Penny for Your Thoughts - SMWS 29.228 (Laphroaig), SMWS 70.22 (Balblair)
We tried two single-cask Scotch Malt Whisky Society releases at the Society's London bar, Kaleidoscope. Those guys know how to bottle some superb whisky. Let's get to it.
SMWS 29.228, "Cooking with driftwood" (50.9% ABV) - This scotch is a 20-year old, cask-strength Laphroaig single cask. If that doesn't get your mouth watering, then you need to get your taste buds checked! The great thing about SMWS is that they provide detailed information about their casks. This Laphroaig was aged in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead, resulting in 245 bottles. Based on that information, the longer period of aging makes sense -- a refill cask takes more time to impart flavor to the whisky than a first-fill cask. SMWS even tells you the exact date of distillation -- in this case, November 26, 1996. Finally, the Society helpfully provides the following poetic tasting notes: "Sitting amongst the seaweed and old ship's rope, cooking sweet chestnuts on a beach bonfire with tuna steaks, soy sauce, and licorice." I love the description but, to be honest, I tasted different notes. That's the great thing about this hobby, a chacun son gout.
We spent a few minutes just familiarizing ourselves with the scent of this glass, which featured a healthy dose of petrichor, a light and mellow smoke, and brine. That's the classic Laphroaig maritime character. I suppose one could call that brine-y taste "seaweed." There is a pleasing fruitiness to it as well, with blood orange and citrus notes shining through. Laphroaig 18 also had some citrus notes on the orange side of the spectrum, so it seems that well-aged Laphroaigs develop these notes, which are absent in the distillery's younger expressions. The palate screams mature Laphroaig, which means that the harsher, industrial notes of the peat fade out and are replaced by a savory, barbecue or cigar smoke. I don't get chestnuts, but I often have difficulty picking out nut flavors, which I tend to recognize as a general savory sensation. Complementing the smoke are blood oranges and brine again. As it builds to the finish, 29.228 begins offering more tropical notes, including coconut sweetness and passion fruit. This is the most fruit I've gotten from a Laphroaig finish. Stellar. Worth the price of about $200 a bottle. A
SMWS 70.22, "Malaga raisin ice cream" (55.9%) - This lovely scotch hails from Balblair. My only prior experience with the distillery was their Balblair 2000, a 10-or-so-year old scotch that I really enjoyed for its price point. This Balblair is like that one's muscular, grown-up cousin: 11 years old, cask strength, one of 194 bottles, and another refill ex-bourbon cask. Distilled on May 19, 2006, if that means anything to anyone (I suppose these could be great birthday gifts, for people too young to enjoy them; at my age, I'd have to find a 30-year old scotch, and then couldn't afford it.) Here's the Society description: "We had coffee in the park as passers-by enjoyed marshmallow ice cream. Tempted, we got Neapolitan chocolate sandwiches and other treats."
On the nose, I detected raisin, apple, and brown sugar. The palate is a barnburner, one of the best non-peated whiskies I've tasted (since I'm a peat head, I admit to a bias against these sweeter whiskies). The best way to describe it would be caramel swirl coffee ice cream. Or perhaps it's rum raisin ice cream. It's definitely ice cream, so it's good. The name is either perfectly apropos or proof positive of the power of suggestion, but both my wife and I agreed it tastes like ice cream. The apple's still there and a load of rich, sherry flavors on the finish as well. It's a great melding of Highland and Speyside profiles, which is what I appreciate about Balblair. It is an underappreciated distillery, and better in my book than The Balvenie. This bottling cost about $80 for members, lucky them. A