A Word or Two About Velvet Bricks

[Richnimrod]

11 hours ago, Flyfish said:

Everybody recognizes the notes you recognize so there is no extra credit for recognizing them. A "real" taster remembers The Princess and the Pea and therefore knows that it is essential to notice something so subtle that nobody else can detect it or argue with it. (De gustibus non disputantum est.)  Like sandalwood soap. Come to think of it, in my Longbranch I detect a hint of fresh green pea, grown in East Texas within 75 yards of the Big Thicket, picked in the third week of April, and shipped to market in a flex-fuel truck but slightly bruised when the box was unloaded.

My hat is off to you, Flyfish!         You are truly one of those discerning folx to which I referred in my previous post.    Rave on my friend... I think you may just be getting started...?!  

[Old Hippie]

Spoiler

I like this topic. I have been on the supply or distribution side of the adult beverage business for about 28 years. I cut my teeth on the wine side. When wine hit its super-premium growth spurt the writers did the same thing and writing descriptors became a wordsmith contest. Consequently too many people liked what they thought they were supposed to like rather than what they actually liked. I got frustrated and shifted to the spirits industry. 

We are now in that same place. Where I will get vanilla, a writer will get Madagascar vanilla from a south facing slope - ridiculous!

Now when I conduct tastings I seldom tell folks what I am getting from the spirit. I tell them some common things to look for and that it is an individual thing as to what you smell/taste. 

B-F put Woodford through a mass spectrometer and it identified 212 different flavors. None of us get them all and all of us get something different.

My advice to people is drink what you like and like what you drink. Do not get caught up in chasing unicorns unless that is your particular thing. I tell them what you would pay for a PVW 23 I could fill up a shopping cart with good whiskies.

Spoiler

 

 

 

[FasterHorses]

someone has got to be just pulling our chain or lives in a completely different universe than me....got this from high west this morning. I mean what has happened in this world? 

 

BLEND DETAILS

A blend of single malt whiskeys aged 2 to 9 years distilled by High West

CLASS & TYPE

Whiskey 

SENSORY NOTES

NOSE: Roasted macadamia nuts, dried cherry, bananas Foster, toasted coconut, chocolate chip ice cream, raisin bread, softwood smoke in a sooty chimney, sea spray

TASTE: Smoked pear, honey over baked apples, lemon rind, cherry Toblerone, dark chocolate milkshake topped with whipped cream, toffee nuts, toasted puffed rice, sea salt, and buttered skillet brioche rolls

FINISH: Honeycomb, charred marshmallow, cocoa nibs, earthy spice from a forest floor

 

[J Laphroaig]

I’ve always thought Dave Broom’s notes (of World Atlas of Whiskey) read like that. They would be two sentences and contain several things I had never even heard of.  One of them said “church pews”, at which point I realized he was just trying to be as esoteric as possible and not actually write anything useful for consumers.  I have no idea what a church pew smells like, but even if I bothered to smell one, it probably smells different from his (if he has even smelled one):  I don’t think church pews are crafted to a standard smell...

[The Black Tot]

Holy crap they make cherry Toblerone?!?!

[FasterHorses]

5 hours ago, The Black Tot said:

Holy crap they make cherry Toblerone?!?!

Yeah, wheres this guy live?

[Richnimrod]

"...earthy spice from a forest floor."   HUH?     Exactly which 'spice' comes from a forest floor?   (Though, I imagine any that do would likely be 'earthy'.) 

 

Sometimes I wonder if these folx just grab adjectives out of thin air and mix 'em around, then spew 'em out in random fashion to impress us all with their ability to find stuff in their whiskey that nobody else does.   

Or maybe it's just me that doesn't find all this stuph in my whiskey.   That's entirely possible.   I have what I would describe as an 'iron palate' most days.   So, there's that.

[CUfan99]

4 hours ago, Richnimrod said:

"...earthy spice from a forest floor."   HUH?     Exactly which 'spice' comes from a forest floor?   (Though, I imagine any that do would likely be 'earthy'.) 

 

Sometimes I wonder if these folx just grab adjectives out of thin air and mix 'em around, then spew 'em out in random fashion to impress us all with their ability to find stuff in their whiskey that nobody else does.   

Or maybe it's just me that doesn't find all this stuph in my whiskey.   That's entirely possible.   I have what I would describe as an 'iron palate' most days.   So, there's that.

Ginseng maybe. But I doubt the reviewer had that in mind. And just saying ginseng isn’t good poetry like “earthy blah blah....”