What Wee Dram are you enjoying now?

Picked up a Longrow Red (11 yrs) which is finished in Cabernet hogsheads for the last 4 years.

It's unique and somewhat challenging. Very sweet, and the wine flavors show through prominently. Loads of peat, too. If you don't like finishes on your Scotch, you'll hate this - because the wine finish is very prominent. And it's different than Sherry or Port (or other fortified wines), this is just sweet red wine, grapes and tannins with a huge peat/smoke finish. Really rich and flavorful - but I could totally see how some folks would absolutely hate it. I don't!

Shared the Glendronach 15yo and the Glemorangie Nectar D'or with a couple of friends during the game last night. The Glendronach was still the better of the two for me. It was my first taste of the Glenmorangie. Wasn't quite what I was expecting. Not that I am quite sure what I was expecting! A little sweeter and more distinctive perhaps.

Will have to revisit when I haven't been drinking beer and eating chili for much of the evening beforehand.

Feeling like a little Irish after dinner, tonight. And, needed to kill a bottle. Tyrconnell Single Malt it is! Ouch, there was more left in that bottle than I thought. No matter. It'll just take me a little longer to work through this pour, delicious as it is.

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Originally Posted by timd

Picked up a Longrow Red (11 yrs) which is finished in Cabernet hogsheads for the last 4 years.

It's unique and somewhat challenging. Very sweet, and the wine flavors show through prominently. Loads of peat, too. If you don't like finishes on your Scotch, you'll hate this - because the wine finish is very prominent. And it's different than Sherry or Port (or other fortified wines), this is just sweet red wine, grapes and tannins with a huge peat/smoke finish. Really rich and flavorful - but I could totally see how some folks would absolutely hate it. I don't!

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It's taking me some time to come around to non-fortified wine finishes. I haven't had the new Longrow Red, but I'm working on a bottle of the 7yo finished in Gaja Barola casks and the 14yo finished in Burgundy. They're both growing on me, but at this point my main feeling is that the finishing is dirtying the malt rather than enhancing it. There's a hay meets manure quality that seems to be produced when Longrow meets wine that I'm not entirely comfortable with. (Actually, I get it in the 12yo Springbank Claret finish too, but not as pronounced.) I love the 11yo Longrow aged in sherry barrels, however.

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Originally Posted by AaronWF

"my main feeling is that the finishing is dirtying the malt rather than enhancing it."

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I personally love my Longrow 7 finished in those Gaja Barolo casks, but had a tough time figuring it out. It is a confusing combination, a tart red grape snap combined with the peaty edge that hints at oily, smoked meats. Makes me want to reach for some fennel salami. Weird combinations in this, but then again I love to salt my oranges. I found the finish to be especially weird, like I drank Chinon all night long, and then decided to finish it off with some Laph10 CS.

I do really agree with you on this one though. Why take a gem like the standard Longrow and muddy the waters with finishing? The Cab finish longrow had a real dirty note for me on the finish, and not in a good way, like a clod of dirt in the throat rough. The Longrow-Tokaji finish is disgusting, and the claret cask finish was actually a bit boring for a Springbank IIRC, which was surprising as I'm generally a big fan. I do love the Pedro ximenez and oloroso finish springbanks though, especially at 14 years and CS.

Glenfiddich 15 to wind up a long day. I should reach for this more often. It is really quite good.

The McGibbon's Provenance (Autumn Distilation) bottling of a Special Selection of Single Malt Scotch Whisky distilled at Brachla Distillery, Speyside. Distilled-1994-Autumn, Bottled-2000-Summer - over 5 years. No coloring, not chill filtered. 59.3% alc/vol.

I wanted to try this because the distillery is geographically the closest to the fabled and closed Brora distillery, (and I got it for ¥3180 for 700ml -$35 for a cask strength :cool:.) In a clear bottle, super pale color, possibly the palest whisky I've ever seen. Bad first moments when the cap broke away from the cork, got worse when my cork screw merely tore a hole out of the middle of the cork. Cursing, I did my best to dig out the cork that stuck to the sides with a pen knife. The cursing must have helped because only a few chunks fell into the juice. Strained most of them out with my first pour through a coffee filter. The nose is what you might expect from a 5 y.o. cask strength, hot/cold rubbing alcohol but permeated with wisps of dry hay, ... and I don't know - blue sky, ... something clean. Texture is rich, mouth coating, semi-oily, but drying quickly. Taste, ...barley sugar, honey, hint blueberry, green tea, cacao?. Long finish, ... very long finish. Interesting that it doesn't demand a big cut of water, ... so a few drops, ...

Man, this is a good one, but tricky: Seems to go down smoothly, especially for something so young, but twice now I've caught myself coughing like a young cowboy after his first taste of saloon firewater.

All the cork is out now.

I want to try some more young single malts.

I've had some young single malts that I enjoyed very much. Can't recall enough details to be specific, but I'd like to try more of them. They have a different character from the aged product of course but the basic elements are there. I mean, if the whisky has a floral, heather taste that will be present irrespective of age.

Old Pulteney 21 last night as a welcome change,loads of citrus and vanilla with a nice length on the finish.This is a dram that is generally outside of my normal profile but proved to be most enjoyable.

Release the PEAT!!! Talisker 10, Longrow 10, Ardbeg Day