Kavalan Solist Trio: PX, Sherry & Port

Hi everyone,

Haven’t actually put a lot of my Kavalan reviews up yet, although I do have a few that I’m sure I’ll get round to at some point. Probably.

I’ve never been (sorry) super impressed, as other seem to be, with Kavalan. I always found it was a little out of kilter despite having a lot of intensity and sweetness, it needs to be balanced. Then trying the very expensive Fino I was put off, as I found it super weird. Kavalan just wasn’t for me I thought.

This was confirmed recently when I very briefly (although didn’t review) the very expensive Amontillado Solist and again, wasn’t impressed.

This all changed in Frankfurt. When I had a chance to try the very expensive PX Solist.

Kavalan Solist (Premium) Pedro Ximenez 55.6%

Colour: Dark-af

Body: Full

Nose: Dense rich fruit, slightly meaty, plum, apricot, bortrytis wine (which is a lovely note to get), I’m thinking Sauternes in particular, meaty raisin. Not too complex but nice nose.

Taste: Dry start, rich and intense, then restrained sweetness, builds beautifully, loads of sweetness and fruity layers, complex, meaty raisin, plum, cherry. The restrained sweetness is key here to creating the balance.

Finish: Long length. Lovely, goes on and on, chewy fruit and berries with great spices.

2011-2016. My first Kavalan I've been really impressed with. Amazing when I first tasted it (I think I gave it 86ish), it then developed some heat with time. Which is a shame but maybe you could just drink it quick.

83/100

With a new found motivation to try more Kavalan I tried another of the Solist Sherry, which I’ve reviewed twice before but being all single casks can be very different from each other as this one shows…

 

Kavalan Solist Sherry 57.1%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Deep, dark, intense and rich. Praline and chocolate, more nutty than the other Sherry Solists I've had. Chestnut, wood polish, brandy.

Taste: Soft and intense, old wood, nutty Sherry, rich spices, saffron, chestnut, dried fig, dry oak.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dense raisin, dry oak, espresso.

2009-2017. A good cask this one. A little more interesting than the other ones I’ve tried that provide JUST Sherry at a massive strength.

79/100

 

And a bonus:

Kavalan Solist Port 58.6%

Colour: Amber, Purpleish

Body: Full

Nose: Intense and sweet, lots of red berries, blackberry, blueberry, a little earthy, stewed fruit, quite dry.

Taste: Intense and sweet of course, little red berries, sour blueberry, sour blackberry, oak but quite juicy, a little chalky, ginger spice. Quite sour but just about balances with the sweetness and spice.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Juicy, mouth watering, some tingling spice and oak.

2009-2017. I quite like this, but not as good as the Sherry which seems to work very well with the Kavalan profile.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Taiwanese Whisky Reviews #4-#6

Whisky Network Reviews #654-#656

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 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?

Blanton's Straight from the Barrel (no. 235) Review

Hi everyone,

Never tried Blanton’s before. Mainly because it’s generally more expensive and less available than other stuff in the UK, probably due to the little figurine atop each bottle. I was excited about this one in particular because it was up at that higher strength than can sometimes denote an older Bourbon and greater intensity, which is generally what I’m craving from my Bourbon.

Since then I’ve leant that it’s distilled at Buffalo Trace and has a pretty good reputation for quality across the whole range.

 

Blanton's Straight from the Barrel 66.65%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Intense, oak, nutty, caramel, damp rotting wood, which isn’t an off note but makes for a really interesting nose.

Water: Softer with more fruit, almond and marzipan, even some cherry.

Taste: Really intense caramel and oak then toffee and tingling spices, vanilla, quite bitter though.

Water: Softer with more balance now, lovely orange and it's more juicy.

Finish: Long length. This is where the magic happens. Chocolate, dense and rich, nice oak. Better with water again. Lovely finish.

A very impressive one for my first Blanton's, although not quite as good as the Elijah Craig Barrel Strength I’ve had recently, this is great quality. Especially in the finish here, this one really shines.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #54

Whisky Network Review #653

American Average: 69.3

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 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?

Maker's 46 Bourbon Review

Hi everyone,

More Bourbon now, and coming up. This time something from Maker’s Mark, of which I’ve only tried the basic expression (not that there’s loads of others to try).

The reason I wanted to try this one in particular is the peculiar finishing process. You may well have heard of Compass Box using Inner Staves to mature their original version of Spice Tree and it was banned by the Scotch Whisky Association. Well, Maker’s Mark aren’t under the SWA being in America and all, so they went right ahead and did it. I can’t really be bothered to look up who did it first (go ahead if you want to), but it seems like exactly the same idea. Getting good quality French oak, charring it and inserting a stave into the barrel.

 

Maker's 46 47%

Colour: Light Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Softer than the Baker's I had before this. Vanilla, cream soda, some oak, creamy, a little herbal, almosty leafy? Not getting any of the perfumed oak notes I’d expect from the French oak.

Taste: Soft, vanilla, cream soda, vanilla ice cream then building spice- white pepper and ginger, drying oak. A nice creamy one to start but the spice comes in, especially into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dry oak, white pepper, lacks balance here.

Didn’t get much of the French oak influence other than the spiciness you’d get from any virgin oak whisky really. It’s quite intense into the finish, knocking it out of balance really. But the strength is good and it’s a vast improvement on the original Makers.

71/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #53

Whisky Network Review #652

American Average: 69.2

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 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?

Baker's 7 Bourbon Review

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to try and make more of an effort to try American whiskies and one that I always wanted to try was Baker’s. Why? Because Horst Leuning of Whisky.com has always said that he prefers Scotch to Bourbon, much like myself, but said that one of his favourites in Baker’s.

So I thought it could be one of my favourites. Inter. Whisky in Frankfurt finally provided me the opportunity to try it because I’m cheap and have too much whisky for my tiny flat right now.

 

Baker's 7 53.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Funky and nutty. Slightly burnt chestnut, plum, a little peanut, herbal oak and charcoal.

Taste: Intense, spicy, dry oak, very dry then plum then more oaky again, nutty charcoal, a big grip on the palate from the tannins.

Finish: Medium length. Tingling, white pepper and ginger. Quite dry and tannic.

From Jim Beam distillery. Quite like the style of this one, fruity, nutty and tannic. Definitely up there with Bourbon’s I enjoy but probably wouldn’t go as far as to buy a bottle.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #52

Whisky Network Review #651

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 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?

Ardmore 20 (2017) Review

Hi everyone,

There aren’t that many official Ardmore bottlings really. Traditional was discontinued, replaced with Legacy. And there’s the 12yo Portwood. But no others come to mind.

And then this one came out of nowhere, at a sensible strength and an even more sensible price! I was shocked. So shocked I almost bought one. Especially as Ardmore has become a distillery on my watchlist and that this would have been produced on their direct fired stills as it’s pre-2001.

Anyway, finding myself at Inter. Whisky Frankfurt with a tonne of awesome whiskies ahead, I tried this first thing.

 

Ardmore 20 (2017) 49.3%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Sooty and smoky, oily, Campbeltown-esque, some seaweed, lemon and white grapefruit citrus, waxy vanilla. Soft minerality and some funk after time.

Taste: Sweet start, orange peel, then intense citrus and smoke combo, white grapefruit again, gingerbread and ginger biscuit.

Finish: Long length. More of that white grapefruit and ginger beer.

Matured in Bourbon barrels and Laphroaig quarter casks. A little spicy mid-palate but the white grapefruit is unique, not sure I’ve tasted that in a whisky before. Very nice stuff and a great price for a 20yo, only £60 in some places.

81/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #555

Whisky Network Review #650

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 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?

Ardbeg 1993 Cadenhead's Sample Review

Hi everyone,

One last whisky from the Whiskybase Gathering in Rotterdam. This isn’t the last of the recent whiskyporn I managed to taste last year, but I am rapidly running out of it.

1993 is the year I was born, and one serious Ardbeg collector/fan said to me once that 1993 was the last great Ardbeg vintage. After that the character changed too much and became ‘modern’ Ardbeg. I would disagree with that but I’m not really qualified, not having tasted loads of 90’s Ardbegs. Although, we don’t see many 94’s or 95’s so the next Ardbeg vintage is really 96 by which time yes, the character might have changed.

Anyway, this is a Cadenhead’s sample bottled specially for ‘BRAM.’ What is BRAM? I have no idea but would love to hear any guesses. Mine would be: Belgians Reducing Ardbeg Malt.
EDIT: Of course, I have been reminded that I tasted this at the Whiskynerds stand and BRAM is Bram van Glabbeek.

 

Ardbeg 1993 Cadenhead's Specially Bottled for BRAM 52.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Cigarette ash on a grapefruit, lime, sooty smoke, salty, smoked fish, spearmint, peppermint, black liquorice, burnt tobacco. The bright citrus and mint work really well with the smoky notes.

Taste: Intense, smoky, salty, some smoked fish, very intensely mineral, wet slate and sea soaked rocks, beach bonfire, burning twigs and leaves, oily into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Suddenly very oily, fish oil, engine fumes and peaty malt.

23 years old from a Hogshead. Great old Ardbeg. Very oily and maritime. Not up there with that stunning 1991 from MoM or the recent 1972 I tasted but fantastic whisky all the same. Cadenhead’s do release these every now and then (normally one every two years), at amazing prices compared to what we see from everyone else.

87/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #554

Whisky Network Review #649

Network Average: 74.7

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?

Brora 30 (2004 Release) Review

Hi everyone,

Almost 700 whiskies separate 92 and 93. And yet, only 10 whiskies later, I found my second 93 scorer.

Not satisfied with the 1972 Ardbeg I just reviewed (yes, it was very nice but not in the 92/3 region), there was only one option left open to me. 1972 Brora. That legendary vintage from that legendary distillery. I had thought I saw earlier the 2002 release of Brora 30yo, which would mean 1972 or earlier. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it again until after it was too late. As the replacement I saw the 2004 release and pounced.

 

Brora 30 2004 Release 56.6%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Manure. Cow shit, barnyard, soiled hay. All that definitely evokes memories, particularly of walking in the countryside around my home town of Haslemere. Behind that there's crystallised fruit, sugared, waxy and complex. Earthy and nice old school oak. Peach stones. Even some overt peat in there, grapefruit, buttery.

Water: More yellow fruit, yellow apple, less barnyard, more earthy and oily. Can I jump into the glass?! INCREDIBLE.Some tropical fruit after a bit.

Taste: Oily and soft arrival, crystallised fruit, orange, lemon citrus, lovely sharp citrus then becoming darker and more earthy. Cocoa, dark chocolate, white pepper and refill oak.

Water: Soft, dry oak, oily, quite intense then with spice and smoke, soot, orange and lemon, really long development. Then fucking incredible into the finish, just a perfect transition of flavour.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Earthy, cocoa powder, mouth watering, dry oak. With water it's a bit longer with more smoke. Proper smoky and peaty. Striking stuff.

This obliterates the '72 Ardbeg before it, with water anyway. This took water really well and although I'm bummed I didn't get the 2002 release this was great to try. I hesitated about giving this 93, but after some thought I decided that this was a step up from the 92’s, while maybe not quite as amazing as the 1973 Mortlach. I messed around with some options: giving the Mortlach 94 and this 93, or this 92 and the Mortlach 93. Or even both 92. But this makes the most sense to me. Another level on everything else I’ve tried. Truly.

93/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #553

Whisky Network Reviews #648

Network Average: 74.7

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?