Glenmorangie Nectar d' Or 12 Years Review

Country : Scotland

Brand: Glenmorangie Nectar d’ Or

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Region: Highland

Age: 12 Years

Alcohol: 43%

Tasting Date: 26/08/2011 and 14/07/2012

Colour: Pale Gold

Nose: Very smooth. Really Nice! Sweet Wine, Fruits like Apricot, Peach, Orange and Pineapple, Honey, Wood(Shave), Light Spices, Malt and Dried Fruits (Sultanas). No Smoke and Peat to be found here!

Taste: Warm and Spicy in the delivery. There is some Vanilla, Ginger,Honey, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Pineapple and Citrus fruit (Orange/Lemon/Lime). A lot less sweet than I expected, given the Sauternes finishing.

A bit of a bite on the palate as well! It’s a whisky you can actually chew. Try It!

Finish: Middle Long finish with tones of Green Apples, Citrus, Ginger,Nutmeg and Dry Oak.

I added a teaspoon of water but came to regret that. Most of the flavors weaken or disappear and it certainly ruins the finish.

Rating:  85  

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

General Remarks: This whisky matured for about 10 years on Bourbon casks and was finished for about 2 years on Sauternes casks. So it's basically the 10 Years original with a Sauternes Finishing. In general I don't care too much about wine finishing but this is certainly the exception to the rule. A well made Single Malt that will please both beginning whisky drinkers and connoisseurs.

Drinking Experience Neat:  Good

Conclusion: Good balance between Sweetness (Fruit and White Wine), Spices and Oak. Finish could be better. Excellent dessert whisky. A light sprinkle over Vanilla Ice is a certain winner!

Jan van den Ende                                                                                  July 2012

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush (1970) - Review

Songs: Tell Me Why, After the Gold Rush, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Southern Man, Till the Morning Comes, Oh Lonesome Me, Don´t Let It Bring You Down, Birds, When You dance (I Can Really Love), I Believe In You, Cripple Creek Ferry.

Type of Music: Early Seventies Folk/Country/Hippie Rock

After having recorded Deja Vu with colleagues Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young went back to the studio to record his third solo Album “ After the Gold Rush “. Many people complain about Neil´s whiny out of tune voice here as well as the sloppy playing. Well in my opinion these are Neil´s Trade-Marks. I know his guitar playing and singing are not the best in the world from a technical point of view but it´s his style and it´s unique.

After the Gold Rush is certainly one of his better efforts. Neil wrote 10 of the 11 songs on the Album while he renders a nice version of Don Gibson´s country classic Oh Lonesome Me. Two of Neil´s compositions namely the tender Till The Morning Comes and the playful Cripple Creek Ferry are simply too short and leave the listener slightly unsatisfied and wanting for more. But the remaining eight songs are all classic Neil Young. His backing band Crazy Horse shines on the strong Country Rocker When You Dance and the anti-racism inspired Southern Man. Obviously, this song was not well received in Dixieland and four years later Lynyrd Skynyrd replied with “ Sweet Home Alabama”. There are also beautiful ballads like Tell Me Why, Only Love Can Break Your Heart  and Birds.

A very powerful album that should be part of anybody´s collection of Rock Music despite the extensive air-play that most of the music on the album gets on Classic Rock Radio. It´s also a pity that the Sound-Quality of the regular CD leaves a lot to desire. Look for the Remastered Version instead.

Who should buy this Record: Everybody.

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

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Grant's 12 Years Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky

Bottled by William Grant & Sons, Dufftown

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: 12 Y

Alcohol: 40%

Date: 07-07-2012

Colour:  Pale Gold

Nose: First impressions are Peat, Malt, Oak, Vanilla, Grains/Biscuits and a tad of Leather. There’s some Alcohol present so you have to find your way around it to detect some Fruit (Orange Zest, Peach, Apple and maybe Mango or Pineapple).

Taste: Rather sweet with Honey, Milk Chocolate, Malt, Cereals, Orange Zest and Spices like Pepper and Nutmeg.

Finish: Middle-Long and not as sweet as the Palate would want you to believe. Grains, Malt, Cinnamon and Nuts (Almonds).

When adding a few drops of water you eliminate most of the Alcohol on the Nose while releasing more Malt, Vanilla, Biscuits and Tropical Fruits. On the Palate the Spices are less present. The Finish reveals a bit more bitter Grain. You can play with a bit of Water without overdoing it of course.

Rating:  81 

Nose: 21 - Taste: 20 – Finish: 20 – Overall: 20

General Remarks:  This Blend is produced for the Family-Owned William Grant & Sons Ltd by their Master Blender Brian Kinsman (formerly David Stewart). It contains 50% Single Malts and 50% Grain Whiskies. (Girvan Distillery – see Picture above). It matures for at least 12 Years in Oak Casks before being finished for another 6 months in First Fill American Oak. William Grant & Sons are also the owners of Glenfiddich and the Balvenie so we may assume that these Malts are part of this Blend.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Quite Nice.

Conclusion: This is a much better Blend than the Family Reserve, that’s for sure. There is nothing challenging here but it’s a well-balanced all-rounder that will please most people. It’s not quite interesting enough to drink it neat on a regular basis in my opinion but on the Rocks you can’t go wrong with this Blend.

Jan van den Ende                                                                    July 2012

Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Years Review - The Final Verdict

Hi Everybody and Welcome to the Whisky Paradise,

Monday is a holiday here in Sao Paulo so we are enjoying a nice long Weekend. Tonight and tomorrow night I am going to taste Grant's 12 Y Blended Scotch. I do hope it will be better than The Family Reserve that I tasted earlier this year! Yesterday night I revisited the Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Y Single Malt. I refined the Tasting Notes a little bit here and there but my overall opinion and the final score remained the same. It's a very pleasant easy going whisky that is an excellent starting place for newbies in the whisky world. And given its reasonable price, it's one of my day-to-day drams. You can find the Tasting Notes elsewhere on the site or you can simply click here: The Balvenie DoubleWood.

I was hoping to have finished another Pink Floyd Review but that's not the case. Still working on it. Finally I would like to thank my visitors from all over the world for their interest in Whisky and Classic Rock. During the last 24 hours they came a.o. from Myanmar, the USA, Indonesia, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the Netherlands, India, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Denmark,Canada, Belgium, the Philippines,  Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. I wish you all a very nice weekend, enjoy the reviews and Tasting Notes and feel free to visit us soon again.

Sweet Drams!

Jan

Graham Nash - Wild Tales - Review

Songs: Wild Tales, Hey You (Looking at the Moon), Prison Song, You´ll Never Be the Same, And So It Goes, Grave Concern, Oh Camil (The Winter Soldier), I Miss You, On the Line, Another Sleep Song.

Type of Music: Early Seventies Country/Folk/Pop

Comments:

Graham´s forgotten album. And that´s a Shame!  Wild Tales was recorded in 1973 with the help from buddies David Crosby and Joni Mitchell and some members of Neil Young´s  “ Harvest “  band. It´s almost a country album with some pop and folk thrown in for good measure. All songs were written by Graham and usually his voice fits the songs well like in the heartfelt I Miss You. But just try to imagine what Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen could have done with the anti War Song Oh Camil (The Winter Soldier) or say the Eagles with You´ll Never Be The Same. The Album is rather short and there´s some filler but after all those years it´s still one of the albums that regularly returns to my CD Player. My favourite songs include the country-pop of Hey You (Looking at the Moon), Prison Song that deals with the differences in the legal systems of the various states in the Union and And so it goes.

The Album missed a Hit-single like “ Chicago” on “ Songs for Beginners” and was overlooked. Sometimes life just isn´t fair! 

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Anyone who likes the sound of Crosby, Stills & Nash in songs like Teach your Children or Our House should buy this one. May be hard to find though!