Toronto Whisky Society meetup at Devoz’s house, Feb 2016

Toronto Whisky Society got together at Devoz’s house for a few drams…though the word ‘few’ is kind of a lie. boyd86 kinohead devoz and I were drinking all night and tomodera dropped by for some swaps too.

here are the drams I tasted and some comments on each, verbatim from my hand-written notes that night, so you can probably tell which ones were later in the evening!

Glenmorangie Ealanta
High West Double Rye
High West 21
Bastille 1789
Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel
Four Roses Single Barrel OESF
AnCnoc 2000, 14yr
Dalwhinnie DE
Benrinnes 13, AD Rattray
Glendronach 17 Single Cask Sherry, Olorosso
Kilchoman 5 Single Bourbon Barrel, 60.4%
Bowmore Devil’s Cask Batch 3
Benriach 1996 Pedro Ximenez Sherry Finish
Springbank 10
Laphroaig Cairdeas Portwood

Don’t worry, I crashed in their spare bedroom that night!

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Glenmorangie Ealanta – 46% ABV

Nose: tons of honey, oak and vanilla… just bourbon cask-ish
Taste: shit ton of oak, spice and peppery, iodine.
Finish: bitter finish as usual for a highland. Still lots of oak
Score: 80/100
just reminds me of the original with more oakiness. Tastes older but just very basic still.

AnCnoc 2000 – 46% ABV

Nose: fruity and sweet, strawberries, raisins, prunes.
Taste: very sherry-like, wow. Tons of Sunmaid raisins…seriously, I’m being brought back to my childhood, eating a box of Sunmaid raisins. Sweet, and hotter than I expected at 14yrs and 46%. Honey.
Finish: sweet and raisiny
Score: 84/100
this was really nice,, and the heavy raisin flavour was crazy. Feels like I’m under-age drinking because I feel like I’m 6 years old.

Dalwhinnie Distiller’s Edition – 43% ABV

Nose: light sherry, somewhat fruity. Not too strong
Taste: light, medium bodied, heavier than the 15yr in the mouth. Bitter and oily.
Finish: bitter. Typical highland
Score: 70/100
meh, kind of boring. Light sherry but nothing stands out.

Glendronach 1994 Single Cask – 54.9% ABV

Nose: tons of cherries and raspberry,
Taste: hot and rich. Berries, figs, prunes, dates, raisins. Awesome.
Finish: rich oaky and long.
Score: 90/100
beautiful. Love it. I love the dark dried fruit better than a sweet PX cask.

Kilchoman Single Bourbon Cask 5yr – 60.4% ABV

Nose: big smoke, briney. Doesn’t smell like 60% at all. Peat.
Taste: big peat bomb. Buttery and oily. Ashy smoke. Sweet too. Some oaky notes
Finish: warm and medium
Score: 87/10

Bowmore Devil’s Cask Batch 3 – 56.7% ABV

Nose: peaty and sweet.
Taste: Hot damn (pun intended). Peaty and smoky, but quite sweet too. Really taste the PX cask.
Finish: smoky and long
Score: 84/100
nice Islay, but I’d take Uig over it.

BenRiach 1996 PX finish – 53.9% ABV

Nose: fruit, raisins, dried fruit, berries
Taste: big peat bomb. Buttery and oily. Ashy smoke. Sweet too. Some oaky notesdried fruit, tobacco, fudge, chocolate, coffee, plums, some smoke
Finish: warm, long and fruity
Score: 90/100
delicious, fruity, yet smoky. Lots of flavour. Really nice.

Springbank 10 – 46% ABV

Nose: salty, light peat smoke, grassy, funky note
Taste: briney, smoky salty. Weirdness… what is that? I’d had too much booze at this point to define it
Finish: long and salty
Score: 86/100
the guys told me springbank was weird but good and that sums it up well. I look forward to trying more.

Laphroaig Cairdeas Portwood – 51.3% ABV

Nose: peat, smoke, fruit
Taste: tons of peat, ash, smoke, fruit
Finish: long, smoky
Score: 88/100
delicious. I’m too drunk to get good notes on it, but damn there’s good quality here.

Crown Royal Hand Selected Barrel – 51.5% ABV

Nose: very little nose to speak of. Doesn’t smell like rye or oak or like there’s any alcohol. Strange
Taste: cedar. Holy crap that’s a ton of cedar. Really sweet, super woody. More cedar, damn that’s unique.
Finish: medium to short, cedar.
Score: 85/100
that’s a crazy unique dram. Definitely better than other CRs I’ve had. Why the heck wouldn’t they release this normally? Never tasted cedar in a dram before, which is really neat. Didn’t know it was possible for them to make something this good. There’s hope yet…. if you live in Texas at least.

Bastille 1789 – 40% ABV

Nose: very little nose to speak of. Doesn’t smell like rye or oak or like there’s any alcohol. Strange doesn’t smell like whisky at all. More like a liqueur.
Taste: weird.. Almost tastes like the wiser’s hopped. What did the cask do to this? Rotten maltiness.
Finish: sharp and acidic
Score: 40/100
weird. Ew. Devoz, you’re crazy for loving this.

Yellow Rose Straight Rye – 45% ABV

Appearance: yellow orange colour. Looks full bodied.
Nose: pleasant nose with lots of oak, rye spice, a little bit of dill, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
Taste: very obviously a straight rye, with a spicy kick and lots of dill flavour. Quite sweet too with sugarcane and candy-like notes. Oak influence is strong with vanilla, caramel and a woodyness. A bit brash, and obviously young. You taste every bit of the 45% ABV.
Finish: spicy, oaky and medium length.
Score: 80/100
this is young and brash, but the spirit is flavourful and well crafted. If this was given 8-10 years in a barrel, I think they’d have a pretty fantastic product. This is my first whiskey out of Texas and I would not be opposed to trying another sometime! at $35 it’s a decent value, but wouldn’t have been at the original $70.

High West Double Rye – 50% ABV

Nose: lots of oak, dill, tons of pepper, very spicy.
Taste: peppery dill pickle, spicy, lots of oak. delicious
Finish: really spicy and oaky, lasts a long time.
Score: 87/100

High West 21 – 46% ABV

Nose: banana, rye spice, dill
Taste: wow, that’s crazy. So much banana, tons of oak, almost chocolatey in the sweetness, sugary
Finish: sweet, rich and long
Score: 89/100
this is amazing. Love that banana nose.