Whisky solera, take three
This will cover two incarnations of the bottle. A couple weeks ago, I tried the next iteration of the living bottle.
- 6 mL Glendronach 15 sherry cask
- 13 mL Aberlour a’bunadh, euro bottling (heavily sherried)
- 19 mL Glenturret ‘80/’00 (Blackadder)
- 25 mL Glen Moray 12 Chenin Blanc finish
- 31 mL Glen Moray 16
- 38 mL Glen Garioch 8
- 44 mL Aberlour 100
- 50 mL Aberlour 10, bourbon casked, Duncan Taylor bottling for Trader Joe’s
It’s not very good.
Nose: Light sherry, cherry sours. Spirity, fruity.
Palate: Simple. Tastes spread out and vatted.
Finish: Undistinguished. Slight fruit. Grainy.
Finish: I hope this improves on subsequent iterations, as it’s not very good right now.
Score: 80/100
Tonight I’m tasting the next iteration, after adding Balvenie Doublewood a couple of weeks ago:
- 6 mL Glendronach 15 sherry cask
- 11 mL Aberlour a’bunadh, euro bottling (heavily sherried)
- 17 mL Glenturret ‘80/’00 (Blackadder)
- 22 mL Glen Moray 12 Chenin Blanc finish
- 28 mL Glen Moray 16
- 33 mL Glen Garioch 8
- 39 mL Aberlour 100
- 44 mL Aberlour 10, bourbon casked, Duncan Taylor bottling for Trader Joe’s
- 50 mL Balvenie Doublewood (aged in bourbon and finished in sherry)
I’m writing the notes as I taste.
Nose: Much improved. Oiled leather, sherry. A bit spirity. Cherries.
Palate: Maraschino cherry, book leather
Finish: Still getting a lot of cherry and leather. Vintage port.
Notes: Really very nice. I’m glad I didn’t give up on the bottle. I wouldn’t have pegged it for a vatted malt. I might have even guessed it as port casked Speysider. Now the question is, how much of this change is the composition, and how much is variance in my tasting apparatus from week to week? Could adding 20% Balvenie Doublewood really swing the profile this far? I think it’s possible. It certainly is responsible for emphasizing the leather. In any case, I would buy a bottle of this.
Score: 91/100
I’m adding another whisky. I’ll bring another installment in a week or so.
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