MrWizard's Ramblings

Here we go again!

What — Notes — Score

Catador Itinerante EU Malts:

Four European (not scotch) Malts… that are a little different. Slyrs is from Germany and Broger is from Austria. Consider the grades to be separate from the typical scotch grading.

Catador Itinerante Slyrs 9 Years Pineau des Charentes Finish, 55.9% — Red fruits on the nose. Cherry pie? Ooooh… spiced cherry pie, in a good way. Clean and consistent experience of malt in a wine cask. No water needed. — Score: B
Catador Itinerante Slyrs 7 Years Sauternes Finish, 55.4% — Fruity-sweet nose, baked apples, toasted honey. Chili pepper and simple syrup. Secondary flavors and aftertaste complexity fall somewhat short. Water makes it more consistent front-to-back, but weakens the flavors — Score: B-
Catador Itinerante Broger 10 Years Smoked Oloroso Sherry, 71.6% — Smoked coffee notes on the nose. Multilayered palate with old oak and good oloroso cask influence. Drinks under its proof. Darkly herbal and medicinal, balanced by proof and sweetness. Not-quite-tannic, yet deeply toasted and oaky, somewhat smoky aftertaste. — Score: B
Catador Itinerante Broger 13 Years French Oak Madeira Finish, 62.1% — Coffee liqueur nose! Dark chocolate liquor palate. Dark and sweet espresso with date syrup concentrate. Sticks around forever on the aftertaste. After-dinner dessert, herbal and somewhat drying — Score: B+

Rums:

Guyana 13 (Diamond), Hamilton SP, Port Mourant PMP, 55.7% — Somewhat funky vanilla, minty, tropical, heavy on flavor, light on cask char. Basically vanilla, chili spices, light mintiness throughout. Falls somewhere in-between on the funky-to-tropical scale of Guyanese rums — Score: B+
Jamaica Hampden Pagos, 52% — Somewhat funky, yet balanced vanilla, lots of sherry cask influence. Surprisingly balanced sweetness with toasted notes and cask spices. Very enjoyable for those that like this sort of funky, wood varnish, sweet and slightly bitter profile — Score: A-
1992 Cuba 31, Wu Dram Clan SP, 50.7% — A bit of a treat for myself. It’s *dark*. It’s very vanilla forward. It’s sweet. It’s almost like a creme puff in my mouth or spiced vanilla custard. It’s somewhat straightforward, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good stuff for vanilla sugar rum enthusiasts. Also Cuba, so I shared some with my dad who loved it — Score: A-
Mount Gay 1703. 6 years old. Madeira Cask. 55% — Wood, alcohol heat, some madeira influence. Did i mention lots of heat here? Sweetness of rum mixes well with cask spice and wood notes and gives it an illusion that it’s older than it is. Oddly, reminds me of Foursquare ex-bourbon bottlings. Plenty of flavor but not a lot of depth here, relying on cask to make up for age — Score: B+
Privateer Convergence #132, 7 years. Queen’s Share Yankee, Ex-bourbon Cask, 59.6% — Heck of a name to type out and that’s not even all the info from the label. The nose is young and booze-forward, opening into honey and some grassy sugars with time. It’s basically hot vanilla sugar. More sugar, some grain and vanilla on the palate. Dusting of clove in the aftertaste notes. Kinda reminds me of single grain scotch. It’s probably better used as a mixer — Score: C-
Privateer Echelon #130, 7 years. Queen’s Share Yankee, American Oak, 62.7% — Close markee but notably better than it’s counterpart above. Now actually balanced on flavors. The cask offsets alcohol nicely bringing restrained wood to the hot vanilla sugar, thus balancing it. Still somewhat light and sweet overall, this is much better package overall. Still somewhat single grain scotch-y… but much better version this time — Score: B
Privateer Fulcrum #131, 7 years, New England, New Oak, 59.4% — Now we’re talking! Toasted vanilla wood. Nice balance between spirit and cask influence. Peppermint, caramel, vanilla pancake. A little young and lively but nearing the sweet spot — Score: B+
2000 Chairman’s Reserve 21, St Lucia. Fred Minnick/Seebach’s, 63% — John Dore 1 Still. Glorious wood bomb! Eucalyptus oil, vanilla, not super thick or overpowering. This is fantastic. Not overly funky or medicine-forward, while still retaining a very strong character of that herbal apothecary shop full of dried herbs and essential oils. Easy score here — Score: A-
1998 Chairman’s Reserve 21, St Lucia. Fred Minnick/Seebach’s, 67.7% — John Dore 1 Still. Somehow darker and more concentrated than the above, but it drinks softer. Holy cow, this is good one indeed. Repeat all the notes from above, but make it better balanced by sweet vanilla and toasted oak. — Score: A

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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown

Did i mention it’s big backlog of rums yet? And few others…

What — Notes — Score

Brandy

1985 Domaine de Baraillon 38 Year Old Armagnac, K&L SP, 47% — Fruits and oak and everything nice. This is *really good*. Really-really good — Score: A
1990 Domaine du Cardinat 32 Year Old Bar-Armagnac, 56% — Dark fruits and lots of wood. Spices, wood varnish, light mint. Fans of oak-forward brandies are welcome — Score: A-
1975 Marcillac 38 Year Old Armagnac, 42% — Lots of wood here, dark fruits and spices, strong tannins even at low proof. Somewhat drying, tannic palate and aftertaste — Score: B
1973 Bhakta 49 Year Old Armagnac, 50.3% — Sweet dried dark fruits, oak forward but not tannic. Well balanced, dark and woody armagnac. — Score: A-

Mezcal

2022 Real Minero: Espadin, Largo, Batch DRMM2-15 50.1% — Extremely clean, little sweet and mineral-forward, slightly smoky with notable cigarette tobacco notes — Score: B+

Rum

Flor De Cana 20 Years Old, 130th anniversary, Nicaragua, 45% — Dark color; caramel and deep wood notes on the nose. Oak, dark fruits, a bit of spice on the palate. Well balanced and sippable but not a standout for me. Perhaps a touch too much oak for perfect balance. — Score: B-
2007 Jamaica ITP 15, Long Pond, Holmes Cay, 56% — Viscous, minty, woody, sweet, vanilla, ripe tropical fruits, lightly funky. ITP is ‘low ether mark’. Ridiculous flavor bomb, bordering on ‘too much’. Drinks hotter than it should be, oddly enough. Really-really good. — Score: A-
2012 Guyana 10, Smuggler’s Cove SP, Holmes Cay, 55% — Tropical custard full of light fruits, nicely spiced in a liquid form. Deliciously tropical pineapple and chili cake. — Score: A-
2012 Australia 10, Rapid Liquors SP, Beenleigh, Holmes Cay, 61% — Somewhat yeasty nose, funky, vanilla-forward, sweet, with very light mint on the palate. Well balanced and excellent experience nose-to-aftertaste. — Score: B+
2009 Holmes Cay Foursquare, Premier Crue, 55% — Less wine-y than I expected. More of toasted cask spice. Fairly typical, lighter version of foursquare profile somewhat reminding me of 2004 with warming chili heat. — Score: A-
2004 Foursquare 11, ECS 3, 59% — Light foursquare profile, none of the dark ex-bourbon stuff compared to more recent vintages. A touch of ginger or chili spice in the aftertaste. Excellent, even if somewhat ‘light’ compared to later versions. — Score: B+
Foursquare Criterion, ECS 5, 56% — Ex-bourbon + madeira casks. Rum and wine. Dark fruits and rum. Surprisingly gentle on alcohol, but somewhat wine-forward and spicy. Sweet mulled wine is a good summary here. This one is wildly experimental in a good way. — Score: B+
Foursquare Sovereignty, ECS 19, 62% — Ex-bourbon + sherry cask. A much more modern foursquare now. Again, typical foursquare profile, sweeter and woodier due to sherry. Drinks like a very sweet, very sherried malt. Quite oaky and borderline too sweet to balance that out. — Score: B+
Foursquare Nobiliary, ECS 12, 62% — Ex-bourbon foursquare here. Still typical wood and oak and sweet vanilla notes, but this one leans a slightly hot & funky in an odd twist. Somewhat of an interesting bridge between 2004 (ECS 3) and modern ECS bottles. — Score: B+

More to come!

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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown

It is(was) middle of roughly middle of the April when i started writing this. The allergies are killing me and it’s time to catch up on some of the samples. Then I was on-and-off sick with a nasty cold for a month. Everything in excess, right?

I’ve recently had a lovely tasting of things from Single Cask Nation which bottles lovely things… If you willing to afford paying their prices.
Cameronbridge 26, Refill Sherry — Dark, sherried and quite delicious. Coffee, chocolate, wood. — Score: Yay
Benrinnes 10, refill bourbon — Lovely and fruity nose, peppery palate. — Score: Meh+
Linkwood 13, American (Wine) Cask — Fantastic, lovely red fruits galore! $150 is kinda obscene cost though — Score: Yay
Inchgower 10, ‘Double Cask’, Ex-bourbon & Sherry — Really lovely sherried malt of unidentifiable origin — Score: Yay-
Caol Ila 8, ex-bourbon — Sweet, fruity and smoky in the best Caol Ila fashion — Score: Yay

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Hubert Calvados 30, Pays d’Auge, K&L SP, 49%
Honestly no idea what I’m getting into here. This is a calvados from 1993, selected by K&L. Obviously I’m looking at it from whiskey-drinker’s perspective. Thanks David K for the sample. The nose is very armagnac-style and oozes of woodiness. There’s a note of old apple skins that plays well with the vanilla there. More and more wood on the palate, there’s also an odd soap-like note that I detect that probably something that’s inherent to calvados, that’s akin to a wax or paraffin flavor. The strange note is present through the entire experience, but not unwelcome. Medium length vanilla, spice and sweetness in the aftertaste follows. Overall: My sample was enjoyable though I cannot see reaching for this with regularity. Much much better than any other apple brandy I’ve tried… but that’s a very short list that I’ve sampled of that particular spirit. Value: At $99 this is basically a steal for the quality and age.
Read more here: https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1709342
Score: B-

Gregarious Grump 30 Year Old Fine Bois Cognac, 1991, 52.9%
Another sample courtesy friend DavidK… Another sample from Chris Hart’s bottling company. This time a 30 year old cognac from 1991. Probably from Comandon domaine though that’s not a guarantee. As usual the disclaimer about whiskey-drinkers perspective, don’t take me too seriously, blah blah. The nose is dried fruits, vanilla extract, *strong* wood varnish. Strong wood notes continues into the palate, then thankfully opens up into tropical fruits and exotic spices… Followed by ‘dusty’ (tannic) finish that thankfully doesn’t quite overwhelm. Overall: This is a treat to those that like cognacs. Yet, it’s unlike typical light cognac style. Blind, I’d say it was armagnac. Either way, great drinker; it’s very enjoyable for those that like the woody brandies. Value: K&L cleared them out at $97 which is a fantastic value. The original MSRP is arguably still good in retrospect of tasting it.
https://www.klwines. … cognac-750ml/1667424
Score: B+

Old Forester (10) 1924, 50%
It’s a small sample, so I’ll be brief on this one. Also, thank you friend Michael! Nose is woody vanilla, with a touch of varnish in a good way. Palate is excellent bourbon, wood, spices, vanilla. Nothing too strong, nothing too weak. Overall: Excellent bourbon. Value: At MSRP of $115 it’s a touch steep… But this is competing with highly desired and allocated bottles here.
Score: A-

Pursuit United Bourbon, Small Batch, 54%
Continuing the theme of bourbon reviews. A blend of straight bourbon whiskeys here. Corn-forward nose with caramel and toasted wood notes. Enjoyable palate that delivers more or less all the typical bourbon notes, baking spices, cinnamon, vanilla and toasted corn. Lots of wood and complexity with plethora of primary notes, yet some of the funky grain eithers still remain. Peppery, spicy, slightly woody finish. Few drops of water helps with the palate. Overall: Enjoyable but too young blend. It really can use some more time to mellow out and let more of the funk disappear. Enjoyable and but not outstanding at the same time Value: About $70 is about average for high proof bourbon blend.
Score: B-

Ironroot Harbinger, 57.5%
A straight bourbon whiskey from Texas distillery? Does it go? It goes! Toasted vanilla and wood caramel nose. This smells somewhat… festive with mulled spice notes, without the wine. Enjoyable typical-bourbon palate with good balance of spice, wood and no offputting flavors. More of that toasted vanilla wood. An interesting eucalyptus and mint note shows up that I would associate with malted rye too. Interestingly, more of the malted rye notes in the aftertaste together with typical bourbon flavors. Water makes it sweeter, I wouldn’t bother as it drinks below its proof anyways. Overall: Surprisingly enjoyable. Nothing mind-bending, but a well-executed high proofer that’s got enough of the age and flavors to not lose in its category. There’s no way to compete with ECBP but this is sort of a similar thing in spirit. Value: ~$65, a reasonable price for this.
Score: B

Woodford Reserve Batch Proof 118.4, 59.2%
A woodford reserve? High proof? Perhaps a decent one? Nose is deeply toasted wood and nutty caramel, very cologne-like. Sweet, nutty, woody, vanilla-forward palate. Slightly bitter baking spices around off the aftertaste. With water, some of the bitterness recedes, leaving few sweeter notes in the aftertaste. Overall: A very enjoyable Woodford Reserve pour. I’m reasonably pleased with this batch and it’s well worth trying. Obviously, the profile varies somewhat with each iteration. Value: At $109-119 it’s not particularly good deal. If it was at $99, it’d be passable value. I would certainly not pay sticker price for it but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.
Score: A-

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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown

The first two samples are from friend Max. Thank you Max!

Cadenhead Green Label Rum, 50%
Bottled circa 2010 is my only information. Caribbean rum blend. Sourced from NoIdea Lands. Likely the standard suspects of Barbados, Guyana, and Jamaica being the bulk of the blend, plus some others. It sure smells like a blend of Guyana and Jamaica. Sweet vanilla, funk, medicinal notes, light mint. The palate is mostly the same as the nose, toasted vanilla notes, a touch of funk. Aftertaste brings a solid core of wood right at the edge of bitterness and mint notes from the nose make a reappearance. Overall: Enjoyingly sippable yet not outstanding while neat, this flavor profile seems to have too much going on in the palate department leaving a confused and unfocused impression. I feel that I would prefer it better in a mixed drink, even though I don’t really know how to make a good rum drink. Value: N/A.
Not sure if it’s this but… Let’s assume that this is it: https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1176179
Score: B- (Rum)

Mauritius 2005, Holmes Cay, 50%
Now we’re talking! A 15 years rum from far-far-away aged in ex-cognac casks. Very wood-forward with strong toasted vanilla undercurrent nose that thankfully doesn’t overwhelm. Smells like vanilla extract to be honest. Awesome! More wood and vanilla on the palate initially, then all sorts of tropical and orchard fruit come out in a fruit punch-like boquiet. Coconut, mango, peaches, the secondary notes are very fruity, in part thanks to the cognac casks. More tropical fruit punch on the aftertaste with wood notes coming full circle and balancing out the fruits with a slightly bitter note that’s full of baking spice. Overall: This is a flavor pop-tart. A fruity center, surrounded by near-bitter woodiness. Solidly enjoyable and proofed about right as any more would make it overwhelmingly oaky. Few drops of water help a lot here to scale wood notes back. It also scales back the flavor. This is almost a shame, as there’s a perfectly balanced ex-cognac rum that seemed to have been lost somewhere on the way. Value: Priced at $85 this is a solid deal for a far-off source and reasonably enjoyable cask combination.
Likely this: https://www.bittersa … ask-barrel-proof-rum
Score: B+

Mauritius 2007, Holmes Cay, 55%
Addendum nearly a year later: More or less same as above, ex-cognac cask and all. Cask #46; aged 13 years bottled in 2021. Not nearly as bitter due to less age. Utterly enjoyable in the rum style that I prefer, with extra fruit in the aftertaste from the cognac casks. Picked up in local Chicagoland store.
Score: A-

Camikara 12, Indian Rum, 50%
Indian Rum? What? Is that even a thing? I guess it was/is a thing with a quick google. But is it good or bad? Small batch from Patiala, Punjab, India. Batch number 3, though none of the other batches that I’m aware have made it to US. Pure cane juice rum, no color, additives, non-chill filtration. This smells somewhere between a banana pie and a glass of eggnog. The palate is more of those nosing notes, slight rum funk, caramelized bananas, slightly woody vanilla, eggnog spices and sweetness in solid balance. Aftertaste is medium long and brings forward milk chocolate, more spice and, unsurprisingly, vanilla notes sans sugar which wraps up the experience nicely. Overall: I love this. It makes me think of a spiced banana syrup or perhaps dried banana snack. Something in the balance of oak, spices, vanilla and sweetness really clicks in this rum for me. Utterly enjoyable and very dessert like. Value: Priced between $85 and $95 this is very very solid price for what you get.
https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1688655
Score: A
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown

Part 2 of the below post to make it less lengthy.

Bardstown Discovery Series #6, 55.55%
This is the “One with the Dickel in it” bottling. Let’s go! Mashbills and percentages are disclosed and published online in many places, so I won’t repeat them here. For better or worse, this is 16% Dickel that’s 17 years old… Which is to be fair rather respectable age for bourbon. The color is near-perfect chestnut. Straight out of the bottle there’s a touch of pecans on the nose, but that disappears after few minutes, leaving cologne-forward notes. There are certainly some nuttiness but it leans towards toasted bits of jam and crust from a berry pie. Let’s add some pecans on top of same pie before baking and… you get the picture. The palate is ripe with toasted cherry wood. There’s something about burnt cherry pie filling in the glass. Lots of toasted oak, cinnamon, cloves, and perhaps torched sugar with the overall profile leaning towards burnt, rather than caramelized. The aftertaste is a bit of a wash unfortunately with pecans coming back as well as that slightly bitter baking spice note letting itselves be known. Few drops of water calm the aftertaste down somewhat but it tones down everything across the board equally… Water is a preference here. Overall: Enjoyable all the way to aftertaste but instead of aftertaste elevating the experience this goes into the burnt notes. Quite drinkable and will likely please most bourbon lovers that want that firm kentucky hug in the aftertaste. The Dickel isn’t really a huge factor here, unless one is a staunch fan of Buffalo Trace products as this certainly leans to the Kentucky+Tennessee nutty style. Surprisingly, there’s some cherry on the palate and perhaps even on the nose, but that aftertaste firmly sticks it back into Tennessee for better or worse. Value: MSRP is too high at ~$120+, should be $99 IMHO… though their packaging and bottle design are well done.
Score: B

Bardstown Blended Rye x West Virginia Great Barrel Co, 55%
This is a weird one that’s for sure. 6 year MGP rye, aged in re-toasted cherrywood/oak hybrid casks, blended with 12 year old Canadian whiskey? What-a-mix! This is certainly off a beaten path for a reasonably well established company. Let’s try anyways! Disclaimer: This s a neck pour so there could be a some changes down the line once oxigen does its thing. The nose is fairly typical MGP rye, toasted wood with old varnish that’s been in the sun, medicinal pine forest, a bit of fermented/pickled dill in the background. The palate is rather sweet, with cherry notes coming in, sweet toasted vanilla and woody oak, gentle baking spices, and aromatic bitters notes. More of the same palate notes are in the aftertaste. Overall: Very enjoyable, despite the uncommon premise. This drinks like a very strong manhattan, or high rye bourbon rather than blended rye. In short, the more I drink it, the more I seem to enjoy it. I like a little more cherry in my manhattan though I’m still enjoying the experience. It doesn’t get too hot or too bitter or too rye-ish, preferring to back off that flavor peak just before becoming too much. This is certainly flavorful, interesting bottling. Value: I’ve picked this up at about $130 from Costco which for the spec seems a bit overpriced, as seems to be the norm with other ‘premium’ Bardstown bottles. Let’s set it as slightly above average on value here.
Score: B+

Velier Sassafras, Foursquare Barbados Rum, 14 year old, 61%
A sample from friend Charu. Bottled in November 2020 as one of 6000 bottles. This 14 year old bottling was aged 3 years in ex-bourbon and then 11 years in ex-cognac casks. It needs time to breathe in the glass, yet the notes I’m smelling all the way from the table surface are already amazing. The nose is toasted vanilla oak, touch of cigar tobacco, very light mint and… fruity perfume. The longer I leave it in the glass, the more perfume-forward it becomes. I’ll be honest with you, it’s really a cognac cask speaking with the fruits but it doesn’t detract from the experience. The palate… is pretty much everything from the nose… turned up to 11. The aftertaste… is… same as palate, gently fading with some barrel spice instead of fruity sweetness of a brandy. Overall: An astonishingly amazing and cohesive experience that’s very hard to duplicate in another bottling. Granted, this is a rum that’s wearing a woody cognac cape at the end of the day. I imagine when tasted blindly it could be hard to identify this as a rum and to call out a off-profile cognac instead. Still, the layers of flavor are great and there’s literally nothing to complain about in the glass. Borderline singular experience. Value: This is where it gets tricky… Originally priced at ~$200, and currently going for ~$450 on secondary… this isn’t a particularly great deal at first glance… yet considering that similar bourbon/cognac foursquares (ie 2006) are ~$1k on auctions and flavor-comparable cognacs are priced in the thousands… This is perhaps a worthwhile endeavor to chase down a bottle or a sample if your budget allows.
Score: A+

High West American Prairie Bourbon, K&L SP, Carcavelos Cask, 50.1%
This is a blend of straight bourbons, finished for 8 months in Carcavelos (White, somewhat spicy, port) and selected by K&L wines. Cask number is 18341. The nose is restrained and at best can be described as sweet & woody-something. There are toasted sugar, sweet spices, some vanilla, oak of course, yet none of it really stands out. The palate is thin on texture but rich in flavor. Lots of sugars, caramelized flavors, some wood, the sweetness doesn’t overwhelm but instead combines well with vanilla and spice. Aftertaste is rather szechuan-peppery, and surprisingly dry, providing a good contrast to the palate and nose. It’s not the most complex or the longest but pleasant enough to let it do its thing. Overall: Well this is an interesting one, I was expecting an everyday drinker and I’ve arguably gotten one. The port notes work surprisingly well with youthful (~2 year old) spirit in hiding bad things and bolstering spice and sweetness. In the end I’m left with enjoyable, casual, dessert pour which does not skimp on sweet & spicy peppers. Value: I’ve picked it up at $55… That’s a decent price for something like this. Let’s call it a good deal for Cask Select High West Bourbon for this price.
Score: B+
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown