French & Japanese stand their ground in Dramland

Scene 1: Whisky Cat picks the Yoichi 10 yr old

Scene 2: The 'Princess' defiantly picks the Armorik

 

Scene 3: Whisky Cat walks away in disgust.

It's test time again at the ol' jackashack. Of course our trusty Whisky Cat was on hand for the dramming accompanied by a special guest (colour only) judge: The 'Princess'. Although incapable of articulating her opinions in any sort of rational fashion, I did see a substantially larger amount of drool when the French single malt was cracked open.

Ok kiddies (and cats), on with the lowdown: 


Armorik Breton French Single
Nose:
Strong fruit, robust and full bloom. Over-ripe pears, graham crackers, toffee… smores??? (I know… my eyes are rolling too)

Palette:
Starts off light, slightly smoky, fruity, nice finish, some honey mixed with some grassiness

Finish:
Medium length, smoke comes in subtly and softly.

Impression:
Wow, first thought is how did the French pull this off. But on closer inspection of the region of Brittany, and discovering the Gaelic roots in that region it’s no wonder this whisky delivers. Get it while you can at DVLB and LCBO because it’s not a stock item. A gentle whisky, not as gentle as a lowland whisky but definitely stands on it’s own. Well done.


Nikka Yoichi 10 yr old
Pronounced: ‘Yo-e-chee’
Meaning: bewitching and seductive (and it is)

Nose:
Honey, sake, rice

Palette:
Amazingly balanced is the first thing. Mellow, sweet honey notes carry throughout.

Finish:
Long, long, and smooth. Smoke comes in late on this one and its trickery makes me smile.

Impression:
Phenomenal whisky. The Japanese are scaring the hell out of me with this stuff. They aren’t fooling around. If the Scot’s aren’t paying attention, they should be. Makes me think of the American car companies laughing in the 70’s when the Japanese came to town. We all know what happened there. Kilt wearers be warned!

You call this a Bush party? You must be Putin me on. HA!

Caol Ila Distillers Edition 1996
Pronounced: ‘cool-eye-la’ or ‘cull-ee-la’
(depending on who you ask)

Nose: (clearly this was the last one to be sampled as I got a little carried away with the descriptive) It’s an Islay, so of course peat is king here. One thing I love about whisky is just how many different degrees of peat you can get. I’ve talked about Laphroaig’s creosote inclinations in previous posts. Caol Ila’s Distillers Edition’s smoke is more of the embers after a bush party. (Scene: You're among the last that made it through the night and find yourself standing around what’s left of the bonfire with nothing to show for from the night before. The only thing keeping you humming along right now are those sweet red hot embers.... they carry you. (Now if you only had some marshmallows left, D'oh!!!) It’s a refined peat; a peat that doesn’t need to be center stage even though everyone in the crowd knows who the star is.

Palette:
Bush party fires. fall leaves, junk yard dogs… walking down the railway line… Stand by me? Sorry no dead body notes... I think. Almost perfect as far as an Islay whisky goes. Can you taste your childhood adventures; the ones before you met face to face with responsibility? Sip this one and escape to that place again.

Finish:
Woodsy, peaty, doesn’t overwhelm at all. Nice to see a refined peat.

Impression:
Got to love the Islays. Got to love Caol Ila.

Hi there, we're the new international exchanges students... uh.

New Whiskey/Whiskies at DVLB this week:
Blanton's Single Barrel Kentucky Straight, Jura 200th Anniversary 21 yr old, Nikka Yoichi 10 yr old, Armorik Breton French Single, & Caol Ila 1996 Distillers Edition.

Next week we'll trip on down south on the Bourbon trail and ask why only Americans and the Irish spell it "Whiskey" (Probably something to do with their Brit hate-on)

Sláinte

Grean Meanie

Not all LCBOs are created equal

Most times when I walk past the institutionalized, neutral-toned, and calming facade of the LCBO I feel a slight chill as our bureaucratically-laced overlords dictate what we can and can't drink. They've done a bang up job of keeping us in the dark ages with clean lighting, wood-warmed vintage sections and staff donning ties. If you've ever shopped for wine or whisky south of the border or in Europe in one of their super-boozemarts, you know this pain I speak of.

But it ain't all bad. If you do your homework and scour the city you can find some great selections. My favourite LCBO in K-W for whisky is at Ottawa & Home Watson (721 Ottawa Street South) in the Alpine Centre. I've spoken with the manager Greg there, and he has a good understanding of whisky and seems to be proactive in his stock selections. Greg also recommends a drive to another great LCBO in Guelph that has an impressive selection located on Stone Rd West across from the Stone Rd. Mall (615 Scottsdale Drive).


Well anyway, as I was restocking some of our more popular whiskies like Jura Superstition, I happened across a little green gem from the Isle of Mull: Tobermory 10 yr old. For some reason the island whiskies seem to have grabbed the hearts of K-dub so I said 'what the hell, let's give Toby a shot in the big leagues.'

Sitting off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura, sits Scotland's fourth largest Island. Tobermory (formerly Ledaig) is a neat 'little' guy. Bottled in a 700ml format like our Bruichladdich Organic, this Island single malt hits on the central sweet spot on our flavour map. The Tobermory single malt is distilled from unpeated malted barley and matured in oak casks for ten years. A peated whisky is also made in Tobermory, named Ledaig for the original distillery name.

Don't be afraid to add a little water to this one. It'll cloud over due to it's un-chill filtered production but will soften the spicy notes. The nose is soft and will mislead as to it's true nature. I get a kick out of a scotch that plays tricks on you. There are only a few of these sneaky devils out there. You'll find this 'green meanie' just south of the smoky meridian and heavier on the rich notes than on the light notes.

Overall, another happy addition to the DVLB line-up kids!

Hello, is there anybody out there...?

 Hello world of bloggers... this is our first post and we're excited to finally get our little selves on the blog scene to share our world view of all things Espresso Whisky and Bread. The holy trinity of 'the good life'

First up we'll talk scotch... I find a lot of whisky reviews both in book form and blog form tend to over-analyze the dram for our liking, but that being said, I do enjoy them... we're just simple whisky sippin' jackalopes though, so we'll keep our comments lighthearted and easy on the ol' noggin. A few tasting notes is all you need to peak an interest. At the end of the day, we all have different palettes and we'll all experience these whiskies in our own way. One thing we do try to do at DVLB is to plot each whisky on our flavour map. When you visit our digs, we'll make sure you get a gander at the flavour map to help you on your journey down the whisky trail. With that said... here we go a-bloggin'... up first are the 3 newest additions to the DVLB line-up:

Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix:
Recently we scoured all of K-W and picked up the last 3 bottles of Snow Phoenix available at the provincial pharmacy. I was actually surprised to see that only 3 were left in the region. I thought we'd have more time to get to know this scotch before making a big commitment, but the sales speak for themselves. Since this is our first ever blog review, we'll rely on the help of some other whiskyheads for the background story on this special whisky: "In January 2010, thanks to an especially snow-filled winter, some of Glenfiddich’s warehouse roofs reached their snow load-bearing limits and decided to collapse without considering the feelings of those sensitive spirit-filled casks within. These casks, some ex-bourbon, some ex-Oloroso, sat shivering in the snow, exposed to sub-zero temps while crews worked furiously to get all involved into a warmer setting. Malt Master Brian Kinsman decided to create a special edition commemorating the event, vatting a selection of whiskies ranging from 12 to 30 years old, bottling it non-chill filtered at a slightly higher proof, and giving it its myth-inspired name."

DVLB's First Impressions:
Strong honey note off the start. Sweet, light, tiny bit of smoke, well balanced and complex. Almost in the center. Slightly richer than light. Slightly delicate over smoke. Aside from the obvious marketing ploy, and sexy packaging, this is actually a damn good dram. Because it's never being released again, it makes this scotch extra special. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Jura Superstition:
Smoky rich, very spicy, not sure what spice but there's orange peel in there somewhere. Peaty, not light not delicate. Very unique, can't say what it is though... It's a mystery. Heavy like a heavy scotch ale and not an everyday scotch. It's a stand alone.

Aberlour 18 yr old:
Incredibly smooth, no burn at all. Delicate and rich, not a lot of smoke. This is a scotch that sets the bar high. When you first have a go at it, you almost can't believe it's a single-malt. Makes you wonder (and dream) about how smooth 30 & 50 yr old scotches are... hmm.