SMWS US April Outturn Jack Rose Tasting Review
Background
Time to recap the April SMWS outturn tasting at Jack Rose in DC! As with any outturn tasting, quite a few whiskies (6) at the event, so going to get right to the review. This review was blind, where we had to guess the age, distillery, cask(s) used in aging, and SMWS flavor profile. As such, you'll note a few of my overviews are a bit… guess-y. Sometimes you taste something and get ideas in your head that end up being right (rarely) or wrong (often). A full list of everything covered in this outturn:
9.248 “A Major Treat” (Glen Grant)
78.74 “Cheeky Wee Upstart” (Ben Nevis)
55.87 “The Stage is Set” (Royal Brackla)
95.79 “Cross-Cultural” (Auchroisk)
4.365 “You Only Live Once” (Highland Park)
10.258 “Quo Vadis” (Bunnahabhain)
9.248 “A Major Treat” (Glen Grant) (18 Years, 55%)
Nose: Honeysuckle and floral notes, orchard fruit. Sweet, floral, and inviting.
Palate: Orange peel, juicy, honey. It blossoms on the palate with a sweet crisp apple slice.
Finish: A streak of minerality, the sweetness from the palate dissipates. There's a dash of wood and dryness at the end with a bit of cinnamon.
Great (7/10)
Overall: A lovely summer dram and one of my favorite starting pours at an SMWS in a while. It's bright and effortless while filled with an invigorating floral sweetness. It is eminently approachable and just generally delicious.
78.74 “Cheeky Wee Upstart” (Ben Nevis) (9 Years, 58.7%)
Nose: Cocoa, prunes, cinnamon apple sauce.. but licking the aluminum lid of an applesauce cup too. It just has a weird off note that is not quite metallic but is immediately off putting.
Palate: Sweat? And then an odd fruit note, almost like a plum wine. It tastes almost spoiled. I have a knee jerk reaction like someone splashed wine into a perfectly good whiskey.
Finish: Spoiled plums, dried chilies, dark chocolate. I dunno a little bit more harmonious here but still weird.
Sub-par (4/10)
Overall: Yeah I do not like this AT ALL. My guess, upon consumption, is that a cover up occurred. There was an ex bourbon barrel at play, said barrel was tasting rough, and someone decided to add in a dessert wine cask to mask what was happening. After receiving the details from SMWS, I might not be wrong per say. This was in PX for the last 2 years of its maturation, but I think rather than anything nefarious this just was not given enough time to really marry the PX influence with the distillate in the cask. Needed longer in the metaphorical oven!
55.87 “The Stage is Set” (Royal Brackla) (16 Years, 56.3%)
Nose: Lemon custard, key lime pie... citrus and creaminess prevails.
Palate: Oh some sherry must be at play here! Honey in both texture and taste. Some figs, and citrus rine. A dash of caramel.
Finish: A dryness from what I suspect is Oloroso, floral like a blossom. A lingering tart citrus.
Very Good (6/10)
Overall: Our host, SMWS’ dutiful Mike Hom, dubbed this a dram for the evening of a rough Tuesday. Meaning you don't really have to think about it as you drink it. It is a straight down the middle crowd pleaser.
95.79 “Cross-Cultural” (Auchroisk) (14 Years, 55.5%)
Nose: Mexican hot chocolate, fruit cake, spicy and dark.
Palate: Big fruit cake, horchata, sticky toffee, and raisins. There's a nice interplay between the spicier notes and the sherry influence.
Finish: Black licorice, anise, a wave of spice stops the sweetness in it's tracks... in a good way.
Very Good to Great (6.5/10)
Overall: Having now attended a good few of these SMWS tastings, there's a familiar cadence. You start with some high variance pours, almost always ex-bourbon barrels, from a wide range of distilleries. About 4-5 pours into the tasting run there's almost always a Deep, Rich, and Dried Fruits bottling. The crowd pleaser! We've arrived at that point, and it's a fairly classic iteration of the flavor profile but with a really nice bit spice to balance it all out.
4.365 “You Only Live Once” (Highland Park) (11 Years, 65.7%)
Nose: Salinty, dried seaweed, melon rind. A delicate peat that at first makes me think it's Highland Park during our blind round.
Palate: A decent amount of citrus and salinity. So much so that I bailed out of my Highland Park guess. It's just lovely how briney and seafaring it is. Charred lemon and a dash of vanilla custard.
Finish: Coarse sea salt, more grilled citrus, a gentle peat influence. A dash of cloves.
Great (7/10)
Overall: Look, I'm a noted fan of Highland Park and I've particularly enjoyed SMWS’ bottlings, of which I own far more than I care to admit. This is no exception, clocking in at a whopping 130+ proof but drinking absolutely nothing like it. I wish to drink this while on an ocean vessel, or at least by the water, somewhere, anywhere.
10.258 “Quo Vadis” (Bunnahabhain) (9 Years, 58.1%)
Nose: Glazed pork and pineapple, charred. The grill marks on a succulent piece of glazed meat.
Palate: The smoke off charcoal briquettes, grilled pineapple… again there's a charred fruit sweetness. Like you lit a Juicy Juice box on fire.
Finish: Notable for the absence of smoke on the finish. Mike from SMWS again nailed this whiskey, calling it reminiscent of Al Pastor tacos, and I can't approve on that.
Excellent (8/10)
Overall: PX + Peat remains a combo that is virtually undefeated in my heart and palate. I noted the beats of these tastings are fairly consistent, but the peat smoked endings are now what I look forward to most. You never know quite what you're going to get (ok, fine, it's Caol Ila alot), but this is a wonderful end to the day.
