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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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June 16, 2020 |
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Are cross-language alliterations allowed in headlines, in contemporary Web culture? They were all the rage around the year 2000… I do hope that you will forgive me in any case. So, Edradour, let’s get ready and, as we like to do from time to time, try them randomly… |
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Edradour 11 yo 2004/2016 (59.2%, OB for Taiwan, Warrior Series, 1st fill oloroso, cask #416) 
Or was that 416 bottles? Colour: deep amber. Nose: a large pack of Mars bars and other delicacies, Twix and stuff. Just not Oreo, most luckily. A drop of soy sauce, perhaps Marmite, certainly some heavy stout. I used to drink Mackeson while in Scotland, but that was around 1980 ;-). I’ve learned since back then that it wasn’t even Scottish. No, not very proud. With water: it’s some pure chicken soup, and rather some good one. There’s even a little parsley and chervil. Mouth (neat): heavy Cointreau-like orange stuff, chocolate, more stout, malt extract… With water: good sweet malt liqueurs, what we call ‘amer bière’, so bitters I suppose, chestnut purée (sherried Edradour/Ballechin and chestnuts are often to be found together)… Finish: rather long, more chocolaty again. Comments: excellent, you just got to enjoy chocolate. I do.
SGP:562 - 86 points. |
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Edradour 2002/2006 ‘Tokaji’ (52.6%, OB) 
Ha, this one’s got its own reputation. It was fully matured in old Tokaji casks, but then again, it’s only four years old. In a way, you could say that it was only finished and never quite matured, a concept that we’re seeing with many newish NAS these days. Which, naturally, doesn’t imply that the juices would be bad, not a all. It’s just that they’re rather ‘flavoured’ than ‘matured’. Oh well… Colour: deep amber. Nose: exhausts, gunpowder, cooked cabbage, rubber bands. Well, no raisins, no furmint… With water: hard-boiled eggs and black truffles. And gas. Some nice raisins too, luckily, reminds me of those state-made eszencias in the old days. Mouth (neat): really a curiosity. Heavy raisins this time, heavy gunpowder too. With water: looks like the raisins are now having the upper hand, which wasn’t the case at all when we first tried this funny baby a long time ago (and never wrote any notes). But the rubber still resists. Finish: rather long, with something grilled. Comments: it’s extremely hard to score this. Sure it's one of those FIAT Multiplas of whisky, but they do have their convinced aficionados.
SGP:571 - 78 points. |
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Edradour 16 yo 2000/2016 (57.9%, OB, Tiger's Finest Selection, sherry, cask #3146, 663 bottles)
I believe this one was for Taiwan too. This is Campbell/Pernod distillate, so careful… Colour: dark amber with red hues. So, garnet. Nose: five days old peonies in a large vase, hoisin sauce (thank you, friend!), blackberry jelly, tons of tamarind jam, bitter oranges, marrow, cooked ham… This is unusual indeed. Could be great, could be a wreck on the palate, we’ll see. With water: oak shavings and that’s pretty it. Water didn’t really work here, I’m afraid. Mouth (neat): heavy sherry, ginger, chocolate sauce, pepper, Nescafé… It’s all a little extreme, shall we say. With water: so funny, and unusual. Never seen before. Sucking toasted oak chip and cocoa pods (which, in theory, no one does). Perhaps roasted pecans? Finish: medium, very toasted, very roasted, and otherwise all on crude chocolate. Comments: an oddity, perhaps from space. Not sure anyone could categorise this bone-dry sherried whisky. Yeah well, it’s a bone-dry sherried whisky.
SGP:261 - 79 points. |
Ouch, it seems that we haven’t got any new ones in the boxes. But we’ve got quite a back-catalogue, so let’s go on… |
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Edradour 2005/2016 (62.8%, OB, First fill oloroso sherry butt, cask #100, 643 bottles) 
I believe this one too was bottled for Asia. Our friends like their sherry monsters, and I would say they’re very right. Colour: red dark amber. Nose: I think we’ll accelerate a wee bit. Chocolate, toasted oak, grilled malt, chocolate. With water: nice! Menthol cigarette smoke, thuja wood, a pack of thin mints (remember After Eights?) and always a lot of chocolate. Mouth (neat): good, spicier than the others, with a lot of caraway on top of the chocolate and walnuts. Bitter oranges and pepper too. With water: curry, chocolate, aniseed, caraway, juniper, oak, touch of ginger. Finish: long, peppery, a tad drying, going towards Van Houten’s driest cocoa powder and some smoke. Childhood memories here at WF Towers. Marmalade in the aftertaste, as in 75% of all sherry monsters. Comments: these heavy sherries are hit or miss; I’d say this one worked just fine.
SGP:462 - 84 points. |
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Edradour 2004/2016 (57.6%, OB, Tiger's Tasting Club, oloroso sherry, cask #426, 674 bottles) 
A tiger, that’s Asia again. Cheers friends. Let’s keep accelerating… Colour: dark red amber. Nose: oak and chocolate, plus the tiniest soapy tone ever. With water: and walnut stain, new Tesla, and just, well, batteries. Mouth (neat): extremely close to the 2005 that we just had, just spicier and woodier. Not quite oak juice, but… With water: ah good, really good. Chocolate, pepper and ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, malt, shoe polish… Remains big even at +/-20% vol. Joking now. Finish: rather long, with good ginger, caramel ramen, chocolate and Jaffa cakes. Utterly love Jaffa cakes, I would happily kill any neo-liberal Anglo-Saxon UV-sensible ass-mouthed golfing orange ugliness for a pack of Jaffa cakes. Hey, just a figure of speech! (oh boy this will cost you!) Comments: a bit heavy.
SGP:472 - 82 points. |
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Edradour 2005/2016 (59.1%, OB, for the Drunken Master Bar and Fortune, 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Sherry Cask, cask #90, 678 bottles)
This lovely bottle from when they would have disguised just any young Scotch as if it had been old Yamazaki or Karuizawa. Good times. Colour: mahogany. Nose: rosewood, chocolate, tamarind, touch of new plastic. With water: toasted oak and roasted nuts. Pecans and peanuts. Some raisinless sherry again. Mouth (neat): oh good. Old armagnac and BTAC bourbon. Say G.T.S. Not the first time a sherried Scotch reminds us of some pretty oak-infused bourbons. With water: very good, very very good. Pink pepper and capsicum in the background. Finish: rather long, all on chocolate (again) and ginger and bitter oranges. Heavy cinnamon in the aftertaste, very drying. Calls for proper Alsatian riesling ;-). Comments: very good, I think. Bourbony sherry, a slightly M.C. Escher-esque feeling. See what I mean?
SGP:362 - 85 points. |
It's getting tougher but we can cope. How about a little lightness? |
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Edradour 9 yo 2006/2015 (46%, OB, Highland Heritage, LMDW exclusive, oloroso sherry casks)
There’s been a Barolo version that was a little tough. I think the Scots should leave nebbiolo alone. And pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, and mourvèdre, malbec, carmenere, grenache, cinsault, touriga, and many other lovely red varietals as well while they’re at it. Thanks a bunch. But back to this little oloroso… (remember all sherries, even the darkest ones, are white wines). Colour: deep amber. Nose: crikey, could be that we have today’s winner here. Roses, peonies, honeysuckle, then honey, brioche, biscuits, pancake syrup, banana flambéed, Linzertorte, just a tiny-wee touch of metal polish (after all, this is Edradour)… Mouth: sure there’s this very tiny plastic/soapy side in the arrival, but the rest is perfect. Cherries, mirabelles, orange blossom, custard, cakes, mead… Finish: medium, a little maltier. More mead in the aftertaste. Comments: very good. Lost a handful of points when we first sipped it though.
SGP:451 - 84 points. |
I believe it’s time we would have a last one for the road (to the couch – I’m joking, I’m fresh as a daisy)… |
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Edradour 10 yo 2002/2012 (58.3%, OB, Straight from the Cask, Château Neuf du Pape finish)
Pst, I believe that would rather be Châteauneuf instead of Chateau Neuf, but should we really care? Having said that, a majority of grenache in malt whisky, that’s probably like D.J. Trump reciting Shakespeare, that is to say very unlikely. Dear American friends, please get rid of that disgraceful living entity. On behalf of our little planet, thanks. Colour: deep gold. Nose: no heavy strawberries, raspberries and other red berries, rather the usual tiny soapy tones, then Mars bars, sourdough, crushed bananas and raisin rolls. All that with an earthy background. Yeah I know, no politics, but I just don’t care, this is a personal blog. There. With water: nice ginger cake. Boy we can’t stand him anymore, can we. Mouth (neat): leather, malt, blood oranges, pepper and literally hectolitres of Campari. With water: a nice fruity leatheriness. Finish: long, on cinchona and marmalade, then gingery grasses in the bitterish aftertaste. Comments: the thing is, this an free old private blog with no ties whatsoever to any commercial or political entity. We say what we want. Like, screw the vulgar, fat, repulsive, arrogant, orange-dyed, artificially suntanned living entity. Complains on postcards please. Alternatively, you could always unfriend or unfollow me/us on social media in protest.
SGP:361 - 80 points. |
Phew, we’re feeling better at Châteaux Whiskyfun… |
(Merci Lucero and other friends!) |
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