Penny for Your Thoughts - GlenDronach Peated, Four Roses Private Selection (OBSO), Laphroaig 10
These are the two whiskies I tried at Barrel Proof, at the end of an epic afternoon bar crawl that began after lunch and ended after sunset in New Orleans. I've also thrown in a bonus review of a scotch I had earlier in the week, and which I've enjoyed many times in the past.
GlenDronach Peated (46% ABV) - I'm always intrigued when Speysiders experiment with peated single malts given that their specialty (particularly GlenDronach's specialty) is gorgeously decadent sherry bombs. There's a bit of an arms race between the Islay distilleries and the Speyside distilleries in the sweet-and-peat arena -- can the Islay peat-smoke specialists civilize their barbarian single malts with sherry and other wine-aged casks better, or can the Speyside masters toughen up their rich and fruity scotches with some smoky, rugged flavors? To my knowledge, some of the most famous Speysiders don't really try, such as Macallan or Aberlour. They know what they do well and they stick to it. GlenDronach, however, has ventured forward to challenge the excellent Islay sweet-and-peat scotches such as Laphroaig PX Cask or Ardbeg Uigeadail, and the results are an astounding success. The peat of the Highlands is different than Islay peat and lends the nose and palate more floral, musky, and leathery aromas rather than an intense, brooding smoke. This gentler peat blends with the sherry sweetness perfectly. While the initial flavors upon entry are mostly sweet fruit and there is a lasting note of orange citrus throughout, this dram morphs into something very similar to Laphroaig PX or Lagavulin Distiller's Edition over time. Compared to Islay exemplars, however, GlenDronach's flavors blend more harmoniously. This is a symphony of sympathetic flavors as opposed to an exhilarating boxing match between two power punchers. The finish leaves abiding notes of mint and espresso. This dram lacks an age statement but, based on taste, this is not a young whiskey. It's also fairly priced around $60-70 in most states. Bravo, GlenDronach. A
Four Roses Single Barrel Private Selection, OBSO (55.7%) - Some friends and I just did a group order and tasting of three Four Roses Single Barrel Private Selections, so I'll write a longer review of my bottle and some reflections on theirs in the coming weeks. As a short explanation, Four Roses provides select stores and bars with their pick of barrel-strength Four Roses bourbon, which allows different stores and bars to highlight some of the unique recipes that Four Roses uses. You can still find Four Roses Private Selections from a lot of liquor stores for $60 or so a bottle, making them one of the best values for high-end bourbon today.
This particular bottle comes from the New Orleans Spirit Exchange and was distilled and barreled in late 2003 before being bottled in April 2015. In a cool touch, the bottle even has the exact dates for each event on its side label. OBSO is a recipe code that stands for their high-rye recipe (B, which is 35% rye, perhaps the highest rye content from any major distillery recipe) and a specific type of yeast (O, which yields rich fruit). Four Roses describes the resulting combination as "slightly fruity, spicy, medium body" bourbon. Sounds good to me. The nose is creamy and very woody, as expected in a bourbon that's 11.5 years old. A lot of vanilla. Some sharpness from the ABV, which is to be expected. The palate is luscious and well-integrated, with no burn, and is replete with apple, cream, oak, vanilla, and a growing rye spice with each sip. This excellent bourbon finishes with apple and smoke from the barrel char. It's a bit drying, peppery, and spicy at the end. Compared to the three that I tried with my buddies, I'd say that this is one of the best. A
Laphroaig 10 (43%) - What else is there to say about Laphroaig 10? It's one of the most-reviewed scotches on the web and a classic icon in the whiskey world. Not to mention, at $50, it's one of the best values. Laphroaig 10 may be my favorite entry-level scotch among the Islay brands, depending on whether you classify the considerably older and more expensive Lagavulin 16 as an "entry-level" scotch because it is the main release of that distillery. The great thing about Laphroaig 10 is that it best expresses the Islay terroir, to borrow an overused term from the wine community. All three phases hammer out notes of rich, sooty smoke and ocean spume. Unlike Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig 10 doesn't have as much of a lemon-lime note, it resides more in the core honey-malt-apple space. It is less sweet than either Ardbeg or Lagavulin, with more minerality and all-around strangeness to the dram. Its only flaw is the slightly low ABV, which is why Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength easily garnered an A+ from this reviewer.
Laphroaig 10 is perhaps the ideal scotch to have in hand when reading these immortal lines of Shakespeare:
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange . . . .
Which is what's so captivating about Islay scotches, taking simple ingredients and transforming them into something powerful, unexpected, beautiful, and deep as the Hebridean sea. A
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