Category: Uncategorized
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Mhoba Holmes Cay South African Whisky casks 198, 199, 200, 201
Mhoba SAW 6 year 2018 Holmes Cay cask #198 (59%) N: wood glue drying on a balsa wood structure or model house, brown banana. With air: pancake syrup and brown spice P: rather sharp glue and alcohol sting, but also fairly sweet, with caramelized banana and ras el hanout. With air and a drop of…
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three grappa from Distilleria Gualco
Distilleria Gualco Grappa di Cortese di Gavi (42%, unaged) N: rustic, seedy rye crackers, sesame puffs, dried apple and orange peels, white flowering tree P: spicy whole grain and white peppercorn, dried fruit peels again 83 Distilleria Gualco Grappa di Dolcetto d’Orada Stravecchia (42%, 3 years in oak) N: relatively muted, spicy grain and berry…
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A mezcal flight for Mexican Independence Day
Rey Campero Espadín (48.5%, Lot D5110-E1) N: sloeberries, cool mountain air, new tires, salty smoke P: salty, cooling high altitude evergreen forest, less rubber and smoke than the nose but both are here. Juniper and sloe, with a sliver of spearmint and a longish, chilly finish. Such a wintry agave 85 Rey Campero Jabalí (48.6%,…
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3×4^2 (11 year 2004, 15 year 2005 Colours of Rum, 19 year Epilogue)
Foursquare 11 year 2004 cask strength (59%) N: sultanas and spiced golden syrup, oranges and yellow plum, dandelions and dead grass P: pretty much follows: golden raisin and golden spice and (slightly medicinal) orange and dead yellow flowers. A bit hot, neat. With three drops of water: the edge is taken off the heat, and…
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three teenaged Travellers
Travellers 15 year 2006 The Nectar 15th Anniversary (52%) N: caramelly sweetness not so different from a Spanish solera style, along with dry barky wood, root beer, fatty nuts (peanut, cashew…lots of peanut) P: again this reminds of Spanish style rum, caramel and boisé and all, and bourbon-y wood too. Some nuts, and a trace…
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Domaine Grand Veneur (Alain Jaume) Marc de Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Domaine Grand Veneur (Alain Jaume) Marc de Châteauneuf-du-Pape (40%) N: cocoa, cardamom, and coffee grounds, but also very brown apple and maraschino cherries. Very ugly color, like flat soda or dirty dishwater, not that I care P: fairly sweet mocha character, plums and brown apples, and not much pomace funk beyond some anise in the…
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A Foursquare and two Travellers
No matter what I do to the image here, I can’t get it to not show upside down. The photo itself is not upside down, it only shows up that way once published on WordPress. We’re just gonna roll with it, in defiance of gravity. Foursquare 6 year 2015 Transcontinental Rum Line (55%) N: maple…
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Mexican Eau de vie: Satvrnal Banana, Edénico Guanabana and Guava
Satvrnal Banana Distillate (43%) N: estery, focused on banana of course but in an overripe, funky way like a young Jamaican. Caramel spiked with diesel. A bit of sappy, aromatic wood, funny enough. Incredibly thick and enticing P: turns out we’re enjoying these caramelized, almost composted bananas on a farm, with all the wonderful background…
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American Single Malts (two Westward, a Yellowstone, a New Riff)
Westward Bottled in Bond 7 year (50%) N: mostly sweet, charred American oak, could easily be mistaken for bourbon, except there’s an odd gummy bear fruitiness lurking in there, like the translucent ones, and maybe a hint of sandalwood or Garryana. With an hour of air that all basically becomes sweetened matcha P: rather sweet…
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Australia (Beenleigh) 17 year 2007 The Rum Trail
Australia (Beenleigh) 17 year 2007 The Rum Trail (48%) N: Orange oil and rosewater, mild esters akin to pot still DDL, cedar shavings, brown banana and pineapple skin with a very light drizzle of caramel, gasoline P: similar. Warming for 48%, with plenty of expressed citrus oils and pink, rosy floral extracts, mushy banana, cedar…
