blend Archives - Page 3 of 3

Whisky #147: Suntory Hibiki 12 Year Old Blended Japanese Whisky

July 11, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Suntory Hibiki 12 Year Old Blended Japanese Whisky. Osaka, Japan. ABV: 43.00%. Tasted at Old Faithful Bar & BBQ, $15.

Colour: Honied gold.

Nose: Not an overly powerful nose, perhaps unsurprising for a 12 year old blend. Subtle oak, honey & vanilla.

Palate: Smooth entry, mild flavour intensity. Subtle oak & sweetness again.

Finish: Short-medium.

Comments: It’s quite mild, a little too mild for my liking. It’s very drinkable, but just doesn’t have the depth or flavour complexity that I really like in a whisky. I prefer the Hibiki 17 year old which has more going for it flavour-wise, but even that’s a little too smooth and thin for me. If you’re after a good Japanese blend, I would recommend you try the Nikka From the Barrel instead, top drop.

Whisky #135 – Nikka Togouchi 18 Year Old Japanese Blend

July 1, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Nikka Togouchi 18 Year Old Japanese Blend. ABV: 43%. Tasted at Canton Lounge, $0 (courtesy of bar manager Steve).

Colour: Deep straw.

Nose: Sweet hay & soft vanilla.

Palate: Not much spice, just heat. Oaky vanilla. Steve behind the bar gets some bacon flavours, although concedes this may be due to having eaten bacon earlier. I reckon it is quite chewy and a little salty, so it does strangely enough have some of those qualities. So maybe a little more like biltong than bacon. Meeeeeeat.

Finish: Subtle vanilla notes quickly fade, leaving the warmth lingering throughout the mouth for a while.

Comments: Surprising complexity & flavour intensity for a blend. I’m definitely finding a preference for Japanese blends over other more traditional (e.g. Scottish) blends.

Whisky #126 – Nikka From the Barrel Blended Japanese Whisky

June 27, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Nikka From the Barrel Blended Japanese Whisky. Hokkaido, Japan. ABV: 51.40%. Tasted at The Royal, $13.

Colour: Brassy gold.

Nose: Sweet toasty aromas, like a piece of hot buttered toast smothered with honey. A hint of liquorice maybe?

Palate: Soft buttery entry, quickly gives way as the big spice & warmth fill the mouth. A touch of sweet, spicy vanilla develops.

Finish: The heat fills your mouth. And keeps coming. Eventually it slowly fades leaving some of those sweet vanilla notes on your tongue. A real slow burner.

Comments: I wouldn’t have picked this for a blend, it’s got lots more flavour complexity and warmth than most other blends I’ve tried. Cracking value for money, only $13 for the glass or around $70 to grab a bottle in a bottle shop.

I’m happy to say this is the pick of the blends I’ve tried so far this year, maybe because for me it has characteristics more akin to a single malt than a blend. Recommended.

Whisky #124 – Chivas Regal Royal Salute 21 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky

June 26, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Chivas Regal Royal Salute 21 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky. Speyside, Highlands, Scotland. ABV: 40.0%. Tasted at Andaluz, $23.

Colour: Bright orangey gold.

Nose: Hay, grassy notes. Maybe a bit like sniffing a fresh lemon.

Palate: Smooth cool entry, with a few short sweet honey notes. Dry mouthfeel.

Finish: Shortish finish, lemony grassy flavours. Like chewing a piece of grass you’ve picked up as you’re walking through a paddock. Not that wandering through a grassy paddock is the type of setting where you’d normally be enjoying a wee dram, but chewing a piece of grass leaves a similar taste in the mouth. Dry finish.

Comments: Meh. A touch overrated for mine, I don’t see what the fuss is about with the Royal Salute (granted, I haven’t tasted the other Royal Salute age expressions). Not enough character for my liking. Better value elsewhere.

Whisky #97 – Johnnie Walker Green Label Pure Malt Scotch Whisky

June 15, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Johnnie Walker Green Label Pure Malt Scotch Whisky. Kilmarnock, Scotland. ABV: 43.00%. Tasted at Canton Lounge, $17.

Colour: Golden amber.

Nose: Mandarin peel (definitely not Cantonese peel).

Palate: Soft peaty & briny flavours. Plenty of spice and some dried fruit flavours; very smooth.

Finish: Gentle spice and a bit of pepper lingers at the front of the tongue. Quite dry and clean, a medium to long finish.

Comments: A lot more character than other Johnnie Walkers, the Green Label is certainly the best offering from the vast Johnnie Walker stable that I’ve tried. Perhaps because I normally gravitate to single malts, particularly the fuller flavoured ones with lots of flavour complexity and spices, so your typical Johnnie Walker blend just doesn’t really do it for me.

I had heard that the Johnnie Green was once known as a “vatted malt”, but that this term has now been replaced by the more correct “blended malt”. This is supposed to differentiate this type of whisky as being a blend of single malt whiskies, rather than a blend containing inferior and cheaper grain malts.

The Johnnie Walker Green Label has been discontinued, which explains why some bottles has been fetching some surprising prices online. In my opinion it’s a shame it is no longer made, it never pretended to be a world-beating whisky but it’s probably the most under-rated Johnnie Walker offering around. If you can get your hands on a bottle, it will be good for drinking, but dare I say in time it might make a good investment as the last supplies dry up.

Whisky #96 – Nikka Pure Malt White Blended Japanese Whisky

June 15, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Nikka Pure Malt White Blended Japanese Whisky. Hokkaido, Japan. ABV: 43%. Tasted at home, $0 courtesy of my mate Damien. Offered as payment for staying at my place when over visiting from Sydney. Whisky is a much preferred currency for any transaction, certainly more useful than Bitcoins.

Colour: Deep oaky, orange colour.

Nose: Very peaty for a Japanese whisky, lots of smoked woody notes too.

Palate: Velvety. Also very oaky, it’s a bit like licking a cane reed (saxophone players will understand the taste here).

Finish: Medium length & heat.

Comments: It’s quite ok, but nothing too flash. Nikka also have the Pure Malt Red and Pure Malt Black in their blended malt range, each in a different style of whisky. Thankfully not a salute to Johnnie Walker Red and Black, but rather the Red apparently is more fruity and spicy, whereas the Black is mellow yet complex. I will have to try these others to judge for myself if I stumble across them, although on the strength of the Nikka Pure Malt White’s tasting I won’t be going too far out of my way to hunt down some Pure Malt Red or Black.

Whisky #86 – Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky

June 7, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky. Ontario, Canada. ABV: 40.00%. Venn Bar, $11.

Colour: Like a shiny penny.

Nose: Pine forest.

Palate: Soft entry; quite a “wet” initial sensation (sounds strange as it’s obviously wet, but it’s the best way I could describe the mouthfeel). Initial sweetness fades and then you get into some more toasty grain flavours.

Finish: Oily, then this seems to give way to a drying heat sensation more towards the front of the tongue. Quite a strong rye aftertaste; some aniseed flavours too.

Comments: Much more full flavoured than I was expecting from a blend. I guess you can’t tar all blends with the same brush!

Whiskies #80-81 – Wemyss Malts: The Hive 12 Year Old Blended Malt & The Spice King 12 Year Old Blended Malt

June 5, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Wemyss Malts: The Hive 12 Year Old Blended Malt (ABV: 40.00%), Speyside, Scotland; & The Spice King 12 Year Old Blended Malt (ABV: 40.00%), Highlands, Scotland. Tasted at Whisky Live 2014.

Well I’ve made my way to the Wemyss blended whiskies now from Highlands and Speyside. I have to say after having the peaty whiskies from Isle of Jura, my palate is absolutely shot.

The Heemes, – sorry I mean the Wemyss (I can’t even speak properly now!) – The Wemyss ‘The Hive’ which is their Speyside blend – it’s called The Hive because it’s got honey-like tastes to it. Nup – I couldn’t tell it. Either I’ve had too many whiskies today, or my palate is goooooone after all the peat.

Similarly for ‘The Spice King’ which is the Highlands blend – it’s just not happening for me. The nose, the palate, everything is just gone – the palate…yeah nup. Nothing left in the tank folks, over and out.

I guess it just goes to show that if you’re heading to a whisky tasting event, you really need to plan out your whisky tasting strategy for the day. I think I did reasonably well on that front, with the Wemyss blends the only whiskies I would have preferred to have had at an earlier stage.

Whisky #49: J&B Rare Blended Scotch Whisky

March 9, 2014 by Whisky a Day 2 Comments

J&B Rare Blended Scotch Whisky. Scotland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at Best Brew bar, Four Points Sheraton Hotel. $9.

Colour: Insipid cat’s piss.

Nose: It doesn’t smell much better than the colour suggests…

Palate: Tastes surprisingly better than it looks and smells. Soft spice, toasty oak flavours with a hint of peat.

Finish: Pretty short, nothing much doing here.

Comments: I was expecting this to be a candidate for the “Truly Awful” whisky category. Early indications weren’t promising, but it ended up surpassing my low expectations given the price point. Not by a vast amount however.

Whisky #43: Bushmills Black Bush Blended Irish Whiskey

March 5, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Bushmills Black Bush Blended Irish Whiskey. County Antrim, Ireland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at Durty Nelly’s, $10

Colour: Rich Amber. The madam of the knock shop.

Nose: Oaky sweetness, smells a bit like a sherry matured drop.

Palate: Soft entry, minimal heat.

Finish: Short finish, quite dry.

Comments: As a blend, it’s obviously quite smooth. But with some time in the glass it seems to develop slightly fuller flavours, all the better for it. I hadn’t come across a sherry-matured blend before, but I would definitely give it another burl ahead of other blends, quite decent.

Whisky #42: Suntory Hibiki 17 Year Old Blended Japanese Whisky

March 4, 2014 by Whisky a Day 2 Comments

Suntory Hibiki 17 Year Old Blended Japanese Whisky. Osaka, Japan. ABV: 43.00%. Tasted at Laneway Lounge, $20.

Colour: Pale gold. Shit this is getting hard to come up with new ways to describe shades of straw/gold/amber!

Nose: Hmmm, found it a little hard to describe the nose on this one. Ended up trying to come up with witty descriptions with my mate Tim who joined me on this tasting; we got sidetracked and finished a rather enjoyable dram without a) making suitable notes on the aromas, or b) coming up with anything suitably comical to make the cut onto this post.

Palate: Taste has a hint of dried apricots. And a hint of a taste of whisky.

Finish: Oily finish on the tongue, bit of heat.

Comments: Apparently there’s over 30 different single malts from Suntory’s three distilleries that went into this one. Not sure how you’d add 30 components of any drink or food and expect them to all have a significant influence on the final flavour. A nice drop, but a little bit one dimensional for my tastes.

Whisky #14: Johnnie Walker Platinum Label Blended Scotch Whisky

February 19, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Johnnie Walker Platinum Label Blended Scotch Whisky. Fife, Scotland. ABV: 40.00%. Tasted at The Grosvenor Hotel, $18.

Colour: Deep gold

Nose: Slightly peaty, tobacco notes. Like a cigar, reminded me of a familiar scent, what might it be? Is my nose getting more attuned to different scents? No. Only then did I realise there was a guy two tables away smoking a Montecristo No.3. Clearly I am an idiot. I moved inside away from the cigar, though I still stand by the original slight peaty/tobacco scents. Of the whisky.

Palate: Slightly sweet to start, quickly moves to more spicy flavours. Could have done with a drop or two of water perhaps?

Finish: Definitely not as smooth as others I’ve tried thus far, warms the mouth, has a spicy then smoky aftertaste. A little harsh.

Comments: Not a huge fan, it’s ok but lacks a bit of complexity and smoothness. Had higher expectations, overpriced for what it is in my opinion. Had to try a Johnnie Walker at some stage, thought I’d give the Platinum a go & leave the Blue for another day.

Whisky #11: Dewar’s Signature Blended Scotch Whisky

February 19, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Dewar’s Signature Blended Scotch Whisky. Scotland. ABV: 43.00%. Tasted at Malt Supper Club, no idea how much it cost me.

Colour: Hard to tell. Tough to make out in a dark bar.

Nose: I literally have no record of this. Distracted by a cute girl who wanted to dance with me and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Who am I to refuse such an offer?

Palate: Soft creamy buttery notes.

Finish: Salty initially, but sweet aftertaste.

Comments: My first blend of the project. Pity I wasn’t more sober to appreciate it. At around 11:30pm I dutifully attempted to conduct my daily whisky tasting, sending myself to a quiet(ish) corner of the bar and tried to do the tasting. Tried to fob off the cute girl who wanted to dance with “Sorry honey, I’ve got a very important whisky tasting to do. It really is DRAM critical.” She didn’t get the whisky pun & wouldn’t leave me alone, she just kept standing there insisting we dance and waiting for me to finish my whisky before dragging me out to the dance floor.

All I can say is that in the name of the project I tried, I really really tried, to do a proper tasting of this one but circumstances conspired against me. The tasting of Whisky #12 was conducted a matter of hours later in the same bar at 2:30am (well it was a new day after all), with similarly lacklustre attempts (or capability) of tasting!