Whisky and Sulphur

In my tasting notes I have frequently complained about a certain nutty bitterness that seem to be present in some way or another in a lot of whiskies, most of them (though not all) having matured for some considerable time in used sherry - and or wine casks. I also found it in some Bourbons by the way. In all cases I did not like it at all and found that it could really spoil the nosing and tasting experience. I certainly would not buy these whiskies again if I could help it. Problem is that I don't really know what causes this bitterness. 
One of the possible villains is sulphur dioxide. This product is used in vineyards to prevent the growing grapes from oxidising. It is also added to Wine and Sherry Casks to kill bacterias. Or maybe it is added to all casks these days with food safety and all. 
Now the funny thing is that apparently not everybody is able to pick up the smell of sulphur unless it has reached the rotten egg stage where it is hard not to detect it. This seems to be a genetic issue although experiments show that smokers and heavy coffee - and/or black tea drinkers have more trouble identifying it. Most people who do detect it compare the smell with burnt matches and/or flints. Some people even like a bit of it in their whisky as it adds another component just like peat or smoke or iodine, also stuff that not everybody cares for. Some people believe we should be advised via the label if and when a whisky contains sulphur.
As I said, I'm not really sure if it's the sulphur that causes the bitter taste and finish in many whiskies I've tasted so far. But if the answer is yes, I believe the industry should start looking for odourless - and tasteless alternatives as the sulphur may drive many new consumers away from our fine spirit.

Jan

Blanton's Single Barrel Review

Country: USA

Brand: Blanton’s Single Barrel

Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Age: Not Specified

Alcohol: 40%

Date: 08/01/2012

Colour: Deep Red Amber

Nose: Pleasant sweet nose with Corn, Vanilla, Honey, Light Spice (Cinnamon) and fresh Oak. There’s fruit as well but I’m not able to pin it down exactly. Could be Pear, could be Apple, could be Strawberry. A Fruit Cocktail with Honey, Cinnamon and a touch of mint! “Problem” solved.

There are many people that have visions of glue when smelling Bourbons and there’s certainly something to that. But whatever you want to call it, Blanton’s nose is both pleasing and addictive!

Taste:  Blanton’s coats your mouth but I would not call it extremely smooth. It’s too dry for that and not at all as sweet as you would expect after nosing. There is a quick sensation of Honey and Caramel (Burnt Sugar) but the spices are there at once and in force, including Pepper, Ginger and Nutmeg. And Cherries appear, loads of cherries! And there’s this slightly nutty bitterness I find too often in whiskies and Bourbons. And I can’t say I like it a lot.

Finish: Long and quite dry with Corn, Cinnamon, a bit of Pepper and Oak. But it’s the Cherries, Mint and Lime that seem to last forever.

Don’t add water to the Blanton’s! It starts tasting like watery muesli with cherry flavor!

Rating:  83,5 

Nose: 22– Taste: 20– Finish: 21– Overall: 20,5

General Remarks: Blanton was the first Single Barrel Bourbon back in 1984. All major competitors followed in due course. It’s made of Corn, Rye and malted Barley. It’s filtered with Charcoal and is produced by the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. The bottle I’m testing today is numbered 282 and was dumped on February 26, 2007 from Barrel No. 31 that was stored in Warehouse H at rick number 3. Each Blanton bottle stopper has a small horse and jockey on top. They became the trademark for this Bourbon. There are 8 different ones each mentioning one letter of the word Blanton’s. All horses and riders show different strides inspired of course by the famous Kentucky Derby.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good
Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Good

Conclusion: Very pleasant nose indeed. But the taste and finish are too dry despite the long-lasting cherries in the finish. This Bourbon really leaves you with a very dry mouth and a bitter aftertaste. This extreme dryness and the slightly unpleasant nutty bitterness prevent Blanton’s Single Barrel from a higher score. Next barrel please!

Jan van den Ende                                                            January 2012

Johnnie Walker Green Label Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Johnnie Walker Green Label  

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: 15 Years

Alcohol: 40%

Colour: Amber

Nose: Malted Barley, Heather and Peat are followed by Oak, Sherry, Oranges, Raisins and Caramel. There’s some Alcohol but nothing to get upset about. You have to be very patient and persevering to get round these initial flavors but after quite a while I detected hints of Coffee, Leather and Tobacco. Very light Spices.

Taste: Very smooth and sweet though a bit watery delivery with Honey and Toffee, followed by Cinnamon and Pepper. Much sweeter than I’d expected actually after the nose. A light saltiness appears. Grapefruit, Nuts, Oak and Tobacco. Again I would like to stress that a blend of this quality should be bottled at (at least) 43%.

You may add some water that will release even more Heather, Honey and Peat but be careful! A drop too much and the palate is gone. I prefer it without water to better enjoy the Talisker Pepper that provides a welcome counterbalance for the Honey and Malt from Cragganmore. I would have liked to find a bit more Smoke. Caol Ila does bring (more than) sufficient Peat and a slight saltiness.

Finish: Good, Long but Very Dry. A combination of Honey, Cinnamon and Pepper. Smoke and Ashes from a very distant fire.

Rating: 86,5

Nose: 21,5 – Taste: 21,5 – Finish: 22 – Overall: 21,5

General Remarks: Green Label is the only JW blend made purely of Single Malts. Four of them actually, from all main Scottish production areas: Talisker, Cragganmore, Linkwood and Caol Ila. The blend was introduced around 1995. Unfortunately,Diageo has decided to take the Green out of production. The reason could be that the middle market goes for Black and the Upper Market for Blue and Gold. And Green is too expensive for the Middle Market and not expensive enough for the Upper Market. Result: Disappointing Sales. Well, I do believe indeed that the Green is too expensive when compared to the Black.

But it’s also a quite different blend and as such deserves its place in the JW range. It 's a pity to see it go!

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Conclusion: I really struggled with this one during the last two nights. I heard so much positive opinions about the Green Label that I was really excited about tasting it. Did I set the bar too high? Probably. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. Let me start with the good news. The Finish is without any doubt the best from the Johnnie Walkers I’ve tasted so far. And the Blue label is the only one left untested. Nice combination of sweet, salt and Pepper. If anything, maybe a wee bit too dry. As for the nose, it’s nice enough but I found the Barley and Peat too dominant.  On the palate I thought the sweetness to be a bit overdone. Don’t get me wrong, the Green Label is a very good blend but I still think it can’t beat the Black Label in terms of both harmony and adventure. And I also think that the palate of the Swing is more to the point. It is of course all very personal in the end. But if you prefer Honey and Sweet you should go for the Green and the Gold. If you like a bit more Smoke, than the Black and the Swing are your choices of a good blend. Black, Green, Gold and Swing. You can’t go wrong with any of them. In fact they beat many Single Malts and there aren’t that many blends that achieve that. But with the exception of Black, you will need to dig deep in your pocket! However, the Green won't be around for much longer, so it's now or never!

 

Jan van den Ende                                                               January 6, 2012    

Led Zeppelin I - Review

Album: Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin (1969)

Produced by: Jimmy Page for Atlantic Records.

The Band: Jimmy Page ( Guitars and Backing Vocals), Robert Plant (Vocals, Harmonica) John Paul Jones (Bass, Organ, Backing Vocals) John Bonham (Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals).  

Songs: Good Times Bad Times, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Your Time is Gonna Come, Black Mountain Side, Communication Breakdown, I Can’t Quit You Baby, How Many More Times.

Best Song:  The Trilogy: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You/You Shook Me/Dazed and Confused.

Type of Music: Hard Rock and Blues mixed with bits and pieces of Progressive Rock and Folk.

Comments:

Extravagant, Loud, Decadent, Uncompromising, Bombastic, Heavy. All these qualifications come to my mind when thinking about the music of Led Zeppelin. Although they could also be precise and subtle demonstrating their obvious love for the acoustic guitar and English folk music. They were glam-rockers, punks and abused booze, drugs and hotel rooms. They were not particularly good at song-writing and ripped off old blues songs and folk originals. But Jimmy Page and Robert Plant did manage to transform those songs in dark and mystical works of art. Many bands have tried to copy their style in the seventies and eighties but none was able to come close. The combination of Page and Plant simply was unique!

Like so many bands in the late sixties and early seventies, Led’s debut album was heavenly influenced by the blues with lyrics that tell the tale of lost love, treason and loneliness. And three of these blues songs, I Can’t Quit You Baby written by Otis Rush, How Many More Times by Howling Wolf and the obscure You Shook Me form the basis for the album and are surrounded by a couple of fast and furious pop rock songs, a folk instrumental, an acoustic ballad and some psychedelic prog- rock.

The combination of songs however makes it a nearly perfect listen and Led Zeppelin I (One) will always remain one of my favourite classic rock albums.

As so often happened, the band would struggle to match the quality of their debut album. They would surprise us with many great songs in the years to come but they would never again make such a coherent album.

So let’s have a look at the individual songs:

The album starts of with the single Good Times Bad Times (Nr. 80 Billboard). It’s really a simple but agreeable pop song dressed up as hard rock.

But then we are surprised with around 20 minutes of absolute heaven for classic rock lovers. The trilogy starts off with the acoustic blues ballad Babe I’m Gonna Leave You. Never again Robert Plant would sound so honestly and convincingly depressed as here. You can almost feel his broken heart although I’m not quite sure he’s leaving her in the end. Later on in their career, Robert would overdo the wailing and the songs would almost become parodies. But not so here. Great song!

It is followed by the first and best of the three blues songs You Shook Me. The band plays extremely tight on this one. They almost sound like a  machine, with pounding drums, great bass lines and the perfect interplay between Jimmy’s guitar and Robert’s voice. And watch out for those organ and harmonica solos as well!

To finish the trilogy we get Dazed and Confused the heaviest track on the album. It’s bluesy and psychedelic and fast and furious sometimes. It’s amazing!

None of the following tracks come close although none of them is really bad. The first one is Your Time is Gonna Come and the organ intro played by John Paul Jones is the best part of the song really.

The following Black Mountain Side is an instrumental folk song with some Indian influences creating an atmosphere not unlike some of George Harrison’s later work with the Beatles.

Communication Breakdown is hard rocking and to the point and I Can’t Quit You Baby is the second great blues song. It’s more relaxed and less compact than You Shook Me but still great.

And the album closes with the blues-shuffle How Many More Times that starts of quite gentle but explodes later on. It’s probably the only song on the album I could live without although it has its moments.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Sound Quality: Excellent. Be sure to get the re-mastered version.

Chart Success: The album made it to number 10 in the Billboard Album Top 200.

Who should buy this Record:  Everybody!!  Led Zeppelin’s Best Album and one of the true Classic Rock Albums of All Time. Get It Now!

Jan van den Ende , 2010

Cutty Sark Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Cutty Sark

Type: Blended Whisky by Berry Bros & Rudd, London

Age: Not Specified

Alcohol: 40%

Colour: Pale Gold

Nose: As always give your whisky sufficient time to open up before nosing. I recommend at least 20 minutes. The Cutty Sark certainly does not present an impressive nose with Malt, Sweet Grain (Breakfast Cereals), Citrus and Oak. There is Alcohol but not as much of it when compared to various other blends in the same price range. At some point I thought I nosed Apple Pie with Raisins and Cream but it’s not consistently there. There’s also something nasty that I can only describe as morning sickness after a stiff night on the town if you know what I mean. Quite a mixed bag that we have here!

Taste: Delivery is a bit thin. Sweet, Simple but Drinkable with some Light Spices, Honeyed Grains, Extra Sweet Toffee and Apple.

Finish: The honey/sugar sticks to the palate for a while followed by Oak and the unpleasant Nutty Bitterness that is so common in Standard Blends and for which I have deducted a full point.

I would not recommend adding water to the Cutty Sark although you get a little bit more fruit (Melon) on the nose. But you completely destroy the  taste.

Rating: 76 

Nose: 19,5 – Taste: 19,5–  Finish: 18 – Overall: 19

General Remarks: This blend was created in 1923, at first especially for export to the USA during the Prohibition. The logo represents a drawing of a Sailing Ship constructed in Scotland in 1869 that bore the same name. The name, bottle and brand mark remind me a bit of pirates and smuggling.

Today the blend is still popular in the USA, but also in countries like Spain and Portugal where it is often mixed.

The blend consists of a number of grain whiskies plus around 20 Single Malts, mainly from Speyside. At its heart lies Glenrothes. Other renowned contributions are Tamdhu, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain. The grain whiskies are blended first together as are the Single Malts. Afterwards they are then “married” together.

Drinking Experience Straight: Average/Good (Average because of the bitter finish)

Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Average

Conclusion: Cutty Sark is not an expensive whisky and as such it holds its ground when compared to direct competitors such as Dewar’s White Label, Grant’s Family Reserve, Ballantine’s Finest, Chivas Regal 12 Years, White Horse, the Famous Grouse and Johnnie Walker Red Label. Still it’s depressing when you realise that 90% of all whiskies sold worldwide are blends, many of them of comparable quality, quite a few of them better but lots of them worse as the subject of this review. Anyway, Cutty Sark is an acceptable blend given its competitive pricing. It has some Speyside-like sweetness on the palate and some citrus on the nose. There are some off-notes as well, respectively on the nose (Morning Sickness) and in the Finish (Nutty Bitterness). If you go for cheap and reasonable, Cutty Sark could be your blended whisky of choice. Or you could save a bit longer and buy yourself a Deluxe blend or a Single Malt. Guess what I would do!!!

Jan van den Ende                                                                   January 1, 2012