Feb 28

The Glenlivet Cipher Finale

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 The Glenlivet Cipher Experienced

This article is a long time coming and I definitely apologize for that.  The Whiskey Tasters tried Cipher back in November 2016 and had to say overall we were pretty impressed.  It was a pleasant surprise as no one really knew what to expect but honestly I think many didn’t expect it to be as good as it was.

The Glenlivet Cipher

 

Now to be honest one thing everyone did agree on that night was that it was a little expensive for what it was.  Since we bought it in Canada the cost was $199 CDN.  Now we had said if the bottle was closer to the $100 mark it would feel better but at the higher price, although it tasted good, it seemed overpriced.

Now to the bottle itself.  The Glenlivet did a great job masking every aspect of the bottle.  Completely black and can’t see through it for a colour.  Seems even weighted so we couldn’t tell how much was left.

Recently The Glenlivet finally “decoded” the Cipher.  They used First-Fill American and Sherry Casks with flavours of poached pears, honey, caramel toffee and spice.  It’s non-chill filtered and bottled at 48%.  It’s also said that it has a long finish with warm spiciness and you can definitely taste that when you finish a dram.  It lingers but definitely not in a bad way

In conclusion if you come across the chance to sample The Glenlivet Cipher we recommend it.  It’s a good bottle and limited like The Glenlivet Alpha from 2011.  Might as well say you got to try it.  Even buy a bottle and store it there’s a chance it will increase in value in 5 years or so.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and let us know if you’ve tried The Glenlivet Cipher and what you thought

Nov 11

The Glenlivet Cipher Part One

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Can You Decode The Cipher?

So The Glenlivet announced there newest scotch several months back.  It’s called Cipher and it’s similar to The Glenlivet Alpha they released in 2013.

Alpha proved to be very popular.  There were no aging notes, no tasting notes, there was nothing at all.  So it’s been a few years and The Glenlivet has done it again.  The announced Cipher back in June as a limited edition bottle.  Not sure about Canada or the US as we can’t find numbers but apparently the UK was only getting 1200 bottles.  In Quebec the SAQ only had 250 bottles available.

The most interesting part is the social aspect that The Glenlivet is trying to cultivate with this bottle.  The created a website for Cipher and the Master Distiller for The Glenlivet, Alan Winchester, wants people to try to decode the tasting notes.  There is apparently around 10,000 different flavour combinations.  Eventually the notes will be released through The Glenlivet Guardians

So The Whiskey Taster’s got a bottle and we’re going to be trying it shortly.  We’ll give a full follow up on what we thought of the Glenlivet Cipher but we will not discuss our own tasting notes.  We want people to get out there and try to decode it for themselves

Can you decode the Cipher?

Jun 12

Pig’s Nose Blended Scotch

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Pig’s Nose – A Review

Pig's Nose Blended Scotch

So the second review is also going to be going back to our first meeting back in March and it’s one of the few times that we generally disliked a whiskey across the board.  It’s a 5 year old blended scotch from Spencerfield Spirit Co. and the slogan is “as smooth as a pig’s nose”.  Now Pig’s Nose comes from the same creators of Sheep Dip and although we haven’t gotten around to reviewing that one yet I do hear good things, but then again Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible in 2006 did say Pig’s Nose was”A big, sweet, chunky, gawky, grain-lashed but hugely enjoyable blend,” which I think most of us at the tasting will argue.

Nose

The whiskey is young and from the first breath you can tell.  You can get some fruit and barley, but there was also a smell that no one at the tasting could put their finger on which didn’t help with the first impressions.

Palate

There was a harsh taste on the palate.  One would say gristly even with a salty taste.  It was creamy on the palate

Finish

It felt like it never ended.  In all honesty because it wasn’t one we enjoyed at all it was harsh and seemed like the taste lasted forever.

Final Thoughts

We clearly didn’t enjoy Pig’s Nose very much.  We tried it neat and just found it really awful.  We had hopes from reviews online and maybe we just ended up having a bad bottle or batch.

To give credit where credit is due the taste changed both with ice and with water to open it up.  It was much better but in the end not enough for us to say we would enjoy or even recommend it.

Pig’s Nose is definitely not one we will be adding to our collections any time soon.

Jun 10

How Do You Drink Your Whiskey

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How Do You Drink Your Whiskey?

I know I know in a glass, right?  Fine you got me there.  What I mean is do you drink it neat, on the rocks or with a drop or two of water?  Everyone has their own preferences and even everyone here at Whiskey Tasters even takes their whiskey differently and really why not?  Each way brings something new to the tasting and gives a whole new experience.

Neat

This is having the whiskey in a glass with nothing other than the whiskey.  Also known as straight in many countries like Canada or the UK, but in the US straight means unmixed rather than without ice.  Neat like all the ways to enjoy your drink is a matter of taste, but some will argue the advantages or disadvantages.  Drinking your glass neat is said to be the real taste and way to enjoy your whiskey, but aficionados will argue that you are not opening up the whiskey by adding water to it.

Drink Whiskey Neat

On The Rocks

Another way to drink your whiskey is on the rocks.  This can be a bit more complicated as on the rocks means a little something different to everyone.  As for on the rocks or with ice and it could come like a regular drink filled to the brim with ice or you could ask for a small amount of ice as per your taste.  One of the Whiskey Tasters likes to order his whiskey with one ice.  That person is me and I always feel like a snob when I do.  I tend to like my whiskey chilled and the one ice lets the water open it up but not overwhelm it with water.  On the other side people are very against ice as it can numb your tongue and water your drink down and this would limit how you taste the whiskey.  Even the BBC has an article about why you shouldn’t drink your whisky on the rocks, which is actually a good article to read if you have a few minutes extra to check out.

Drinking Whiskey On The Rocks

On the rocks also has an option of what’s called whiskey rocks or stones.  These are stones, usually made of granite, marble, or even metal and are kept in the freezer until ready to use.  The thought behind them is they allow you to chill your whiskey without diluting it like ice would do.  In our experience whiskey stones tend to leave a chalky or stone taste to the whiskey and they also warm up quick and lose the point of them.

Water

The last way is to drink your dram is with a little water.  I know it seems counter intuitive and feels almost like you are water down your glass and taking away from the taste, smell and flavor.  Well the truth is you don’t over fill the water but rather just add one or two drops to your glass.  By doing this it’s supposed to open up the whiskey and give you a full complete of taste and smell.

Drink Whiskey With Water

Honestly we at Whiskey Tasters encourage people to drink their whiskey, scotch, bourbon, or rye any way they damn well please.  In each of our get togethers we give enough of a tasting that we get to enjoy the dram in each of the ways mentioned above.  We like to see how each experience changes the taste and smell of the whiskey and some bottles have been made better with an added drop of water or a cube of ice, but that’s a story for another time.

Until next time raise a glass and enjoy

Jun 06

Digg.com’s Tour Of The New York Distilling Co.

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So this won’t be a very long post but we recently came across an interesting video of a visit to The New York Distilling Co.  It seems Digg.com recently went for a tour and posted the video for everyone to enjoy.

You can view the tour and explanation by clicking here

whiskey stills

May 03

Tullamore D.E.W 12 Year

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The first review I’m writing up is for the 12 Year Special Reserve from Tullamore D.E.W.  This Irish blended whiskey comes from William Grant & Sons which is better known for their Glenfiddich and Balvenie single malt whiskey’s.  It was originally produced in Tullamore, Ireland but later moved to Cork County.  It was first introduced in 1829.  The D.E.W in the name is the initials of one of the general managers Daniel E. Williams.

Tullamore D.E.W 12

Tullamore D.E.W. Bottling Notes

The 12 year special reserve was originally launched for the travel market, which means it was sold in airports and duty free shops around the world.  It’s a mixture of bourbon and oloroso sherry casks

Tasting Notes

Nose

When the Tullamore D.E.W 12 year first crosses your nose you get a scent of strawberry jam, dates, linseed and honey.  You may also smell pastry scents like scones and discuits

Palate

This whiskey is light on the palate with hints of gentle spices like allspice and nutmeg.  The honey carries over from the nose onto the palate

Finish

It has a medium finish with a slight oaky or nutty bittersweetness

Final Thoughts

What can I say about the Tullamore D.E.W 12 year?  This was one of the first whiskey’s we tried over at Whiskey Taster’s during our first monthly meeting.  It was the “premium” bottle of the night.  I say premium bottle because it was $55 CDN.  Not the most expensive bottles we’ve tried and definitely not near an expensive bottle in the world of whiskey but it was definitely fantastic at the price point.  This bottle has gone into my personal collection and I don’t hesitate to bring it out for guests or even the occasional night cap.

Is there better out there at the same price?  definitely.  Personally I’m a fan of Glenfiddich 12 Year or a good Glenlivet Founders Reserve both which can be found for around the same price as the Tullamore D.E.W, but if you are trying to expand your whiskey collection or just looking for a new every day bottle don’t hesitate to consider the Tullamore D.E.W

Apr 28

Whiskey Taster’s Introduction

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For this first post let’s have a Whiskey Taster’s Introduction on who we are and what we are trying to do. We figure if you are going to start coming here regularly and seeing our content you might as well know ahead of time what we are about.

Basics

We call ourselves the Whiskey Tasters depending on how lazy we are being on any given day. We’re a group of friends who got tired of going to different whisky tasting events and feeling like we weren’t getting much out of the experience. We’d go to random events pay 50$ or more and get tiny little samples and a few little bites of food. With events having 20 or more people we wanted more. We wanted to actually get time to enjoy the whiskey we were tasting. We wanted to choose the bottles we got to sample and decide how much we would spend at any given get together.

The goal of the site is the same as the meetings. It’s to make the world of whiskey friendly to the every person. Bring more people into the world and show them how to enjoy it. We mean enjoy as an average person not someone with years of tasting experience and know-how. We want people to not be afraid and gain a basic understanding. We are by no means experts just amateurs who enjoy having a glass of whiskey

Whiskey Differences

We want people to get a deeper understanding of what the differences is between Scotch, Whisky and Bourbon.  There are many sub categories to each type of whiskey and even different countries have different types of whiskey’s.  Our goal is also to learn and experience the differences of them all.  It’s a learning experience for us and we want to pass that along to everyone.

Jameson Night - Whiskey Taster's Introduction

Jameson Whiskey Night

Where To Start And Where We’re Going

We make it simple for ourselves.  We go out read up on what we are trying and see what people say are the tastes and smells that are part of each bottle or glass we try.  When we have all our notes we see if we can find the same flavors.  Sometimes it is easier then others but it’s fun to try.

Going forward we hope to bring our tasting notes on all everything we try directly to this site and pretty much anything whiskey related.

So we hope you enjoy the ride!