The Whiskey Chaps

BLIND TASTING CONSORTIUM SESSION 13 (Swirled tour) 24/07/2021

Posted on July 27, 2021
swirled tour

28 Whisky loving folk blind tasting 5 drams, for this session the drams were picked by Paul – @derekcuster, a follow button to Paul’s Twitter accounts is at the bottom of this summary.

The idea is to blind taste all 5 drams, rate them in order of preference, and reveal the drams after we’ve put them into our orders, so a truly blind tasting. Use #BlindDrams through Tweetdeck to follow along in future or to check out older tasting notes and sessions.

blind tasting consortium

Blind Dram #1

Appearance

Mid gold in colour, lovely thick swirl line and quite syrupy medium to thick legs.

Nose

Pineapple chunks, apricots and those round hard boiled green and red apple sweets initially. Icing sugar, and then it starts to loose its sweetness, and becoming more…..wood shavings, dunnage, wood varnish, a little floral, light perfume, and now becoming spicy. I’m going to add hand rolling tobacco too.

Palate

Man that’s fruit cocktail syrup from the can, nice mouthfeel. It’s becoming spicier now, black pepper, cinnamon, hickory smoked black coffee, dark chocolate Orange, cranberries, and yet a sweetness persists all the way through.

Finish

Really does linger, and quite peppery, cranberry dryness, cardamom, anise, black liquorice, cask char, I like this

My thoughts

I have tried more whiskies from Mackmyra than any other distillery, and a few quite rightly guessed it was Mackmyra, but i didn’t, it was something a little different from them for me. Saying that i did enjoy it, and gave it 3 out of 5 for points on the evening, and if somebody bought me a bottle i’d be rather happy with it too, i’d buy it myself too in all honesty.

And blind dram #1 is

Blind dram #2

Appearance

Mid gold in colour, thinner swirl line, but it beads up quickly, and creates an all over film and small teardrops.

Nose

Higher ABV than dram #1, a touch of menthol, a little foresty, quite wood heavy, cream soda, a touch of tea, and stoned fruits, though they are quite light. Lemon cheesecake, flapjack, and that tea note again.

Palate

Decent mouthfeel and ABV, Lemon sherbets, white pepper, pickle juice, cigar leaves, hot cinnamon kids sweets, radishes? And becoming spicier with time.

Finish

Looooong, and so warming tbh. Black coffee, slightly floral, earthiness, dunnage, cask char, chilli dark chocolate, again cranberry drying, black liquorice.

My thoughts

Turns out we’d had this bottling way back in session 5 i believe. Again i like this bottling, the only thing that lets it down for me is the price, it’s not a bottle i’d personally spend £105 on. I gave it 3 out of 5 points on the evening.

And blind dram #2 is

Blind dram #3

Appearance

Mid gold in colour, swirl line is quite thin, and beads up straight away and has medium legs.

Nose

Black cherries, hairspray, higher ABV, lots of wood, linseed oil, wood varnish, slightly herbaceous, conifer/juniper.

There is a sweetness here, takes time to come through though, perhaps royal icing, and it’s becoming dusty too. A little perfume again, dried apricots.

Nosing with an open mouth it’s quite bitter in the back of my palate, dark chocolate and cigar leaves.

Palate

It’s spicy up front on the palate, quite a nice mouthfeel too. Cinnamon, ginger root, grapefruit/pomelo, black pepper, though not overly hot. Tropical fruits are hanging around, I’m waiting for them to come forward more.

Finish

Quite long, very warming, and I’m getting dates and figs, wood varnish, black pepper, cinnamon and ginger heat, very nice in my humble opinion. I’d buy this and give it a 4

My thoughts

I really enjoyed this dram, lots going on, plenty of depth, and a profile i like very much. I had no idea it’s Japanese. Going by aromas and flavours i gave this a 4 out of 5, and was my favourite of all 5 blind drams.

And blind dram #3 is

Blind dram #4

Appearance

Mid gold in colour, medium thick swirl line, that beads up and drops medium thick legs.

Nose

Higher abv, slightly Smokey? Wood and wood treatments, green grapes, tobacco, faint tea note, dunnage and slightly floral too, an unusual nose.

Palate

Spicy, white pepper, green apple skin, green grapes, milky coffee, red liquorice. Now red apple skin, raspberries, definitely a very faint sulphur flavour, that’s cool, the bubbly sweets in a bag of Liquorice Allsorts, the pink ones.

Finish

Long side of medium, herbal spiciness, Indian cigarettes, i can’t remember their name, meadow flowers, and cask char.

My thoughts

I found this whisky a little uptight, and at the speed of this tasting i felt i wasn’t getting the best out of it tbh. I did leave some in the glass and found it did indeed improve some more. I gave it 2 out of 5 on the evening, i would now lift it to 2.5 out of 5. This is far from the worst whisky iv’e tasted, but with the opposition on this evening it didn’t shine for me.

And blind dram #4 is

Blind dram #5

Appearance

Lighter than mid gold in colour, swirl line beads up straight away, an all over film and scattered spots on the glass.

Nose

Quite a medicinal peated nose, red berries and toasted bread, pickle juice, good ABV, fruity smoke, a little foresty for me. A little germoline, but plenty of fruit for me too.

Palate

Nice ABV, and it’s more ashy on the palate, reminding me of HP tbh. Lots of fruit here, red berries, BBQ sauce, a little drying for me, pomegranate cakes and slightly over cooked meat, charred on the outside.

It’s lovely and warming tbh, a real chest warmer for me. I think a little sulphur is creeping in, it’s very faint and not enough to put me off tbh.

Finish

Nice and spicy, liquorice, cask char, cap gun caps, cigar leaves, some petrichor, I’d buy it and it gets a 4 from me.

My thoughts

This is a lovely whisky, i really enjoyed it, it’s absolutely packed with flavour. All the flavours and aromas are easy to find for me, and even though the strength is 60%ABV+, i didn’t think it defined the dram, it has plenty of character. With a very faint touch of sulphur i’d definitely class it as a dirty dram.

And blind dram #5 is

My overall tasting thoughts

Overall i thought it was a great tasting. The Mackmyra was one iv’e wanted to try, the Deanston is a good drop, the Japanese dram was a super surprise, the Stauning needed more time for me, and the Bunna was a belter.

btc13

Thanks to – @derekcuster for the samples and images.

Road trip banner courtesy of @jwbassman_.

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By Dram It Mick!

Mick Cash

Enjoying being part of the Whisk(e)y community. I’m one half of @thewhiskeychaps. My opinions are mine only.

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