April 2023 Digest

April 30, 2023 Whiskery Turnip

Welcome to a brief wrap-up of reviews from April 2023!

Where did the month go? If March felt like the year was finally slowing down, April was full-speed ahead yet again. I poured less whisky but finished up more reviews and plotted out summer travel— all work-related, unfortunately. However, there should still be time for some fun and, certainly, time for a few pit stops to taste some good whisky.

I slipped a little bit this month when it came to maintaining coherent weekly themes, and, no doubt, my imminent travel will make this even more difficult during May and June. I may have had less time to organize my tasting and notes in an orderly fashion, but I still managed a few glorious theme weeks in April.

The month began with a long stretch of miscellaneous malts with loose thematic groupings— no doubt the standout from the mix was my first Lochlea and a duo of late teen Glenlivet. The first real theme week kicked off with a handful of Glentauchers; I usually enjoy the distillery quite a bit; however, besides a delightful 18-Year bottled nearly a decade ago, I was a bit disappointed with how simple most of the young malts were.

The month kicked into high gear with a week dedicated to mystery Islay malts— though most are known to be Laphroaig. While I rated all of them reasonably high, especially for the price, at least one commentator on Reddit opined that I should never taste another Islay again as it obviously is wasted on my palate. A few others took issue with my sometimes very visual and impressionistic language.

While I do not always agree with how the feedback is delivered or framed, I did not find the responses entirely without merit. I do tend to grade Islay malts a bit harder than others; the island is home to some of my favorite distilleries and labels, so my expectations are often relatively high. I maintain that a 7/10 is a good score, and an 8/10 verges on greatness, but scoring systems are always inherently a bit arbitrary, and I consider them no more than just a shorthand for my general thoughts. Sometimes a 7/10 indicates a shockingly good whisky and excellent value; sometimes, it registers as a bit of a disappointment, but still a great pour. The score is an imperfect summary of my thoughts plotted on a linear scale and is frequently my least favorite part of any review.

Language is another hangup people sometimes experience with whisky reviews: do you prefer something short and concise or long and discursive? I like longer, more visual, or impressionistic descriptions than abbreviated lists of flavor notes, so that is what I write. We all have our preferences regarding whisky, and it is okay if we have particular inclinations when it comes to reading or writing reviews. It would be boring if we all just reproduced exactly the same thing. I know my writing style is not for everyone; I will never forget the first article I ever published in a history journal; one reviewer called my prose “poetic and moving,” and another commented that English was obviously my second language and I needed editorial guidance. I do not worry about pleasing everyone. As long as I am having fun, that is enough, and if someone else enjoys what I wrote or finds it useful, that is a bonus!

I ended the month with a handful of American Single Malts. Somehow I had not gotten around to tasting anything from the category this year, so it was time to fix that and clear out some of the last American single malt samples I still had. No doubt, this also means it is time to reload with some new ones!

It was a busy month, but I still found time to relax with some whisky! Let us begin with a few numbers.

29 reviews
6.14 average score
15.9 Years average age

Here are a few standouts from the pack:

Best of the Month

How could I not award “best of the month” to this delightfully briny and intense 21-year Laphroaig from SMWS? As I mentioned in the review, I purchased this bottle during a moment of madness; it was by far the most expensive bottle I had bought and still ranks among the priciest. In retrospect, it was not a bad deal, as prices have definitely gone up on these sorts of malts, especially from SMWS.

The bottle sat on my shelf for several years before I opened it. After it arrived, I decided to hold off on trying it until I finished my Ph.D. and officially graduated. That ended up being a bit longer of a wait than I expected, but it was well worth it. A special occasion can elevate our experience with a whisky, so I was not entirely unbiased in my enjoyment and rating of this particular dram.

Honorable mentions go out to the 31-Year Islay Sponge and a 32-year Laphroaig from Thompson Brothers, which I lovingly refer to as “Lobster Cat” due to the excellent artwork by WhiskyHobo.

Surprise of the Month

My “surprise of the month” was a cask-driven young Bruichladdich bottled for Shinanoya Ginza in Japan. Shinanoya often picks excellent casks, and this was no slouch. I hesitated to even pour it; historically, I have neither been a devotee of unpeated Laddie nor cask-driven whiskies, and my track record with port maturations is decidedly uneven. A friend quipped that I would surely enjoy this, so I gave in and gave the bottle a brief whiff— that was all I needed, and suddenly I had a dram in my glass. The whisky was beautifully thick and farmy with tons of balsamic and strawberry— two of my favorite notes on wine-forward profiles. In the end, I did not like this; I loved it.

A full list of reviews can be found below:

April 2 Macduff “Glen Deveron” 12 Year (c. 1980s)

April 4 Mortlach, 2022 Special Release

April 6 Mannochmore 11 Year (2007), Ultimate Whisky Co. Cask 6682

April 7 Bruichladdich 16 Year (2005), Friends of Bruichladdich Cask 0977 for Fèis Ìle 2022

April 8 Daftmill 12 Year 2007 Winter Batch

April 9 Lochlea First Release

April 9 Clynelish 21 Year, Bruichladdich 9 Year, Glenlivet 19 Year, Glenlivet 18 Year

April 11 Glentauchers 11 Year (2003), Gordon & MacPhail

April 13 Glentauchers 14 Year (2005), Hart Brothers

April 14 Glentauchers 15 Year (1998), Cadenhead

April 15 Glentauchers 10 Year (2010), Hunter Laing's The Sovereign for K&L