Penny for Your Thoughts - William Larue Weller (2015), Talisker 57° North, Springbank 10
We took advantage of London’s relative indifference to the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection to try the whiskey that, for many reviewers, represents the pinnacle of American barrel-proof bourbon. Oh, right, I guess we had another drink or two that night. All of these reviews come from our evening at Salt.
Glorious William Larue Weller.
That divine Weller in the glass.
William Larue Weller (2015) (67.3% ABV) - What a stunningly beautiful whiskey in the glass. Weller is a deep, rich copper tone with hints of auburn. Breathe in the scents of late summer, autumn and the harvest season, and conclude with winter in a delightful progression: cherries and ripe fruit first, followed by rich brown sugar and buttered corn, with maple syrup and vanilla emerging after several minutes. Then back to fall with the powerful, slightly boozy palate, to savor the taste of apple turnovers, caramel, and orchard fruits. Weller finishes with notes of sweet caramel, traces of banana, leather, oil, cinnamon, and oak. I don't like adding water to whiskey, but with a barrel-proof beast, it's sometimes worth a shot. Here, oak, leather, and brown sugar emerge more prominently in the nose. The palate and finish were similar, with reduced heat (of course) and an increased spiciness.
Weller's claim to fame is, in part, due to its association with the renowned and perhaps overhyped Pappy Van Winkle line of wheated bourbons. Weller is made by the same distillery (Buffalo Trace) and comes from the same mash bill. Thus, the various bottlings of the Weller lineup are first cousins to the much more famous Pappy. And, like Pappy and other wheated bourbons in general, they offer an intriguing, sweeter take on American bourbon. I haven't had Pappy in a long time, but it is hard to believe a wheater gets much better than this Weller. I hate to keep giving these Buffalo Trace Antique Collection bottles such high marks, which doesn't tell you guys anything that you can't find on a bunch of other sites, but they are superb bourbons. I was looking for flaws but couldn't find any. Like any other barrel-proof bourbon, you have to be prepared for that high heat, but Weller's aging -- in excess of 12 years -- makes it a smooth sipper given its strength. A no-brainer if you see it anywhere for $150 or less, but most people's only hope is the secondary market, where this bottle can fetch an intolerable (for me, anyways) $600+. A+
Talisker 57° North (57%) - This scotch is named for the latitude on which the Talisker distillery sits and the ABV at which it's bottled, which is about 11% higher than the classic (and distinctive) Talisker ABV of 45.8%. 57° North is not widely available outside of the UK, although it can be found in airline duty-free shops. There's not much information out there concerning its aging or what types of barrel the distillery uses, but this is not just stronger Talisker 10. It is quite different in flavor. On the nose, the overwhelming trio of flavors are brine, herbal and ginger tea, and farmhouse mustiness. My wife picked up on the maritime notes more and described it as "fish scales." There's definitely something to that. The palate is sweeter than the nose and picks up a grapefruit note, but the herbal, ginger, maritime, and peppery kick of Talisker continued barreling ahead at full steam. The finish emphasizes that ginger tea aspect to it and has a tinge of cough syrup flavor that did not thrill me. With a little water, more of the oak and wood tannins assert themselves. This is an expensive bottle, pushing $100, and strikes me as similar to what a cask-strength Ballechin would taste like. B Springbank 10 (46%) - Sometimes, it seems as if everyone who's serious about the whiskey hobby has to be a Springbank fan. The distillery is relatively unusual among its fellows in that it remains family owned to this day, and is not part of any major conglomerate luxury group (e.g., Diageo, Beam Suntory, LVMH). The distillery produces several variants on its products, including the lightly peated main line named Springbank and the more heavily peated Longrow. In my view, people tend to love it because of the romantic image of a non-corporate distillery, and the fact that Springbank makes a number of different styles helps them find purchase among a few different niches in the scotch world. Springbank's signature feature to me is minerality, meaning a slightly bitter, medicinal, metallic, effervescent feature that's kind of like what I imagine most whiskies would taste like if watered down with Badoit or San Pellegrino. Aside from the minerality present, if not dominant, in all three phases, the core flavor here is a well-composed apple-honey body and a curl of smoke at the end. My wife, who was not feeling in a generous mood to these whiskies, described it as "fish scales in apple juice." Well, there you go. There are not many whiskies that taste exactly like Springbank, so I highly recommend trying it to see if its unique flavor profile hits the spot for you. I'm only a mild fan of the style, however, so it's a once-in-a-while dram for me. B Previous Post Next Post