Category Archives: Beyond Scotland

Kentucky Bourbon – 1792 Ridgemont Reserve 46.85%

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Next up in the Kentucky straight bourbon revisit is Sazerac Barton’s 1792 Ridgemont Reserve.

This bourbon is named after the year Kentucky became a state. Originally released as an 8 year, since 2013 the distillery removed the age statement. There was also a wee bit of a kerfuffle over using ‘Ridgemont Reserve’ which apparently people confused with ‘Woodford Reserve’ hence if you search for a bottle today, may only find it labelled as 1792!

1792 Ridgemount Reserve

As usual, we sampled it blind and here is what we found…

1792 Ridgemont Reserve

  • Colour – Dark reddish gold, perhaps a hint paler than the others sampled the same evening
  • Nose – Aged rancio, sweet overripe bananas, strong rye quality, after time became fruity floral with some pepper spice
  • Palate – Dry weak body, cinnamon, astringent on the tongue
  • Finish – Very dry finish

Speculation was likely a straight bourbon with rye – turns out we were right!

Unveiling: The distinct feature of this bourbon is that it is produced in small batches.

For my vote, this is an uncomplicated, affordable bourbon with a dash of rye that could rock as a base for cocktails or an easy option to have on hand for parties. However, given the difficulty obtaining ‘phoren’ (that’s foreign folks!) whiskies in India, this wouldn’t be a top priority bringing back after a trip abroad.

Here’s what others have to say about Barton’s 1792 Ridgemont Reserve:

Other whiskies in our Kentucky bourbon evening included:

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Kentucky Bourbon – W L Weller Special Reserve 45%

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Next up in our Kentucky straight bourbon revisit is Buffalo Trace Distillery‘s W. L. Weller Special Reserve. As they put it “made in Kentucky, enjoyed worldwide.”

W L Weller Special Reserve

As usual, we sampled it blind and here is what we found…

W L Weller Special Reserve

  • Colour – Dark burnished copper
  • Nose – Banana toffee, sweet vanilla, caramel
  • Palate – Spicy honey sweetness, perhaps a pinch of nutmeg? (some disagreed)
  • Finish – Warm
  • Add water – Even spicier, then mellowed out

Comments:

  • “One track… one direction.”
  • “A lot more body than a regular Bourbon.”
  • “Has all the ‘ticks’ for bourbon…. though a bit predictable.”

Unveiling: Straight bourbon with wheat substituting for rye.

Like many other bourbons, what is eminently reasonable as a daily dram in the US is well neigh impossible to find and hardly affordable in India.

Part of the Sazerac stable, this is what the Buffalo Trace folks have to say about their bourbon:

The Original Wheated Bourbon Whiskey features an exceptionally smooth taste, substituting wheat for rye grain. Bottled at 90 proof, this bourbon stands out with its burnt orange color. Its softer flavor notes make this bourbon great for sipping or making cocktails.

TASTING NOTES:

A sweet nose with a presence of caramel. Tasting notes of honey, butterscotch, and a soft woodiness. It’s smooth, delicate and calm. Features a smooth finish with a sweet honeysuckle flair.

Here’s what others have to say about WL Weller:

Other whiskies in our Kentucky bourbon evening included:

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Kentucky Bourbon – A jazzy night in Singapore with Elijah Craig

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After a rather brilliant evening in Singapore with jazz and Elijah Craig, I thought it time to pull up from the archives tasting notes from an evening focused on exploring Kentucky straight bourbon…

(Photo: Whisky Exchange)

(Photo: Whisky Exchange)

Taking our usual approach we tried ‘blind’ then unveiled!

Elijah Craig 12 year 47%

  • Nose – Corn, medicinal, banana, wet leather
  • Palate – Sweet spice
  • Finish – Says hello and then flits off
  • Add water – Spice!!!!

We sampled back in the day when this was still a 12 year bourbon. Now it has been replaced with a NAS version which they say contains whiskey between 8 to 12 years….

We found that it is just what we’ve come to expect from a bourbon! Nothing complicated or nuanced, just good old straight up Kentucky bourbon. And if you happen to be in the US, its cheap too!

Jim Murray has said:

“About as complete a bourbon aroma as you are likely to find…one of the most beautiful noses found anywhere in the world today. A bourbon to keep in the mouth forever.” 

Mike over at Whisky Lately has this to say about Elijah Craig:

Elijah Craig 12 is named after Bourbon folk hero Reverend Elijah Craig. The commercial legend is that Rev. Elijah Craig was the creator of Bourbon. An early Kentucky distiller, he founded his distillery around 1789, but the story goes he was first to give Bourbon its unique characteristics. Apparently some of his whiskey barrels became charred in a fire, which is a key process in the making of modern Bourbon. The accidental results were apparently favorable, and thus, Bourbon was born. That’s most likely not true, but every Bourbon needs a story and that’s a good one.

What others have to say about Elijah Craig:

Other whiskies sampled during our Kentucky straight bourbon evening included:

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Winnipeg Cabinet’s Paul John Peated experience

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Yes another Paul John post, however it is such a treat to be able to share this tropical delight from Goa, India in my country of birth – Canada!

We’ve enjoyed more than one Paul John‘s Select Cask Peated:

  • 1st bottle graced two tasting occasions – an evening with our original tasting group with partners and then revisited with a mad bunch of friends
  • 2nd bottle made its appearance with the Whisky Ladies Goan send-off in December 2015. It was completely memorable and created a fan following amongst the Whisky Ladies…. so much so that one of our intrepid lasses made the trek to the distillery doors to help source further bottles…
  • 3rd bottle wound its way from Goa to Mumbai to London to Toronto and finally Winnipeg for a special peaty evening with the lads from The Cabinet

Paul John Select Cask Peated

Here’s a few impressions from the Canadian evening with a bottle from the 2016 batch:

  • Nose – Fruit, flowers and tropics, raisins, some toffee coffee, then back to fruit… dark cherries, berries with curl of smoke
  • Palate – Rum… did we mention rum? Exceedingly smooth, smoky yet sweet
  • Finish – Smoke tar with a sweet chaser…

Now my companions must have wondered a bit as I kept (annoyingly) going on about “where’s the delicious bacon??” Between the 1st batch and this batch, the gorgeous yummy glazed ham, back-bacon drizzled in maple syrup was… well… notably absent. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a rather good dram but oh… that meaty peaty sweetness I was greedily looking forward to was simply… different.

I returned to India to confer with my fellow Whisky Ladies – sure enough they all had the same reaction. Still a mighty fine whisky, still very enjoyable however…. “where is the bacon???”

My friends at the Cabinet had no such pre-conceived notions. And it was therefore all the more enjoyable to experience afresh through their reactions what Paul John has to offer to the world of whisky!

Here’s what they had to say…

And finally the genesis of the peat theme this evening: Carissa had brought a bottle of Paul John peated single malt whisky from Goa, India. Yes, Goa. It’s hard to imagine a locale less associated with single malt in most people’s minds. Right up there with Fiji or Egypt. But indeed, since 2012 there has been a distillery in Goa and what a distillery.
PaulJohnPeatedTo those of you for whom Indian whisky means Amrut and for whom Amrut is a byword for crap, Paul John is a revelation. Not only is it not crap, but it is in fact very good. Not only is the quality a surprise, but the entire whisky is a surprise.
To begin with, although peated malt was apparently used, the peat character is completely submerged under an intense sweet dark fruit flavour overlay, like raisins, like molasses, like… rum. This whisky tastes like a lovely aged rum. Perhaps an 18 year old Flor de Cana.
And the colour. For a whisky whose oldest components cannot be more than four years it has the deep mahogany colour of a 21 year old sherry cask finish. Apparently the tropical heat greatly accelerates aspects of the aging process.
And then finally the alcohol. This is a 55.5% fire bomb, yet none of us added water. The rummy sweetness smooths it and softens it. 
Very interesting. Thank you Carissa! It’s really an “apples and oranges” scenario when it comes to comparisons with traditional scotch whiskies. In fact last night the Rosebank and Paul John beautifully illustrated opposite ends of a series of spectrums: old and new, light and dark, astringent and sweet, austere and complex. As the rhinos dwindle away other species begin to proliferate…

Thank you Cabinet gents for a most memorable evening in Winnipeg! And thank you once again Michael of Paul John for the bottle that made its way from my adopted home to the city of my birth.

Interested in what else we sampled? Read on…

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Kavalan Solist Bourbon Cask (2010) 58.6%

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Of all the whiskies we planned to sample, the one I was looking forward to the most was the Kavalan Solist.

Having recently tried the astounding intense burst of flavours of the cask strength Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask No S1001200358, the bar was set very high. Even recalibrating expectations for a bourbon rather than sherry cask, I was primed and ready for a treat!

Kavalan Solist Bourbon

Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask No B101124001A (Bottle 102 of 230) 58.6%

  • Nose: Much brighter, almost floral with sweet honey, citrus fruits and a bit of banana thrown in for good measure… one could even suggest banana bread… as it continued to open up
  • Palate: For some it was a bit rougher than preferred for others quite smooth, largely on the sweeter side without spice or smoke, some slightly nutty elements
  • Finish: Slight spice and back to sweetness…

Now cask strength whiskies are not for everyone… however this Kavalan still clearly has the Taiwan climate advantage of more concentrated aromas and flavours in just a few years.

Just for those wanting to partially de-code Kavalan’s cask  no B101124001A

  • B = Ex-Bourbon cask
  • 10 = Put into a cask in 2010

Was it a stunner like its Sherry Cask cousin? Honestly no.

But what I must say is that by releasing so many single casks, Kavalan is really showing the world the range and variation found between casks.

Other Kavalan tasting experiences:

What else did we sample?

From time to time, you can also find other whisky related updates and activities on:

Yoichi Single Malt NAS 45% circa 2016

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Having quite enjoyed the Yoichi 10 year in an earlier sampling session, I will admit to being rather excited to explore more what this distillery has to offer!

I particularly recalled Dr Bill Lumsden (of Glenmorangie and Ardbeg fame) sharing that of all the Japanese whiskies, he found Yoichi the most interesting.

Yoichi NAS

Yoichi Single Malt NAS 45% (approx late 2015/2016)

  • Nose – A curl of peat, sweet citrus fruits, honey, toasty nuts, vanilla, hints of sweet herbs and whiff of salty sea spray
  • Palate – Bold yet still approachable, nice balance of sweet, spice and smoke… some leather, malty
  • Finish – First real ‘finish’ of the evening… however still relatively short with a nice puff of smoke closing with mint

Overall a good well balanced dram. Fruit, peat, spice, sweet and nice it hits many of the right notes.

However, can I admit to being a wee bit disappointed with the NAS expression? I was honestly hoping for more… It just didn’t seem to have those delicious autumn notes I associated with the earlier Yoichi whisky.

And this is all the more devastating when you realize that with Nikka’s 2015 announcement of a whisky “shake up,” the age statements from both Yoichi and Miyagikyo are no more… at least for the foreseeable future.

From once potentially being considered in 2007 as one of the “cheapest whisky” (how times have changed!) in Japan, the Yoichi NAS of today is a reflection that the single malt stock shortage at Nikka is indeed very real.

Here’s what the Nikka folks have to say about their whisky:

Yoichi single malt has pleasant peaty notes and smokiness originating from the traditional direct coal-fired distillation as well as a briny hint delivered by the sea breeze during the aging process.

Here’s what others have to say:

What else did we sample in our far east evening?

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

The Nikka 12 year 43%

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Over the years I’ve had a few opportunities to sample Nikka blends – bringing together the yin yang quality of their single malts Yoichi and Miyagikyo.

Specifically the The Nikka 12 year marries three elements – malt whisky from Yoichi and Miyagikyo with grain whisky distilled in a Coffey still.

Amusingly, our ‘Far East’ sampling of The Nikka began with dispelling the misconception that ‘coffey’ has anything to do with ‘coffee!’ Funny how our brain works… trying to sniff out a whiff of your morning brew even when ‘coffey’ refers to the kind of still Aeneas Coffey patented which revolutionised liquor production in the mid-1800s.

We also shared how Miyagikyo distillery is known for its lighter, more delicate and nuanced ‘feminine’ whiskies. Whereas the Yoichi distillery has a reputation for more robust, often peatland more ‘masculine’ whiskies.

The Nikka 12 year

The Nikka 12 year 43%

While I didn’t take notes at the time, walked away with an impression of:

  • Nose – Fruity with pineapple, apples and pears, coconut, hint of peat, some vanilla sweetness
  • Palate – Barley with just a dash of sweet spices and toffee, and while very much in the sweeter side still had some substance
  • Finish – Light pepper, slightly woodsy

Overall a most enjoyable dram. Accessible, well-balanced and easy to just sip.

Pitched as a more affordable age statement, The Nikka 12 year has collected a number of awards to its credit and is currently easier to track down than many other Japanese whiskies.

The Nikka 12 year up close

Here’s what the folks over at Nikka have to say about their 12 year:

There is nothing more suitable than a blended whisky to represent Nikka’s way of whisky making.

The asymmetry design of the bottle is inspired by the neck of a “Kimono”, just as if the layers visualize all the passion and craftsmanship devoted in the history of Nikka. The honorable golden emblem engraved was designed by Masataka Taketsuru for his very first Nikka whisky bottle.

Malty, soft and well-balanced, this expression portrays our gratitude to the heritage and our will to advance our tradition.

We then continued our evening by selecting one element in The Nikka to explore further – Yoichi’s new NAS single malt expression.

If you are curious, here’s what others have to say about The Nikka 12 year:

And Whisky Lady notes to a few related whisky explorations…

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Sake whisky – Togouchi Kiwami 40%

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We’ve tried whiskies before that have a decidedly rummy character, an extra anejo tequila with a whisky-like aspect, but a whisky with a clear unmistakable sake stamp? This was a first.

This was also my first foray into Togouchi whiskies and what a surprise. While blended in Japan and clearly catering to the Japanese palate (plus the demand for whiskies from Japan globally), the new make spirit is not actually Japanese.

Instead, the whiskies are a blend of distilled Canadian grain and Scottish malt which is imported to Japan, then aged in primarily ex bourbon casks, diluted with water sourced from the Sandankyo National Park and blended by Chugoku Jozo‘s master blenders in Hiroshima prefecture.

What adds to the mystique is most (apparently not all!) Togouchi whisky is aged in barrels stored in a 361 meters long tunnel that was built for a railway in the 1970s but never used. This unique warehouse near the town of Togouchi boasts that it can maintain an optimal constant temperature around 14°C and 80% humidity.

As for the whisky we sampled, ‘Kawami’ means ‘supreme’ (or ‘height’) and was created as a limited edition non-peated expression for the French market.

Togouchi Kiwami

Togouchi Kiwami 40%

What did we find?

  • Nose – Very mild, think camomile tea or flowers, soft and gentle
  • Palate – Not nearly as smooth as the nose suggested, had a raw ‘new make spirit’ feel yet oddly solid for a whisky that had such a light, bright nose. Some found the in your face ‘alcohol’ content a bit off-putting. For others the grain element was simply too pronounced.
  • Finish – Was there one? We certainly didn’t find any

As we debated and attempted to distill the character of this unusual blend, we kept thinking of sake. No surprise, the Chogoku Jozo folks are better known for their sake and shochu with the Kawami specifically, in our ever so humble opinion, coming across as a whisky masquerading as sake.

In fact, when we were ready to move on to our next whisky, a few knocked it back like a shot and went “Wow!” Declaring this is THE way to have Togouchi Kawami.

PS… our host admitted to being a bit disappointed with the Kawami and pulled out a different Togouchi expression (suspect it was the Togouchi Premium) that was silky smooth, soft and an utter delight.

Want to learn more?

Other whiskies sampled during our far east evening in Mumbai:

You can also find Whisky Lady in India on:

Far east evening – Togouchi, Nikka, Yoichi + Kavalan

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It is always a treat to peak into someone’s private whisky collection… even better when there is an opportunity to sample in a convivial atmosphere with others keen to explore.

On a sultry monsoon evening in Mumbai I found myself in Colaba entering a gorgeous home with a plot afoot to do a whisky tasting with a decidedly East Asian  theme…

Togouchi, Nikka, Yoichi, Kavalan

What did we sample?

Clearly the whiskies were sourced via La Maison du Whisky in Paris with some then continuing their journey to the UK… before making their way to Mumbai, India.

Want to know more? Click on the whisky links above…

Related posts:

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European Tour – Slyrs 51 NAS 51%

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Last in our Whisky Ladies European tour was a surprise bonus whisky from Germany!

The genesis of Slyrs distillery was apparently a bet for a crate of Bavarian wheat beer. After more than a few whiskies shared somewhere in the Speyside region of Scotland, Florian Stetter (former Master Distiller of Lantenhammer Distillery) bet that he would create a Bavarian whisky. Distilling since 1999, the 1st whisky was launched in 2002 and remains in full production in Neuhaus, now under the management of Florian’s brother Anton Stetter.

The name “Slyrs 51” literally refers to the alcohol strength of this expression – bottled at 51%. Launched in October 2015, Slyrs 51 is considered as the “big brother” of their single malts.

This bottle was sourced by a new Whisky Ladies of Mumbai member from her trip to Bavaria and may be difficult to obtain outside of Germany.

And what did we think? Read on…

2016-06-28 Slyrs 51

Slyrs 51 NAS (Lot 3453) 51%

  • Colour – Rich amber
  • Nose – Musty, quite bold yet oddly soft, sweet, sense of being quite syrupy, a bit of banana, hint of spicy chocolate
  • Palate – Much more powerful than nose indicated.. initially quite intense, sweet and bitter both with the bitterness taking on increasingly a nutty quality, some spices, then begins to settle in and becomes buttery
  • Finish – Banana walnut bitter
  • Water – Cries out for a generous dollop of water… No delicate drops will do here! And with water? Out came a yummy caramel aroma and once the spice settled, enveloped our Whisky Ladies with a warm sweetly bitter dram.

Of all the four European whiskies, this was the most direct and ‘in your face’. The very literal approach to the name was a fairly good indication that there would be few flourishes and flounces, just a solid linear whisky with strength.

Slyrs 51 is apparently made from malt from northern Bavaria, using a longer fermentation process, casking at a lower strength and matured in a mix of new American oak and ex sherry port and sauternes casks.

Here’s what the folks over at Slyrs have to say about their whisky (roughly translated).

  • Colour: Golden brown
  • Odour: Strong dark wood and malted barley
  • Taste: Full-bodied, malty-aromatic, complex aromas reminiscent of vanilla and hay
  • Finish: Long and intense, spicy notes

For more information, check out this article in WhiskyConnosr: Slyrs – Whisky’s best kept secret by Dominic Roskrow

There is also a interesting review by Benedikt Luening on Whisky.com: Slyrs 51.

Other whiskies sampled during our European tour included:

Overall we closed the evening feeling rather privileged to enjoy four such distinctive European whiskies during a Mumbai monsoon!

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