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My Handcrafted Opinions on Whiskies, Distilleries and Other Related Stuff

Most Recent Whisky

Most Recent Whisky Review

Woodford Reserve Distillers Select Straight Rye

This bottle was labelled #3031 from Batch 0887 and bottled at 45.2% ABV.  The nose was very nice, herbal tea with mint and sweet vanilla notes.  The mouthfeel is fresh, light and oily, bittersweet on palate with more vanilla, candy, black coffee and dark chocolate.  The finish has peppermint, wood and grassy rye notes.  With water it gets sweeter, even honeyed, while heat builds in the finish with chilli spiced dark chocolate.  Overall very delicious; a light and subtle of straight rye.

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    Sunday, 05 April 2020 17:32

    The Manhattan Project II - Update

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    The Manhattan Project II - Update

    My original idea for this blog project was to try 101 Manhattans (any similarity to 101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die is purely coincidental) from the various hotels, bars and restaurants around the world that my work took me too. The basic idea was that #101 would be the Manhattan finest I could make after all that research. Confined to home in April 2020 I thought I would make Experiment #50 my “best so far” and I have to say it was very good. The recipe I used was as follows:

    As I can’t seem to decide if I prefer Rye or Bourbon I went with Wild Turley Forgiven (which is a Bourbon / Rye blend), 1.5 oz and has enough alcohol at 45% ABV to push through the sweetness. Next were a couple of classic of ingredients, 1 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth and a good dash of Angostura bitters. The now not-so-secret ingredient, courtesy of Mike Raymond at Reserve 101, is Luxardo Cherry liqueur (1 oz) which adds the classic cherry note and that lets me experiment with the garnish. I went with bitter note from a strip of lemon peel (that I scorched with cigar lighter to release the oils – a trick I saw at the Oak Room in Buenos Aires) to bring balance to the sweet liqueur. Shaken together and served on the rocks it was pretty good even if I say so myself.

    Manhattan 101 is going to be even better…

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

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    Random Whisky

    The London Distillery Company English Rye

    Full disclosure…. I am a shareholder in this craft distillery so expect bias and favoritism throughout this review. I recently visited the distillery and was lucky enough to try three samples. A single malt, a 100% rye and this 1 year old, cask strength 80% rye / 20% barley mash that had been matured in a virgin British oak cask. All three were interesting and indicate some good products to come but this is the one I requested a sample of to take home and write some more detailed notes about.

    The nose is jammy and sweet with marmalade and baked fruits and oak. I wrote “lemon marmalade smeared on newly sanded oak door” in my notes. Perhaps the cask strength was getting to me? The taste has lots of chocolate and toffee notes, sharp citrus, sweet cola and lots of black fruits and tannins in the finish. A strong cup of blackberry tea? With a good bit of water added I get some peppermint on the palate as well. Some really interesting aspects to this one (which is why I picked it) but still not quite integrated and balanced enough (yet).