Johnnie Walker Black Label

Goodness. It's been quite some time since I've posted anything here! I'll blame it on the summer -- despite Dr. Whisky's excellent warm-weather dramming advice, I've been in gin and tonic mode for the past few months. Now that autumn is upon us, let's get back in the swing of things with a very popular bottle that we're all very familiar with.

Johnnie Walker Black Label
Aged 12 years
Blended Scotch whisky
40% alc/vol
$27

I've mentioned before that I was never a big fan of Johnnie Walker. I tried Black Label, and decided I didn't like blends. Then I tried Gold Label, and was unimpressed.

Then my palate developed a little bit, as I branched out and tried different things. I decided to come back to Black Label one more time, and I'm glad I did.

The funny thing is, it's not really all that great. It's got a caramel sweetness to it, in direct opposition to the light smoke and just a hint of peat. It's nice and creamy, and the smoke lingers in your mouth after you drink it. Which is all well and good, but as far as flavor profile goes, Black Bottle does all that better.

So what is it about Black Label that makes it so drinkable? It definitely has some ethereal quality that makes me want to drink more of it once my glass is empty. And no, it's not just the alcohol! Some virtue of the combination of smoke, spice, and sweetness in these exact proportions keeps me coming back, despite the fact that there are many drams that taste better. And I suppose that's a much more desirable quality than mere tastiness.

P.S. I find that this is one of those rare Scotches that do not benefit at all from water. A few drops are okay, but don't dilute it. It just kills all enjoyment of the drink.

A Smorgasbord of Sumptuous Spirits - WhiskyFest Chicago 2008!

So, Friday night rolled around, and I found myself in the possession of a ticket to WhiskyFest Chicago! A VIP ticket no less; this means I got to enter an hour earlier than mundane ticket holders.

It was a blast. Showed up at 5:30 (an hour before the *sniff* non-VIP riff-raff) at the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Registered, picked up a canvas tote bag full of swag (pictured), entered the main area, and started tasting! Rough, quick, dirty notes below.

Attended one of the seminars they held – “The Incredible Influence of Wood at Glenfiddich,” with Ian Miller, the Global Brand Ambassador (how do you sign up for that job?) at Glenfiddich. We tasted samples of cask strength first-fill American oak aged malt (light and peary), as well as cask strength first-fill European oak aged malt (dark, syrupy, and sherried), both 12 years old. Then we compared them to a mixture of the two, and to the bottled 12 year old Glenfiddich malt. Then we did the whole thing all over again with 18 year old samples. It was really interesting to see how the different component malts tasted, and how the bottled malt compared to them.

Amusingly, with the 18 year old samples, I thought the American oak aged malt tasted very much of sherry, like the European oak sample of the 12 year old. That didn’t make any sense to me until the woman sitting in front of me asked why the mixed sample looked lighter than both of the component samples. As it turns out, the mixture had gotten switched with the American oak sample – a pouring mix-up. Funny, and also nice to know that I can taste the difference. :)

Anyway, I strongly recommend that you check out WhiskyFest if you get the chance. I had a great time, learned a lot, and got to try a lot of new whiskeys. Well done!

Tasting notes:

Bushmills 1608 – sweet, caramel. Very good. I see that Binny’s carries this now, which is excellent.

Bushmills Malt 21 – fresh, like the Malt 10, but a little sweeter and less harsh. Quite nice.

Oban Distiller’s Edition – bananas. Sweet, malty. Excellent.

Johnnie Walker Swing – sweet, smoky, and tasty.

Johnnie Walker Blue Label – smoother nose than the Swing, but smokier and spicier. Very good, but not $200/bottle good. I’d recommend the Swing over this, for the price.

Antiquary 12yo – a blend, and my first real encounter with peat smoke! It’s faint, but recognizable. Creamy. I like it.

Tomatin 18yo – mint and malt. Smooth, citrusy, and very much a Highland Scotch. Good!

Greenore 8yo – this is a single grain Irish whiskey. It’s been hard to get in the US, but Binny’s has it now! White chocolate and coconut. Very, very good.

Four Roses Small Batch – bourbon. It tasted bourbonny. I’d need to drink more bourbon before I could taste this stuff properly. Good, though.

Four Roses Single Barrel – ditto.

Balvenie 21yo Port Wood – fruit; pears and melon all the way. Delicious!!

Balvenie 17yo Sherry Oak – not much to say except fruity, in that sherry kind of way. Very good, but can’t compete with the 21yo.

Scott’s Selection Auchentoshan 1983 – this is interesting, as my only other Auchentoshan experience is with the 10yo, which is very peanutty. This dram is cask strength, and it was flowery and perfumy, with a strong flavor of broccoli on the finish. I’ve never had anything like it. Not sure if I really liked it, though. :)

Scott’s Selection Glenlivet 1977 – also cask strength. Roses, spice, and vanilla. Good, but by this time my nose and tongue were getting tired, so it seemed unremarkable to me. If I tried it again now, I’d probably enjoy it a lot more.

Laphroaig Quarter Cask – my first Laphroaig, and my first true peated Islay, if you don’t count the Bunnahabhain 12. Heavy peat smoke was about all I got out of it, but I thought it was really quite tasty. Makes me look forward to the bottle of Ardbeg 10 I’ve got sitting at home.

Famous Grouse Malt Whisky 18yo – a vatted malt. This was one of the last I tasted, so I couldn’t get the full taste of it. It struck me as being decent, but nothing to write home about, and not nearly as tasty and the excellent standard Grouse blend.

Laphroaig 10yo – about the same as the Quarter Cask. I should try it again sometime when my nose and tongue are fresh.

Johnnie Walker Gold Label

As an aside, I happened upon the opportunity to try a glass of Johnnie Walker Gold Label in an Irish pub the other night. I wasn't super-impressed with it, in general, but I'm glad I tried it. I was struck, in particular, with how smoky it was, and it was then that I realized that the reason I'm not as fond as many of Johnnie Walker is because it likely has a higher Islay whisky content than the blends I do like. I don't know this for a fact, but that's what my nose and tongue are telling me, now that they've been educated by the Bunnahabhain 12 yo. Interesting.

The Famous Grouse

The Famous Grouse
Blended Scotch whisky
40% alc/vol
$20

Ah, the Grouse. When I first tried this one, the only blended Scotches I'd had were the Johnnie Walker Black Label (meh) and the Pig's Nose (wheeeee!). The Famous Grouse was the turning point; the day I tried it, I realized that I do, in fact, love blended whisky. Some blended whiskies, anyway.

Not only is the Grouse delicious, but:

1. it's delicious neat. (It's great with ice or mixed, too, of course, but neat?!)
   
2. it's cheap. Around $20 for a 750 mL bottle, and $30 for a 1.75 L bottle.

These two factors make the Grouse one of the best bangs for your buck out there. I still can't believe such an inexpensive whisky can taste so damn good.

Notes:

This blend is the lovely burnished color so many Scotches seem to share. The sweetness in the nose hits me immediately. Soft and fruity, pears and honeydew. On this tasting, the alcohol is more apparent in the scent than usual. The texture is nice and creamy, coating the tongue beautifully. The finish is unremarkable, though it leaves me wanting more -- always a good quality!

The Famous Grouse has something about it that makes it undeniably drinkable. It's the kind of whisky you could just sit and drink all night long, and never get tired of it. It's earned a permanent spot on my drink cart, and I'm just so glad I ventured out of my comfort zone to try it!

I <3 the Grouse.

Soft and Smooth as a Pig's Nose

Pig's Nose Scotch Whisky
Aged 5 years
Blended Scotch whisky
40% alc/vol
$33


I'll be straight with you: I'm a single malt Scotch guy, and have been for quite some time. Bushmills Malt 10 yo is about the only exception that regularly graces my selection. But I never touched blended whiskey.

A while back, I decided I hadn't given blended Scotch a fair shake. I went down to my local liquor store and picked up a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. I didn't know much about blended whiskey, but I knew Johnnie Walker was a very big, very popular brand; I knew Black Label was the same age and at the same price point as solid, popular single malts, like Glenfiddich 12 yo and The Glenlivet 12 yo; and I knew the Black was generally considered to be potable neat, as opposed to Red Label, which is almost universally used in mixed drinks only. I figured that if I was going to like any blended whiskey, I was going to like Black Label.

I didn't. It seemed awfully harsh and medicinal compared to even young single malts. I only really got through the bottle by mixing it with diet root beer or cola, which is actually decent...but not as good as the same drink using a single malt instead. After that, I went back to single malts exclusively.

Recently, I came across The Scotch Blog, authored by Kevin Erskine. In one post, he recommends the very peculiarly-named Pig's Nose Scotch Whisky as "the perfect introduction to the category [of blended Scotch whiskies]." I was in the mood to try something new, so I went ahead and picked up a bottle earlier today.

My tasting notes:

• Color: Russet.
• Nose: Peanut butter, leather, candy corn, and corn on the cob. A hint of that new car smell.
• Palate: Creamy, delicate, and smooth as silk. Has a wonderful mouth-feel. Is this what "chewy" means?
• Finish: Moderate, and a little bittersweet, though not unpleasantly so - like sweetened tea or coffee. Leaves me wanting another sip.

I really never would have thought I'd have enjoyed a blended whiskey so much. Not only that, but it's young, too. The only other five-year-old whiskey I've knowingly drunk is McClelland's offering...and that carries neither an age statement nor a distillery listing, to give you an idea of the quality. Pig's Nose is far superior, in my opinion, particularly if you add a bit of water to cut what little harshness is bestowed on the whiskey by its youth.

In other words, I'll enjoy finishing the bottle, and I may well replace it afterwards.

Oh, and the name? According to the label on the bottle, "In Gloucestershire 'tis said that our Scotch is 'as soft and smooth as a Pig's Nose.'" I've never felt a pig's nose, but judging from this dram, it's pretty damned smooth.