M00RP

prE-pistles #1 - #8

Covering: 2000 - 2001

prE-pistle #1: Thanks Malt Madness!
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000

I always used to enjoy "strong" drinks - from classical vodka during meals in a pure russian style (I was born in Russia and lived there until I was 16, so I received my education) - to cognacs. I used to think that Johnnie Walker Black Label is the best there is to offer. Then I ran across a Scot that told me I was utterly misled, and that I should taste a single malt Scotch.

In the Middle East - the drinking culture is very low. The aborigen population is used to consume mostly 'arak' - a hardly tasteful experience, and the young age of the state and hot climate lessens the desire of alcohol consumption. So most people don't know both how and what to drink and often quite big guys are totally stoned after a litre of beer like Carlsberg. Unfortunately, here in Israel single malt Scotches, top Irish, Cognacs, Armagnacs and other superior quality strong drinks are taxed by the state on import by some 200-250%, and to this tax also a 17% VAT etc. are applied, so a bottle of Macallan 12 yrs costs in a store about $150. You can bring a bottle from a Duty Free without being taxed, though.

I went to WWW to seek about Single Malt resources and of course ran across your site immediately. I wrote down some top names from your bang for buck list and gave it to friends of mine that were planning to come to Israel. So, this February a friend of mine came from US and brought me the first bottle of Single Malt - it turned out to be Glenmorangie 10 yrs. This was a breakthrough. The difference was felt immediately. I understood, that now I am a single malt whisky person.

And then, another friend brought me a bottle of Lagavullin, 16 yrs.
That was a moment of truth. The drink is absolutely amazing!
Now I am waiting for Balvenie 12, Macallan 12, Talisker 10 and Highland Park 12 to arrive in the near 3 months. Johnny Walker Black Label is only being used in preparation of Rusty Nail cocktail and a bottle of Red Label I had doesn't deserve more than preparing some hot drinks based on whisky.

Roman

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prE-pistle #2: Malt Madness May 2000 Update
Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000

Thanks for the great update!
I've been brought recently Longmore 15 and Talisker 10. For the first one I've managed only a brief tasting and I found a bit of bitterness in the taste that I didn't quite like. I will have to get more profound tasting on it though. The second one is absolutely great. The main disappointment is that the size of the bottle is 0.7 and not 1.0 ! Talisker firmly occupies the 2nd place in my list after Lagavulin 16.

Recently I made another convert. A friend of mine stopped by and I offered him to have a drink. First, I gave him Balvenie 10, a lighter, sweeter malt. He liked it very much. Then I smirked and poured some Lagavulin to him. That really hit the spot! The guy wasn't a newbie in strong drinks, he has quite an experience with cognacs, but he was absolutely amazed by Laga. Tomorrow when I met him, he said that "the smoky one" is something unique he will have to get. :)

I am very interested in buying malts online, the only thing that bothers me is the Israeli custom tax, how much I can buy without being forced the 216% tax on it...

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prE-pistle #3: My First Official Report
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000

Hi!

I'm glad to join the Malt Madness Team, indeed as some "beginner taster"!
I wrote to you before that the first tasting and nosing of Longmorn 15 didn't impress me much. I took some time and made a more profound session with it. The nose was amazing. The spectre is just so wide, the intensity good. It's surely my second favorite nose after Lagavulin's peat. The taste has some oiliness and a tip of bitterness that put it below other single malts I tasted so far (Laga, Talisker 10, Balvenie 10 and Glenmorangie 10), but still very much enjoyable.

I very much hope I'm able to travel to Europe in the end of the summer.
If all is perfect I will do it as a business trip to Germany (Munich) which I will extend by a week or two for some traveling - which may just include the BeNeLux countries. If not then I'll go by myself and I am not decided yet where to go.

We're taking a break from whisky or anything stronger than white wine here in Israel.
It's +32C with 70% humidity in Tel Aviv and +35 in Jerusalem. It's going to be at least that bad for the next two weeks... And the a/c in my apartment broke down. Anyways, my supplies are not good currently as well since no one of my friends went abroad recently. Hopefully during August I will get some 3-5 more bottles and then my own trip... :)

Roman

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prE-pistle #4 - August 2000 Sessions
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000

Finally, I am glad to make another contribution to the Reports list. The malt knowledge is not widespread in Israel, and the tastings I arrange are often first time of Malt for my friends. So, on 3 August 2000 I had on the table:

Macallan 12
Longmorn 15
Cognac Remy Martin XO {quite a strong competitor}

Tasters - me and 2 friends of mine, one a huge cognac enthusiast, that hasn't tasted malts before, but also a big fan of Johnny Walker Blue, another one - recently quite successfully introduced by me to Malts. Also there were some women. But the strong aroma of the malts already scared them away from these bottles and they concentrated on a some very nice other drinks.

Resumes: Macallan 12yo - a very light malt. The aroma is also not so intensive, but sweet and nice. The bit of saltiness in the taste is surprising, but not unpleasant. My placement - behind Lagavulin, Talisker and Balvenie 10, above Glenmorangie 10 and Longmorn. The cognac fan wasn't impressed - "A very nice drink, but not profound enough". On the other hand the third guy, who favors the lighter side of the spectre put this one as his second top choice so far [and he tasted Glenmorangie, Balvenie and Lagavulin and his preference was in that order]. An average of this marks would give it a rating of 82-83.

Longmorn 15yo - overwhelming bouquet. When we tried this malt, one of the girls decided she wanted to try it. Well, she had to drink, squeezing her nostrils shut, the aroma was too strong, causing even some tears in her eyes. And, a couple of tips was sufficient for her - too strong a drink. Taste: overall very nice, complex, but has some bitterness which is not welcomed by me. The cognac fan, on the other hand, was very much impressed, the guy surely favors the intensity. The third guy didn't like it too much. An average rating of 75-76. For us, by the way, the nose is quite less important than the taste.

Remy Martin XO - oh, very very nice, but offtopic. Too bloody expensive, BTW.
Always glad to taste more and contribute some more,

Then, on August 8 I was brought a bottle of Bowmore 12yo . Very friendly price of 28$.
Beautiful bottle, although the design of Balvenie is a more convenient.
Smell: typical peaty, smoky for Islay. But not a very wide bouquet and a hint of not so nice medicine-like smell. Probably some unsolved alcohol. The smell ranks it 6th among my 7 tasted malts above Macallan. Still, I don't give much importance to smell, so I moved on to a very thorough tasting.
Taste: has some VERY disturbing salty medicine-like side. It breaks the peaty taste which would give otherwise a sense of VOLUME to the drink. I thought in the beginning that the glass wasn't clean, so I took another one, clean for sure, also washed it with mineral water and then poured the Bowmore for a re-tasting. Still, the medicine-like side remained. I finished the drink and I will finish the bottle, but I will think twice to buy another one.

We'll see how it improves with time as well.
Primary rating of 73.

Roman

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prE-pistle #5: A small tasting session
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2000

Recently we had a small tasting session with a friend of mine (the cognac adept one) with only Bowmore 12 vs. Glenlivet 12. The idea was to sample Bowmore again, after being such a failure before, and after it was allowed to breath for a few weeks, versus Glenlivet which is overall a nice but not an outstanding whisky.

Well, Bowmore 12yo only got worse. I have a friend that is a big fan of Bowmore anyways and I hope he'll agree to trade this bottle (which has about 0.75l left in it) for some other whisky. Salt and even a bit of mustard in the taste, too heavy. Rating goes down to 70.

Glenlivet 12yo - just very very nice. Contrasts of bitterness and sweet in both nose and taste. I feel I need to have more of it to give it a rating.

I have another remark on Glenfiddich. A friend of mine that heard a lot of good things on Single Malts [and of likes of Lagavulins, Macallans, and likewise] decided to go for a tasting. Unfortunately, he stumbled upon Glenfiddich, which is one of the widespread malts. He told me: "So, I tasted that very-much-talked-about single malt. Nothing special at all." I replied that he should visit Malt Madness and try the top scorers instead.... But some damage was done.

Roman

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prE-pistle #6: Old Endings & New Beginnings
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001

For the past few weeks, on a Russian movie channel which is broadcasted into Israel through cable TV a series of Sherlock Holmes movies (Russian made) was shown. The movies themselves are superb, of the best Soviet era movie production, with the actors very seeingly enjoying their parts in the movie. Vassily Livanov that acts as Holmes himself, is considered the best performer of Holmes in the world, even above British actors, and his picture is posted in the museum on Baker St. 221B in London.

And what a way to watch these wonderful movies (11 series total, one per evening) - with a pipesmoke and with a whisky glass. I had three bottles which had only about 150-200ml of the drink in it, and finished them during the series. So, the remarks are about the change the malts underwent towards the bottom of the bottle. All the malts have been opened at least half a year beforehand. No ratings were changed, since IMHO malts should not last that long in such state.

Laphroaig 10yo went down significantly, most of its spirit gone.
The iodine became more dominating and the malt much less pleasant.

Glenlivet 15yo was quite preserved. It became more sherried, but not too oppressive and definitely the description of a "well, stable" malt fits to it excellently.

Talisker 10yo was still absolutely magnificent, despite the time in the open bottle. After the series ended the bottle still contained a couple of drams, which accompanied me when I was watching another Russian movie, of the entirely different scope - Solaris, by Tarkovsky.

And then, my gf came back from her trip to Italy, and she brought me the "Italian" marked whisky - Macallan 7, which I am consuming right now. Great stuff, great value! Here comes the description: Relatively dark and a bit mirky.
Nose: quite a lot of peat, not Macallanish.
A bit of sweetness which is Macallanish. Minty, spicy.
Taste: sweet with a hint of salt of the regular Macallan in the beginning, then the young age hits in. Peat playing together with mints and chocolates. Excellent, no afterburn, very bold for the stated 40% alc.
We'll have to see how it lasts, but, for example, for guest reception, when the bottle might end in few evenings this must be always considered a choice. A definite winner. The price of $20 only and an excellent experience.
Preliminary rating of 85 - above Macallan 12

Roman

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prE-pistle #7: Tasting Session on February 15, 2001
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001

On the table:
Lagavulin 16
Glenlivet 15
Dalwhinnie 15
Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish
Highland Park 12
Glenfarclas 12
Laphroaig 10

Continuing the research on the malts I brought from Eastern Europe, I organized a tasting session with my friends in which took altogether five people - one of them relatively advanced malt consumer (for Israel, which means he did taste 5-7 malts before) [Alex 1], one a beginner [Alex 2] and two total newbies [Mike 1 and Mike 2].

Lagavulin 16yo was tasted by two newbies only - I've been regularly having my drams of it and two other guys already tasted it and wanted something new. Mike 1 nearly choked on it - he was unprepared and it was too intensive for him, but the other one was extremely impressed by both the smell and the taste of it. I must add to that my experiences from that bottle have been extremely pleasant ones. So the rating of 96 stands.

Glenlivet 15yo was tasted by me, Alex 1, Alex 2 and Mike 2. A very profound drink. First, the sharp malt reveals itself and then when the mouth gets adjusted to it, a lot of new flavors show up - just as I wrote before, orange candy in the beginning, then chocolate and mint with a hint of bitterness later. Tasting it without smoking a pipe didn't cause much afterburn. Rating - a strong 85 and I will be trying to dilute it next week.

Dalwhinnie 15yo was tasted by me, Alex 2 and Mike 1. A gentle malt. It fit nicely for Mike 1 that was hit by Lagavulin before. Smell - sweet and sour, very friendly. Freshness in the nose and in the taste. Fruits, not too complex. Unchallenging, I'd think it is 40%. Very convenient bottle. Rating of 74.

Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish - tasted by me, Alex 1 and Alex 2. The most complex malt of the listed, IMHO. The nose - elements of cognac, sweet and sour, but challenging. Pity, I tasted the GM10 about a year ago and can't really compare the experiences. There are similarities between it and the Glenlivet 15, but this one is sharper. Minty, aggressive, with a bit of mint. Rating of 84.

Highland Park 12yo - the malt of the evening (there was little left in the bottle, so everyone took a dram of it to finish it off). This malt had a lot of time to breath and I wasn't expecting too much to be kept from the smell. Yet what was left still was very remarkable. A peaty, smoky background and a sweet font. Taste - a wonderful balance of sweetness with a hint of salt. Alex 1 in the beginning was not impressed with it, but after going through about a half of a dram he changed his mind and even went for
an additional dram. Rating goes up to 87.

Glenfarclas 12yo - untouched. This bottle uses a metal cap and not a cork and it already reduces it attractiveness... I had two drams of it until now, not too impressive. Still a lot to explore, though.

Laphroaig 10yo - tasted by me, Alex 1 and Mike 2. Great stuff!
Mixture of everything from Islay and more. Peat, iodine, sweetness. In the taste it all mingles together into a pattern. Still, the iodine a bit too characteristic for me, a stronger one than in Lagavulin. Still, it is not the "medicine-like" Bowmore 12. A solid 85 from me, just as pleasant as Glenlivet 15, but for entirely different part of the spectre.

The summaries of the other tasters:

Alex 1: 1) Glenlivet 15, 2) Highland Park 12, 3) Glenmorangie PWF, 4) Laphroaig 10
Alex 2: 1) Glenmorangie PWF, 2) Glenlivet 15, 3) Highland Park 12, 4) Dalwhinnie 15
Mike 1: 1) Highland Park 12, 2) Dalwhinnie 15, 3) Lagavulin 16
Mike 2: 1) Laphroaig 10, 2) Lagavulin 16, 3) Highland Park 12, 4) Glenlivet 15

So, as you see, the opinions are very different.

Roman

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prE-pistle #8: Major Tasting with Louis - IMPRESSION
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001

Hey, guys!

Here comes the long-promised report on the wonderful and even more wonderful malts Louis introduced me to.
In the approximate order of appearance and with as much remembrance I still carry:

Bruichladdich 15yo:
Excellent starter, mellow, sweet, with hints of salt and smoke poking.
Never would think it's an Islay. Very good to get started.

Bruichladdich 21yo:
Emphasizes even more the better qualities of the 15 years old.
A very good companion to a supper! Extremely gentle.

Bruichladdich 11yo (Murray McDavid):
Again, the difference in the age is felt, this time to the opposite side.
This time, some mixture of "shy boldness" and regular mellowness appears, and this malt is least favorite of the three. But it was a good trampoline to the next group of malts.

Arran NAS:
Spicy, underdeveloped. Grass, pepper, less salt. Not too pleasant. Really, it was a trial malt rather than a known one to enjoy. Bitterness at the end doesn't add. But, again, a very interesting thing to try before.

Glenmorangie Cellar 13:
Again, spices, cloves, peppers, even a hint of coriander. Then goes sweeter. Something Arran guys have to learn from, looks like the same stuff, but properly arranged. But, they're also related in the bitterness in the finish...

Springbank 10yo:
All the previous malts forgotten immediately. Heavy sherry shows up immediately. Oily, sweet streaks. Very good, superb. Different from any other distillery I tasted so far.

Springbank 12yo CV:
An overall improvement over 10! Rich and seemingly neverending.
Candy playing together with sherry, not much saltiness.

Springbank 12yo 100 proof:
The hit of the night. The only malt of the twelve I asked for the second dram! Something like Magnetic Fields of Jean Michel Jarre, if music and taste can be compared. Again, sherry and sweet, with stronger proof only improving their combination. After this triplet, I must find a Springbank somewhere for a deeper exploration.

Longmorn 30yo 57%:
Very good continuation of Springbanks. Sherry, rich and slightly oily.
Sweet, just more salt, clearly distinguishing it from the Campbeltowns.
Diluted it a bit, and I must say, I liked 57% version more.

Ardbeg 17yo:
Ardbegs came after a well-deserved break. And, we started with the top player of these. Indeed, a malt with behaviour. Sweet and soft in the very beginning (suspicion - bruichladdich) and then the Islay's peat hits. No extra iodine as in Laphroaig and Bowmore, superbly balanced, even finish. Marvellous.

Ardbeg 8yo:
Hits like a hammer. Much bolder than Laphroaig 10. Salt, peat, hints of iodine, keeps your mouth busy for a long time. But, most of the strength, unlike in older brother, goes out in the beginning.

Ardbeg 27yo OMC:
Again, the old age development is in the predicted direction. Softer, still very islayish, but more salt and sweet than peat. Very enjoying, but makes me wonder if it's worth to hold Islays more than 20 years in the cask.

Magnificent tastings.
Thanks a lot Louis! I was rather drunk when I finally got to the place I was staying at, but managed to undress and get int bed without problems. :) Of course, it would be premature for me to give ratings to these malts, but in order of preference, I'd put them in the following order:

01) Springbank 12 100 proof
02) Ardbeg 17
03) Springbank 12 CV
04) Longmorn 30
05) Springbank 10
06) Ardbeg 27
07) Glenmorangie Cellar 13
08) Bruichladdich 21
09) Ardbeg 8
10) Bruichladdich 15
11) Bruichladdich 11
12) Arran NAS

Roman

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