A Proper Tasting

It all started in late 2019. Having lunch with a long-time friend, he asked why the group hadn't tasted the only 'proper' whiskey on the market - Conor McGregor's Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey. Since my friend is kinda a big deal, I took his question to heart and resolved to answer it, properly of course. Paying homage to one of Mr. McGregor's professions, I decided the only way to properly taste his whiskey was in a competitive contest - two bottles enter, one bottle leaves kinda thing. Of course, every main event needs a proper undercard, so if two bottles are nice, then surely four bottles must be twice as nice, particularly when there were two specific bottles somewhat related to Proper Twelve that I have been itching to try. And so the tasting challenge was born - two groups of two different whiskeys, four in total, each assigned a unique color code. Participants were tasked with picking a favorite from each group and then pit the winners and losers against each other to rank the four, least favorite to most favorite.

The Reveal

In group one, we have the catalyst for this tasting, Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey squaring off with its direct competitor on whiskey shelves across the globe - the undisputed king of Irish Whiskey (in sales at least) - Jameson.

Group #1
Red:      Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey
Yellow: Jameson Irish Whiskey

Group two takes a selfish detour and brings two Irish whiskeys that I've wanted to try for some time, but never had enough consumer motivation to purchase; until now that is. The two entries in Jameson's Caskmates series - Jameson finished in ex-beer barrels; one in ex-stout barrels and the other in ex-IPA barrels.

Group #2
Blue:    Jameson Caskmates Irish Whiskey - Stout Edition
Green: Jameson Caskmates Irish Whiskey - IPA Edition

The Tale of the Tape
All four whiskeys share a number of commonalities:

• All four hail from Ireland, Jameson being distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in the south of Ireland, while Proper Twelve's specific provenance is not disclosed, but almost certainly from the Old Bushmills Distillery in Northern Ireland
• All four are blended Irish whiskeys containing a mixture of Irish single pot still whiskey and Irish grain whiskey (the grain being corn)
• All four weigh in at the legal-minimum strength for whiskey - 40% ABV (80.0° Proof)
• All four are rather mysterious in specific production characteristics - age, maturation barrels, and percentage of barley whiskey to grain whiskey are woefully ambiguous, though Jameson does state they mature in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry barrels
• All four are readily available and quite budget friendly with each priced in the sub-$30 range

Some interesting tidbits - both Jameson Caskmates whiskeys use beer barrels from the Franciscan Well brewery in Cork, Ireland. Unfortunately, just how long the Jameson is aged in the beer barrels is a mystery. Another mystery, but a very safe bet, is that all four whiskeys are indeed chill-filtered and artificially colored which is not overly shocking considering their place in the whiskey market. Speaking of market place posturing, Proper Twelve definitely has a more upscale shelf-presence, the only one of the four packaged in a cardboard box and topped with an actual cork topper rather than a screw-cap.

One further Proper Twelve note that is worth mentioning, $5 for every case sold, up to $1 million, is donated annually to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation for families of fire fighters and police officers that have lost their lives in the line of duty. Specifically the donations are used to pay off the mortgages of the surviving family members. Proper Twelve just made their first $1 million dollar donation in the United States and is expanding the donation pledge to similar charities in Ireland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Poland and South Africa.

Enough with the chatter, lets ring the bell and see how the group rated our four contenders.

Tasting Results

In our main event, Group 1, Jameson, like a in-his-prime Mike Tyson dominated, sweeping Proper Twelve in a thoroughly commanding show of force. Group Two was nearly as anti-climatic with four out of five participants picking the IPA variant over the Stout variant of Jameson's Caskmates series. It's when we get to the overall ranking that things get interesting. One participant, despite picking the IPA over the Stout when tasting their Group 2 entries, chose the Stout as their second favorite when tasting all four side-by-side during their overall ranking.

In an attempt to further quantify how each contender fared, I created a totally unscientific weighted scale to assign a numerical score based on the group's tasting results. This woefully simplistic weighted scale is as follows: a 1st place vote earns four points, 2nd place three points, 3rd place two points, and unsurprisingly, a 4th place vote earns one point.

Jameson's stunning display, earning nothing but 1st and 2nd place votes, afforded an easy first place finish. On the flip-side, Proper Twelve's poor performance, earning almost exclusively bottom-half votes proved quite costly. Finally, how about the Stout Caskmate variant eking out a second-place finish with its consistent performance! Great stuff.

So we have a pretty clear winner here, the Jameson retains its crown, at least among our little tasting group. Reading various whiskey trade publications however, Proper Twelve's initial sales figures have been quite impressive, which goes to show that a well-crafted marketing strategy can overcome qualitative shortcomings. Fair warning though, whiskeys that are more show than go tend to be one-and-done type purchases for consumers; it will be interesting to see if Proper Twelve can maintain the impressive sales numbers or if they are doomed to fade in the later rounds for lack of substance and heart.

Group Impressions

Before we get to each participant's tasting notes, a funny aside. At various points between receiving samples and submitting impressions, every single participant remarked to me how similar they found all four whiskeys. In fact, a few even suspected I was playing a prank on them in sending the same whiskey under the pretense that they were different. Everyone should give themselves a huge pat on the back for this astute observation. In truth, while four different whiskeys were indeed sent out, all four are closely related. Three of the four come from the same distillery while the fourth comes from a near-identical distillery in terms of style and production. Speaking personally, I was over the moon that everyone in the group picked up on how close these whiskeys were in terms of style and presentation. Well done to all!

Apollo
Ranking #1: Red vs Yellow

Red
Appearance: Dark Gold, good legs
Smell:  Slight woody smell.  Smells sweet
Taste: Fairly smooth.  Thinking an Irish whiskey.
Finish:  Woody aftertaste.

Yellow:
Appearance:  Dark Gold, good legs
Smell:  Stronger scent the red.  Less woody, more sweet smell
Taste: Similar to Red, less intense.  Even more smoother.  Very similar in fact.  It's almost like Yellow is the same hooch as Red but watered down.
Finish:  No burn, very mild after taste

The Red vs Yellow Verdict:
I'm going with Yellow on this race.  While both are simple, smooth, and have no harsh taste or finish, Yellow has a slight advantage in each of these areas.

Ranking #2 - Blue vs. Green

Blue:
Appearance:  Dark Gold, just like the rest
Smell:  Scotch smell to this guy.  Smokey.  Picked up maple on the scent.
Taste: Bit of a burn on taste.  Not so sure its scotch, might be an Irish whiskey.
Finish:  Very mild finish

Green:
Appearance: Dark Gold, just like the rest
Smell:  Smelled a bit harsh, like of strong alcohol content.
Taste: Lot smoother then I was expecting.  Tastes like a more milder scotch or Irish whiskey.  Getting that vibe it might be the same brand, maybe a different year of the same whiskey?
Finish:  This also has a very mild finish.

The Blue vs. Green Verdict:
Going with green, but not comfortable so about that being it was very similar.

Ranking #3 - All four

Oh hell is this going to be tough.  Ok, here it goes

#1 - Yellow - Smooth is what I like
#2 - Red
#3 - Green
#4 - Blue

Smooth is what I like, yellow takes that cake.  That said, the profiles of all four seem very similar to each other.  If I did a taste test by itself I might have written very similar descriptions for each.  It helped to compare and contrast to each other.  I feel these are all the same type of whiskey, perhaps even from the same distillery.

Jonathan Quayle Higgins
Red Vs. Yellow

Red is slightly darker than yellow.

Yellow has a nice surge of herbal sweetness. Red never delivers more than a murmur of flavor.

Both have a rather sharp grain harshness on the finish.

Red
Less harsh than Yellow but also less memorable, there is nothing all that notable about this hooch. Definite grain and subtle barley. This whiskey feels quite muted…. Like you have the opacity value cranked way down making it partially transparent. I could see those preferring a ‘smooth’ whiskey taking this over the yellow, but to me it just feels woefully boring.

Yellow
First off, a weak nose, really hard to get any sense of aroma here. First taste yields a crash of harshness. Subsequent tastes tame the harshness, perhaps my tongue is tamed. There is a sweetness that pops out and some savory notes. You can detect the barley whiskey, it is more vibrant than Red. The grain alcohol is definitely there as well, in fact, I feel the barley whiskey is dwarfed by the grain whiskey. I would love to know the proportions of barley to grain whiskey.

Winner - Yellow - it has more flavor, Red just seems like watered down anemia.

Blue Vs. Green

Blue
Very nice coffee smell, coffee with cream. Gentle barley on the backside of the nose. Taste shows a bit of cinnamon and damn, perhaps a bit of nutella. Sweet, smooth, each component of the experience blends seamlessly with the next. Barley is far more present in this whiskey than Green. Roasty toasty. I would actually buy another bottle of this.

Green
Citrus cleaner. Jeesh, perhaps a bit of Jolly Rancher Green Apple. Nearly effervescent taste that finishes with a bitter (good bitter) snap. Not as sweet as blue - a bit more jarring on each transition. Less barley notes than blue. A hoppy bitterness on the tail-end of the taste all the way into and through the finish.

Winner - Blue takes this round. I prefer it in every regard.

Overall
This one is not even close for me - Blue gets the top step by a good margin. Second place is tougher - Green and Yellow are neck and neck. I am going to give Yellow the 2nd place finish because it is more soothing to my palate than Green. I like green, but the occasional aroma that reminds me of a citrus cleaner turns me off a bit. There is also a harsher sweet to bitter transition that is jarring. Yeup, Yellow gets 2nd while Green gets 3rd. That leaves Red as my 4th place finisher. Red is not ‘bad’, its just totally unremarkable. What primer is in the painting world, Red is to me in the whiskey world. It has its purpose but its purpose is to be totally utilitarian and not stand out. I will repeat - the only one of the four that I’d purchase a bottle of is Blue, pretty tasty stuff.

Michael Doheny
First tastings were done with whiskey stones, second tasting was done with a tablespoon of room temperature filtered water.

Ranking #1 - Red vs. Yellow

Red - Slightly sweet finish, reminiscent of toasted caramel, with a lingering feeling of warmth. Nice balance with smooth finish. Water removed the sweetness and diluted the afterburn of the tasting. Very enjoyable. Prefer without the water diminishing the delicacy of the sweet finish.

Yellow - Sharper smell than the red cohort. Much smoother finish was offset by a more intense heat. Initial thoughts were this is more drinkable over the stones. When water was introduced there was a much softer burn, as one would expect, but also notes of toffee became more prominent in my mouth and nose.

Finalist - Tough heat, but I’ll nose it out to Yellow.

Ranking #2 - Blue vs. Green

Blue - Either I’m getting more accustomed to these tastings or there was very little heat associated with Blue. It was light, with hints of dark fruits layered in there. It was more a gold or honey color than either Red or Yellow. Water did nothing to the lack of heat but make it a bit chewy and unbalanced in flavor. Reminded me of Red more than Yellow with the exception of the sweet initial smell.

Green - If it were not for the hint of warmth on the back of my throat, I would say I was drinking a thin mead. It was immensely smooth with a strong herbal wood that was reminiscent of flavors from the Ren Faire. Even with the addition of water, the bouquet was a nice floral welcome mat for your senses. Diabolically drinkable, this spirit offers a nice introduction to those who have been put off by more potent whiskeys.

Finalist - Green.

Overall Ranking
#1 - Green
#2 - Yellow
#3 - Blue/Red

Green wins out just due to the overall drinkability of the spirit. All were well crafted and drinkable both over stones and with water.

Zeus
For this four sample showdown we were given four bottles of different whiskies to compare and contrast (labeled Red, Yellow, Green and Blue).  I decided to start off by doing my normal review process and note-taking for each one individually.  I'm not what you'd call a super taster.  In fact I have a very hard time picking out individual flavors from most whiskies.  So the individual reviews didn’t help much.  There's no need to include them here.

So, I moved on to the comparison stage. The first head-to-head match up was Red vs. Yellow.  Red seemed sweeter but smoother. But then on the next sip Yellow seemed smoother. This one was pretty much a draw for me. I hope there’s not a big difference in price. Or maybe I hope there is because then I could buy the cheaper one! Flavor-wise I didn't pick up anything different in either of them. Since I had to choose, I decided to pick Yellow but I couldn't really justify why. I’d be happy with either one.

The second match up was Blue vs. Green.  Blue was pretty smooth and had some complex flavors that I couldn't identify. The same was true for Green. Blue had a little more burn, I think. They both had interesting flavors but I think I prefer Green. It was a very close call though. Blue was also very good and interesting.  One note about Blue.  After I had so much trouble telling the difference between Red and Yellow, I thought my taste buds might just be broken so I decided to take a sip of Blue because that one seemed quite different in my initial sampling.  When tasting Blue immediately after tasting Red, I thought I detected a hint of licorice.  Which is strange because I can almost never pick out flavors like that.  I'm not sure if that flavor was really there or if it was just because of the contrast or maybe even a combination of the flavors.  I thought that was pretty cool, though.

Then I decided to compare my favorite from each group, although that wasn't requested.  I preferred Yellow to Green. In comparing the two, Green seemed to have more of a floral taste that didn't really appeal to me, although I didn’t notice that in the first sampling, so who knows. Yellow seemed more neutral and easy to drink. Since Yellow and Red are so similar, I guess that means I liked Red better than Green as well.

Next I compared my second favorite from each group, which was also not requested, but I just felt like doing it.  I liked Blue better than Red. I think perhaps I should have picked Blue over Green but I’m sticking with my first impression. But I can definitely put Blue above Red, even though I like Red about as much as Yellow, which is my top pick. To quote the sea captain on The Simpsons: Arrrggghh, I don’t know what I’m doin’.

So, my final order across all four is as follows: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green.  This doesn't entirely make sense because I picked Green over Blue when they were head-to-head.  However, when I tested all four of them at the same time this was how I ranked them.

Honestly, I think if I did this test again I might get completely different results.  Red and Yellow seemed the smoothest. But they all seemed smooth at times.  As I was finishing the samples, I started to think that maybe I had misjudged Blue and it might be the best of all of them, even though I initially thought I liked Green better than Blue.  I think I'm just bad at this.  lol

So, to summarize:
Task #1 (Red vs. Yellow): Yellow
Task #2 (Blue vs. Green): Green
Task #3 (All four): Yellow, Blue, Red, Green

Leaping the Day Away

I could not let such a momentous day pass without posting something; the allure of seeing a date-stamp that only comes around once every four years simply being too great to ignore.

While I have two entries in the hopper, neither are quite ready for prime time yet, so we'll have to make do with another delicious libation recipe. Still feeling in the NOLA mood, let's take a stroll down to Chartres Street and visit the Napolean House where a rather delicious assortment of Pimm's Cups are mixed up year round. Originating in England, Pimm's Cups refer to a style of English drink known as a 'fruit cup' - essentially a tall glass filled with ice and various pieces of fresh fruit and herbs, a few ounces of a liqueur and topped off with a mixer, anything ranging from lemonade to ginger ale. The most famous English fruit cup is a Pimm's Cup due to using Pimm's No. 1 liqueur as the alcohol of choice. Pimm's No. 1 itself is rather mysterious, its precise recipe still a closely guarded trade secret, however we do know gin is the base spirit.

Strictly speaking, a Pimm's Cup is a summer drink, intended to be utterly satisfying and thirst-quenching on hot, humid days. While the British steadfastly adhere to such traditions, over here in the land of the Great Insurrection, we do as we see fit and by golly, I think any time of year is a good time for a Pimm's Cup. Tapping into this theme of rebellious free-will, the Pimm's Cup is infinitely customizable to one's tastes and preferences, the only hard and fast requirement being the inclusion of Pimm's No. 1. Outside of that, mix and match however you see fit - ginger ale, lemon-lime soda, lemonade, limeade, etc. all make excellent mixers in a Pimm's Cup; be bold, take chances, and sip away my friends.

Leap Day 2020 Pimm's Cup

Ingredients

• 3 ounces Pimm's No. 1
• 4 ounces lemonade
• Apple slices
• Raspberries, sliced in half
• Strawberries, cut in half, then sliced thin
• Mint sprigs
• 1 ounce sparkling water (optional)

Composition
In a tall glass, add the sliced fruit and set aside.

In a cocktail shaker add the Pimm's No. 1, lemonade, and mint. Add a handful of ice and stir aggressively to add a nice chill and bruise the mint.

Pour the contents of cocktail shaker into the tall glass containing the sliced fruit. Stir well with a bar spoon to ensure everything is well mixed. Top with sparkling water if desired. Truth be told, my glass was filled to the brim, so I omitted the sparkling water.

Be warned, the first Pimm's Cup is persuasively easy to consume and will leave you desperately lusting for a second. The second Pimm's Cup is every bit as satisfying as the first and will leave you contemplating either a third or answering the siren's call of the whiskey shelf beckoning you to make an Old Fashioned or Manhattan or Sazerac. At this point, it's best to just find a comfy chair and prepare to order in, you are about to embark on some serious contemplation of life's more nuanced aspects.

Cheers to all - see you in March.

Who Dat?

New Orleans must be one of the most paradoxical cities on Planet Earth. Breathtaking for its beauty and filth, its charm rivaled only by its stench. I suspect New Orleans is today as it has always been - a paradise of excess in every direction; home to opulence and debauchery, titans, shiftless layabouts, and everything in between. Perhaps this fate is inevitable for any city built upon a major trade port and New Orleans is one of the oldest trade ports in United States. The great Charles Kuralt hosted CBS News Sunday Morning, a show my mother, and I in turn, faithfully watched throughout my childhood. In retirement, Mr. Kuralt penned several books, one of which, Charles Kuralt's America, contained twelve chapters, each chronicling an entire month spent in a specific city. The first chapter, January, details the month he spent in New Orleans and captures the most memorable quote I've come across regarding this magnificent city:

Unless you're broke or sick or blue-nosed, I don't see how you could have anything but a good time in New Orleans. "Unique" is a word that cannot be qualified. It does not mean rare or uncommon; it means alone in the universe. By the standards of grammar and by the grace of God, New Orleans is the unique American place.

The Crescent City holds a very special place in my life - spellbound by its music and its food as a child, little could I have guessed that years later as an adult, within hours of arriving on my very first visit, that the city's inexplicable and ever-present magic would introduce me to the single-most important person in my life. Twenty-three years later, I can assure you it was love at first sight, on both counts. Looking back at that impossible collision of fate, I chuckle and think to myself of course it was in New Orleans, could it be any other way?

Upon arriving in the city for the first time, one quickly gets the sense that everything in New Orleans has a story attached to it, oftentimes multiple conflicting stories. Case in point - the Sazerac cocktail. Considered by some to be the earliest known American cocktail, its origins date back to the mid-1800s, yet its precise history remains murky with many disputed twists and turns. Here's a nickel tour's worth of how the Sazerac came to be as I understand it.

Step One - A Creole injection into New Orleans. The successful Haitian Slave Revolt between 1791 and 1804 caused tens of thousands of French colonists to flee Haiti for New Orleans which in turn formed the basis of the Creole culture of New Orleans. Somewhere in the early 1800s, a very young Antoine Amédée Peychaud fled Haiti for New Orleans and would eventually open an apothecary shop in which he sold numerous medicinal elixirs.

Step Two - A French spirit injection into New Orleans. In the mid-1800s, a spirits importer and owner of the Merchants Exchange Coffee House named Sewell T. Taylor began to import a brand of cognac named Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils.

Step Three - Worlds collide. Around the same mid-1800s time frame, Mr. Taylor began to mix a concoction of his cognac, absinthe, bitters (some claim from Antoine Peychaud's apothecary), and sugar. Choosing to focus on his spirits import business, Mr. Taylor handed over operations of the Merchants Exchange Coffee House to Aaron Bird who subsequently changed the name to Sazerac Coffee House to honor the unique cognac cocktail served within its doors.

Step Four - Disaster! In the late-1800s the phylloxera plague decimated the vineyards of France destroying France's wine industry and in turn France's cognac industry. Back in New Orleans, with cognac imports drying up, the folks at the Sazerac Coffee House, now being operated by a Thomas H. Handy, had to find an alternative and fatefully chose to substitute rye whiskey in place of cognac.

Step Five - Another deviation. In 1912, absinthe was banned in the United States due to its reputation for being far more destructive to society than other distilled spirits. New Orleans being New Orleans was unfazed and began to produce its own absinthe alternative, the anise-flavored Herbsaint.

Step Six - Immortalized. In 1949, the Roosevelt Hotel opened the Sazerac Bar. Fittingly, the Roosevelt Hotel stands three blocks up Canal Street from where both the Sazerac Coffee House and Peychaud's Apothecary once stood on Royal Street. Today, just as the Carousel Bar is a must-visit for Vieux Carré fans, the Sazerac Bar is a must-visit for Sazerac fans. Being located in a giant hotel combined with a famous name and a storied history usually results in large crowds, but every visit I have made to the bar has yielded well-made and thoroughly enjoyable Sazeracs. Yes the bartenders are busy, but they do consistently churn out delicious libations.

Thirsty yet? Happily the drink is easy enough to make at home and hey, it's Carnival Season, so what better excuse to mix away.

The Sazerac

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon absinthe or Herbsaint (absinthe containing less than 10ppm of thujone - wormwood - was deemed legal in the United States in 2007, as such, absinthe availability has steadily increased)
• 1 teaspoon of simple syrup
• 5 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 1 or 2 dashes, a scant drop, of Angostura bitters (ferociously controversial and totally optional; I personally feel Angostura augments the flavors quite nicely, but traditionalists leave it out)
• 2 ounces rye whiskey (there is a Sazerac Rye from Buffalo Trace which can be hard to find, no worries, there are plenty of awesome alternatives: Heaven Hill's Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond or Pikesville, Jim Beam's Knob Creek Rye, Wild Turkey's 101 Rye or Russell's Reserve Rye just to name a few. We are looking for a punchy rye, 45% ABV or higher) 
• Strip of lemon peel, skin only, no pith welcome to this party

Composition
Pour the absinthe into the glass you plan to enjoy your Sazerac from. Tilt and twirl the glass around, working to coat the entire inside with absinthe, from base to lip. Once satisfied, pour any remaining absinthe out, we only want to leave behind the absinthe that clings to the inside of the glass, no pooling allowed.

In a mixing vessel or cocktail shaker, add the rye, simple syrup, and bitters. Stir well and taste. Here is where you will need to adjust the drink to your preference. We are looking for a strong, spirit-driven taste here, more spirit than sweet. Also, we are looking for a strong but not dominant presence by the bitters. Adjust to your preferences.

Once satisfied, add a good handful of ice to the concoction and stir well for 20 or so seconds to get a nice chill and some dilution. Please, oh please, do not plop the top of the cocktail shaker on and shake, the Sazerac is many things, but frothy ain't one of them.

Strain the chilled cocktail into your absinthe-prepped glass, and give your lemon peel a nice twist directly over the center of the glass releasing those delicious lemon oils onto the surface of the cocktail. The final flourish is to swipe the lip of the glass with the lemon peel. At this point some say toss the peel into the trash, others say toss the peel into the glass with the hooch, dealer's choice.

One footnote, as we learned, the original Sazerac was made with cognac and only switched to rye whiskey when France's wine industry was devastated in the late 1800s. Happily, France's wine industry rebounded (thanks to American vine rootstock, but that's a story for another time) and cognac is readily available. It is amazing how different a Sazerac is when made with cognac, a totally different beast and well worth experimenting with. Personally, I like the rye version a whisker more because it is less sweet, but if life is good with one Sazerac, then surely it must be twice as good when you have two to taste side-by-side.

Laissez les bon temps rouler, Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Clash of the Peat Titans

tl;dr summary - two sensationally delicious examples of Islay peated single malt Scotch whisky. The Ardbeg is smokey-sweet candy that is less complex but much more approachable than the savory bitter-smoke roulette wheel of tastes and smells that is the Laphroaig.

The island of Islay holds a special place in the hearts of peated Scotch fans. Home to nine distilleries and ample peat bogs, Islay is ground zero for Scotland's smoke-influenced malt whisky industry. Distillation began in the 1700s for two of Islay's finest - Bowmore and Lagavulin. Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, and Laphroaig followed in the 1800s. Bringing up the rear, Islay's two newest distilleries - Ardnahoe and Kilchoman began distilling in the 2000s.

Tonight's tasting pits two of Islay's giants, Ardbeg and Laphroaig, against each other. Geographically, Ardbeg and Laphroaig are separated by a mere 3.2 miles on Islay's southern coast but each offer quite unique interpretations of a peated single malt Scotch whisky. Anecdotally, lying smack-dab in-between Laphroaig and Ardbeg is Ron Swanson's beloved Lagavulin, which, when combined with its flanking neighbors constitute the three best-known distilleries on Islay.

Ardbeg and Laphroaig each offer in their core product portfolio a 10-year expression. In Laphroaig's case, there are two 10-year offerings - a standard bottling at 43% ABV and a Cask Strength offering typically in the 58% ABV range. For this tasting, I will be using Laphroaig's Cask Strength version (Batch 6 bottled in February 2014 to be specific), but will be proofing my pour down to match Ardbeg's 46% ABV. As you can tell by the picture at the top, the Laphroaig is significantly darker than the Ardbeg, but sadly, this is almost certainly due to being artificially colored whereas the Ardbeg is au naturel. Neither malt is chill-filtered. As for cost, the Ardbeg typically retails in the $50 range, but can be scored for as low as $42ish if caught on sale. The Laphroaig 10-year Cask Strength version can be harder to find as it is not produced in huge quantities. Should you encounter a bottle, expect to pay ~$75. The standard version of Laphroag 10-year (bottled at 43% ABV) is easily found and typically retails in the $40 ballpark.

Let's jump into the side-by-side.

Smell
These are totally different animals. The Laphroaig is herbal, medicinal, and yes smokey. The Ardbeg is barley sweetness that is quite reminiscent of corn sweetness. Jeesh, as improbable and nonsensical as this sounds, the sweetness on the nose of the Ardbeg is very reminiscent of un-aged corn whiskey. The Ardbeg has a punch of peat smoke equal to that of the Laphroaig, but the underlying sweetness of the Ardbeg fools my nose into thinking it's a totally different type of smoke influence.

Taste
Yet again, these are nothing alike. The Ardbeg's sweetness carries over from the nose just as the Laphroaig's savory vibe carries over as well. The Ardbeg is effectively a sugar-bomb compared to the Laphroaig. While not as sweet as the Ardbeg, the Laphroaig is no less enjoyable. The Ardbeg starts and finishes sweet whereas the Laphroaig starts savory and finishes slightly bitter, think Angostura bitters. There is a sudden snap of bitterness to the Laphroaig near the tail-end of the sip that I find a bit jarring. Both of course carry a peat-punch, but the Laphroaig's bitter smoke is slightly less pleasing to me than the Ardbeg's sweet smoke. Aside from the peat smoke, there is some commonality, I find vanilla and honey present in both.

Finish
It's a tie in terms of length and power, both linger for an astonishingly long time. Peat smoke dominates the finish of both followed by the respective sweet/savory notes of the malts. What's curious to me is Internet sleuthing indicates that both the Ardbeg 10-year and the Laphroaig 10-year are exclusively matured in ex-bourbon barrels. As such, I would expect a more common experience between the two, yet they are radically different. Just how did the folks at Laphroaig impart that savory bitterness into their whisky?

Overall
Come to think about it, tasting these two side by side almost certainly tainted the subtleties of each whisky. Imagine trying a Roquefort alongside a Stilton - absolutely you will pick up some characteristics of each, but I'm betting the more nuanced characteristics would be dwarfed by the sledgehammer of the experience. What does appear when tasting side-by-side, rather dramatically, are the differences between the two malts. Characteristics that have never occurred to me suddenly became obvious - the corn whiskey vibe from the Ardbeg, the Angostura bitters twist from the Laphroaig.

So where does this leave me? The Ardbeg is a straight forward, sweet peat malt with gentle vanilla and honey. The Laphroaig is more complex, like a Wonka Gobstopper unraveling an array of taste and smell characteristics throughout the experience. Allow me to indulge in a food analogy - imagine bringing home a dozen or so large shrimp, the shrimp represent the freshly made peated malt that constitute both the Ardbeg and Laphroaig. You peel and devein all twelve but take six of those beauties and turn them into coconut fried shrimp. This is the Ardbeg 10-year. With the remaining six shrimp you decide to channel your inner Paul Bocuse and whip up a shrimp Provençale. This is the Laphroaig 10-year.

Ultimately, if I were to pick, the Ardbeg would be a weeknight pour when I am just looking to turn the brain off and relax whereas the Laphroaig would be for nights where I was willing to spend the mental energy contemplating the dram. All told, I wager I'd drain two bottles of the Ardbeg 10-year by the time I finished a single bottle of the Laphroaig. Along those lines, the Ardbeg would absolutely be my choice to introduce someone who is curious about trying peated malt whisky for the first time. I feel the Ardbeg is far more approachable and easier to enjoy than the Laphroaig, however the Laphroaig has oodles of nuance to discover for those willing to invest in the journey.

Somewhere over the rainbow

I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.

Coming Soon! A grand tasting pitting four whiskeys against each other. Totally blind for all! Who will come out on top? Will there a be a consensus among the group or will it descend into a chaotic rabble of contradiction? Stay tuned, results are tentatively scheduled to be posted in late February.


2020-01-03 UPDATE - Updating to include overview/instructions for tasting participants.

You will receive four four-ounce samples of whiskey. Each sample contains a different but completely unadulterated whiskey available at retail today. The four whiskeys have been separated into two different groups - Red & Yellow and Blue & Green. You will be choosing a favorite from each group and finally ranking all four, most favorite to least favorite.

Feel free to write as much as you see fit for each whiskey. Of particular interest is why you ranked one over another. The ranking and a few sentences for each will suffice.

Task #1 - Rank your preference from each group:
Ranking #1 - Red vs. Yellow
Ranking #2 - Blue vs. Green

Task #2 - Rank your preference, most favorite to least favorite, across all four whiskies:
Ranking #3 - All four - how you rank the four, most to least favorite

After comparing, contrasting, and ranking the four, you are free to do with the whiskey whatever you please but do document and relay your adventures!

Memorable Pours of 2019 - Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 14 Year

Fourteen Left, Twelve Right

Well this seems a bit like a cop-out, but dear reader, I assure you it is a sincere cop-out. Glenmorangie's Quinta Ruban earned a permanent spot on my shelf from the get-go all those years ago when I first started taking whisky seriously. Aged ten years in ex-bourbon barrels, then transferred to Portuguese ruby port pipes for an additional two years, Quinta Ruban has consistently buttered my biscuits in all the right ways: jammy-wine influence, a bit of orange oil, a touch of vanilla and a good punch of malt sweetness.

In late 2018, the folks at Glenmorangie announced they were changing Quinta Ruban - rather than spending ten years in ex-bourbon barrels, it would now be twelve before being transferred to the port pipes for the same two years as before. Miraculously, the retail price, ~$55, remained the same despite the overall age statement improving to 14 years vs the original's 12 years.

By May of 2019, I finally saw the 14-year version trickling into retail shops in my neck of the woods. A happy side-effect of the new label meant retailers began offering the outgoing 12-year version at discount pricing, typically in the $45 ballpark, a ridiculously awesome price-to-quality ratio in my opinion.

My initial pours of the 14-year were not all that impressive, in fact, I was downright disappointed. It seemed to me the 14-year was more savory and less grape-fruit forward than the 12-year. It also seemed like the 14-year had more alcohol prickle/punch than the 12-year despite both being bottled at 46% ABV. Tasting the two side by side seemed to confirm both observations, but not to a consistent degree - some nights I preferred the 12-year, others the 14-year. Then I discovered a bit of a trick to make the 14-year more enjoyable to my palate: a bit more water splashed in and a bit more time in the glass before sipping. Numerous side-by-side samplings consistently showed that with a bit more water and time than I would expend on the 12-year made the 14-year deliver a deeper, more complex, more vibrant flavor than the 12-year. Essentially, the 14-year is the Nigel Tufnel version of the 12-year.

This is not to say the 12-year is a slouch, quite the contrary in fact - it is still a fantastic malt. As an added bonus, because Quinta Ruban is so heavily distributed across the United States, there is a very good chance you will be able to score a bottle of the 12-year for less than $50. Of course, if you desire the upgraded 14-year, I can safely vouch that if you enjoyed the 12-year, or any port-finished whiskey for that matter, it is worthy of the $55(ish) asking price.

Happy New Year! Let's get this new decade underway.

Memorable Pours of 2019 - Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Heritage Barrel (2018 Release)

This is not the Old No. 7 that I remember from my occasionally foggy college nights. Truth is, this bottle would have never come into my life had it not been for another leap of faith I took on Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof. So impressed was I with that bottle that when I saw a brand new Jack Daniel's Single Barrel variant adorned in a fetching indigo blue label appear on a local retailer's shelf, I immediately grabbed one without hesitation.

So what is the Heritage Barrel release? From a distillate point of view, the Heritage Barrel is identical to Old No. 7 - a 80% corn, 8% rye, and 12% malted barley mash that is column distilled and run through a vat of charcoal (the Lincoln County Process) before being placed in new charred oak barrels for aging. It's here that the Heritage Barrel takes a detour from standard Old No. 7 in both barrel type as well as barrel entry proof. As explained by the distillery:

Unique Barrel Toasting You Won't Find In Any Other Single Barrel

This release celebrates the early craftsmanship of the Jack Daniel Distillery. The whiskey is from uniquely crafted heavy-toast barrels and 100 proof barrel entry proof.

The "Heritage Barrel" expression of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel was crafted with a low temperature, heavy toasted barrel which created a light but rich char full of deep flavor. A lower 100 proof entry proof allows our grain bill to assert itself creating a special Tennessee whiskey with notes of light baking spices, vanilla, and toasted oak with a long, lingering finish, aged to perfection at the top of one of the highest elevated barrelhouses, 1-09, on Coy Hill. What emerges is a flavorful and rich Tennessee Whiskey.

Nose - Honey, gingerbread, mulled fruit/spices, gentle cinnamon and baking spices. The longer in the glass, the more prolific and nostril filling it becomes. What.An.Aroma.

Taste - a bit more spice than sweet. Very gentle oak, zero char here. Warming hug as the sip descends. Proofed perfectly. Lovely alcohol tingle, like a soothing TENS unit for your tongue.

Finish - long, slightly drying, spice first, then some sweetness, then a very mild tannic drying.

Speaking bluntly, not only is Jack Daniel's Heritage Barrel a memorable pour of 2019, but it has easily remained near the top of my ever-changing list of all-time favorite pours. Each pour dazzles and delights and I am hard-pressed to name a single fault in regard to the actual whiskey ... and there's the rub because while the whiskey is sensational, there is a dark reality lurking in the shadows: availability.

Never intended to be an annual release, the folks at Jack Daniel's only produced a finite amount of Heritage Barrel barrels. In the first year of availability, the Fall of 2018, Brown-Forman claimed 200 Heritage Barrels were bottled. While no specific bottle count was given, one can do a little informal analysis - a Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel holds 53.3 gallons of distillate which equates to 201.7624 liters that will produce 269 750ml bottles. That number however assumes no loss to leakage or evaporation. It's estimated that barrels stored on the top floor of maturation warehouses, just as the Heritage Barrels are, lose ~30% of their liquid during the average maturation time of 5-6 years. Applying that correction yields ~188 750 ml bottles from each barrel and a grand total of ~37,600 bottles for the release. Back in 2018, Brown-Forman insinuated those 200 barrels were the entirety of their Heritage Barrel stocks, but refused to confirm or deny when directly asked if that was indeed all there was.

That refusal became moot in the Fall of 2019 when Brown-Forman announced they were bottling another 200 barrels of Heritage Barrel, but that these 200 barrels were indeed the last of the Heritage Barrel program. Jeff Arnett, master distiller at Jack Daniel's, claimed in an interview that originally 400 total Heritage Barrel barrels were filled and it was decided to split the batch across two years to see how one additional year of maturation affected the whiskey.

In my personal experience, I did not encounter a whole lot of Heritage Barrel bottles in either 2018 or 2019. In fact, I never saw a bottle from either year in any major chain liquor store like Total Wine or ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. Every bottle I encountered was in a mom-and-pop liquor store. All of this is to say finding a bottle of Heritage Barrel will almost certainly prove difficult at retail by the time you are reading this. This is a very bittersweet thing. On one hand, I am beyond grateful to have this whiskey on my shelf to enjoy, but on the other, I can never freely enjoy this whiskey. Each potential pour will be carefully scrutinized and debated; I am forever Elaine wondering if I am indeed sponge worthy of the indulgence.

There is one remote hope however - the Heritage Barrel releases were so well received by the whiskey public that perhaps the good folks at Brown-Forman will green-light another run of the program at some point in the future. One can hope. In the meantime, this whiskey serves as a reminder that just as with the amount of time we have on this planet to love, the amount of this whiskey that I have to enjoy is finite. Is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all? (Sniffs the glass, sips the pour) Yeah, I suspect it is.