Getting burned as a heretic

A Whisky with triple purpose. I’m a little drunk so sorry for the crappy spelling even in words

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Now having been into proper whisky for about a year now, I enjoy finding a proper fine single malt, and truly enjoying it. But lets face it, I’m 25, and some time I WANT to get drunk, I’m not saying I’m gonna by raving around town when I’m 75, but some time you want the effect of alcohol to effect you, now getting drunk 4 times a week will mean you have a problem, but once in a while you want to affect yourself with alcohol, it’s accepted that with gin, vodka, rum, you sometime want the effect of alcohol, don’t tell me you drink Bacardi white rum for its taste, I buy that you might drink high quality rum for its taste, but not Bacardi, same with vodka, some time you want it to just relax you, some time you want to get into a good mood. But with whisky you got something holy, whisky is aqua vita, water of live, and I agree that you don’t drink a 16 year old single malt with cola. But sometimes you want to relax, sometimes you want to get into a good mood fast.


Now drinking whisky the proper way, that is, in a nosing glass, nosing it and tasting it, you can drink almost all day without getting drunk, I’m not saying you aren’t affected, when I went to the Oslo whisky festival you could feel the noise getting lowder as the day went by, nobody is immune to alcohol. But you don’t get drunk. But getting drunk it’s always bad, once in a blue moon it’s nice. And they number of days you get drunk gets farther and farther between as you get older, unless you got a problem. So All this brings me to the Rittenhouse 100 proof, this whisky serves 3 purposes .

1. As a proper whisky, in a good whisky glass, it’s not as complex as a single malt, but it still got lots to offer, this is the preferred way of enjoying it. You got it in a good glass and nose it and think about it.
2. Mix it with cola, it got more taste then a bourbon or a blend, it can be enjoyed quite a bit with cola, this will relax you, nice after a hectic day like Christmas with the packages and family ect.

3. Get drunk, I would never get drunk on a single malt, but this whisky works on all 3 levels.
You get a shot glass and you will get a great ride to party town, it’s not spoken off, but sometimes you want to get into the party mood, and this is a great way of getting there, a 50 abv you get there fast, and it’s more than a shot of vodka, it’s smooth, it’s tasty. 50 abv has never been smoother. My excuse for this Is that I’m 25 and I’m suppose to get drunk some times.
What started all this is this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSyHk-KFt4

It’s a wonderful drinking song, so I decided to get drunk while listing to this song, as I have social angst it’s hard to get drunk with other people, I can do it sometimes but not often, so about twice a year I get drunk on my own, just for the fun of it. Ok, call my childish stupid, drunk or whatever, but if you ever said you never get/got drunk for the fun of it, you either are a right wing religious nut or you started to drink at 56, again I don’t condone drunk driving or fighting or whatever, but if you want to get drunk every 3 months with you r friends and spend two hours on the toilet throwing up, then do it!

It’s part of growing up and it’s fun. I’m a liberal if you want to get drunk at 14, that’s your choice( I started at 16) I don’t believe that anybody is born an alcoholic, some people can’t handle their alcohol/weed/coke but that shouldn’t stop the rest of us(I’ve never use weed or any drug, alcohol is were I put a stop to it, but won’t stop others from trying stuff. I’m a libertarian when it comes to stuff like that.

Well I guess my point is, that whisky conquers shouldn’t take them self to serous. Yes a 12 year old single malt is something special, that shouldn’t be shotted , but whisky isn’t holy it’s not divine(I don’t believe anything is divine), and just because it’s made from grain and distilled doesn’t mean it’s untouchable. Whisky is as diverse as the universe, sometimes it’s as beautiful sunset sometimes it’s a violent supernova. I forget my point, but I think it’s about whisky havening several ways of enjoyment.

I honestly forget my point, my question is should I wait with publishing this or wait, fuck it, I’m drunk and I’m gonna publish it. Happy holydays, marry Christmas and a happy new years.

Rittenhouse rye 100 proof

So I have now tasted or owned almost all types of whisk(e)y Scotch, blended, vatted and single.
I tried Japanese Whisky, irish whiskey, Bourbon, tennessee whiskey, the only ones missing is Indian but then it's not real whisky since it's not made of grain, so whats left?
Rye!!! the one I really wanted to get was Alberta Premium, but you can only get it in canada so I'm shit out of luck, but this one ait that bad, it dosn't say if it is or isn't 100% rye, dosn't say on the bottle, and havn't found the info on it online either.




This one as about as cheap as whisky gets in Norway, it cost exactly 400kr or about £42
And you get alot of taste for the money.

Nose
It's actualy quite strange, it's very spicy yet sweet, it reminds me of aberlour but with a hint of bourbon it got the sweet bourbon nose yet the deeper more complex nose of a scotch at 50% abv it bites your nose, it got wood, sirrup and pepper in the nose.

Taste
STRONG, again you have the mix of a spicy scotch and sweet bourbon, the taste is very much like the nose, wood, sirrup and pepper.

Finnish, it realy has a zing to it, very spicy finnish, and it coats your mouth with toffee that lingers and lingers.

The whole thing feels thicker more suggary then scotch it feels like a bourbon but somehow it feels like more then just bourbon.

Hakushu Single Malt Whisky 10 y.O.

Nectar from heaven, I bought this right after Oslo Whisky festival, but saved it for good day.
Well I have just watched The pacific, so a series about a war againt japan and japanese whisky seemed like a good excuse(ok bad excuse but couldn't wait any longer)

At first I thouht I smelled red apples, and a wrote that in the blog when I tasted it at Oslo whisky festival, but it's actualy more acidic like green apples, infact the nose is very fresh acidic.
There is a faint hint of peat, but realy the fresh apple nose really knocks that peat out.

In the taste that apples are still there, but they have almost been exchanged for green grapes, and by grapes I don't mean brandy or wine, but the fruit, this is really fresh stuff, now the Bladnoch is frensh but it's still very typical spirit, the bladnoch taste like brandy, which is grape based spirits,( or apple ect.) but it dosn't taste like grape or apples, this one actualy taste like the spesific fruits, when you drink it, you want to go out and by green apples and green grapes.
There is also a stronger peat in the taste then in the nose.

There is very little peat in finish, infact it's very hard to find much taste in the finish, the alcohol kinda takes over and you just get this strong alcohol taste not pure alcohol but undiffined spirit taste, if there is any taste it has to be called floral, not much of it, but a small hint of it.

This is quickly getting to be my favorite, I'll drink more of it come weekend, and see if the love at first sight lasts.

A light beer with a light whisky.

By light I don’t mean low alcohol volume, but the body and type of beverage.

In my continuing attempt to mix beer and whisky I’ve tested Nøgne Ø Wit and bladnoch whisky.

I was quite happy when I learned I liked dark beer, and was quite satifised by that, by I had to try the Nøgne Ø wit, it is made in the Belgian style wit beer, made from wheat as well as other grains. It is very light and cloudy, it very frothing and refreshing, really something that fit into the summer and barbeque, so why I’m I drinking it with Christmas on the door step, well it’s a very good beer, and since I can’t afford to buy a whisky every month to post it on the blog I have to find other things to talk about, and it’s easier to talk about beer/whisky mix then finding something ells to talk about.

So I took out my bladnoch it’s a very delicate fine light whisky, I’ve talked about it before. I kinda hate to take it out because it’s less than a 5th left in the bottle, and I don’t have access to more bladnoch, as you might know, it only makes about 100 000 liters a year, and that’s next to nothing compared to the big distilleries, the bottles are expensive and you have to snipe them when you got the option. I got this 16 year old in spring and it was the last of two bottles left in all of the Oslo area, and right now there is no bladnoch available in Norway. But I thought hey I got this very light refreshing beer and this very light and delicate whisky they might go together.
And they do, the bladnoch is as close to refreshing a whisky can get, it is sweet and light and the wit IS refreshing. Very good, not the seasons, both the beer and whisky really should be enjoyed in the spring or summer I also think this would be quite good with a refreshing apple on the porch during the first hot spring day.

Favorites from Oslo Whisky Festival

In a whisky festival with mostly Scottish whisky I’m gonna go out on a limb and say my two favorites are not Scotch, why because these to stood out the most, when you drink 8-12 glasses in a few hours even with geniures water in between each glass, they have a tendency to melt together.

These two were very good and very different from the others.


First up Bushmills 16, I love the 10 year old, and this really ups the ante, when you nose and taste it, you get hit with lots and lots of green, new mown lawns, dandelion and most of all pine needles. You get Christmas feel or a foggy and wet fall day in the forest. Oslo being surrounded by pine forest on 3 sides means this is not a new thing for me, but of course it’s super concentrated in the whisky. Very different from the others. It was the last whisky I drank and the aftertaste lasted and lasted, only when I started to eat half an hour later and drink Pepsi did it go away, sadly I might add. Very enjoyable.


And finally the best of the best

Hakushu Single Malt Whisky 10 y.O, well I shouldn’t use the word best, but my favorite, I liked it so much I actually went back for seconds. What made this one stand out was a lot of red fruit, first red apples and then a stronger red berries taste, I spent quite some time on this one, sitting outside in the cold winter air the nose mixed with the cold air and you got this really fresh malt taste to, and the red berries continued to present itself.

Both these two are next on my to buy list

Oslo Whisky Festival special-

Howdy pard.

Well it’s six a clock this evening I have spent a few hours with my dad at Oslo Whisky festival, it’s the 7th annual festival but it’s my first time at a whisky festival, I have to thank the people a whisky whisky whisky, I did not know about it until some user I can’t remember told about it, so thanks to him. I had planned on going to this festival for several months, it was at ingeniørenes hus which often rent out it’s space for everything really my dad said he had had dance lesions there in the 50s, so the place get used a lot.

The festival was in two big rooms and you had a cafeteria to, you had Norwegian championship in nosing, there was a good selection but only by Norwegian standards, any European or British supermarket would have just as many or more whiskies to show off. Almost all of them are available in the Wine monopoly, with a few exceptions.
It was a two day event but we only went there on the second day. For 350kr or about £35 you get emission, a nosing glass, a pamphlet and 10 bongs, each 2cl glass of whisky cost from 1 to 4 bongs depending on how much the whisky cost at the monopoly. You can also buy 5 more bongs for 100kr

Now to put that into perspective that means in theory you can get 5 2cl glasses for about 100kr, or 10cl, in a bar that would cost 120kr for a good 2cl glass of whisky. So this is very cheap compared to going out. But still not cheap since alcohol is never cheap in Norway.
As the day went on hundreds of people showed up, it got really full and louder as people got more whisky in them.

Here follows a short review of most of the whiskies I tried today, the two favorite gets their own post later today or tomorrow.

First up was Black and black that’s black grouse with cola, with a twist of lime, the grouse people knew that with 12-30 year old single malts they had to get at the consumers on a different level, so they had 3 cocktails with the grouse, black and black, one with standard grouse and ginger ale, that sounded really good and I’m gonna try it at home later on, because I really like ginger ale, especially the Canada dry. On and finally snow grouse with cranberry juice, Now back on the black and black, it was quite good, it was marketed as a more tasteful fuller option instead of the jack and coke, and I do agree it was quite good, but the problem is that even grouse that are blended are quite expensive in Norway, and I’m not sure it’s worth the money

Up next is the two bourbons, this is stuff I don’t buy myself so it’s good to try something different, I don’t mind bourbon a lot of people don’t like it, but I find fare to good bourbons are actually quite nice. Now all bourbons taste bourbon, they got a taste I think all of them got, and it can be quite hard to find different tastes then just the bourbon, the maker’s mark was up first, it’s a mild bourbon, it got the good bourbon nose, which I find is better than the taste, it got the sweet bourbon taste but not much more, a fine dram, but not as unique complex as a single malt.

The second bourbon was Knob creek, again clearly a bourbon maybe a little sweeter then Maker’s Mark, a little cola taste, this one is one of the few whiskies that was at the festival that isn’t available at the monopoly. Again nothing wrong with it, and clearly more palatable then Jim Beams standard selection.


This one I have wanted to try for a LONG time, basically since I started to drink whisky. Mostly because Ralfy did a review of it. It tasted like a malt, it had a very malty taste, a very very slight hint of peat. But the most interesting part of it was the finish which had a good black pepper taste.I fine whisky and had I live in a place were modest whiskies were priced modestly I might have bought it often, but right now it cost a 100kr more than Bushmills 10, and I’m not sure that lovely pepper finish is worth those 100kr

Glendfiddich 30, this one I tried just because I wanted to drink something older then myself, and it a good 5 years on me, but I’m really glad I didn’t buy a full bottle of this, it was really underwhelming, besides a hint of vanilla there really wasn’t much to say about it, it got the bourbon cask influence, and vanilla, but that’s it.

There was actually quite a bit of Japanese whisky at the festival, I tried two, the other one is actually my favorite I tried today and will get its own post.

Yamazaki 18 Years was the second I tried the most interesting thing about this is just how it transforms when you add a bit of water to it, it was like two completely different whiskies, had I not poured the water myself and knew it was the same whisky it would have thought it was two different ones. With water you get this really big floral nose and taste, like eating sunflowers while smelling roses. REALLY floral.

Nøgne Ø

Hello, I'm still on the beer trip, I usualy only drink during weekends but it's "fall vacation" and it's my first real vacation in 7 years, and so I'm going a little hedonistic becasue next week it's standard week again and school, so since I'm learing to like beer i might as well sit up late at night watching mel brooks films and drinking beer.

When I get into something I start to absorb knowlage, if I can read about it I can learn it.

I did it with Napoleoincs, ACW, AWI, 30YTW, and I did it with whisky, now I know a hell of alot more about Napoleoincs then Whisky, but as I said if I can read it, I can learn it, so I've read the basics of whisky, watched vidoes of the brewing and distilling prosses. so I did the same with Beer, reading about the diffrent types, how they are made their classificaion ect.

In my reading travles I came acros this Norwegian Brewery called Nøgene Ø, that's Danish for Naked Isle and comes from Henrik Ibsen in a poem, Anyway to understand the imporantce of this brewery you need to know that 98% of all beer made, sold and drunk in Norway is a piss caled pilsner or in norwegian just pils, it's bad stuff, but norwegians don't know how bad they have it, they are naive. Kinda like in the 80's when a Frank Zappa song Called Boby Brown, it became a BIG hit in norway people dancing to it ect. ofcourse Norwegians were stupid back then, and aperantly did not get the refrence to Golden Shower, we know better now, but the concept of norwegians digging and dancing to a song about a man pissing on another man is kinda funny.

It's the same today only the piss is not in a song but in the form of bad beer, norwegians drinks vast amounts of this stuff and they don't know there is actualy a whole world of other types of beer out there.

So in 2002 two home brewers stars a company, that now has grown into selling 250 000 liters of beer a year, half of which go to other countries, they have won atleast 1 price in 2008 for their Dark Horizon First edtion, they make propper beer, IPA, Imperial stout, bitter ect. and sevral other designer beers. I fell in love with the concept of the whole brewery, it would kinda be like if the whole of Scotland only made Blended whisky, and every body in Sotland only drank Blended whisky, but Ireland and Japan made Single malt, then suddenly a sole distillery in Sctoland decided to make a single malt, the Scots don't know what this single malt thing is all about, the blanded scotch is wonderfull nothing could be better ect. You get the point, same with beer in Norway, so these guys started a company that have gotten it's own fan club or association.
The make ale propper ale.

Today I tested thier Imperial Stout, at 9% abv it's strong, but damn it's bitter really really bitter, the foam is almost black, it takes some getting used to but I think I can learn to like it,
Something in the same ally was their Porter, Porter is fast becoming my favorite beer, Nøgne Ø proter is simular to thier imperial Stout only milder, it got the same feel and taste only slighlty less of it. It's bitter but not as bitter, it's almost as dark, it goes REALY well with dark chocolate, and ofcourse a strong peated whisky.

Well that's the report if you find Nøgne Ø were you live try it, I recomend in particular their porter and Imperial Brown, they do send some quanteties to America, I don't know if you can get in the Canada but you do get it in the States, and aperantly England, most of their beers have gotten a good grade at RateBeer website.

Beer, beer and more beer

Having learned to like whisky and enjoing it very much, there is one more think I should learn to like becasue it goes with the whisky, and thats beer. there are two adult drinks I've never learned to like that you have to learn, something that nobody likes the first times they try it.

One is coffee and I have no planes on starting to drink that shit, but the second is beer.

In norway 99% of the beer you get in the store is pilsner exept for corona and the norwegian "juleøl" you get every chirstmas.



If you want to get propper beer you need to go to a beer pub or to the wine monopoly were you have to go to get vine, and spirits and beer over 4.5% abv. Also they have imports, knowing I didn't like pilsner(or just pils in norway) I started to read the online catalog from the wine monopoly, on most products they got a short and concise description of the product, be it whisky, brandy, wine, vodka or beer. The one thing I realy wanted to try becasue in my opinion is the most manly form of beer is british bitter, but they have some beers that are descripbed as bitter after taste but they don't have any classic bitter beers in norway, some pubs might have it, but I don't know of any propper beer pubs in Oslo, so I just tried diffrent stuff, I tried Guinness and was disapointed. I expected I either hated it or loved it, instead i just tasted like "beer" something I did not enjoy drinking but didn't gag from either, a kinda limbo, some one pointed out that it might be the hops I don't like and recomeded more malty beers. I have concentrated on English beers becasue I'm an anglofile and English are the second most manly race of people after Scotts in Kilts.



I love the aspect of a propper english pub, right now you can get a plane to london for 320kr or about £30 I'm almost tempted to spring for ticked just to go to a propper english pub and then go back, the total price would be £60 for plane and £50 for two nights at a hotel, and it is "høst ferie" the next week, that is a week of fall vacation, i think it goes back to when the kids in the city would leave school for a week and go to the country to harvest potatoes. those £170 would almost be worth it just to go to a pub, sit down and say " a pint of bitter and a glass of single malt" soak up the atmosfare, I might even take an hour train ride to a country pub instead of one in the city(tho it might take longer then an hour to get away from london)



Amyway I dream, right now I'm drinking a Propper job india pale ale, not to my taste, it's "powerfully hopped" and if it is the hops I don't like than natuarly this one isn't my kind of beer.

It's not horrible but it taste to much like pils, tho even this beer is quite fine when I drink it next to my HP 18(you thought I wasn't going to talk about whisky this time didn't you) They compliment each other qite well, the HP18 is quite sweet, and the beer is hopped and not sweet but neither is it bitter, it got a hint of grapefruit in the arma, but it dosn't show up that well in the taste, to much hops.



Beeing norwegian you are at a disatvantage when learing to enjor propper alcoholic bevreges and spirits, the norwegian mentaltiy is to get realy drunk, rave around town, getting into fights, the old orange juice and vodka is the staple of norwegian youth growing up, there is actualy a pledge for graduating highschoolers that they have to dring one case of 24 33cl beers in 3 hours, natuarly doing stuff like having a beer in a glass and sniffing it is out of the question, the only time Norwegians actualy enjor a propper beer is when it's summer and you are out Barbecueing or the very first summer beer, but thats for adults, youth drink to get drunk, and it takes quite an affort to actualy start to get the mantality to enjoy bevrages and spirits for their quality and not the alcohol.



I don't know of that many Norwegians that actualy sniff their beer to get the aroma and nose, that is ofcourse becasue pils don't realy smell much of anything, but when you get some quality beer it's almost like whisky, they got a distinct nose and taste, not as powerfull as whisky. In whisky you got years of maturation in oak, you got the stronger alcohol, but still it's some of the same aspects. Like that you get good whisky at 40% abv but you kinda like when it goes up to 46% or more not becasue more booze is good but becasue the nose and flavores get more notisble, in the same aspect I think a good propper beer should have atleast 5.5% over 6% is better.



The second beer I'm drinking today is Samuels Smth's Taddy Porter, with aberlour 10 on the side, it's my first porter it got alot less of what i suspect is the hops, which means It's more to my taste, it's dark but not strong in the taste it's all very subtile, it got a small hint of liqourice, but it dosn't have any after taste which is a shame, the propper job even with it's strong hops had a nice after taste that went well with the whisky, here the beer taste goes away and the beer and whisky are kinda separate, no actualy if you change the order, and drink the whisky first which does have an after taste, the beer and whisky goes very well together, the aberlour is by no means a heavy whisky, it got some hints of spice, but it's not peated at all, I wonder how the porter goes with a heavier whisky, hmmm, hold on while I get the Laphroaig.



The Laphroaig is very nice, I think I have to by another Lagavulin soon so I can compare these two peated monster whiskies, I'm just gonna let it breath a little before I try the beer/whisky combo..



Lets see, hmm that was quite the combo, the peaty aftertaste is so long you could take a sip of the whisky and not have a taste of the beer for an hour and still get the combo. I like the combo the porter is a heavy beer and Laphroaig is a heavy whisky, to you'd think it got to heavy but they work well togeather.

Well I'll stop writing now, because in the end I got just to much beer and whisky in me today, but it's the first day of vacation so I guess I can indulge my self. It's clare that hops is not my thing and any beer with more pronounced malt or other tastes is my kind of beer.

This is all for now, I'm watching Hard Bolied but I got to caught up in writing so I almost forgot to watch.

Bushmills 10 and HP12

Highland Park 12 Y.O

This I bought because I thought it would work as a present for my dad, and it sure was, this is in many ways like the archetype Scotch, lots of sweet malt, a little smoke, when people say they don't like Scotch it's becasue of this taste, of course that only means they should try other types, that taste completely different, I like the taste, not the most interesting whisky, very little nose, but a classic taste, well made well tasting.After having tasted the HP18, I kinda knew what I was gonna get, I was more interested in the Bushmills

Bushmills 10

I'm drinking this as I type, and WOW what a special thing this is, my first taste of Irish Whiskey, I let it it open up and breath for quite some time, and I started to sniff, I was listing to music as I did it, then suddenly a smell hit me, I recognized it, but were I had to find out, it was so familiar but distant, I had to turn off the music to really concentrate, where the hell had I smelled this before, it took a good minute to really think about it, then it hit me, Bourbon, Jim Beam Black to be precise, this sweet chemical smell, yes that was it, naturally not as strong, but there was no hiding it, this just got more more interested, a single malt that smells of bourbon, I know Single malts often are matured on Bourbon casks, but I never actually smelled or tasted any bourbon in them, this was the first, it wasn't a hint of it, it was a clear strong smell, it was the primary smell in fact, now this is not a bad thing at all, I like the smell, I liked the minute it took me to find remember the smell to it was fun, to really have to think about it dig down into the olfactory memory. I REALLY enjoy this nose, it's nice to have a bourbon smell with out having to battle with the taste of the rather strong and harsh taste of Jim Beam Black, not that there is anything wrong with it. This is the kid of Whiskey I could just sit at nose for hours,The nose is sweet, chemical, Lacquer.

The taste, oh shit I forgot to taste it.

There is no Bourbon taste to it, only a hint of the nose of it comes along with the taste. Actually the Jim beam comes back, after the first taste which is classic malt, the bourbon comes back in the after taste it coats the mouth with lacquer, I never expected a malt to be so dominated by the casks it was in.You get a bourbon but it's really a malt, you get the smoothness of malt, but with strong hints of bourbon, very nice, very drinkable, I must say this one out did my expectations.This one I'll be drinking and NOSING often in the weeks and months ahead.

glencairn is here

I got this one last week, as well as other stuff
My order from Glencairn was stuck in costums for a long time as there was a strike in Norway.


I'm about to enjoy this glass og Bladnoch, so far my favorite whisky.(not tried that many)
I have not bought any new whiskies as my wargaming expenditures have gone up as I'm buying new stuff, But I hope to show something new later this summer

Laphroaig Quarter cask

Laphroaig is probably one of those whiskies you need to learn to like, unless you are a peater one of those people you see walking the streets begging for money so they can buy their next fix of peat, they are Scotland's answer to crack whores.The first I thought when I took a sniff was Lagavulin, naturally this was the smoke/peat.I won't say put up a list of what I smell and taste because my noobie nose and taste buds have problems getting past the smoke, what I can say is that at 48% I NEED water, I tried it dry and the alcohol just bit my nose, when I tasted it, it burned my moth.So I put two tea spoons of water in it, and it became quite drinkable.What I can say about the smell, taste etc. is smoky, peaty, abit salt, but the peat and smoke just overwhelms me, and I can't get more specific. That's not to say it's not enjoyable, I'm still not sure I'm that big of a fan of smoke but I don't hate it, I might prefer less smoke, but I can drink a smoky whisky and enjoy it very much.

One last thing, I actually had to watch Ralfy's video on this to actually get it, he says there's this clean finish, and I think I get that, when the finish happen, you have the smoke, but at the same time, your mouth feel very "clean" like you just had a drink of spring water, but you still have the smoke at the same time very curious, maybe what I like the best so far about it, feels just like you just drunk a full glass of icy fresh water, it takes time for it to happen something like a good minute or more after, then suddenly the fresh soft water taste.

Anyway Now I have one whisky from, Islands, Islay, Speyside and Lowland I need one for highlands, but which one, post a comment and let me know which one I should get.

Aberlour 10 Years Old

OK, new bottle today trying to stock up a small collection so I have several to choose from if I want a dram,Being only 10 this is my first jump into the younger malts.Also being young I think there might be a good amount of caramel in this one.But I highly doubt i can taste it or smell it, but it makes it feel a little like a blend, lets dump some caramel in it for consistency. I think a single malt should raise about stuff like that.

The nose: very sweet very fruity, smells almost like a pear liqueur

Taste: again sweet, sweet spices, maybe a little pepper, and there is one taste that comes at the end of the taste but before the real finish starts, the problem is that it only last a very short time and I can't put a name on the taste, very brief "oh that's a new taste" kind of thing.

Finish: is malty and dry it does leave a sweet coating on your mouth, dry malty and sweet.I fine dram especially for the price, it's about half of the bladnoch.I did not taste the smoke and it has very little malt taste only in the finish does it show up.

Highland Park 18 Y.O

Well as you can see I've drunk allot of this one over the last week, to much as this is expensive stuff.At first I wasn't really sure about this one, it tasted allot like lagavulin 16, only less peat/smoke.But as I tried it sevral times and my dad did the same I've come to appreciate it.My dad and me had a whisky tasting evening on Friday, we tried the Bladnoch HP 18 and a Glen moray 8 yo. While I'm partial to the bladnoch, my dad did point out that HP18 taste like whisky it taste the way whisky should taste when you think of whisky. But at the same time, it's not in your face, none of the tastes overwhelm you. it had peat, but just a little, it has the classic whisky taste with it out being to strong, it's sweet(but I still can't taste the toffee) and has lots of malt taste.I can now see why allot of people think so highly of it.I'll defiantly buy more of this one.

Bladnoch First impressions

This bottle was freaking expencive 799kr or about $135 or £88

Thats almost twice what it cost in other countires, but short of staring a bloody coup and over thoughing the goverment, not much I could do, if I buy it from retailer in the UK for half of what I pay here, I would have to pay the other half in taxes.

Now this was the LAST bottle Briskeby Vin monopol had of this whisky, it was more expencive and older then I had planed on buying, I had made a decition to keep to 12 year or less, so I could develop my taste and smell on the cheaper(but not neceraly less good) whiskys.

But I just fell in love with the description of this one, and liked it was independet, non chill filtarted and obviously not added caramel, because it's very light,.

To be honest, I can bearly tell whiskys apart, I highly doubt I can tell chill or not chill filtarted apart, neither the caramel, but it's kinda cool.

First impressions:

Smell:

Well it smells DIFFRENT

While my untrained nose bearly can tell the diffrence from Lagavulin 16 and Highland park 18(other then the smoke and peat) this was very diffrent, sweet like brandy infact it smelled alot like brandy, but still clearly whisky.

I'm having problems putting the smells into words, it feels very fresh and young(yes I know it's 16 years old, but feels very young and fresh), some flowers. it becomes even more open and frech with two tea spoons of water, with out water it bites your nose beeing 46% abv, but with water it's more gentile. diffently sweet brandyesc

Taste:

The brandy smell does not flow over to the taste, it's CLEARY whisky in taste, clear crisp malt none peaty smoke, it should have sitrus or oranges in taste, but I can't cleary tell the sweetnes apart, mabye floral sweet flower type thing, it becomes fresher with water, again it feels young and fresh, smooth, not as smooth as the HP 18 but still smooth, the taste on the whole is deepr and stronger then HP, more taste more sweet taste, malt. floral. I do not taste the licorice or the red berries,

Finish:

Short, hint of malt, no peat

A very nice dram, so far the one with most clearly difined taste and smell. alot sweeter then the others

Hello and Welcome

This blog wil detail my fall into whisky, I will post the od "review" but please please to listen to them, my palate and nose is not developed at all and if you know whisky and the particualr whisky I talk about you will know alot more about it then me.

Now my whisky/alcohol journey.

I started to drink alcohol when I was 16 which is a good 1-2 years or after when most Norwegian kids start to drink, norway have no age limit on when you can drink, but it is iligal to supply booze to minors, not that anybody cares about it, kids can not be punished by the law for drinking, unlike in the states were kids can get in big trouble.
The limit for buying alcohol is 18 for anything under 22% and 20 for anything over 22%.
It used to be that anything made from spirits had 20 years limit on it, so you couldn't buy finsihed mixed drinks like smirnof ice ect becasue it was based on vodka, but that is changed now.
As I said I started to drink when 16, when I asked my parents to buy a bottle of jegermister to me, we were on vecation, and my parents probebly though it was a good ide to keep an eye on me when I tried larger amount of booze.
I then did the typical Norwegian thing, which is binge drinking, anything that can be mixed with cola, sprite or fanta was drunk, I even got my self a bottle of moonshine at 96% Abv, by pure luck it didn't have methanol in it,(a few years later there was a BIG story were sevral people died or went blind after drinking moonshine with methanol in it)
By the time I was 18 I just stoped to drink, becasue I only drank when at a party and I didn't go to parties, so no drinking I still have some old vodka bottles from that time.

So from age 18 to 24 I almost didn't drink, but during the last half of my 24th year I decided to grow up, and learn to drink like an adult, my parants have always been good at that, my dad likes his night cap, not because he needs booze to sleep, but becasue it taste good, no diffrent from eating a candybar.
Thats what I wanted, but I needed something to drink, something adult, can't drink rum & coke for the rest of my life.
I knew I can't stand wine or beer, now beeing a heavy western aficionado it was whisky I decided to try.

My first taste of whisky was Chirstmas eve 09, my dad opend a bottle of lagavulin 16 yo, now not having done ANY reseach I didn't know shit, my dad uses ice in his whisky and I didn't know any better, so I got my tumbler of lagavulin on the rocks, I didn't sniff it just tok a gulp, man was I not ready, not beeing a smoker I felt I was going to get lung cancer any second.
I did manige to get it in me, it was a shock, I tasted the smoke for what seemed like days.
BUT during the chirstmas holydays I did pour me a few more glasses.
After the holydays ended I decided to go into it, I when to the outlet and bought two blended scotch, didn't know crap, tried them, DID NOT LIKE THEM, I shoted them because I coulded take the taste, had to get it down FAST and even then I kinda didn't want to drink them.
So after a few days I gave up and my dad inherited the two almost full bottles.

So next up was bourbon, it fits with the western intrest so I got a bottle of Jim Beam Black label,
Now for me this is ithe kinda whisky you get drunk on, you and a friend start to drink at 5 PM, it taste crap the first 2-3 glasses, then suddenly it tase realy realy good and then by 5AM the bottle is empty and you and your friend are both drunk and had a great eveing and night.
When I first got the bottle I drank sevral gasses a day becasue I was after all trying to lean to like the stuff, I bought the bottle on thursday and when the night came on saturday the bottle was half empty(or half full if you are an optimist) that was kinda scary, remember I had almost not tasted alcohol in 6 years and now I had drunk half a bottle in 3 days. And I had to finde out if it was the taste or the alcohol I liked, so I stoped to drink it just for a week, to prove that I didn't have to drink, and it was no problem, I just put the bottle in the cubard and forgot about it, then after a week and half I decided it was ok to take another glass, and the first thought as I taste it, was this the shit I had liked so much a week and half ago, but again after a few glasses it was just fine again, it took two more months to empty the bottle, and was my first whisky bottle I had emptied.

But even tho I could drink it, and had some tastes I liked, it wasn't that good.
So I had to continue to look, having tasted lagavulin and knowing I could drink it I bought bottle of it, the 16 year old. It's good, but as I've said I have no whisky nose or palet yet, so for me it tasted only smooth and peaty/smoky, and enjoyed it, but I didn't get any of the tastes other people say they get. I had a few friends over and we had a whisky evening, quite enjoyble to share a good whisky with friends.

Now living in norway you can't just buy willy nilly becasue alcohol is expencive. Luckly good alcohol is not more expencive then in other countries, it's still expencive but no more then in France, UK, US ect. if you buy vodka 3/4 of the price is taxes, it's about 4 times as expencive in norway as in Germany.
But if you buy the highland park 18 year old, the diffence is only £10-15, now it's still a diffrence but Norway having generaly higher cost of living ect. It's not bad at all.
And whats what I bought a 18 year old highland park, it had after all won sevral prices I liked the name, you pronuce the name as it's writen, now crazy scottich galic or pict or what not.
And here's why I'm saying you should listen to me when I talk about spesific whiskys, becasue I realy couldn't taste that much of a diffrence between the HP 18 and Lagavulin 16, there was a diffrence yes, less peat and smoke, but as I have already said I don't taste or smell the nuances(YET!!!) so while it was less smoky and peaty it still felt like a very smooth easy on the tung whisky. I didn't taste the toffee or honny ect.
People have said it just takes time, so I have to drink try diffrent whiskys and the taste and smell will come sooner or later, I've heard it can take as much as 2 years.
But the 18 year old is expencive, so I won't be drinking that much of it, becasue it would be kinda a waste.
I'll get back to it, later, so Now I have to go and try others, and this time some that are more "diffrent" from the HP Lagavulin, more fruity or spicy.
So this is on the short list of whiskys to buy.
Aberlour 10(this will be my learn to drink whisky whiksy, it's a good price and should have lots of taste.
Bladnoch 16 year old, I wasn't realy plaing on buying an older whiksy again, but when I read about it, it just sound so mouth watering I have to try it.
And Johnnie Walker Green, I don't want to try a regular blend, so this vattet malt, malt blend, blended malt ect. might be nice.

So this is how far I've gotten now, about 5 months into my fall into whisky.
If I get some money tomorrow I'll get the bladnoch(there is 1 left in the outlet)
I can only aford 1 bottle a month.

So if I get the bottle tomorrow I'll post my highly questinoble opinion of it then.