MrWizard's Ramblings

I’ll cover tea-spooning super quickly here by linking to a good summary and taking first two paragraphs from here: https://thecasks.com … -14-year-old-review/ as it explains the deal quite well.

Basically, teaspooning consists of adding a little bit of another distillery’s whisky to a cask of single malt whisky. Ostensibly this is done so the cask cannot be sold or bottled as single malt whisky because it now contains single malts from two distilleries. So…for example, say a big company, let’s call it Grant Wilma & Daughters, owns two distilleries – Glen Helheim and Inexorable Park. Throughout the warehouses of these two distilleries, there’s bound to be a few casks that just did work out. The whisky is perhaps not bad, but it strays too far from the house style and is too anomalous for the company to use or to want to slap the distillery’s name on it. Then let’s say an independent bottler comes to Glen Helheim looking to buy casks. They’re not necessarily worried about selling a distillery name, they’re more concerned with selling a unique whisky, or possibly creating a special blend. They decide to buy a teaspooned cask, an oddball Glen Helheim which has a bit of Inexorable Park added to it, thereby nullifying it as a Glen Helheim single malt. The independent bottler might pay a lower price for a cask like this than they would for a certified 12 year old Glen Helheim, but they also do not have the built-in distillery name recognition that might help with sales.

Dalmore 13, Cromarty’s Firth, 53.6%
A first of many Hepburn’s Choice ‘blended’ (spooned) malts to come, this 13 year old Dalmore has been cut with a tiny bit of Teaninich to make it a blended malt. Aged in refill hogshead and bottled exclusively for K&L Wines the bottle notes say lively, grassy, vanilla. Nose is malty vanilla with some grass minerality. More minerality is present on the palate, with loads of ginger spice, yet again malt and so much vanilla. The texture is slightly viscous which is surprising for low age and not super active cask. WIth repeated tastes more sugars come to the fore adding few notes of white raisins to the mix. Considering the rarity of independent unsherried full proof Dalmore this is somewhat of a treat to taste the distillery profile in its full glory. More minerality in the aftertaste as vanilla and sugars fade first leaving it a bit of a dusty feeling. Absolute treat to distillery fans, this may be slightly rough around the corners to be a true treat. With age really making a true difference in refill-aged spirits this is a tiny bit too young to truly have settled down, it is right on the cusp of greatness. Well worth trying but a tough sell for a full bottle of quality value out of this unless it’s the style one truly enjoys. That being said, adding few drops of water removes most of the rough edges making it much more enjoyable but perhaps less ‘unique’…
Product Page: https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1511212
Score: B

Aberlour A’Bunadh Alba, Batch 1, 57.1%
An ex-bourbon counterpart to the regular A’Bunadh which is sherry cask aged. No age statement but full proof and I’d expect full flavor. Tropical fruit and spices on the nose with good amount of malt and cereal notes, some honey emerges after a while. Concentrated, sweet, baked apples and a bit of spice on the palate with additional lighter fruits appearing as time progresses. Palate fades with more tropical notes appearing, like a mango vanilla mousse cake. Very much a flavor bomb for ex-bourbon cask style of maturation (vs regular A’Bunadh sherry bomb) quite pleasant, concentrated and very flavorful offering. It’s an excellent example of a style… that’s frankly saturated in excellent examples so while by no means a bad choice, the field is quite crowded in good choices at that price point.
Score: B

Fettercairn 21, Old Particular, K&L Sp, 55.3%
A 21 year old Old Particular Bottling. The nose is shortbread cookies and cereal. The palate is… mouth-watering and mouth-coating, full of malt, dollop of cereal sugars, tropical fruits, vanilla and just enough spice to tie it all together. Creamy, bready texture. Just fantastic. The aftertaste is long full of more cereal notes, super gentle spices, vanilla and creme. Little bits of tobacco or char come up in the very back to put the cherry on top of the whole experience. It’s rare that a pour works so well beginning to end and this is one of the rare ones. It is even rarer that it works well with ex-bourbon casks. The wave of Old Particular bottlings and specifically a bunch that came though around 2017-18 though K&L got outstanding level of value and quality… but this was ages ago in whiskey years. Regardless of me reminiscing, this is fantastic stuff.
Product Page: https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1298485
Score: A

Glen Moray 10, Chardonnay Cask, 40%
No particular expectations on this low proof 10 year old young one. High minerality and malt, citrus and melons, rich and slightly buttery on the nose. I wonder where the citrus and melons come from? Oh yeah… the wine… On the palate… light, fruity and slightly peppery. A distinct lack of secondary palate is clearly evident there though, after the initial bold flavors fade, there’s a very pronounced ‘emptiness’ on the palate before the aftertaste kicks on. On the aftertaste, more pepper, some light wood finally shows itself. Butter, melons and yellow citrus as the nose promised. Extremely light smoke or tobacco in the tail end of the aftertaste rounds it off. This is a summer shandy (50/50 beer to lemonade) of scotch. Very summery and quite light, this feels like something I would enjoy chilled in the summer evening or with similar food that Chardonnay wine would pair with. Lack of mid palate makes it not worth contemplating upon and this is best paired with a good conversation or food. A solid minus though for being exactly 40% abv.
Score: B-

Glenlivet Nadurra 16, Bourbon cask, 111.5 proof
A discontinued bottling as of few years back when Glenlivet replaced all the Nadurra line with NAS expressions. This of course a is loss, but not surprising in the current market where the stocks are dwindling and demand is rising. Nose is malt, sweet cereal grains, slight baking spice, little bits of alcohol and wood but what a fantastic balance there. More wood and spice than would (see what I did here?) be expected based on reasonably pale color. Fantastic balance of flavors and a great example of what ex-bourbon single malt should be. Primary aftertaste flavors quickly fade leaving little tingle in the back of the tongue for quite a while. I’ll summarize here… “It’s real good”… Certainly different balance and style to Fettercairn above which tries to be a fantastic and smooth experience throughout, the Glenlivet Nadurra line does not pull its punches. This is like watching a champion boxer in a match: folks get hurt but it’s an amazing experience nonetheless. Spicy, sweet, malty the flavors are all wound together for quite a literal palate punch that’s beautiful to experience. Still stings a tad though, but not as much as finding my glass empty.
Score: A-

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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown