Location: Total Wine and More, Houston, TX

Date: June 2020

Price: $24.99

Recipe: According to packet... whiskey, vermouth, caramel color

Garnish: I added 2 Luxardo Maraschino cherries

Served: Rocks

Comments:Way over priced even for 100 ml.... but it was much better than I expected for a recipe that included "caramel color"

What is this about? Check out  http://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/749-the-manhattan-project-ii

I always find myself so drawn to rum influenced whisky that there is a part of me that thinks maybe I should just drink rum? Anyway this no age statement variation on the theme is bottled at 40% ABV and pretty good value at under $40 in bottle (in Texas anyway). The nose is sweet and fruity with perhaps the tell-tale Glenlivet pineapple notes lurking in the background. The taste starts sweet as well with toffee and brown sugars and I found quite oily. I don’t get fresh fruits but more candy fruit flavors, like Starburst or boiled sweets. The finish balances out the sweetness with bitter citrus oil and peel, essential oils and woody tannins. A little water turns the oily mouthfeel into something more creamy and brings out some banana notes. Really good value.

This 48.5% ABV bottling comes from batch No. 1 (of 1260 bottles) and is labelled as bourbon, sherry and port cask matured. This was my first Kilchoman purchase in a long time but I am a bit of a sucker for Port influenced whiskies and I am really glad I found this one. The nose is classic Islay with salt, seaweed and smoke in abundance. Maritime whisky notes dominate with some iodine and seaweed at low tide. The taste starts sweet with dried fruits, marzipan, barley sugar and then some salty notes add balance. A Christmas cake left on the beach. The finish manages to be both spicy and sweet and even minty and dries out leaving smoke. With water gets a little creamier and sweeter and some black pepper appears in the finish. There is a lot going on here and the three casks all show their influence on the finished product.

This was my 8^th Virtual Distillery Tour (VDT#8) and I have visited this distillery in person as well. As I said at the time “no-one is coming here because of their love of the Glenturret single malts. This is the home of a whisky themed tourist attraction, The Famous Grouse Experience, based on the fact that Glenturret is one of the malts used in that blended scotch. It also claims to be the oldest distillery in Scotland but that honor is claimed by several others.”  

I had a great visit in person and their virtual tour (as you might expect for a site that has such a major brand associated with it) is excellent. The same 3-D self guided technology that others like Talisker used but with embedded links to mini videos on Youtube that allow you see how the whisky making process actually works. For me this created overall the closest experience to an actual distillery tour that I found during the COVID-19 2020 “lockdown” and while Glenturret probably won’t make anyone’s favorite single malt whisky list anytime soon this tour is definitely worth checking out…. https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=bZMbquUCthj&play=1

What is this:  https://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/894-distillery-tours-from-my-couch-1

I have a thing for rum cask finished whisky. A big thing. I also like Irish whiskey. A lot. So when I saw this in Total Wines and More in Houston I really had no choice but to buy this 43% abv, No Age Statement expression. The nose has pineapple, sweet baked fruits and lemon. Reminded me of a can of 1980’s soft drink Lilt (which as every kid in the UK at that time knew had a “totally tropical taste”).   More fruits in the taste, boiled sweets (this really took me back to the 80s) and a creamy malty note as well. Imagine someone has put orange squash in your Ovaltine. The finish has some pepper and cinnamon to bring balance to all the creamy sweetness. With water it brings out some brown sugar and caramel notes but gets a little thin and looses creamy mouthfeel. You can probably tell I liked it. A lot.

This was selected and bottled for Total Wine and More from Barrel #7471 and is bottled at 57.5% ABV. The nose is robust and spicy, very oaky and of course, at 115 proof, lots of alcohol. The taste is oily and rich, more oak and spice, chocolate, caramel, bitter fruits and strong black tea. A bit like chewing on freshly polished oak furniture (in a good way). The finish is very drying with mint and peppery. With water sweeter, more mint and caramel notes and spicier finish. I don’t usually like these higher proof whiskies neat but this is very drinkable neat and still good with water. I have a possum that regularly eats chunks of my garden fence…. I think he would like this one too.

Made at an old Dairy farm in Vermont this is a 50% abv (100 proof) 10 year old blend of straight rye whiskies. The nose has fresh mint, herbs and woody notes. The taste is very smooth and sweet, caramel, chocolate orange and banana. The finish has more mint, menthol, bitter citrus peel and spicy rye notes. Overall it is delicious, smooth, sweet and spicy.

This 30% abv offering is described as a blend of whiskey and coffee and that is exactly what it tastes like too. Perhaps the best breakfast whiskey I have ever tried. The nose is all coffee, not hot and freshly made, but rather like a cup of cold coffee left out overnight with a hint of vanilla. The taste starts with more coffee with a hint of whiskey. A creamy mouthfeel then notes of dark chocolate and Irish Cream liqueur. The finish is where more whiskey flavour comes to fore with a prickle of oak, chilli spice and some tannins.  Interesting and at some point on an upcoming fishing trip I might be glad to have a bottle of this.

This was my 7^th virtual distillery tour (VDT#7) and the most sophisticated and detailed to date.   I had to download an app from Apple store to check this out and in fact the app offers 4 virtual tours; Hard Hat, Distillery Tour, Barrel Tour and Time Machine. The tour(s) include full production and distillation process breakdown as well as access to distillery grounds and lots of information on the different whiskies produced at the distillery (which you get by clicking on the bottles you find as you explore the site). Plenty of site history and other details provided along the way as well.

While it is a computer generated 3D animation of the distillery and grounds that you are exploring (think of an interactive computer game but with booze to collect rather than goblins to kill), I can say having been to Buffalo Trace it is indeed a very reminiscent of the real thing and gives you a true sense of the place. While other virtual tours have taken a little as 3 or 4 minutes to complete, there is enough content here to spend at least 1 or 2 hours exploring the site.

Grab your anorak, pick up your note book and get your “whiskey geek” on. This has been the closest thing so far to an actual tour. Very cool and I would love to see others do something like this.

https://buffalotracedistillery.com/virtualtour/

What is this:  https://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/894-distillery-tours-from-my-couch-1

This was my sixth Virtual Distillery Tour (VDT#6) and although I have been to Islay I did not tour Laphroaig. The technology used is similar to that of Sipsmith. It is a 4:20 Youtube video with the 360 degree scrolling feature and a running commentary. Very easy to navigate and focussed on the unique things about Laphroaig, like Islay’s remoteness, the heavy use of local peat and floor maltings and its famous (infamous) flavour profile rather than the distillery itself. There was of course mention of the water source in those hushed tones that made you feel you were expected to know about it already, so just like a real Scottish distillery tour but without a happy cow joke. In fact the 4 minute plus video only had a few seconds of footage actually in the distillery. More screen time was given to peat bogs, bubbling burns, dark warehouses and of course the photogenic Islay coastline.

Really well done (as you might expect, always expect some good marketing at Laphroaig) but more of a promotional video with some scrolling features than a distillery tour. See for yourself at https://www.laphroaig.com/en/islay/distillery-tour

What is this:  https://www.somanywhiskies.com/item/894-distillery-tours-from-my-couch-1