/10

Review 112: Founder's Backwoods Bastard

Review 112

12/6/12

Founder’s Backwoods Bastard: 10.2% abv

Here we go with another review. Backwoods Bastard. Might ring a bell, even if you haven’t heard of it. Why? Well, this is a bourbon-barrel aged Scotch Ale. I’ve done some small research on Scotch Ales, because there is a bit of contention about this term in our minds. If you go to Founder’s website, they will tell you Backwoods Bastard is reminiscent of a Single Malt. I will clarify to you that this is not the case. It contains malt flavors, but in this sense it reminds us of malted barley, as is a prominent flavor in TONS of beers. The problem we have with saying this is reminiscent of Single Malt Scotch is that it really won’t remind you of that, and eludes to some intrinsic quality in the beer. This beer has no real affiliation with the spirit itself, so far as we can tell. 

Anyway, now let’s talk about the beer itself. The nose has malt in it for sure, but you get the classic bourbon dominant flavors like caramel, oak, large butterscotch, toffee, vanilla, and wheat. There is even the presence of raisons, cream, plain yogurt, molasses, and slight starfruit. That makes this a fairly unique, interesting nose. The arrival reflects the smell pretty accurately, but with a little less to it. Prominent flavors include vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, and dried fruits. The body contains the same sort of flavors, with butterscotch, malt, vanilla, caramel, weak coffee, milk chocolate, creaminess, and even slight ginger. The finish contains cinnamon, malt, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, slight grapefruit and apple. 

We can comment that is a pretty bourbon-dominated beer, and if you want to understand the influence bourbon has on beer, this is a great combination of two beers to try it out, with Dirty Bastard and Backwoods Bastard. On the other hand, we think this bourbon influence was a little overdone. A unique quality that bourbon brings out in beer is a creamy butterscotch flavor, which isn’t necessarily huge in bourbon itself, but time and time again we see it in these beers to varying degrees. Overall, the complexity wasn’t earth shattering, and neither was the balance. We like Dirty Bastard better and this could use a little less of its oak time. 

Score: 8.25/10