Springbank eat, sleep, dram, repeat tour was absolutely worth the journey and the price. For those of you considering the adventure, here are some tips.
The last few years Armagnac has experienced a small renaissance. The traditional single producer rustic brandy has struck a chord with connoisseurs. At the start..
SMWS 26.151 – Fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers – Clynelish 26yo 47.3%
Let’s do a SMWS Clynelish tasting! I’ve had very little Clynelish and have heard wonderful things about this bottle. Nose Tangerine, peach/apricot cobbler, honeysuckle, jasmine,..
Balcones Texas Single Malt Whisky Goody Goody #14160 Used FO Ex-Rmb 64.2%
Nose: rum raisin ice cream, grape nerds / poprocks, nougat, cold wood cabin, tomato vine (after some time and sipping)
Palate: ice sweetness at the front, vanilla, rum raisin ice cream from the nose, less grapey, nice quality wood, a strong grape vinegar kombucha vibe, black tea, that core modern Balcones sour note. Tried it with a big splash of water and it becomes elegantly grapey with a gnarly bitter note. Better at full proof.
Nose: I took this bottle along with a bunch of brandy to our home brewers beer festival this weekend. It was so much fun exposing them to “experimental” spirits. Every time someone grabbed Andy’s Tuff Talk Banana brandy their eyes would light up and hooooly cow that smells like banana. Well technically, JODER, como huele a platano. Que fenomeno. But you get the spirit of it. This is now my personal reference when it comes to the category. A category of maybe one provider given I have yet to get my hands on Capovilla’s one banana experiment, but so worth it. Alright, nose… the first impression is banana candy from my childhood – Haribo banana gummies or Malabar tuti fruti. But not cloying, rather it’s paired with a potent floralness. It’s the nuance of bananas that comes next – downright bizarre how I manage to get notes of fresh, nearly ripe but still a touch green bananas, and then a moment of gnarly goopy caramelized banana hits. It even had a hint of banana peel in it. I set this aside for a while and tried to forget banana… orange blossoms. And notes of guarapo (sugar cane juice). Almost could fool me into thinking it was a high ester unaged rhum agricole. I remember making a pink peppercorn simple syrup for julie once that could be a good crossover.
Palate: I enjoy drinking this straight, but I have to admit that this feels like it was born to be a cocktail ingredient. I sneak nips into my hot chocolate. I sprinkle it on crepes. And certainly someone who drinks cocktails will make something insane. Most EDV brings me back to the home(s) of my youth. To mom’s orchards. This is the first brandy that anchors me in my new home, in Canarias. Because if we know anything here, it’s that wacky herb known as a platano. The first sip is bananas, both literally and figuratively, but let’s move beyond the obvious. Having performed a half-dozen banana distillations myself, I want to bow down. It’s HARD to make good banana brandy. Its so easy to have that overripe banabread note dominate, which isn’t all that yummy – none of that here. There is something a hint of green initially, herbaceous. Like lemongrass without the sour note. Its so rhum agricole on a big sip, touches of anise seed with a real juicy fruit moment.
Rating: 8 / 10 – It’s stupid hard to rate this, because my rating might not apply to everyone. I wish I had another bottle. Or two frankly. In part due to my respect for its craftsmanship and in part because I’m nearly at the bottom of the bottle I absconded with from the tasting and I want to keep poking at how it ticks. But in the end cuz its just cool. According to my scale, that is an 8. People have a blast trying it.
Nose: Molasses, orange and grapefruit peel. Apricot and tangerine tartlets. Almond meringues
Palate: Sweet yet tannic, think sweet southern black tea. Hints of cinnamon, canned peaches flambéed with rosemary. Cherry pits. Cotton candy aftertaste.
Rating: 9 / 10 This is unbelievable and worth the hunt. I’m not feeling verbose, more sarcastic. Thank god this is only 90 years old and not truly unobtainium. Every day drinker right here; With a freaking straw.
Nose: A single epic note. Like that moment Michael Jackson grabs his woohoo and wails. Baking sugars and peach cobbler with a French country pie crust. There is a fairy dusting of nutmeg and allspice, a la salt bae. A subtle hint of turbinado and walnuts. Pine nuts, olive tapenade, herbal and gooey creamy cheese funk round this out with more time on the back half.
Palate: I thought I’d need to listen for the whispers given my propensity for no-holds-barred MMA cask strength whisky. Nope, plenty of character here. Each of the nose nuggets are neatly present. But really, we are talking about peaches and apricots. And then we head to herbal town, a rounded ricola herbal rinse. The late landed funk is hard to find on the palate. The finish stays herbal for a long time and got less interesting the more it rested. I’m going to give this another shot in a few nights.
Rating: 7 / 10. It’s super good and the herbal fans might rate this even higher than I do.
Nose: Sweet balsamic vinegar. Sandalwood. Bit of funk, the body odor of an unwashed french man reliving his past hipness. Dr pepper and cola. Man back to funky, quite ripe stone fruits, black peach tea, walnuts, chewing tobacco, fresh dark potting soil. When I think rancio, it smells like this.
Palate: Black peach tea through and through. An unsweetened sarsaparilla or birch bark home brewed old-timey beverage. Green peppercorn, licorice root, and a stale high-end cinnamon stick. It has all the markers of being sweet without ever going there. There is an exceptional balance between herbal, sweet, and wood that leaves things in harmony.
Rating: 8 (shane) & 9 (ryan) / 10 this is seriously delicious in a way I did not expect. The nose and palate align, and even at the low abv this spirit shines.
