MrWizard's Ramblings

Glentauchers 15 - Chieftain’s Single Sherry Butt
Wife Notes: Very fragrant. Front is sharp. Middle is okay. Back is nice. Fragrance, perfume and burn-y raisins,

A Speyside distillery I never heard of before this bottle. Oh yes, the sherry bomb. Arguably a nuclear sherry bomb. The most sherry bomb. It knows best bombs. Ramblings with a tinge of mocking aside, this is a dream for those looking for that oomph. The color needs to be mentioned as its pretty much dark amber, bordering on chestnut. This thing evolves overtime in the glass. Nose, unmistakably sherry, floor wax, lots of dark stewed fruits and nuts going on in there. Layers and layers of evolving sweet dark fruity goodness. Mouth, surprisingly savory instead of sweet, more of the same from the nose, wood and malt coming through as expected as well as a tiny bit of alcohol burn mixed with few bitter char notes. I suspect it needed to be bottled as it was becoming over aged in its barrel. The back is more of the burnt fruits coming forward as well as baking spice that is almost bourbon-like in its character. The malt character itself is unfortunately mostly lost under all that dark influence.
Overall: 15 year old, over-barreled, sherry bomb? Lots of folk love these. I’ll summarize it as something along the lines of ‘its tasty, but…. slightly off balance’. Would i buy another one? Likely not. Would i encourage others to try it? Absolutely! It’s a fascinating and pure sherry experience that is as concentrated as it gets without suckling at the actual barrel. Also, at original $75 the amount of flavor this provides for the price is real deal!
https://klwines.com/p/i?i=1420914
Score: N/A

Clynelish 14
Wife Notes: “I don’t like this. Very citrus-y and burn-y and not much else”

Ah Clynelish, the less-pretty sister of the legendary Brora… It’s also notable that there’s only one regular release by the distillery at 14 years old and most of the incredible amount of output from her stills ends up in blends. The distillery and brand are owned by Diageo, who as a company ain’t well thought of in the whiskey enthusiast world due to noticeable decline of quality of brands after being acquired as higher demand on throughput is asked of distillers and commitment to excellence slips in favor of profits. Clynelish also happens to be a linchpin of several blends.
Let’s talk Clynelish 14. Honestly, I like it. Its not a shining star in my book, but extremely serviceable malt that hits the right tone and has the right complexity. On the nose, lots and lots and lots of wood in my dram, slight alcohol burn and a tiny bit of ethanol whiff. I may be one of the few weirdos that like that smell in small quantities. Citrus peel comes through strong on second and third nose as well as green apple skins. Palate is where it shines, almost savory, more of those apples and ton of wood tannin coming in. Long finish that’s similar to the taste, doesn’t overwhelm but my mouth is coated with whiskey and its been several minutes while the aftertaste still has no indications of fading away, slight lemon peel bitterness at the very end. Very strong wood influence through and through, slightly oily while drinking, readily coats your mouth. In conclusion, its no prince, but being adopted into royal family ain’t too bad of a deal in the end of the day. As an aside… I’ve read that this thing is supposed to be lightly peated!? There’s certainly a ‘brine’ undertones to it, slightly reminiscent of ‘Laddies, but for the life of me, I’d not have said this has any peat in it beyond water residuals.

I can see why folks go coo-coo over old Brora juice. Clynelish 14 is probably 7/10 for my preferences, but if it was cranked up to 11 and with addition of another 15 years… Yes that would be lovely.
https://klwines.com/p/i?i=1011039
Score: N/A

Nikka from the Barrel
Wife Notes: Perfume and burnt sugar.

Ah, Japanese whiskey… Japanese ‘craft’ their whiskeys as opposed to Scotland’s ‘lets-see-what-happens’ approach to taste. I like you J-whiskeys! The world likes you a lot too. Japan is a small place and the world is thirsty for good Japanese malts, thus the pricing in the last few years have doubled or in some cases went through the stratosphere. It also helps that Japanese malt basically won every possible alcohol accolade and award in the last decade or so. Bottled by Nikka as a blend of different whiskeys from the same distillery, including grain whiskey, coffey still products as well as regular single malt, and consistently bottled at 51.4 abv for some odd Japanese-specific reason. The actual formula and contents is not disclosed other that its from Nikka distillery.
Nose: as is the rule of thumb with most Japanese malts… this one gives all the perfume on the nose and tends to fall into mostly oak-y sweetness with a hefty alcohol punch. Honestly, if i didn’t know its a blend… i wouldn’t have been able to call that aspect out. It is that expertly crafted. In the mouth, more sweet oak, balanced with alcohol burn and light tropical fruits in a hefty harmony. The alcohol is felt right through this one, yet perfectly balances with other flavors. Tiny bit of oak tannin in the very end and more of a white pepper back. Yet again very reminiscent of the best single malts from highlands. Beautiful, not over-sweet and balanced finish that’s unmistakably well-crafted Japanese whiskey.
In conclusion: Should you get a bottle? Yes definitely, if you can find it at MSRP! Would I? I already did. This is excellence in a bottle with a razor’s edge of balance that is ever strived for by both producers and consumers of malt. Think about Hibiki 12 that listened to too many death metal songs and now is an edgy goth makeup-covered person yet still the same sweetheart underneath and you will get the picture.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1367606
FYI: It’s Japanese-bottled Ben Nevis scotch after looking where the folks in the know are.
Score: N/A