2021

Rey Campero Espadin Mezcal

/ / Other Spirits, Review /

Rey Campero Espadin Mezcal

48.3% ABV
$50
Website
Rey Campero Espadin Mezcal

What the Distillery Says

NOTE: Content is in Spanish, below is using Google Translate; apologies for any errors!
The size of the maguey espadín is 1.5 m wide and 1 m high on average. It is the most used in Oaxaca for the production of mezcal. It is the maguey with the greatest geographic presence in Mexico, whose morphological plasticity led to the description of more than 20 species. The maturation time varies between 7 and 10 years.

What Gary Says

DISCLAIMER: I’m a whisk(e)y enthusiast, and not familiar with Mezcal (so read at your own risk!)
Nose:  Roasted corn, vegetal, smokey botanicals and herbs, notes of cut hay, tropical fruitiness, olives, and lemongrass.
Palate:  Roasted corn with dried ‘not ripe yet’ orange, kiwi and mango, bit of green tobacco.
Finish:  Short to moderate in length, drying with smoke and tobacco.
Comments:  This was the first of three samples in a Flaviar Mezcal tasting box (which I sampled/reviewed side by side), and my first studied tasting of Mezcal. As I’m most familiar with whisk(e)y, I naturally find similarities there – with this reminding me a bit of a white dog; young, corny, but smokey and less sweet. I preferred this after a bit of water was added, which thickened the mouthfeel and sweetened it up more. Given my inexperience in this category, I’m not comfortable assigning any different rating for these three. I enjoyed it, but couldn’t assess if it was a good, average, great example of the category – so will leave it as Stands Out. If anyone finds I’m short-changing any, that’s the reason why.

Rating: Stands Out

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Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey

/ / Other Whisk(e)ys, Review /

Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey

50% ABV
$55-$60
Website
Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey

What the Producer Says

Uncle Nearest 1856 is a blend of premium aged whiskies between 8 and 14 years old. It has a caramel color with a beautiful deep golden hue. On the nose, baled hay and pumpkin seeds with subtle notes of ripe stone fruit and caramel corn. Bold and spicy upfront then mellows with sweet caramel and maple, like biting into an oatmeal raisin cookie. The finish is long and rich. It lingers pleasantly sweet on the palate with notes of vanilla after the spice dissipates.

APPEARANCE: Light caramel, straw/hay, beautiful deep golden hue
NOSE: Bale of hay, dried grass, stone fruit notes of ripe peach and apricot, caramel corn and sweet maple.
PALATE: Spicy caramel up front with the proof, hints of maple then mellows with dried fruit and floral notes. Sweetness and spice reminiscent of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies.
FINISH: Long and rich finish, lingers pleasantly sweet on the palate, notes of vanilla.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Sweet vanilla wafers, light caramel, oak, vitamins, subtle spice notes and maple candies.
Palate:  Caramel corn, vanilla, honey, bit of pepper, with a nutty minerality, nutmeg, subtle oak with a hint of clove.
Finish:  Short to moderate in length, drying with honey, oak and pepper.
Comments:  An enjoyable pour, where the Dickel house style notes are present throughout. The corn notes left the impression that this was younger than it is. Water isn’t needed, but a bit does tamp the pepper spice (which wasn’t a lot to start with) and brighten, bringing notes of fruit to the nose.

Rating: Stands Out

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Compass Box Myths & Legends III

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky / ,

Compass Box Myths & Legends III
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

46% ABV
$150
Website
Compass Box Myths and Legends III

What the Blender Says

Scotch whisky has a rich array of stories, myths and legends.

However, what start as myths can become received wisdom, influencing our understanding and restricting our enjoyment. We have deployed blending to challenge assumptions, biases and prejudices concerning Scotch in this limited edition series we call Myths & Legends.

For Myths & Legends III we have taken some of the same parcels of malt whisky used in Myths & Legends II and added peated malt whiskies from a pair of celebrated island distilleries.

Some would object to our actions on principle. Famous single malts are always too precious for blending, they say; the sanctity of the category seems to take precedence over quality.

However, thanks to our parcels of well-regarded malt whiskies, the tropical fruit and butterscotch notes of Myths & Legends II are now further enriched by a deep and enchantingly aromatic smoke profile.

Never blend the famous names? The breadth of generous and complex flavours found in Myths & Legends III dismantles such superstitious thinking.

FLAVOUR PROFILE: Papaya, mango and butterscotch meld with aromatic and assertive peatiness.

SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS: Enjoy neat, late at night, and in the heaviest glass you can find.

Not Chill-Filtered, Light 5 Micron Filtration | Natural Colour | Lead Whiskymakers: Jill Boyd and James Saxon | A limited edition of 4,564 bottles | July 2019

What Gary Says

Nose:  Freshly shoveled earth and peat, caramel, faint fruit notes.
Palate:  Thick and creamy mouthfeel, rich fruit with butterscotch, peat and smoke.
Finish:  Long, drying with peat and fruit.
Comments:  I do love peat, so if someone said “What if we take some Myths & Legends II and add some peat and smoke?”, I would not have batted an eye, nor discouraged it.  For this, they took the components for Myths & Legends II and added some 23 yr old Highland Park, as well as some 15 yr Caol Ila to the Glen Elgin party (with the additions amounting to just 15%).  I like both of those distilleries, so would further have been on board. I think this is a fine example of where “less is more”.  Wish I had tried this one first so I wouldn’t have Myths & Legends II to compare against, as I think I likely would find this a perfectly delicious pour.  The nose is a lot more peaty than the palate, and some water brings out more notes of kiwi and mango on the nose. But if someone offered me my choice from the series, I’d go with II without much of a thought.

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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Compass Box Myths & Legends II

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky, Speyside / ,

Compass Box Myths & Legends II
Single Malt Scotch Whisky

46% ABV
$150
Website
Compass Box Myths and Legends II

What the Blender Says

Scotch whisky has a rich array of stories, myths and legends.

However, what start as myths can become received wisdom, influencing our understanding and restricting our enjoyment. We have deployed blending to challenge assumptions, biases and prejudices concerning Scotch in this limited edition series we call Myths & Legends.

Myths & Legends II blends together malt whiskies of different ages from a single Speyside distillery. We wish to show how process matters more than provenance when it comes to the flavours of single malts. In addition to the aromas of tropical fruits and butterscotch you will also discover subtle savoury notes and spiciness.

The distinctive profile has nothing to do with “Speyside”; process decisions made at the distillery, the effects of maturation, and our own choices regarding the balance of the final blend determine the whisky’s quality and character. Clues to a whisky’s flavour lie in the glass and not the distillery’s region.

FLAVOUR PROFILE: Expressive tropical fruitiness combines with silky butterscotch and sweet spices.

SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS: Serve neat to appreciate the spicy and waxy character. Alternatively, pour over a large cube or ball of ice to accentuate the deliciously rounded mouthfeel and tease out notes of pineapple.

Not Chill-Filtered, Light 5 Micron Filtration | Natural Colour | Lead Whiskymakers: Jill Boyd and James Saxon | A limited edition of 4,446 bottles | July 2019

What Gary Says

Nose:  Tropical fruit salad with coconut, peaches and mangos; toffee, subtle oak, heather and floral notes.
Palate:  Thick and creamy mouthfeel, rich fruit notes of peaches and pears, spices, butterscotch, light caramel, toffee, nutmeg, a faint hint of clove.
Finish:  Long with a bit of pepper amongst fruit notes.
Comments:  Wow – Myths & Legends stepping up with the second installment!  A lovely, rich dram.  Another distillery which I’m unfamiliar with – this time Glen Elgin, consisting of casks from 16 to 23 years old.  I need to find some independent bottlings (which isn’t to detract from the blending skills involved in creating this gem).  This is both elegant and robust at the same time – an absolutely lovely whisky.  Raising the bar as I look to the conclusion (although to be clear – nothing says you have to try them in succession).

Rating: Must Try/Must Buy

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Compass Box Myths & Legends I

/ / Highland, Review, Scottish Whisky / ,

Compass Box Myths & Legends I
Single Malt Scotch Whisky

46% ABV
$150
Website
Compass Box Myths and Legends I

What the Blender Says

Scotch whisky has a rich array of stories, myths and legends.

However, what start as myths can become received wisdom, influencing our understanding and restricting our enjoyment. We have deployed blending to challenge assumptions, biases and prejudices concerning Scotch in this limited edition series we call Myths & Legends.

It may surprise some, but blending is as crucial to the creation of single malts as it is to blended whisky. Myths & Legends I highlights the extent to which individual casks are often unreliable authorities for the style of whisky made at a distillery; it is by blending casks together that a fuller picture of distillery character can emerge.

Two parcels of malt whisky from the same Northern Highland distillery tasted markedly different: the younger parcel was malty and citrusy, the older one much creamier with a ripe fruit character. Two distinct personalities but from the one distillery.

By combining these two parcels we have created a whisky full of fragrance with a more rounded complexity, one that provides a richer understanding of what this distillery can produce.

FLAVOUR PROFILE: A malty and creamy character develops into notes of ripe orchard fruits and delicate oak.

SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS: This whisky is delicious neat, as an aperitif. Adding a splash of water will reveal more of its bright and delicate character.

Not Chill-Filtered, Light 5 Micron Filtration | Natural Colour | Lead Whiskymakers: Jill Boyd and James Saxon | A limited edition of 4,394 bottles | July 2019

What Gary Says

Nose:  Fruit notes of pears, peaches, fresh apples, floral notes of honeysuckle with a hint of lavender.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel with pears, nutmeg, malt, peaches in cream, kiwi.
Finish:  Long and gentle with dried fruit and nutmeg.
Comments:  A delightful dram – fruity, nuanced, gentle.  I’m not sure if I’d had anything from Balblair distillery before (from where this came, with one parcel aged for 15-16 years in recharred American oak and the second aged for 22 years in first fill bourbon barrels).  But this would certainly leave me willing to try it blind.  The first of three in the Myths & Legends series is starting off strong!

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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