MrWizard's Ramblings

A quick run through several of small malt samples I gathered over last few months. They are minis because most are 1 oz rather than 2 oz samples thus my opinions may be somewhat limited due to not having a larger sample base.

Aberfeldy 15, Exceptional (Sherry) Cask, 43%
Aberfeldy is a distillery I’ve wanted to try for a while as their packaging is a very pretty gold letters on black satin colored letterhead, and they’re not too expensive. Well their exceptional cask series is a sherry finished version at a disappointingly low 43% abv with reasonably respectable 15 year old age statement. The nose has solid apple underlay with some sherry on top with perhaps a touch of honey, without the honey sweetness. The palate is woody sherry, not too sweet and quite… watery. More light sherry notes come forth in the aftertaste with a little bit of ex-bourbon spice and wood. Nothing quite exciting, I’m disappointed here. The proof level being this low is an absolute shame as it could have been so much more interesting. At about 50%+ this could have been ‘exceptional’; at 43% it’s mediocre sherry finished malt.
Score: C

Hibiki, Blender’s Choice, 43%
An (inadequate) pseudo replacement for the fantastic 2010s 12 year old, which used Ume wine casks which are rare and hard to get. This is the other (and quite expensive, with MSRP ~$200) option to the Japanese Harmony which is technically is the current replacement to 12 in the core range. Regardless, this Hibiki NAS with (supposedly) higher percentage of sherry in the blend. See my overall Suntory tasting notes for some fine points about Japanese single malt here: https://www.aerin.or … y:entry210503-204441. Rather alcohol forward on the nose with a lot of malt and spice character with a bit of sherry. It is quite lovely in the sniffly-sniff department. Smooth as silk and practically loaded with pepper and malt flavors. Sherry is surprisingly subdued and only shows up in the very back of the palate to balance out the peppery notes so that they don’t take over. The aftertaste is unfortunately on the shorter side which is a shame after that nose and palate. Blindly, I’d have given this easily a 46% abv; so the blender did a fantastic job here. Well worth having, trying, and drinking at rich friend’s place, though I struggle to recommend this NAS bottling knowing the MSRP. Still, a very flavorful proposition that should please pretty much every scotch drinker except hardened peat-heads.
Score: B

Puni Gold, Italian Whiskey, 43%
Apparently first ever Italian single malt whiskey distilled and aged in Italy. This is a “triple malt” whiskey aged 5 years in ex-bourbon. Distilled from a 100% malted combination of barley, wheat, and rye. Something unique indeed. Apples, pears and a bit of rye spice on the nose. Surprisingly soft and mellow on the palate with more apple and pear flavors but overall the feeling is more subdued vs the nose. With such subtle palate, the aftertaste that lasts a surprisingly long time and is quite tasty though yet again subtle vanilla apple with very small amount of varming spice in the very back. A little mouth-watering and overall rather enjoyable. Buuuuuut… It’s not actually that cheap for the age, with K&L having it on sale for $67 (from $90). One to watch as it needs some more time in the cask to flesh out that palate but the overall profile is enjoyable and seems to be on the right track. Very faint metallic notes float up with repeated sips and it is unfortunately a little too young to be of true interest. Exceptionally good early effort by a young and unique distillery. I would be looking forward to eventual port and sherry casks of this…
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1499772
Score: B-

Balcones, Lineage Single Malt, 47%
A regular malt release from Balcones Texas distillery. Light cinnamon and malt on the nose. Mellow cream soda, toffee and some candied orange peel on the palate. Musty, slightly wet wood and a little bit of spice on the aftertaste. Fairly long light malt notes. Inoffensive but honestly? Why bother with this when their full proof french oak is so much better. Too young to be interesting, too ‘different’ for scotch drinkers. Reasonably tame American Malt whiskey that is perhaps a gateway into bigger, bolder, more interesting full proof versions from this distillery… But honestly skip it and go straight to the good stuff if you really want Balcones. https://www.aerin.or … y:entry210127-170948 . Considering that MSRP for this is a little over $40… this gets my begrudgingly small nod of approval on the value and would be fantastic @work for it’s easy drinking, mellow, and inoffensive profile while still having a sizeable proof and decent flavor combination.
Score: B-

Old Pulteney 21, 46%
Ex-bourbon and Ex-oloroso maturation. An unfortunately small sample came across my desk with some luck (and perhaps begging). Red berries, spice and alcohol on the nose dominate here, some hints of oloroso varnish do appear too. Luxurious sherry finished profile though drinks much higher than it’s proof. Slightly metallic due to salinity and a bit of peat without too much sherry sweetness to carry peat forward. Extremely complex to say the least. Starts sweet, but immediately becomes slightly salty. The finish is mostly downhill on the flavor scale, Long and malty, slightly metallic and salty but nothing really comes up as whiskey just sort of disappears into the palate. As with most older Islay bottles the aftertaste lasts for a very very long time but this is so subtle it is nearly lost almost immediately, though my mouth continues to salivate for a while due to residue all around. This starts amazing and… fizzles. A very hard one to quantify but frankly I am not enjoying this as much as I was expecting. At ~$170 MSRP this would be a huge disappointment for me on value. A solid malt that’s worth trying but I’m not chasing it down anytime soon.
Score: B
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown