Penny for Your Thoughts - Fountainhead
We were able to try plenty of spectacular scotches while in Chicago, including some knockout drams at Fountainhead. I've already reviewed one of them, Laphroaig's 2014 Cairdeas Amontillado. Here are some others that we tried there or in recent tastings. As always, I cannot resist any killer peated whiskies!
Bowmore Dorus Mor (55% ABV) - I'm not as big a fan of Bowmore as I am of some of the other Islay distilleries. However, this 10-year old Bowmore is about as pure an expression of Islay as one is likely to find. This is an unfiltered, cask-strength, small-batch release that consists of only a handful of casks. There have been three such limited releases to date, although I'm not sure which one we tried. It's also found outside of the U.S. by a different name, Tempest. It smells like fresh-baked oatmeal cookies and dry woodsmoke, but its flavors are much richer and fruitier than expected, with bursts of sweet berries, rich mulled cider, and a dash of sea salt. That sea salt is what lingers on the tongue the longest. This bottle is overpriced at well over $100 in most liquor stores, especially when compared to the equally puissant and even more memorable Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength (usually around $70-80). Nonetheless, I'm glad I tried it; this is one of the best Bowmores that I've encountered. B+
Compass Box Flaming Heart 15th Anniversary (48.9%) - Flaming Heart is a recurring series of Compass Box releases that features Caol Ila's peated whiskies prominently. In this respect, one can think of it as a much more expensive ($125+) Johnnie Walker Black Label, another Caol Ila-heavy blended scotch. I don't know that I'd pay that much for it, but the reasonable $16 I paid for a generous glass was just right. My first note right off the bat was Caol Ila/Ardbeg character, meaning a combination of ashy smoke and lemon-lime citrus. Complementing that punchy essence are dark caramel and then a complex mixture of creamy nut butters. Flaming Heart finishes with a long, lingering exhalation of smoke. I wouldn't have guessed a blend if I'd tasted this one blind, I would have thought that it's just a really good Islay single malt. And that's about the highest compliment that I can give a whisky. A-
Ailsa Bay Inaugural Release (48.9%) - Scotch's ineffable magic lies in its slow maturation, and the industry's greatest strength --as well as its greatest weakness -- similarly lies in the glacial pace at which it changes. A handful of distilleries, however, have recently opened and are more open to trying innovative methods of production or aging. Ailsa Bay is one of those distilleries, and its first release in 2016 featured a few twists on the age-old formula. First, the distillery identified the exact parts per million not just of peat but also of "sweet," a proprietary measurement that Ailsa Bay developed. This one is 21 ppm peat, 11 ppm sweet. Second, the distillery aged its distillate initially in very small bourbon casks to speed up the maturation process and impart flavor more quickly. The results . . . are amazing. I'm instantly vaulting this distillery up there with Kilchoman as my favorite new-age whiskymaker. I didn't realize that this was a peated scotch before I caught its scent, but instantly I recognized that alluring mixture of earthy gravel, coffee, and sweet cream as the quintessential nose for a mainland peated scotch. Its palate features sweet cereal, honey, mild herbal peat, cinnamon, and a light floral touch. Its finish is floral as well, well-balanced, with a healthy measure of toasted oak. I can't wait to see more from this distillery. A-