(Part 2) Best products from r/scotch

Situation: Re-reviewing the classic Talisker 10 at my desk after a long day full of the pleasures of being a husband and father of two...too lazy to write more. I jotted down my notes “live”, so straight away without looking anything up or at my older review, which I'll add at the end.

Nose: Maritime, freshly crushed white pepper, slightly rubbery, old leather bound books, some tropical fruits, cured ham, clear white smoke, sea grass, slightly buttery (not sure if I noted that before!)
Taste: neutral entry, then it gets slightly creamy and the pepper kicks in paired with soft malty sweetness and some smoke but without much peat. Nuts, some honey and hints of dried fruits.
Finish: nice chocolate-y, fierce pepper, smoke, old leather, brown sugar, quite long and peppery!
Conclusion: Yeah, I still like it quite a bit! It might be a bit of a one trick pony but which entry level expression isn't? I should get a bottle again soon.
Score: 86/100 or B/B+


Old Review:
Hey there Scotchit! J4ni here returning to Scotch in preparation for the tons of mystery samples send to me by the fantastic /u/daft_hunk! Don't worry it's none of the mysteries I'm having right now, but since the package also (!!) contained a Talisker glass as well as a Talisker scarf handwoven by virgins in a moonlight night, dancing naked round a bubbling kettle, I have the strong feeling I should revisit this old companion before I dive into the mysteries...


Thoughts on reviews are to be found here.


TL;DR:

Quick facts: 10 yo – 45,8% - ≈35 € Price in Germany


Situation: Changed my standard review situation from “at the desk with laptop at hand and focus on reviewing” to “at the sofa, listening to music and using a classical notebook for jotting down notes and focusing on enjoying the spirit” (and love it!) thus I'm happily watching the Boss performing live in Barcelona (2003) , the wife is out, baby sleeps, dog lays beside me thus pretty much as good as it gets ;)

Nose: Sweet malt, smoke, brine, very different to the Bourbons I've been having lately, a citrus fruit peel note, also something like rotten leaves or a dampy compost pile at the back of the nose (so to say)
Palate: Nutty sweetness like walnuts, salt, peat, shortly before the peppery finish hits there are hints of toffee and dried (dark) fruits

Finish: SALTY! Also pepper/chilli, a bitting finish in the mouth, long and drying, again with toffee notes coming up at the end. The finish wonderfully develops into a nice combination of very spicy burn in the sides and the front of the mouth and an almost dark chocolate like bittersweetness at the back which makes you come back for more...definitely the best part!

Would I buy it again?: Nah, as this is the go-to Scotch of a dear friend of mine I don't have to...otherwise though I would have it in regular rotation probably in exchange with the Laphroaig 10 as they share many similarities even though they are quite different

Score: 87/100

Quick-Info on the scores: To give you an idea what those numbers mean to me I added the table below. I kept the /100 though to keep it comparable and reviewbotable. Everything below 73 isn't really my type of Whisky even though I accept that my 68 could be your 93 and vice versa...

100 - 96 | 95 – 87 | 86 – 78 | 78 - 73
---|---|----|----
Wow! Holy mother of God! | Really, really good! | Good! | Ok!


Conclusion I had the Talisker as one of the first steps of my malt journey and happily return to it from time to time albeit the intense spices of the Talisker 10 need me to be in the right mood to enjoy them. Definitely would not be a good start into a tasting or as a pre-dinner drink. But if you care to look beyond the big bold spices, you'll find that there are nice notes to discover on the side and behind them, which make this malt more then a one trick pony one would otherwise guess at the first sip. I always wanted to look up which casks they use for the Talisker 10, but even though this would be quite a fitting occasion to do so I'm to lazy and hope that someone will enlighten me in the comments...My guess is quite a great proportion of second (third?!) fill bourbon casks but the decisive factor – I guess – is the smaller proportion bringing the hints of chocolate and alike popping up now and then...any ideas?

Edit: I just saw that this one is on the "Recommendations for Beginners" as well thus this would be my Beginner's List Aroma Kit Review #8. Even though I feel that this might, well not overpower a newbie, but the first things I remember about Talisker that I found it spicy, too spicy in the beginning to be honest. On later visits I learned to look behind that spice and really appreciatie the malt in its complexity...

final words: I still haven't looked up which casks they use :D

Introductory Comments: One of the joys of independent bottlings is that they offer us the chance to try out single malts from distilleries that usually reserve the majority of their output for blends. For a number of distilleries, the lack of an easily-obtainable original bottling single malt isn't a huge loss since there are often times many other distilleries that offer a similar profile. But there are a few distilleries that are particularly characterful, often as a result of unique distillation methods, and they can be just as impressive and memorable as any other single malt whisky were they to be bottled as such. An example of such a distillery is Fettercairn, which used to refer to itself as Old Fettercairn. So what's the deal with Fettercairn? Here's what /u/forswearThinPotation said about the distillery in a thread about obscure distilleries:

> Murray's Nemesis: sulfur bombs. The Fior NAS is acutally pretty interesting (i.e. weirdly complex) for the price. Would love to try one of the old (28+) ones from before the late 1990s stainless-steel condenser fiasco almost forced closure of the distillery.

/u/throwboats added this in response:

> I'll second the Fettercairn. Its insanely weird and interesting.

So what are the reasons behind Fettercairn being such a characterful spirit? There's actually a handful of uncommon and idiosyncratic elements to Fettercairn's fermentation and distillation practices. I wanted to touch on some of them here not only to shed some light on Fettercairn's specific distillery character, but to more broadly discuss how different materials and methods can have a substantial impact on any distillery's flavor profile. This survey is by no means exhaustive, and I am not claiming to be an expert on this stuff, but hopefully this will be of interest to some of you and if you want to dig deeper, I have included numerous references along the way that are much better authorities than I am.

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Washbacks

Thomas and Ansgar over at WhiskySpeller toured Fettercairn back in 2016 and their post is very interesting and informative. The first thing that stands out is Fettercairn's use of wooden washbacks during the fermentation process. Most distilleries these days have switched from wood to stainless steel washbacks, as they are significantly easier to clean and maintain, but a few distilleries have refused to switch for fear of a negative impact on the flavor of the spirit. The prevailing view on this subject is that wooden washbacks may lead to a more flavorful spirit not because of the wood interaction, but rather because of congeners contributed to the wash by various bacteria that are not cleaned out as effectively as they are in stainless steel washbacks. A couple of good articles on wood vs. steel washbacks can be found here and here. Interestingly, many Diageo distilleries still use wooden washbacks, e.g. Talisker.

Fermentation Time

Another aspect of fermentation thought to be of particular importance is the fermentation time. The WhiskySpeller guys mention that Fettercairn had recently increased the number of washbacks so as to facilitate an increase in fermentation time from 48 to 56-60 hours. If true, this is a commendable decision, as the trend in recent years is for distilleries to decrease fermentation time in order to increase throughput. But shorter fermentation times can potentially rob the spirit of some flavors that need more time to develop. This topic is explored in considerable detail in this excellent article written by Jordan over at Chemistry of the Cocktail.

A Fettercairn Special: The Water Jacket

Moving on to the distillation process, Fettercairn has a quirky piece of equipment that they employ on the spirit still that seems to be unique to them. Up at the neck of the still, a "water jacket" is installed, which is a ring that sprays cooling water that runs down the outside of the still and chills the alcohol fumes slightly before they pass through the lyne arm to go to the condenser. Pictures of the water jacket can be found in the WhiskySpeller writeup as well as this scotchwhisky.com profile of Fettercairn. Richard Paterson wrote about the water jacket in his book Goodness Nose, when he describes seeing it when he visited Fettercairn for the first time in 1974:

> [The assistant manager] explained that the low wines stills were fitted with water jackets, and that as soon as the foreshots were running, the flow of cooling water was switched on. This forces a lot of the congeners to the bottom of the still, rather than allowing them to pass over the lye arm and through the condensers. Fettercairn is already a full-bodied malt, but this idiosyncratic process tends to add complexity to the final spirit.

The Role of Copper in Distillation

The water jacket is a neat idiosyncrasy of Fettercairn's distillation, and it's hard to say how much of a difference it really makes, but what has come to define Fettercairn in recent years in a much more unambiguous way was a major decision they made in 1995 to switch from copper to stainless steel condensers. To understand the impact this can have on the spirit, it's important to understand the role that copper interaction plays in distillation. During the distillation process, the alcoholic vapors interact with the metals that comprise the still and the condenser, and these interactions can change the spirit in drastic ways. A recent scotchwhisky.com column on this subject explains:

> Think of copper as a ‘silent contributor’ to spirit quality; the availability of clean copper inside the still is vital to allow complex chemical reactions to take place, removing highly volatile sulphur compounds – chief among them dimethyl trisulphide or DMTS – and helping in the formation of esters, which tend to give the spirit a fruity character.

If you'd like to dig even deeper into this subject, in 2011 Barry Harrison and company wrote a nice paper in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing titled, "The Impact of Copper in Different Parts of Malt Whisky Pot Stills on New Make Spirit Composition and Aroma" that explores in great detail how increased copper interaction can mitigate sulfurous notes in whisky. In the conclusion, they state:

> The presence of copper in pot stills was confirmed as being important for the control of sulphury and meaty aromas in new make spirit, and DMTS levels showed a good correlation with these aromas. In these laboratory scale distillations, copper was found to reduce the level of this compound best when placed in the wash still condenser or spirit still pot.

If you're planning on hitting a lot of distilleries go to Speyside. That's the densest region. It's also easy to get to along main roads from Glasgow and Edinburgh. A good choice if time and money are concerns.

Islay, although difficult to get to, would be my personal recommendation. 8 distilleries and a 9nt just over on Jura. The Ileachs are a wonderful and welcoming people, the island is beautiful and offers both peated and un-peated styles.

When I was there I also felt there was a different attitude to whisky-making there. In Speyside I think it's all very tartan-biscuit tins and kilts, we make whisky because we're Scottish and we can. On Islay, although never said, it felt like the whisky-making was purer, more natural. It was a way of life, one that's been there and always will be. They do it because they do it. The whisky tradition on Islay is ancient. The oldest written record of "aqua vitae" in Scotland in 1494 comes from exchequer records in the region (I believe it was Islay but I'm not entirely certain). One of those well debated theories about the origins of whisky (and the one I personally believe) is that it first came to Scotland from Ireland. On a clear day, from the coast near Bushmills, County Antrim, you can see Islay. At the narrowest point Islay is only 27 miles from the North coast of Northern Ireland.
Islay is a wild, windy, wet and beautiful island.
Get this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peat-Smoke-Spirit-Portrait-Whiskies/dp/0747245789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383258949&sr=8-1&keywords=peat+smoke+and+spirit

Ahem. Excuse me. I like Islay a lot.

If I were planning a whisky tour I would do this (assuming you fly into Scotland or are heading up from somewhere else in the UK:

-Get to Edinburgh, either fly in or get there from Glasgow. Whatever. Have a night in Edinburgh, see a bit of the city (it's gorgeous), see the Royal Mile, see the castle. Visit the whisky shop.

-Head to Glenkinchie, first distillery and it's not far from Edinburgh.

-Go North, find Dalwhinnie and Blair Athol in the central Highlands. Boom. Two more down.

-Maybe head East and see Aberdeen? Everyone love Aberdeen because it sounds funny and there's a place called Battledykes near it. Aberdeen is grey and not very nice if it's rainy. Your choice.

-Head North into Speyside. Have fun here. Go to as many distilleries as you can/want. Visit Glenfiddich because it's mahoosive.

-Gradually make your way West through Speyside. Hit Inverness. It's not a particularly nice or nasty place but you'll have to make a choice here. Head North a little bit to see some more Speysides or head West to the Isle of Skye?

-Assuming you've had your fill of Speysides we'll head to Talisker on Skye. Don't be tempted to go down along Loch Ness after you leave Inverness (I know it's famous and all but the monster doesn't exist. That's just for the tourists. You're here for whisky. Sniff it out.

-I have never been to Skye but I believe it is a very beautiful island. Talisker is a very nice dram. Talisker's a big distillery, producing loads of single malt and loads of whisky for blending. Talisker's in just about everything. If a blend needs some OOMPH, it'll be Talisker they put in.

-Head away back to the mainland and South. If you really REALLY want to, you can head back East and go down Loch Ness. I would recommend following the coast road however, really beautiful.

-On your way down, hit up Ben Nevis distillery in Fort William. Have a wee look around town. Get something to eat maybe.

-Keep heading South until you get to Oban. Check out the distillery.

-This is when things get complicated. We need to get a ferry. Find the CalMac ferry terminal in Oban and book a ferry to Islay. One a week goes from Oban (Wednesday I think) so that may or may not help you. If not, they run daily from Kennacraig. Kennacraig is further South from Oban along the Mull of Kintyre.

-Get on a ferry. Enjoy a dram. You've earned it. You're going to Islay!

Once on Islay take your time and drink everything in (pun intended).

IMPORTANT: Bring a buddy and hire a car. One day you drink, he drives. Next, vice versa. On the days you're driving, you can still nose and taste a little bit of the whisky and be good to drive. You can also pick up some samples at the distilleries to drink in the evening. Or go to a pub. Whatever, just make sure you don't miss out. Also, try to work out who's driving on what days you be at your favourite distilleries etc. You don't want to fight. This is a pilgrimage, not a holiday. A spiritual endeavour. It should be treated as such.

tl;dr
Go to Islay.
Edit1: Formatting
Edit 2: Wow! Reddit gold! Thank you!

I decided to pick up a bottle last week because I was intrigued by the description in Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch. Something about honeyed raisins in the nose, and waves of beeswax and vanilla creme in the palate. The way it was described sounded a lot more intriguing to me than the Quinta Ruban and the Nectar d'Or.

After drinking exclusively Islays for the past month or so, I thought this would be a good venture. So I have spent the past four nights with:

Glenmorangie Lasanta - 46% ABV

Night #1
Goodness gracious this is awful. It tastes and smells like someone just dumped a handle of brandy into a jug of bourbon. I know that it is finished in Oloroso sherry casks, but this seems much more like brandy, and cheap brandy at that, like $6 per 750ml E&J brandy. There were promising hints of oak and fig newtons underneath.

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Night #2
I was saddened by the thought of having to finish an entire bottle of this. But I was pleasantly surprised! Upon the second pour, the sherry/brandy essence had retreated drastically! The oakiness and fig newton essence was more prominent, so I added a drop of water to try to bring it out. But it mainly just drowned the whisky, and everything was very mild and tame overall.

One discovery did bring me a moderate amount of joy: the glass smelled like a chocolate truffle once it was empty!

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Night #3
I was delighted to find that the Lasanta was opening up quite well in the bottle. This time, the sherry was just a dull murmur. I was picking up hints of a very rich bread pudding with raisins and toasted nuts...a chocolate chip scone...

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Night #4
I have a glass sitting out with a cap on it, and I am excited to nose it! Strange to say for a whisky I was dreading so much just a couple days ago. But here we go:

Nose: very strong caramelized pears, blonde brownie with salted carmel and raisins...

Palate: a caramelly gloss on the tip of the tongue, a gentle, sherry wash, mushy oranges, then a spicy pepper bite.

Finish: lingering desserts...bananas foster. something dry and bitter, rather like biting into an aspirin tablet.
again, the empty glass smells distinctly of a chocolate truffle, although that note is nowhere else to be found in the experience.

Overall: 79/100

It was intriguing to track how this whisky developed throughout the week. I would be interested to know how the last dram of the bottle stacks up to the first.

But overall I just don't feel like this expression is executed very well. It is not sweet enough to be a competitive after-dinner whisky. The sherry has no real companion in the mix, it just kind of sits awkwardly on top.

Glad you enjoyed it! It's by far one of my favorites, though the Black Art has beat all of my other Laddies into the ground. I need to do a full tasting of it to make sure, but the dram I had at the world whiskies event sent me into the happiest place a Scotch has sent me in a long, long time.

If anyone's interested in the labels (which I purchased for easy removal but secure adherence) you can find them here.

If your going this weekend it's of no help but from the research I've done most people seem to agree that stainless steel isn't bad just as long as you pour it into a glass before hand. Drinking from the flask leaves a metallic taste and smell because of your mouth actually touching the flask.

If you are drinking from the flask try a polycarbonate plastic flask like this one the whole bottle is plastic with some steel reenforcement at the top and bottom. Also titanium flasks are a good option except for the price.

So in one of those it should be fine for around a year or so.

I use Haley's 5-in-1 corkers once a bottle is opened, simply because it makes it easy to do neat pours and it seals nicely (sometimes better than the original cap/cork). For long-term storage (both wine and liquor), anything from Vacu Vin's Wine Saver line, really. I have this cheaper model and it works great.

I know this isn't what you're asking for, but I'm currently reading Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. So far, it is quite engaging and informative, but solely about the American bourbon history and industry. I currently have it via interlibrary loan, but plan to buy it for book shelving and reference at some point!

I'd actually like to find something like this book, but about Scotch Whisky if anyone has read this book and has a Whisky paralleled suggestion.

I've not read any of the suggestions by Ralfy (review ep. 6), as they're not available locally in my libraries, but I imagine they're good ones, and plan to check them out at some point in the future.

The World Atlas of Whisky by Dave Broom is my go-to gift book for a whisky lover. Beautiful photography and agreeable writing. I've bought it twice as a gift, each time very well-received.

There's nothing wrong with chilling your scotch in the fridge.

Some other options: distilled water ice spheres (I use this to make them) will water your scotch less than ice cubes due to physics I don't understand.

You can also chill the glass, like a frosted beer mug, but I would line the glass you are going to put in the freezer to make sure it doesn't pick up any film.

If you want to drink your scotch slightly chilled but not refridgerator temperature and that's worth shelling out for a wine cooler for you, more power to you, it's the best option, I think, for the effect you're looking for. But if the temperature out of the fridge is all right by you, you will not harm your bottle by refridgerating it.

I recently got this but I paid like $15 for it. It was recommended by Ralfy. I definitely wouldn't pay more than $15 for it. Maybe you can find it online. For free. If you look.

Man, I remember when Flairs first came out, they were being given away when I worked at McDonalds. One per customer, blue, sides were groved to make it easier to hold, we took a few home. What a wonderful invention they were back in the day! We hoarded them, making them last for years until they dried out.
Wow. Memories.

edit . and it's my birthday, so I've got that going for me. which is good.

Some other nice, maybe less known, books that would make good recommendations IMO would be the older Whisky Classified - while I don't necessarily agree with the classification, it's an interesting work/approach although with some flaws and not entirely comprehensive or up to date. I believe Malt Maniac wrote the following abougt it The value of this book lies in figuring out what's wrong.

Another interesting book is The Science and Commerce of Whisky, providing a good and somewhat more in-depth than the popular science approach explanation of aging and distilling.

Why not use reusable ice cubes/balls. I've seen them at walmart for like 2 bucks. are the stones that much better?

http://www.amazon.com/CoolBlues-Reusable-Cubes-your-Drinks/dp/B000PGOQNQ

http://www.amazon.com/Symak-Ice-Balls-12-reusable/dp/B001RYBLG0/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1291833752&sr=1-1



i prefer my whisky at room temp.

My wife bought me this one a while back. It seems to have gone up quite a bit in value, she bought it for $12. Front. Back. Maybe someone else has it for a better price.

I get a wee bit of unripened banana in Caol Ila 12, so it wasn't too surprising for me--just a bit sweeter.

INAO became my preferred whisky glass by default, though it turns out a few others use it as well. I think it noses/sips as well as the Glencairn and I prefer having a real stem. Also cheaper and more versatile.

• Info on the glass: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-inao-glasses.htm
  
• Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ravenscroft-Crystal-International-Tasting-Glass/dp/B00CISXFCC/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1451790248&sr=1-1&keywords=inao+glass

I've used these for wine and they were pretty decent. I don't know if it matters though. They're all basically the same.

Yep, I got mine on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y5XQ6SJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Amazon sells an acrylic flask that should work. I don't know anything about the quality of it though.

If you are bothered by it, you can buy a vacuum cork to pull the air out of an opened bottle. Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000GA3KCE/ref=pd_aw_sbs_k_1