MrWizard's Ramblings

I’ve clearly got a favorite region, being Speyside.

Glenburgie 13, Hart Brothers SiB, Port Pipe, 54.2%
Glenburgie from 2008, aged in 1st fill Port Pipe. I wonder where it lands. The nose is peppery malt, red fruits, a touch of red wine, bubble gum. More of the pepper comes through the sweet palate together with huge chunk of toasted wood. The aftertaste has more of the wood and wine notes and finishes with lots of sichuan pepper. Overall: This starts with a delicious red port nose and ends with sichuan pepper infused red fruit syrup. Certainly a weird one and not for everyone. My palate seems to be a bit off the mark tonight. Addendum: Alcohol didn’t taste right for next few days so the palate was definitely broken… I believe it was only partially broken at the time of my score. Value: Priced at $109 on preorder and finally discounted to $81 on K&L sale this should be a good indication that this was overpriced and not a hot ticket item.
https://www.whiskyba … iskies/whisky/188347
Score: C (*palate took a day off)

– I’ve hit a palate block for a week or so. Seems to be mostly recovered now –

Aberlour 15, Old Particular, K&L SP, 57.3
2005 Aberlour aged in a refill Hogshead. The color is very pale straw, but color isn’t everything. The nose is a malty beast with notes of beeswax and sugar candy. The palate has white orchard fruits, apples, pears smothered in brown sugar. The aftertaste hits it home with peppery spice and a touch of ash. The aftertaste lingers forever so credit where it’s due on that. Very little cask influence here, pure malt character. Few drops of water takes of the edge and makes for a somewhat more polished experience. Overall: A minimal cask impact, lively character malt. Sign me up! Solid example of what an unadulterated Aberlour can do. Though a very blond color may turn off some risk-averse buyers, it is by no means lacking in flavor. Value: Priced at $90, this is great value for the spec and is a great alternative to Alba while priced same as a NAS bottling.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1610850
Score: A-

Mortach 15, Old Particular, K&L SP, 56.7%
This should be an interesting counterpart to the Aberlour above. Color is pale gold, nose is quite savoury with ripe melons and is slightly grassy. The palate is surprisingly subdued, sweet and malty, but subtle for the most part. More of that melons, sweet vanilla custard. The aftertaste is where it’s at here, medium length, herbaceous, minty and spicy it does not hold back yet doesn’t overwhelm either. Overall: Medium-low-high in terms of flavor distribution between nose, palate and aftertaste, this comes across as an enjoyable casual sipper that doesn’t stand out among its peers. There’s nothing wrong here, yet it’s very forgettable. Value: Priced at $110… It’s not a great value to be honest, especially comparing to Aberlour above with a very similar spec.
https://www.whiskyba … iskies/whisky/210599
Score: B

Mortlach 24, Hart Brothers, K&L SP, 49.7%
Mortlach from 1997, aged for 24 years in a 1st fill sherry butt and selected by K&L together with Hart Brothers. This is surprisingly light colored, considering age and 1st fill. The nose is almost off-profile for sherry aged malt. It’s slightly nutty with notes of dried apricots and peaches and perhaps a touch of prune. The palate is mostly the same as nose, light nuttyness, some dried fruit flavors. Aftertaste finishes with a bit of an oversteeped tea nutty-bitter note to it similar to aftertaste of coffee with lots of vanilla creamer, but otherwise is unremarkable. Overall: Utterly unmemorable bottling that brings nothing of interest to the table. A generic lightly sherried malt, could be anything in here to be honest. It’s pleasant but so… generic. Value: This was listed at $200!? The spec is passable on paper but it’s still barely worth it even before tasting.
https://www.whiskyba … iskies/whisky/210605
Score: B

Benriach 21, Chieftains, K&L SP, Rum cask #93483, 56.5%
A 21 year year old Benriach finished in a Rum barrel, distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2019. On the nose malty and slightly spicy bouquet of fruit flavors, peaches or nectarines, reaching into tropical fruits too. Smooth sweet tropical fruit custard palate, sliding into a absolute ball of hot spice as a spike that lingers for a bit as an aftertaste. Light cinnamon spiciness and sweet and barely noticeable agricole grassy note at the very end. Add water, and this becomes fantastic, this is still tropical fruits on top of vanilla custard but now it’s got a more integrated spiced tart quality to it instead of somewhat disjointed experience before that. Overall: Stunningly excellent bottle that’s perhaps not for everyone as it’s mixes tropical fruit and high spiciness into one, not to mention requiring some amount of precise alchemy with water to make it come together, but when it does it turns form very good pour to a great one. Value: The preorder was 150 and regular price was 127… This is a stunning deal pre price explosion of Benriach products which roughly doubled in price since then.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1421730
Score: B+ (A- with water)
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown