Pappy van Winkle 15, Family Reserve Rye 13 & Sazerac 18 Bot.2000 [Road to #1000, Reviews #985-#987]

Hi everyone,

Today I have more generosity from the guys at JVS and ImpEx, this time some American whiskies.

Near the start of my whisky journey, I was given 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die and I’ve been desperately trying to complete it. One of the more difficult ones to get a hold of was the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye and when I mentioned it to Chris Uhde, he said that he had a bottle open.

Anyway, many thanks go to him for the last two as he also let me taste some of his Sazerac 18 collection (he seemed to have them all!) but I only made notes on the oldest, bottled back in the year 2000.

Just to complete my line up of notes on the Pappy range (still haven’t had the 12), I also tasted the 15 at the Whisky Exchange Show this year.

Pappy van Winkle 15 53.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Great nose. Fruity, red apple and orange, a slightly woody smoke, quite fresh though actually, brandy soaked raisins, buttery with popcorn coming out. Chocolate orange and cherry.

Taste: Dry and fruity, raisin and red apple, orange, a flat-ish spice note of ginger and pepper, quite flat in the mid-palate.

Finish: Long length. Dry wood, light tingling spice.

Love the nose, taste lets it down more and more. I’d heard that this was some people’s favourite from the Winkle line up but I prefer the 20.

75/100

 

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 47.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Nicely leathery, coffee and chocolate in addition to the usual caramel, toffee and vanilla that I find in American whiskies.

Taste: Quite dry, nice leather and chocolate but flatter in other parts. Not much spice for a rye either.

Finish: Medium length. Not too spicy but not too impressive here IMO.

Lovely nose on this but again it gets quite flat and there’s plenty of average notes in here too. Still, it’s nice but you wouldn’t catch me paying $2000 for a bottle.

78/100

Sazerac 18 1981, Bottled 2000 45%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Complex and great richness, real sense of the grains, the rye is very clear but there’s a more earthy malt note here too which is as fascinating as it is delicious. Great nose.

Taste: So soft and supple. There’s something really restrained about this that I love, it isn’t super in your face but enough power and interesting spices to carry it through.

Finish: Medium length. Again soft but rich oak, complex with a darker chocolateyness. Not over oaked at all.

One of my favourite American whiskies I’ve had the pleasure to try and definitely the best rye I’ve tried.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

American Reviews #64-#66

Whisky Network Reviews #985-#987

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ledaig 13 Amontillado Review

Hi everyone,

This is a whisky I’ve been desperately trying to get my paws on for a while for obvious reasons. Unfortunately it didn’t cross my path until it has almost disappeared. This was the last whisky I had at Limburg thanks to a very heavy night the night before…

Official Ledaig. Cask strength. Interesting cask. Good price. What’s not to like friends?

 

Ledaig 13 Amontillado 59.2%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Interesting and funky, honey, sexy cigarette smoke, smoked cheese, something meaty like glazed ham or pastrami, lightly sulphury. And a very odd but not in any way unpleasant note of pumpkin soup.

Water: More cigarette, opens up, exotic spices, saffron.

Taste: Powerful and full, mineral smoke, smashed rocks, honey glazed ham, oily mouthfeel, some oak and black pepper.

Water: Much softer and more balanced arrival, more spices, much more salt, saffron.

Finish: Long length. Powerful smoke, more smashed rocks, very mineral. Great finish.

A good one from the officials but glad I didn't buy a bottle as I was very tempted to do. The funk is here in full force and we wouldn’t want it any other way! Although the pumpkin soup on the nose is interesting and cool, it doesn’t quite jive with the other notes there though. The palate is delicious but I do wish there was a touch more complexity. In any case, still great stuff.

81/100

Distillery: Tobermory

Average Score: 80.3

Distillery Ranking: 8th/ 65 places

Up/Down: 9>8 (Up 1)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #648

Whisky Network Review #773

Network Average: 75.0

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Royal Brackla 1997 NC2 Review (plus blind review video)

Image courtesy of Master of Malt

Hi everyone,

Blind tasting is a really funny thing. Expensive whiskies that normally get huge praise get thrown aside as harsh, and cheap stuff that is usually crapped on is held in high regard. Equally I’m discovering another facet to it. Whiskies can taste very different from what you remember of them.

This one I remembered being nothing special. An under-matured, spirity whiskies without the character to back it up. Was I wrong about that? Blind review me seems to think so. He found it quite nice. Nice enough to think it was an 18yo Glentauchers at 48.8%. Which I had given a higher score to.

So here’s blind review me doing a review, and my non-blind notes:

Royal Brackla 1997 NC² (Duncan Taylor) 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Very clean. Ethanol, light pear, light green apple, very light vanilla, lemon juice. On the blind review I was getting much more maltiness.

Taste: Light, crisp and fresh. Green apple, pear, lemon, lemon juice, some vanilla and caramel developing with a little spice. Smooth and light.

Finish: Medium length. Peppery then soft oak. Again, on the blind review I got a nicer finish with a very good transition of flavours.

NC² bottling from Duncan Taylor, 13 year old. This seems to have improved with oxygen and has definitely made me reconsider Royal Brackla.

69/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #578

Whisky Network Review #683

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ma2 Elements of Islay Review (Peated Bunna)

Hi everyone,

More whisky today, again from Elements of Islay. Who have been building a solid reputation for good casks.

The mysterious codes are always fun to try and work out too. From the obvious Lp to the more difficult ones like this. Ma stands for Margadale, which is not a distillery but a style of whisky from a distillery. It also happens to be the name of the river that Bunnahabhain uses for it’s water source.

 

Ma² Elements of Islay 55.2%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Subdued Bunna peat, some tropical fruit, lots of banana, greenish oak, wet leaves, sea salt, samphire.

Taste: Soft arrival then big, really intense, very peaty, mineral, salty, medicinal, cough sweets, some orange, very oily and quite spicy with white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Mineral notes stay, with some white pepper tingling.

A 13yo peated Bunnahabhain. For some reason me and Bunnahabhain don’t seem to get along too well. This is very good whisky, but I’d be expecting more from a heavily peated Islay malt at this age. It’s that spiciness that’s holding it back, just a little harsh.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #542

Whisky Network Review #637

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Teeling Trio: Small Batch, 2004 Single Cask & 13 Revival Reviews

Hi everyone,

Because I’m awesome and have the most epic job in the world I get to work at whisky festivals. It’s a relatively new thing, but I’m loving it because it doesn’t feel like work.

So this Saturday I was in the Netherlands for ‘Whisky in Leiden.’ A great event on all fronts, hosted in a huge church with a bunch of amazing whiskies. I was with Bresser & Timmer on their stand and on the stand with me was Speciality Drinks and Teeling as well as a few other whiskies.

Knowing that I’ve only tried 8 Irish whiskies and 400 or so Scottish, I felt like I should make an effort with Teeling. Many thanks go to Shane, the awesome guy presenting the whiskies for Teeling.

 

Teeling Small Batch Blended Whisky 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Sugar cane, white rum, clean column still spirit, toffee apple.

Taste: Light, white rum really comes through, green apple, lemon, spice building.

Finish: Medium length. Some alcohol and lemon.

Finished in Rum casks. A fun twist on tradition.

66/100

Teeling 2004 Single Sherry Cask 57.1%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Intensely fresh! Tonnes and tonnes of green apple, fresh lemon and some lime, melon too.

Water: Some underipe orange.

Taste: Soft arrival, really fresh and lively, green apple, acidic citrus, lemon juice, spicy malt, sour underipe citrus, dry oak.

Water: Softens but doesn’t change it much.

Finish: Long length. Wow! Really steps it up with the first bite of an acidic green apple, lovely sour finish.

Single malt from a Sherry cask but not a trace of Sherry that I can detect.

78/100

 

Teeling Revival 13 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Loads of pear drops, very fresh, fruity and sweet, green apple but also those smaller yellow ones.

Taste: Soft pear, then those yellow and green apples come through, some dry oak builds too.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Spice kick then more dry oak.

Finished in apple and pear Calvados casks for 1 year.

73/100

Thanks for reading!

Irish Whiskey Reviews #9-#11

Whisky Network Reviews #367-#369

Network Average: 74.4

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?