Spring 2016 – Coopers Choice Whiskey
It’s Spring and time for another Coopers Choice Release!
Glenrothes 19 yr old – sherry finish, 53.3% + 472696 $158.25
Nose: It feels of nice notes of sweet sherry, orange, caramel and ripe fruit.
Palate: Rich notes of cooked fruits and spices. There are also notes of leather and sweet sherry. Mouth enticing.
Finish: Final beautiful length with more fruit. This is a nice balance between malt and sherry.
Laggan Mill 2001 46% + 590455 $75.75
Nose: Smoked ham, beachside bonfire, forest berries, cocoa, hints of rubber and nutmeg.
Palate: Dark forest berries on a bed of peat, hints of roasted onions with mild spices.
Finish: Extremely long and smoky.
Overall: The character of this malt certainly hints to a Lagavulin. This is a superb whisky that perfectly combines fruit and smoke.
Allt-A-Bhainne 24 yr old, 46% + 872416 $ 166.92
Nose: Rather rough but also very natural, feinty, spirity, mashy and flinty, which make for a rather enjoyable mix if you like whiskies ‘close to nature’. Nice grassiness, notes of matchbox, coal oven, beech wood smoke, getting then a little minty… A nice, very honest malt on the nose.
Palate: Sweet but firm, grassy and fruity at the same time (apples and pears), developing mostly on vanilla, caramel, fudge, nougat… It’s not a complicated whisky but it’s really flawless.
Finish: Medium long finish on salted caramel… Really nice, a good surprise.
Tullibardine 8 yr old, 46% + 616763 $97.17
Nose: pretty, floral nose, with pink marshmallows, apples and sultanas.
Palate: Full-bodied and fruity, with sweet, red wine notes, spices, berries and ripe bananas in the mouth.
Finish: Medium length in the finish, with berries and spice.
Fettercairn 7 yr old, 46% + 88856 $ 85.00
Nose: Delivers vanilla, oak, grass, vegetation, honey and pears.
Palate: Rich and smooth, creamy yet big with spiced oak, green apples, grassy, honey and green grape skin
Finish: Drying, spiced and slightly bitter.
Highland park 20 yr – madeira finish, 46% + 696625 $201.00
Matured 18 years in a bourbon barrel and finished for 2 years in Madeira casks.
Nose: Scorched seaweed with a touch of linseed oil and appealing lightly smoked sappy wood, chocolate profiterole and faint orange zest aromas.
Palate: Generous, slightly sweet, smoky, buttery palate – invigorated by a spray of sweet orange oils and rich dark chocolate.
Finish: Delicately smoked cedar, cigar box finish with hints of hazelnut.
Port Charlotte 8 yr, 46% + 862946 $132.00
Nose: A big blast of salt with oyster liqueur, vanilla and phenolic smoke. Gets richer as it sits with more vanilla and cream—almost a smoky crème brulee. Some lemon emerges as well. After a while the phenolic smoke comes out on top.
Palate: Hits with sweet peat, transitioning to salt and then back to sweet again as the smoke explodes. On the second sip there’s a lot more pepper with the smoke (crushed black peppercorns); on the third sip the salt jumps out. As it sits there’s more and more lemon as well (with waxy, bitter zest).
Finish: Long. A lot of smoke, a bit of lemon zest and quite a bit of pepper. Gets more bitter (herbal) and then on subsequent sips the salt from the palate expands and lingers. With more time the lemon zest expands as well