Tag Archives: NAS

Mixing things up – Connemara, Glengoyne, Glenlivet

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After more than five years, our original Mumbai whisky tasting group has become known for pushing the boundaries with a focus on discovering new and different whiskies.

We’ve had home-made experiments with aging, phenomenal food pairings, independent bottlers, country specific themes, unique blends and more!

Which meant it was high time to revisit slightly different avatars of well known whiskies, completely blind to avoid the influence of advertising and pre-conceived notions.

glenlivet-connemara-glengoyne

What did we try?

No strangers to these brands, we’ve even previously had a session focused on Glenlivet, a couple of Glengoynes over the years and most have separately sampled Connemara.

What made it interesting is the order…

Traditionally, we would start with the lightest (Glenlivet) then sherry (Glengoyne) and close with a peated whisky (Connemara).

Here we did the exact opposite – peat, sherry, light! With some interesting results.

Related tasting sessions:

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Tomatin Legacy 43%

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First up in our August miniatures exploration was a no age statement whisky from Tomatin.

The Tomatin Legacy expression is dedicated to the legacy of the distillery’s relationship with its community, as the village became a town when accommodating the workers required to build the distillery… and remains today.

Tomatin Legacy

Tomatin Legacy 43%

  • Nose – Quite a kick with bit of varnish, bananas, sweetness creeping into dry wood, light peat? some resin, sweet sour overripe fruit, a vegetal element
  • Palate – While bold it also is curiously ‘thin’, bitter sour khata then caramel sweet
  • Finish – Initial burn then just sits there with subtle dry ash, bitter

Overall left impression of sticky toffee pudding.

We then compared the Legacy with a sample of Tomatin 12 year.

Here’s what the folks over at Tomatin have to say:

Time in Bourbon barrels and Virgin Oak casks brings a light sweetness to The Tomatin Legacy, which boasts aromas of vanilla, marshmallow, pineapple and lemon. On the palate gentle flavours of candy, pine, lemon sherbet, apples and sponge cake emerge ahead of a light, clean finish. 

Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2015 – 94.5/100

BTW… if you are in the US, just substitute “Dualchas” for “Tomatin”

Here’s what others have to say:

Other miniatures sampled recently include:

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Hibiki Japanese Harmony “Master’s Select” 43%

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My early introduction to Hibiki was with its enjoyable 12 year blend years ago and then its even more delightful 17 year sibling. However the craze for Japanese whiskies in recent years has meant pressures on stock and, like many other companies, Suntory is no exception to embracing the NAS trend rather than be restricted to have a year statement linked to the youngest whisky found in the bottle.

Japanese Harmony “Master’s Select” is a recent Hibiki offering found in most Duty Free shops around the world… and just so happens to be the whisky that kicked-off our regular group‘s November tasting trio!

Hibiki Japanese Harmony

As our normal practice, we sampled blind then revealed the whisky…

Hibiki Japanese Harmony NAS 43%

  • Colour – Amber
  • Nose – That new bottle ‘bang!’ with jackfruit, over-ripe fruit, then a little sour, slightly medicinal, morphing into sweet basil, a little Vicks vapour rub, very sweet, fresh, even a whiff of orange marmalade and eucalyptus
  • Palate – Dry, bitter, a bit ‘hard’ with light leather, quite ‘wintery’, a bit oaky, nutty – more along the lines of a betel nut with that astringent after taste, with a larger sip becomes quite spicy
  • Finish – There but relatively non-descript, nothing exceptional
  • Water – Without even adding, it feels like was already opened with a few drops of water, those that did found it spicier but didn’t add anything specific
  • Speculation – Sense that it is between 40 – 43%, feel of being a bit ‘junior’, could the colour have a little caramel?

The unveiling – the new Hibiki NAS blend with Yamazaki sherry cask, Hakushu and Chita.

And our overall thoughts? Quite straight, linear, no complexity, yet equally a ’no complaints’ kind of whisky! An entirely pleasant dram and when in the mood to simply sip, enjoy while listening to say.. classical music… this would do the trick!

Here’s what the Masters of Malt folks have to say about the whisky:

Hibiki Japanese Harmony is made with malt whiskies from the Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries, as well as grain whisky from the Chita distillery. The whiskies are drawn from 5 different types of cask, including American white oak casks, Sherry casks and Mizunara oak casks. The blend itself was crafted by the Suntory Whisky blending team, led by Master Blender Shingo Torii. An elegant expression, with wafts of honey, orange, a herbaceous touch or two and light oak.
The other whiskies sampled in our November session included:

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American attitude – Corsair Triple Smoke Small Batch Whiskey40%

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This month, we braved Ganapathi festival traffic in Mumbai to sample three quite distinct whiskies from three countries – Scotland, Ireland and this American.

Unfortunately, I was insanely delayed reaching so we had two sets of tasting notes… the core group captured beautifully by another member and then her capturing of my ‘speed tasting’ solo impressions. I have definitely never zipped through sampling three whiskies in mere minutes before!

Corsair Triple Smoike

Corsair Triple Smoke

Corsair Triple Smoke 40%, Batch 162, Bottle 153 of 450
For the Corsair, here is what we found:
  • Nose:
    • Group – Medicinal to smoky bacon, the nose gives the feel that it must have body… breathing very well like a “book flippping opening fast,” honey-glazed ham, marmalade
    • Solo – Oily, a bit ‘in your face’ as in ‘Pay Attention!’ but in a good way, overripe fruits, bananas, definitely quite ‘forward’ on the nose… as it opened baby puke sour, bacon then back to sour with the smokey meaty element gone
  • Taste: 
    • Group – Coffee, dry on the tongue, no smoke / peat on taste
    • Solo – Robust, tobacco, chewy, faintly bitter
  • Finish: 
    • Group / Solo – No finish… as in nada
  • Overall – It has attitude and also is quite a character. Worthy of further exploration. Something is going on with this one!
Corsair is an American small batch distillery based in Nashville Tennessee and Bowling Green, Kentucky. They have become a bit of a cult favourite for their edgy fun approach to fine spirits.
Corsair’s description and details for Triple Smoke:
  • Smoky. Buttery. Rich. Crafted for Cocktails.
  • We take three fractions of malted barley, each smoked by a different fuel – cherry wood, peat, and beechwood – to craft this deeply complex whiskey.
  • Pot distilled then barreled in a new charred oak, Triple Smoke has the sweetness and barrel notes of an American whiskey and a single malt’s rich smoke, broadened by tones of cherry and beech. Excellent mixed or neat.
Their tasting notes:
  • Huge, rich flavour. Three smokes with peat at the fore, sweetness and vanillas. Buttery, broad flavour and long finish. Makes a great Manhattan.

Did we like it? You bet!

Check out the other whiskies sampled at our September 2015 session:

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Deanston Virgin Oak NAS 46.3%

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Our May 2015 tasting session featured whiskies from three countries – USA, Scotland and Ireland. We found the quality and appeal of this trio extreme from ‘disaster – do yourself a favour and don’t buy!’ (Hudson) to ‘decent but disappointing’ (Deanston) and utter ‘delight’ with “More! Please sir may I have some more!’ (Teeling)

The Scottish whisky was one sampled previously and earlier a favourite of our host. As always, we tasted blind so would not be influenced by anything other than the immediate whisky experience.

Deanston NAS 46.3% (Whisky Lady)

Deanston NAS 46.3% (Whisky Lady)

Deanston Virgin Oak NAS 46.3% 
  • Colour – Light straw
  • Nose – Initially quite fruity with lime and vanilla, as it warms up, has a french lemony sweet aftershave kind of quality  – think Brut! The overall sense even before the 1st sip is that of a young, fresh, delicate whisky. After the 1st sip, whiff of crunchy green apples, nutmeg, strong honey
  • Taste – A fizzy tingly on the tongue, warm yet alas narry a hint of complexity, most found it a bit bland
  • Finish – Limited and sweet
  • Water – Nope! Don’t go there. Even diluting with only a few drops makes it simply too weak and waters down the light nose
  • Immediate reactions – “OK but… maybe a good whisky for people who don’t drink whisky.” Ouch! Honestly, while there was nothing wrong with the whisky, it just somehow didn’t quite strike a strong chord. A few more descriptions bandied about were “bland” and “insipid.”
With more time to breath…
  • I used the lacklustre initial impression as an opportunity to see how it would fare after oxidating for 20 – 30 mins or so. Unlike the Nikka Takesturu 17 year or Chichibu French Oak Cask, I strongly suspected the Deanston would not improve with more time to breathe
  • Sure enough, a half hour later found the nose had dramatically changed to a pronounced sour curd – not in a pleasant way – with none of the initial fruity citrus sweet
  • On the palate? Remained decent but yes… bland

Our host shared:

“I first bought Deanston 10 years ago and it was excellent! Then my next bottle was about five years ago and it was so so. This one? (sigh)… Disappointing” 
I was curious about how this compared with our previous Deanston experiences, so I dug out our sampling records:
  • Deanston 46.3% in April 2012 – I missed this tasting session but another member noted how “We liked the bitter chocolate”
  • Deanston 12 year in June 2013 – For this one, we found “Nuanced nose with over ripe fruit, sweet and spicy on the palate, lovely finish with a hint of spice that slowly dissipated. Delightful!”

The label provides no indication of the year the whisky was bottled, so it is difficult to say whether the whisky or our tastes have changed so dramatically over the years. The only detail it does share is that it is finished in virgin oak casks and is un-chill filtered. I suspect the virgin oak element was what didn’t meet our collective palate.

Deanston up close... (Whisky Lady)

Deanston up close… (Whisky Lady)

In fairness, this isn’t such a bad dram… Unfortunately it just isn’t one that stands out. I’m a firm believer that whisky preferences are highly personal and it all depends on what appeals to your palate. Even though it clearly wasn’t the favourite of the evening, it was one whisky we could pinpoint as ‘Deanston’ even before the reveal. Which means something somewhere has registered as being distinctly ‘Deanston.’  Perhaps in a different mood, setting or a different set of expectations, it would shine more.
What others say:

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Talisker Dark Storm NAS 45.8%

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Many whisky distillers are chasing after that elusive ‘different’ element. Some succeed, many do not.

Talisker Dark Storm is the latest Duty Free release in Talisker’s efforts after Talisker Storm.

Another thing we are learning is that the true test of a ‘good’ whisky is not in the initial impression… it is when it settles in… reveals another side… is revisited and even more nuances emerge.

Talisker Dark Storm (Whisky Lady)

Talisker Dark Storm (Whisky Lady)

Talisker Dark Storm 45.8%

We originally tasted this whisky on 14 June 2014 together with Tyrconnell and Ledaig 1997. I re-sampled it in February 2015.

First impression:

  • Colour – Copper
  • Nose – Rubber, leather, caramel, heavy burnt wood
  • Taste – Full-bodied, wet mud, medicinal, more leather, yet smooth with no harshness – in the ‘hoo whee that’s whisky!’ exclaim
  • Finish – Spicy, ash, doesn’t disappear instantly

The unveiling? Surprise! Most were not terribly impressed with earlier Talisker offerings… to learn this was duty-free, no age stated… and actually yummy?!

The stated gimmick is it is matured in heavily charred oak. Hmm…

Second tasting:

Unlike the 1st tasting when the bottle was freshly opened and we quickly snipped, swished, savoured and swallowed, the 2nd round was slightly more leisurely and less complimentary.

Did we get the same notes? More or less… the nose was exceedingly sweet, the medicinal taste seemed to have a vaguely manufactured quality to it. Same with the ash… which dominated both the palate and finish.

The other elements seemed considerably more subdued, less nuanced the longer it had time to breathe. If anything, it became increasingly ‘flat’ like pop loosing its fizz. Yet the ash remained.

Overall assessment

Given the unrelenting ash element and the highlighting the charred oak casks (um… aren’t they all?), clearly Talisker achieved its aim of celebrating burnt wood.

Does it work?

While certainly different from the Talker 10 year, it makes for more of a social gathering whisky than a top choice for an evening at home with a true whisky afficianado.

Up close with Talisker Dark Storm (Whisky Lady)

Up close with Talisker Dark Storm (Whisky Lady)

Other brushes with Talisker:

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