We’re introducing a new, occasional format for whiskey reviews: the tasting panel! We’ll still write most of our reviews as individuals, but sometimes it’s just more fun drinking with others, especially when the whiskeys are sure to inspire great conversation. Each tasting panel will have a theme: this round, we’re concentrating on strange, unusual, or otherwise odd whiskeys. This story is a two-parter, so check back tomorrow for more.
Human beings do not naturally excel at describing flavors and aromas, despite the fact our sensory acuity is really quite good. Science recently published an article asserting we can distinguish up to one trillion different odors, two million times more than the number of color tones we can discern visually. Yet for most of us, describing the aromas we smell is an enormous challenge.
Most people whose work depends on their sense of taste have carefully trained themselves to pick up specific flavors and scents the casual taster doesn’t notice, or at least struggles to describe. (Ever read tasting notes like “cat piss,” “wet potter’s clay and waxy flax,” or “honeyed artichoke and peppered kale?”)
Yet most of those people are also specialists, working in their respective niches of the chocolatier or the cocktail bar or the brewery floor, and rarely applying their skills outside their field.
Lucky for us, we’re based in Portland, Oregon, a city known for its amazing dining and drinking scenes. People in firm command of their sense of taste are everywhere.
So, in an effort to invite our brewer, chef, winemaker, and bartender friends to the whiskey tasting party, we’re starting a new thing: we get groups of experienced tasters together (though not necessarily experienced whiskey tasters) for a blind tasting of several different unusual whiskies.
The Tasting Panel
Last month, our tasting panel met for the first time. Here was our crew:
Andy Garrison, distiller at Stone Barn Brandyworks and New Deal Distillery, both in Portland, Oregon.
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Jacob Grier, bartender, writer, and magician living in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Cocktails on Tap: The Art of Mixing Spirits and Beer and the founder of Aquavit Week.
Josh Grgas, Brand Manager of The Commons Brewery and Vice President of the Oregon Brewers Guild. He also judges beer at local and national competitions.
Corey Shuster, owner and winemaker at Jackalope Wine Cellars, a boutique winery making Northwest-inspired wines in Dundee, Oregon.
And me, Margarett Waterbury, Managing Editor of The Whiskey Wash
We tasted through five different whiskies. First, we tried each whiskey blind, and evaluated each one on our own, silently. Then, we opened up discussion, before finally revealing the bottle. Here are the first two our tasting panel tried; the other three make up a set, and we’ll write about them separately:
Floki Icelandic Young Malt
Floki Icelandic Young MaltThis craft single malt from Eimverk Distillery in Reykjavik, Iceland, is made entirely with Iceland-grown organic barley. The Young Malt is aged one to two years in white oak casks, less time than required to bear the name “whisky” under European law. Eimverk plans to release a full Single Malt Whisky later this year, but for now, their Young Malt is Iceland’s only single malt.
Eimverk Distillery tells us that Iceland’s barley is lower in sugars than barley grown at lower latitudes, which means each bottle contains 50% more barley than traditional single malt. For now, this release is only available in Iceland, but keep an eye out for future exports to major U.S. markets
Vital Stats: One to two years, 100% single malt, 94 proof, only available in Iceland for 7,990 Icelandic Krona for a 50cl bottle (that’s about $64.60 in USD, in case you’re wondering).
Tasting Notes: “Gentle oak spice with a green, stemmy aspect;” “Pepper and spice with a buttery/toffee thing up front and a soft mid-palate with an ambiguous cracker flavor;” “Caramel and spring flowers – sunburnt moss, oak, balsa wood;” “Enjoyable but not particularly complex;” “Sweet and super toasty, fresh bread crust and an honest graininess.”
Verdict: We all enjoyed this one, though nobody on the tasting panel seemed totally wowed. Light and aperitif-like, this young malt hints at great things to come from Eimverk Distillery.
Willett XCF Version 1.0
Willett’s Experimental Cask Finish release is a strange one: seven-year-old MGP rye finished for 90 days in a Curacao barrel. Curacao is an orange-flavored, often blue-colored liqueur made from a bitter citrus fruit that grows in the Caribbean.
Response to the Experimental Cask Finish has been all over the map, with some reviewers loving it and others wondering how Willett can charge $150 for a bottle of sourced rye with a straight face. The “Version 1.0” hints at the fact that Willett likely plans to introduce more of these experimental finish casks in the future.
Vital Stats: 103.4 proof, seven-year-old rye sourced from MGP, $150 for a 750ml bottle
Tasting Notes: “Spicy and fruity, very bright;” “Sweet and candied, like Willy Wonka’s field of flowers;” “Very intense up front but strangely vacant in the mid-palate;” “Musty old book pages, bubblegum, butterscotch;” “Aggressive, drying, and astringent;” “A bit harsh.”
Verdict: This was an experiment that didn’t quite work for us. It’s an interesting idea, but the combination of high-proof herbaceous rye and liqueur-like sweetness came off as a little cacophonous. For $150, you can probably do better.
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