What are you having yourself?

[varizoltan]

had the new Tullamore Black 43
now moved on to Old Comber 7 years old

[brettie vedder]

had the new Tullamore Black 43
now moved on to Old Comber 7 years old

hows the black tully?

[cathach]

St Halletts Old Block Shiraz, A real spicy belter here lots of blackcurrant and rasperry flavours and full mouthfeel. But whats that Greenspot, don't look at me like that. Oh no, wait!! Arghh...

[varizoltan]

had the new Tullamore Black 43
now moved on to Old Comber 7 years old

hows the black tully?

see here;
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=770

[varizoltan]

having some great Frittmann wine

[PureDrop]

Having a Locke's "Premier Crew" -
Bottles & Boxes arrived today.
Having finished labeling for the night it was with some some trepidation that I opened one of the bottles. Being a rank amateur, I'm always afraid that maybe we selected something horrible, or that some flavour is obvious today that wasn't present on the tasting night.

However, after a brief taste, I think we have another cracker (to use Jim Murray's phrase).
A very very floral fruity nose - no need to even taste this - wonderful stuff.
But, needs must ... nice & oily, very sweet. A touch of fishermen's friend (menthol?). I got a slight off-note at the finish on the first tasting, but not on the second (I'm on the second) - I can't place it Not bitter, maybe a touch lemony or lemon zest on the finish.
Very moreish and at 46%, just right.
See Jim Clarke's better notes at viewtopic.php?f=37&t=763#p5809
We'll have a bottle for tasting as an opener next Thursday - http://www.irishwhiskeysociety.com/even ... 2010-07-29

[shanel23]

A friend gave me a drop of a Dalmore 15 yr old try - I duly obliged and I was seriously impressed ! Excellent whisky

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Just having a pint of plain and a small one

Well not quite ... I have just popped a bottle of Porterhouse Plain Stout so not technically a pint and the small one actually a fairly large one

The plain is nice and light with a nice roast nose, nearly fresh coffee-ish.

The drop of the cratur is a 27yo Teaninich. Bladnoch Forum Bottling.

I'd imagine a Bourbon cask. A lovely sugar sweet nose with slight grassy notes and also some earthiness, some soft skin fruits there also.

Taste is something similar to the nose. Light-ish mouth feel. Lovely sweetness but more like a light honey this time. Plenty of flavour though Nothing over powering. Sorry can't be of more help as I'm nicley chilled

[JohnM]

Having a Locke's "Premier Crew" -
Bottles & Boxes arrived today.
Having finished labeling for the night it was with some some trepidation that I opened one of the bottles. Being a rank amateur, I'm always afraid that maybe we selected something horrible, or that some flavour is obvious today that wasn't present on the tasting night.

However, after a brief taste, I think we have another cracker (to use Jim Murray's phrase).
A very very floral fruity nose - no need to even taste this - wonderful stuff.
But, needs must ... nice & oily, very sweet. A touch of fishermen's friend (menthol?). I got a slight off-note at the finish on the first tasting, but not on the second (I'm on the second) - I can't place it Not bitter, maybe a touch lemony or lemon zest on the finish.
Very moreish and at 46%, just right.
See Jim Clarke's better notes at viewtopic.php?f=37&t=763#p5809
We'll have a bottle for tasting as an opener next Thursday - http://www.irishwhiskeysociety.com/even ... 2010-07-29

Have you sent samples to Jim Murray, by the way?

[jcskinner]

I believe Michael sent off samples to Jim Murray of both the chosen cask and the one we placed second in the tasting.
I recall Leo finding a spirity note in the sample that he identified as toluene - aka paint thinners. I found the same thing to be more like furniture polish, a known volatile found in expensive aged pure potstill whiskeys. At this end of the taste spectrum, we're not far from that menthol/minty element some people find in Green Spot, which is perhaps what Michael is identifying here. In combination with the strong fruitiness and citric elements, it could come across as lemon peel too, perhaps.
Highly unusual to find it in a Cooley malt, where on first encounter it could possibly seem like an off-note to some, but later merges seamlessly into what is a highly rewarding and complex whole.
I'd be keen to sample it again to see if I can pin it down further. Definitely one of the more intriguing elements of this fine whiskey!

[JohnM]

Like everyone else, probably, I get a lot of menthol from Green Spot. I always found it strange, as menthol has a very high boiling point (something like 200 C) and I don't know how it makes it through distillation, unless it's through atomisation or evaporation.

Toluene I get a lot of in continuously distilled spirit. Not sure of the boiling point. You can use it to make explosives, but I'm not allowed tell you how! ( I don't know how, of course). I remember doing something about toluene in college, but I can't remember what. Something to do with nanotechnology.

Sorry if this is of no interest to anyone.

[John]

Toluene? Did someone ask for the relevant Safety Data Information? No? Well, here it is anyway.......

2. HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION
Highly flammable. Irritating to skin. Harmful: danger of serious damage to health by prolonged exposure through
inhalation. Possible risk of harm to the unborn child. Harmful: may cause lung damage if swallowed. Vapours
may cause drowsiness and dizziness. Highly flammable. Vapours may form explosive mixtures with air.

I think I would probably retreat to a safe distance Or at least drink it with a very long straw......
J.

[jcskinner]

Just in case anyone takes that seriously, I'd like to point out the difference between simile and statement of fact.
Just because it smells like toluene (I still say furniture polish!) or tastes like menthol doesn't actually mean that either of these substances are in the whiskey, anymore than coal is in Ardbeg.
These are tasting metaphors, designed to communicate an idea of the sensory experience of the whiskey, nothing more.

[JohnM]

I'd say it certainly can contain these compounds, or ones very close to it. But only in tiny quantities. I don't know that it does, but it's very possible that such compounds or compounds very close to them can find their wan into whiskey. There's certainly esters, which give the fruitiness.

[jcskinner]

I wasn't suggesting there aren't all manner of trace chemicals in whiskey, John. Far from it. I remember when beer tasting coming across exotica like iso amyl acetate and diacetyl. Terrifying sounding things, until you're told the first is a banana-ish flavour and the second is what makes stouts creamy!
It's just that I wouldn't want anyone being put off the Premier Crew because they thought it actually contained paint thinners. I'd be pretty certain it doesn't!

Edit: Apparently in the mid-Nineteenth century in America, rotgut moonshine was known as 'Turpentine Whiskey' because of its strong spirity taste.
So there you go, it likely is possible to distill at least something not too dissimilar to toluene into new make whiskey if you make it in a shack in the Ozarks with whatever equipment and sterilisation techniques were available to rural hicks during the American civil war.
One source states that 'Pine-top' was "In Maryland the name given to villainous whiskey, an allusion probable to its resemblance to turpentine."
I'd suspect Cooley have somewhat higher standards of production though!

[varizoltan]

a few hot whiskeys
i got the cold...

[cathach]

Redbreast 15yo, smells and tastes a lot like marmalade gone right if you get me. (I don't like marmalade)

[PureDrop]

Bizzare - Having a flora & fauna Caol Isla 15yo, bottled about 1999. All the tasting notes of the time indicate full pungent peat. I guess its been open too long - I find it very gentle with little peat evident. Dry citrusy finish.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

A Glenrothes 1989 ... a lovely sherried drop ... very smooth mouth feel with plenty of sherry wood and spice and a touch of liquorice. A very nice and under rated whisky/distillery.

[PureDrop]

Another forgotten gem - Dailuaine 16yo - flora & fauna. I had some (lots) over the weekend. The bottle had been opened 10yrs ago, but not touched since - the cork broke off trying to dislodge it - resorted to
Anyways, the Dailwaine is a superb sherry style whisky, very dry. Checking my contemporaneous books, I found myself in agreement with the notes - full sherry nose, dry and slightly nutty! Long finish.
I'm not sure why this languished at the back of a shelf for so long, but good to see it finally get a decent burial.
/M

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I probably did not explain but same story as last night ... her indoors is watching Rose of Tralee so I am drinking

Anyway just had a Highland Park 12yo cask strength from the Blandnoch forum range. Lovely nose on this and planty of flavour ... not your typical HP though but good all the same.

Now I have a Jameson Rare Vintage Rerserve tickling the toncils This is one wonderful whiskey ... and really stands outs even after a cask strength scotch ... Really annoys me when Single Malt enthusiasts say Irish does not hold up to Scotch single Malt. This Jameson RVR even at a much lower abv blows the HP out of the water for flavour. Now where are my salr and vinegar crisps

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Obviously on a roll this week ...

Popped open a miniature of the Preston's John Jameson 10yo of which there seems to be a few doing the rounds currently.

Well what can I say ... I just hope this is a whiskey that has good bad as if this was the state of whiskey back then ... no thank you mam.

Initially I just thought that the deep pungent nose of stale boiled cabbage and potato skins was just a blast from the past as you can get boil vegetable smells from old potstill whiskey. However this was very very pungent and masked virtually everything else and was not very pleasant. The taste was not much better ... basically I could not carry on at that stage.

I had to wash my mouth out with Redbreast 15yo

If I was thinking straight I'd have kept it a let it air over night to see if developed but may do that with what I have in the bottle.

A dissappointing experience but possibly the bigger bottles are of better quality.

JohnM ... did you open yours???

[John]

My goodness, you're starting early today IWC
Btw, any drink that yields an aroma of 'stale boiled cabbage and potato skins' is coming right off my wish list!
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

My goodness, you're starting early today IWC

Ooopps I meant to state that it was last night not this morning

Btw, any drink that yields an aroma of 'stale boiled cabbage and potato skins' is coming right off my wish list!
J.

I know where your coming from but don't be too hasty ... vegetal (sic) smells are often associated with old style PPS as well as mustyness but they would not be in anyway repugnant like the Preston's. Also you have the sweetness of the malt and sherry to balance your potato skin and the such

[IainB]

It's been a long and complicated day - from the drink perspective it started with a few glasses of wine over lunch.

Tonight so far I've had,
Johnnie Walker Black, Gold and Blue - haven't had these in years but the Blue is in great whisky, the black's pretty good too - I thought the gold was of little interest.

Bushmills 21yo - Always a treat - it's a bottle of the 2006 which got me thinking - Bushmills don't really emphasise the date on these - they're printed in very small print - I think they're missing a Midleton VR type opportunity for collectors of different vintages - I opened this a few weeks ago when I finished off a 2008 (I think) bottle - they were quite different - the wine had a much bigger influence on the 2006 ( I say wine cos I'm not sure if it's the sherry or madeira which was the dominant component). I've now decided to try and assemble different vintages.

Crested 10 - one from this year and one from the 90's - again quite different - a little more mustiness from the earlier one - in a good way. The recent one was pretty good too - this can be quite variable - I bought one about 2 years age which I found a little harsh and grainy.

Jameson NAS from 1979 - I was looking at Jim Murray's Classic Irish Whiskey book at the time - the first whiskey book I bought which I found under a pile of old shoes yesterday - if what he writes about the dates of various distillery closures is correct it's possible this was distilled in John's lane (the old Powers distillery) which, he says, produced Jameson between 1971 and 1975.

Jamseon 12yo

Jameson RVR - which I'm drinking right now - "because I'm worth it".