I failed to mention in the preamble to Monday’s review of the Highland Park 12 for the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers that all this week’s reviews will be of whiskies from Highland Park. Consider it now mentioned. Monday’s review was from a firkin (a smaller than normal cask), which had previously held sherry. Today’s review is of a 15 yo matured in a bourbon barrel (ignore what it says on the sample label). It’s from a parcel of Signatory casks, all bourbon barrels, with proximate numbers. It was bottled for a Chicago outfit called Vintage Wines (which Google tells me is now permanently closed). Michael K. of Diving for Pearls informs that bottles of this barrel hung out on the shelves at Binny’s in Chicago for at least two-and-a-half years. Is that because most people go to Highland Park for heavy sherry? Well, I do like a good bourbon cask Highland Park. Let’s see if this is one and if it will make this week’s Highland Park streak so far a positive one. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: January 2024
Highland Park 12 (for LLUA)
Once upon a time Highland Park was one of my five favourite distilleries. These days I don’t really spend much time thinking about that kind of thing but if I did, I doubt Highland Park would make the cut. I’m sure I’ve gone into the major reason before: the endless premium-ization of the brand (which was itself preceded by the transformation of what used to be a distillery refreshingly free of hoo-ha into a brand). Anyway, it’s not just that their prices shot up, it’s also that the quality did not keep up with the prices. Of course, that’s been a much broader problem in Scotland over the last decade; Highland Park is hardly the only one guilty of it. But I can’t remember the last time I was tempted to buy an official Highland Park, even though there have been many of them around, given the emphasis they’ve placed on single cask releases for stores, private groups, wealthy individuals etc.. In fact, the last Highland Park I reviewed was another 12 yo single cask bottled for Binny’s. That one was a first-fill European Oak hogshead (not the most common type of cask). This one was bottled a few years ago, not for a store but for an internet group: the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers. I’m actually a member of the group but I passed on a full bottle of this (on account of the price thing). It’s also from a relatively unusual cask: the much smaller firkin. I’m not sure but I think it might have been finished in a firkin: I can’t imagine that 12 years in a cask that small would yield a very palatable whisky (but I could be wrong). Anyway, let’s get into it. Continue reading
Highway Gomantak II (Bombay, January 2024)
Not that there was a bad one in the bunch but one of my favourite meals on my last visit to Bombay, back in December 2018, was at Highway Gomantak in Bandra East. I ate there then in the company of the food writer and old food forum friend, Vikram Doctor. I knew I was going to go back there for sure with the family on this trip. As it happens, I went back with the family and 21 of my students (one was out with a bad cold)! We’d had quite a trying day so far. We had a culture walk around Bandra West scheduled from 9 am to 11 am and the plan had been that the students would return to their housing in the coach while we peeled off for lunch on our own. But the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley, especially when the fucking Bombay Marathon turns out to be scheduled on the day of an outing… Continue reading
Compass Box, Delilah’s XXV
Compass Box week ends with another commemorative whisky. I say “another” because both of this week’s other Compass Box reviews were also of commemorative whiskies. Stranger & Stranger (which I thought was nothing very special) was released to celebrate their relationship with the eponymous design company, and Spice Tree Extravaganza (which I liked a lot more) was released to mark an event in company history. Well, this one was released to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chicago whisky bar, Delilah’s. This was released five years after Compass Box’s first release for Delilah’s in 2013 (on the bar’s 20th anniversary). A chunk of the 25th anniversay vatting incorporates a parcel of that earlier release (29%), which had been aged further in a refill hogshead. The rest of the vatting comprises grain whisky from Cameronbridge (10.5%), and malt whisky from Miltonduff (10.5%), Teaninich (20%), an unnamed distillery near Aberlour (15%) and Linkwood (15%). The Cameronbridge and Miltonduff came out of first-fill American oak barrels and the rest from first-fill sherry butts. I’m not sure what it cost on release but I’d be surprised if it was cheap. Well, let’s see what it all added up to flavour-wise. Continue reading
A Lagan nu Bhonu at the Ratan Tata Institute (Bombay, January 2024)
As I think I’ve mentioned before, the program I’m leading in Bombay is kicking my ass. We’ve been on the go pretty much every day and most evenings are taken up with checking and double-checking all the upcoming reservations. Not to mention, try corralling 22 undergraduates and you’ll beg to be allowed to herd cats. Actually, I kid. The students have been very game, very easy to deal with. But between all the activities and the fish market shopping and the cooking and the eating, I’ve not had much time to post detailed write-ups on the blog. Now, however, I’m at risk of falling behind quite severely with the dining out reports and so here’s a quick look at one of the highlights of our second week in the city: a Parsi wedding feast (or lagan nu bhonu). And none of us even had to get married to get the feast. Indeed, we skipped the wedding part altogether and went straight to the feast. Continue reading
Compass Box, Spice Tree Extravaganza
Compass Box week continues. On Monday I had a review of their Stranger & Stranger, which I thought was decent but nothing more (and not at all a good value for the high price charged for it). Today I have a review for you of their Spice Tree Extravaganza. This was a limited edition take on their regular Spice Tree release, which had a slightly checkered history, having run into problems with whisky regulations and going off the market for a few years before coming back. Despite it having come back, however, Compass Box saw fit to mark the 10th anniversary of its original discontinuation with this release in 2016. It’s put together in a complicated manner. The vatting comprises sherry butt Glen Ord (32.6%), sherry butt Benrinnes (17.2%), bourbon barrel Allt-A-Bhainne (2.6) and the rest a vatting of Clynelish, Dailuaine and Teaninich that was vatted and matured further in three different toast/char levels of what they call their hybrid casks. You could call this a case of great transparency with their cask regimen—and at one point in my whisky geek career I would have saluted it; I have to admit I now find it mostly tiring to keep track of all this granular detail. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading
Compass Box, Stranger & Stranger
Alright, after a week of reviews of agave spirits (two mezcals and a raicilla) that no one reading the blog seemed to be interested in, let’s go back to Scotch whisky. Here’s another week of reviews of releases from Compass Box. First up, is one from 2018 that they called Stranger & Stranger. The name is apparently that of the design company they work(ed) with and the whisky was composed to commemorate the relationship. This is a blend of malt whisky with a tiny bit of 1 yo spirit from Girvan (apparently 1% of the whole). The explanation for the odd choice to blend a tiny bit of 1 yo spirit with a lot of malt whisky in a very expensive release (close to $200 in the US) is that Stranger & Stranger’s work is also category-defying. Of course, it also makes for a story of sorts and what is a Compass Box whisky without a story? The malt components are from Glenlossie (recharred hogshead, 80% of the whole), Glen Elgin (recharred barrel, 14% of the whole), and Linkwood (sherry butt, 5% of the whole). Okay, let’s see what it’s like). Continue reading
Delux Kerala (Bombay, January 2024)
We’ve eaten some very good food in Bombay in the last couple of weeks. A lot of it has been food people not from Bombay associate classically with the city: Malvani food, Parsi food, Gujarati food, Marathi food—and, as of yesterday, even an outstanding East Indian meal. Some of our best meals, however, have featured Malayali food, or the food of Kerala. Specifically, food from Delux Kerala in Fort. This is a small restaurant split across two levels: a small un-air-conditioned dining room on the ground floor and a small air-conditioned dining room on the first floor. Our first couple of meals of their food did not involve either floor: we got delivery via Zomato. It’s not a very long hop from the restaurant to where we’re putting up and we enjoyed both sets of delivery quite a bit. But eating in at the restaurant was a must. This because they do a sadhya or banana leaf meal that obviously can’t be ordered for delivery. On Sundays this has some extra items added on to it. I am happy to tell you that when we finally got there in person it was on a Sunday. Here is a look at that meal, and also at the two delivery orders. Continue reading
Bonete, Raicilla Costa
The third agave spirit of this week—and a shout out to the very few who read my reviews of the two Cinco Sentidos mezcals (here and here)—is not a mezcal per se but a raicilla. Raicilla is produced in Jalisco. As far as I can make out, it’s made in much the same way as mezcal but is outside the regions officially recognized for mezcal production. Well, it’s also the case that a lot of raicilla is single-distilled, whereas mezcal is typically double-distilled. But the one I have for you today, bottled by Bonete, was apparently double-distilled as well. So the distinction between it and mezcal may just be nominal. The major sub-regions for production are along the coast near Puerto Vallarta and in the Occidental Mountains. The former bear the appellation “Costa”, and the latter, the appellation “Sierra”. This one is Bonete’s Costa—I think they also bottle a Sierra. Anyway, I am curious to see what it’s like and if I can make out much of a difference from mezcal. Continue reading
Shri Datta Boarding House (Bombay, January 2024)
I’m in danger of falling way behind on my Bombay food reports. Those of you who follow me on Instagram are aware of most of my food-related activity: from fish markets to takeout to restaurants to street food. On the blog, however, I’ve only posted a report on our lunch at Soam more than a week ago. This is because the program I’m leading here has kept me insanely busy. This is all my own fault as I’ve over-scheduled us more than a little; it’s all been fun and interesting but the pace has also been intense. The program activities themselves, unsurprisingly, involve food. Here now is a brief look at the second meal we ate out together, just a few days after our welcome lunch at Soam. It features one of the cuisines I most love eating when in Bombay: Malvani. Continue reading
Cinco Sentidos, Tobala-Cuixe (for Tricks of the Trade)
Mezcal week rolls on. Here is another release from Cinco Sentidos for Tricks of the Trade in Fort Worth. Unlike Monday’s bottle, which was just distilled from the Tobala agave, this one is a blend of distillate from Tobala and Cuixe. I liked the Tobala a lot—let’s see what this one is like.
Cinco Sentidos, Tobala-Cuixe (48.7%; for Tricks of the Trade; from a bottle split)
Nose: Wet dog, pleather, a bit of salt, mineral smoke. On the second sniff there’s some lime. As it sits it gets earthier even as some sweeter fruit swirls around underneath (plum?). A drop of water brings out more of the fruit and makes the smoke a bit drier. Continue reading
Cinco Sentidos, Tobala (for Tricks of the Trade)
One of the unexpected things that happened in 2023 is that I suddenly, randomly became very enamoured of mezcal. This happened in the second half of the year when I finally drank some samples I’d acquired and hoarded. It wasn’t long before I was buying bottles of my own to explore further. I’ll have reviews of those bottles in the coming months; here now is a review from one of the aforementioned samples. It is a Tobala released by Cinco Sentidos, a brand launched by El Distilado, an Oaxaca restaurant that is renowned for its collection and championing of mezcal produced by small distillers in the region. This particular Tobala was bottled for Tricks of the Trade, a store in Fort Worth. I’ve liked all the Tobalas I’ve tried so far—not that my exploration so far of the vast range of agaves and producers has been very wide or deep. Anyway let’s see what it’s like.
Continue reading
Soam II (Bombay, January 2024)
We’ve been in Bombay for 10 days now. It’s been a hectic week and a half. First we were getting set up at our flat, figuring out where to do all our shopping and so forth. And then my students arrived last Sunday and we plunged into a breakneck pace of outings and activities. First up, last Monday was our welcome lunch, at the iconic Gujarati restaurant, Soam in Babulnath. The last time I ate at Soam—back in December 2018—was when I was last in Bombay, doing prep work for this trip. I ate there then in the company of my old friend Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal. Rushina, who is a bit of a big wheel in the Indian food world, is curating our food/community-centered explorations while we’re here in Bombay, and she suggested that we kick things off at Soam. I was very quick to agree. Continue reading
Caol Ila 18, 2001 (Gordon & MacPhail)
Caol Ila week comes to a close with the oldest of the trio (see here for Monday’s 9 yo and here for Wednesday’s 11 yo). This 18 yo was also released by Gordon & Macphail but is from a single first-fill bourbon barrel. Let’s get right to it.
Caol Ila 18, 2001 (57.2%; Gordon & MacPhail; first-fill bourbon barrel 308901; from a bottle split)
Nose: The smoke is more woody than phenolic to open, with a fair bit of cream in there as well. On the second sniff there’s a meaty savouriness and some lemon and then the coastal notes begin to emerge: salt crystals, shells, kelp. The salt intensifies as it goes. With more time there’s roasted malt and charred oak. A few drops of water bring out even more of the char. Continue reading
Caol Ila 11, 2005 (Gordon & MacPhail)
Alright, Caol Ila week got off to a good start on Monday with a young Signatory release put together from a mix of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks. Here now is an only-slightly older release from Gordon & Macphail that was put together from first-fill bourbon barrels (how many, I’m not sure). Let’s get right to it.
Caol Ila 11, 2005 (54.1%; Gordon & MacPhail; first-fill bourbon barrels; from a bottle split)
Nose: A little closed at first but then there’s oak. The peat takes a few beats to register and then it’s there, with disinfectant mixed in with some lemon, brine and some slightly ashy smoke. As it sits a fair bit of vanilla emerges and the oak gets toasted. With water the smoke and the oak both pick up some char and the vanilla turns to cream. Continue reading
Caol Ila 9, 2010, Small Batch #7 (Signatory for Kirsch Import)
The first whisky reviews of 2024 were both of peated whiskies last week: a very nice Croftengea 12, and an Ardmore 23 that was not as nice at all. Let’s keep the peat flowing this week, with a trio of Caol Ilas. Hopefully, they will put us back on a positive trajectory. First up, is a young small batch release from Signatory that was put together for the German market from two refill butts and three refill hogsheads. Let’s see what it’s like.
Caol Ila 9, 2010, Small Batch #7 (47.1%; Signatory for Kirsch Import; two refill butts+three refill hogsheads; from a bottle split)
Nose: Phenolic, inky peat with green bell pepper, as is not unusual with sherried Caol Ila. On the second sniff there’s some lemon and some brine to go with the ink as well as some more savoury notes. As it sits there’s more coastal notes (shells, more brine) and an open jar of kalamata olives as well. Softer notes emerge with more time (vanilla, milky cocoa). A few drops of water bring out more vanilla. Continue reading
Ardmore 23, 1997 (SMWS 66.191)
2024 got off to a smoky and tasty start with Wednesday’s Croftengea. Here now is another peated malt from a distillery elsewhere in the highlands: Ardmore.
I’ve previously reviewed a number of these Ardmore 23, 1997s bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and liked them all. This despite the fact that none of the previous have been from straightforward ex-bourbon casks, my preferred incarnation of Ardmore’s spirit. All spent the first 21 years in ex-bourbon and then the final two in another type of cask. 66.199 came closest to being ex-bourbon, having been matured for 21 years in ex-bourbon before receiving a finish in an engineered HTMC cask (high-toast, medium-char, I think). 66.198 spent its last two years in a French oak barrique. 66.195 and 66.197 were both finished in sherry casks, the former in a first-fill oloroso barrique and the latter in a refill Spanish oak hogshead. This is another of those oloroso barrique finishes, a first-fill STR oloroso barrique to be exact (STR= shaved, toasted, re-charred, I think). The SMWS gave it the name “Smoky Cajun Roux”. As good as the others? Let’s see. Continue reading