MrWizard's Ramblings

This is the last of my @Work Series for a bit as we’re all sitting at home due to COVID-19 fun times. This time its two tasty bourbons and a extra special treat.

Bardstown Fusion ~$60
Wife Notes: Sugar, vanilla, baking spices. Very apple-pie.

One of the newer entries to the american bourbon market, Bardstown tries to cover all the bases… Their bottle design is frankly beautiful. They are fairly open with what is in the bottle. The only true downside is the price. The fusion is their ‘cheap’ blend that starts at around 60 and it only goes from there. So back to the Fusion Series #1 is a blend of 60% of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s two-year-old wheated and high-rye Kentucky bourbons along with 40% of 11 year 7 month bourbon also from Kentucky. The high-rye is very apparent in the palate and somewhat balancing to the nose. But lets disassemble this one one step at the time. On the nose, that sweet rye and high wheat is very nose-forwards definitely brown sugar and rye cookies. In the mouth… mixed bag. The wheat and rye are tasty but the back is pretty strongly bulleit-like which is something not into my cup of drinking… Will I be picking up another bottle? No. Is it passable for @work drinks? Sure if you like fancy Bulleits. Plenty of better things at this price point.

Side note: I mention Bulleit bourbon several times in this review… At this point I’m not 100% sure that I’m name-calling correctly, but it has a very specific flavor profile I’m somehow associating with Bulleit bourbon in my head and too cheap/lazy to buy a bottle to try it to confirm. Specifically, it is a subtle caraway/anise/sour/metallic aftertaste that I don’t quite enjoy. One of those days I’ll figure out what exactly I’m tasting as it seems to be a common among sourced bourbons which suggests its a specific distillery character.
https://caskstore.co … eries-bourbon-750-ml
Score: N/A

Old Forester (Cask Single Barel) ~$40
Wife Notes: Too spicy and alcohol-y on the nose. Chanel #5 in the mouth.

Picked a bottle of $40 Old Forester single cask on a whim of trying something new. This is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum. Burnt sugar and roses on the nose promising a spice-rich contents of the glass… but wait… its… not rich and spicy… Instead its… Rosewater, tannic dark grapes, persimmons and that burnt-sugar vanilla coating it all without being overwhelming. Think bourbon nose, perfume mouth. Very disjointed. Very interesting and different. With a mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley the corn funk is evident but doesn’t detract from the experience. The aftertaste of spices lingers for a very very long time. Few of my coworkers think they were getting soapy aftertaste but I think they never drank perfume and it shows. Jokes aside, its an excellent, if subversive, bottle for a single cask at $40 though would be better appreciated in comfort of a contemplative environment… if you like corn-forward mash its a study of excellence and a steal at that price.
https://caskstore.co … arrel-bourbon-750-ml
Score: N/A

Special Treat: Linkwood 19 Cask Strength Alexander Murray ~$100
Wife notes: Too strong. Can’t taste or smell anything. (Editor Note: Weakling!)

This is a last treat from @work for a while. I was able to pick up a special taster off a whiskey cart in the building. Well, a present for myself it is then. On the nose, wood and cereal notes, visually it looks like a bourbon refill and nose confirms it being a reasonably fresh barrel with lots of wood and burnt sugar notes, yet a tiny bit of corn sourness rather than sherry funk. More cereal and sweet malt on the front. The back is all wood. Like licking a barrel almost, drying, roasted nuts or peanuts with skins on. Very woody but oh so delicious. The alcohol provides a solid burn with nowhere to hide from it and then long finish of more deeply roasted nuts, nearly metallic and lingers for a while. For me… delicious. Would I pick a bottle? If I could at reasonable price, I would! I like this style. Be-warned…. its more raw than it has the right to be at 19 years old and 54% abv. A bit of water calms the burn down to a much mellower and much more balanced refill bourbon that’s excellent across the board.
https://www.whiskyba … 46/linkwood-1997-amc
https://alexandermur … malts/linkwood-1997/
Score: N/A

Aaaaaaaaiiii Corona! Whelp, we’re all stuck at home so what a time to be alive… And stress-shop for booze… aaaaand drink it? But this isn’t about new stuff its about catching up on what is open on my shelf that I’ve not yet written about… I’ll be arranging it in a semi-random order of me drinking it.

2003 Glen Scotia “Malts Festival 2019 Limited Edition
Wife notes: Get that away from me! Ewwww. (She does not enjoy peat)

Full name: 2003 Glen Scotia “Malts Festival 2019 Limited Edition” Rum Cask Finish Peated Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky… What a mouthful… And speaking of mouthfuls… Let’s talk nose on this one. To be clear it’s not overpowering… but its sooo punchy and clear and all I can think of is “smoked sugar”. The peat actually fades into background after few minutes and leaves mostly stewed fruits and something tropical, toasted banana on a hibachi grill (why hello there rum). The palate is all about smoke and sugar in almost perfect harmony as it rolls through my tongue alternatively sweet and smoky. Not overly long yet very pleasant smoked stewed red fruits this time with the last whiffs of smokiness fading into little campfire sweetness. Utterly delicious and I am not huge peat fan to enjoy peated whiskeys, but enjoy this one I did. If i could reliably keep it on my shelf instead of Lagavulin 16, I would. To me its that versatile.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1434695
https://scotchnoob.c … malts-festival-2019/
Score: N/A

Balmenach 11 Single Cask Old Particular
Wife Note: Medical Alcohol. Do not want.

One of less than 300 bottles out of refill hogshead. As usual with the refills this one leans heavily into cereal excellence territory… Or basically showcases malt rather than cask. 59% its heck of a proof and it definitely shows in the nose, combined with 11 years of age there’s still a good chunk of that mash funk going on in there while it gets some air, it mostly goes away after 10 mins or so. None of those are negatives :). Its funky interesting toasty cereal on the nose. With time the palate opens up into something utterly delicious and unbecoming of a 11 year old. Once past the alcohol bite, its all about spices and cereal notes. Almost sweet but balanced, it goes down into drying spices and a long lingering roasted barley finish, not quite bitter enough to be unpleasant. So Definitely my seal of approval for this one. Sweet peppery cereal, basically. Yum. As a side note this is more interesting or on par with most old malt casks I’ve opened so far. Lets see how it goes down the line.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1387596
Score: N/A

Strathclyde 30 Single Grain Cask Strength
Wife Note: Burnt Sugar and vanilla. Its butter cookies.

Let me summarize this in few words… Butter Cookies! I’ve talked about single grain scotch before, and how much I love old single grain and here we are again… This time with an amazing 30 year old bottle. I’m, if ever, utterly blown away by the variety and difference that age and barrel can do to cask’s contents and somehow there are still these mind-blowing flavors can can be coaxed out of a glass. Beyond a tiny whiff of alcohol its basically toasted coconut butter cookies. Very perfume-y and delicate yet still evoking those images of (Mel Gibson’s Braveheart) Scottish highlanders when nosed. This one does need to sit for about 10 minutes to open up into it but the longer it sits in the glass the sweeter and deeper that sugar-vanilla cookie combination is. Straight up amazing and unlikely to be repeated. (Oh, wait I have another bottle of this squirreled away so yay me!).
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1387614
Score: N/A

Longmorn 14 Single Cask (Old malt Cask)
Wife’s note: Honey Nut Cheerios

On the nose, sweet malt, mellow, sorta apple-banana but not quite, definitely light tropical notes. For me the entire start to finish screams regular cheerios. The spirit itself is very gentle for a 54.9% and its age, considering there’s nothing to hide behind in the refill barrel. Palate is more of the same from the nose, now some malt sweetness, and bit of spice in the back. The finish is initially full of white pepper but then fades into more of that cheerios sweet grain aftertaste. Think Mini Wheats and you’ll get the idea. Deceptively subtle… But add some water… It turns on its head opening up a lot more spice and wood to the palate and becomes almost overwhelmingly complex in its flavors without changing the nose. All that white pepper back unfolds and sprays licorice and bitter citrus peel back into the palate, adding a bunch of wood out of nowhere and it’s as if I’m drinking something entirely different. I’m starting to look at un-watered dram like a tightly-wound spring that just explodes given a chance. One of the few dual-faced whiskeys I’ve had and it’s a pleasure.

Old malt casks I’ve tried so far are all about the celebration of the spirit itself with refill of a refill of a refill wood so its less about the cask and more about the spirit itself and that’s not a bad thing, there will be more but I think this one happens first one that I write about :)
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1422034
Score: N/A