The KOTQ

Just like to share that I finally had the chance to enjoy a dram of Laphroaig 30, and what a great treat it was. I went out last Saturday for my 8th anniversary (with Linda, of course…heh!) and went to Carlos’ in Highwood. Very excellent experience, and I started off the evening with Lagavulin 16. The Lagavulin made for a great aperitif and just confirmed for me how great that scotch is.

But, the real story is after dinner. We went to Froggy’s…a pleasant French bistro on Green Bay Rd known for being a pretty good value for the money. They had a small collection of fine single malts…and, to my surprise, they had Laphroaig 30, and I couldn’t resist. At $22 a dram, it was not exactly one to become committed to for the night, but it was a nice finish to the night out.

The nose was impressive…fantastic whiffs of smoke and peat as you normally expect from Laphroaig. The body has great depth and dare I say, rotund. It lacks the slight bitterness of the 15, and instead has toasted, rich sweetness and salt, a smooth and slightly warm finish. Quite enjoyable.

The bottle currently retails for $220 at Binny’s and is rumored to be the last that they’ll have for some time.

Ok, in the spirit of offline experiences, Brother Bop, I found some recipes created with scotch whisky. Both the Aberlour salmon and fudge sauce recipes sound fabulous. They were featured at a recent Spirit of Speyside festival. We need to take these for a test drive!

Yet another treat at the Sam’s tasting was Dahlwinnie 29. This weighed in at 58% alcohol. It’s a very limited production, bottled in 2003 from American oak casks. It goes for $356. What I like about this dram is that it’s was different. After cutting to ~40% the nose is quite fruity with a hint of cinnamon. Pallette is peppery, iodiney, spicy (think spice rack). Finish was buttery, warm with a hint of honey. Overall is was a dynamic experience–quite a treat.

Yet another Sam’s Spirit Night whisky brother Bluff and I chose to sample was Bruichladdich 20. Bruichladdich 15 got average scores from KOTQ so I wanted to see how the 20 yo stood up, particularly after the disappointing 3D experience. We learned that the 20 yo is a Second Release–they are not perpetually cranking out 20 yos so this is a limited offering. They gave it another stupid nickname “Flirtation”–but let’s look beyond that. The first thing you notice is that the color is atypically (or is that typically) rose color–distinctively red-brown. The whisky is aged in bourbon casks and then “finished” for 5 weeks in Mourvèdre casks. Mourvèdre is a red grape native of Spain and also grown in France and California. It is known for making rich, intense, inky, leathery wines. So clearly this is where Bruichladdich 20 picks up some of its color. The whisky has an earthy nose, floral with a hint of mint. The pallette is soapy and sweet with a little bit of wood–no discernable peat. The finish is clean and easy. Oddly, none of the experience says “Islay”. This is nice mid-afternoon scotch. Good, not too challenging but still flavourful. It retails for $169 at Sam’s. This is the tipping point for me. While I like the drink, $169 buys a lot of HP18 or a really nice bottle of Glenfarclas 35 yo. I’m finding with all the Bruichladdies, the price/value relationship is a little out of whack–they’re overpriced.

Another dram Brother Bluff and I had the opportunity to sample at Sam’s Spirit Night was the new Bruichladdich 3D “The Peat Proposal”. As you all know, Bruichladdich, like it’s mid-Islay neighbor Bowmore, is regarded as having a medium peat profile. Well, as we learned from the heavy-accented distiller, Bruichladdich hasn’t always been that way. For eighty years, up until the early 60’s Bruichladdich was heavy peat. Then following a trend it toned down it’s peat from 40 PPM phenols to 5-10 PPM phenols that it has today. (The amount of peating is measured by the concentration of acidic organic compounds called phenols that are found in the peat smoke. The higher the phenols the peatier). Lagavulin has 40 PPM, Laphroaig 35 PPM for comparison. The new entry is made from the 3 separate maturing stocks, each distilled from a different degree of peated barley: 5 PPM, 25 PPM and 40 PPM. Ages 2001, 1998 and 1989 respectively and in three contrasting types of oak casks (refill sherry, refill bourbon, fresh bourbon). Each comes from a different era of distillery ownership and matured in 3 very different warehouses.

So, enough of the background. This 4 yo whisky is (not surprisingly) over-the-top peat. It’s in your face peat that is strong and unrestrained. It has notes of coffee and caramel. The Peat Proposal name is a little too gimmicky for my liking and the “3D” double-entendre is short on follow through. It’s 1D: peat. And it doesn’t come close to the southern Islay malts in terms of flavour. Buy a dram if you can but not a bottle.