K&L has recently lowered the price on a number of their exclusive barrel picks, so I picked some up...because I'm a sucker for a sale.
BenRiach 1994 Peated, 19 years old, Cask 7187, Bourbon Barrel, 53% abv ($110)
The nose has heavy, sharp peat. The palate has sweet peat notes and then gets a bit sour. It has a great peaty finish on the nose. This is very BenRiach with its sharp peat notes. It's a bit one note, as the peated BenRiachs tend to be, but it's quite decent.
Bowmore 2001 Signatory, 12 years old, Cask 1371, Refill Sherry, 59.1% abv ($59)
The nose opens with honeycomb candy (or Bit-O-Honey for those that remember that). Then, there are some fuel type notes, like you dropped your Bit-O-Honey in a mysterious puddle at the mechanic's shop, plus peat and sulfur. The palate opens with a similar mix of flavors - lots of honey plus peaty, fuel type notes. Then there are some sulfur notes which come to dominate the late palate. The finish is mostly peat. This one is a bit weird, but I like it. It's sweet and bold and leaves you feeling peaty, and for $60, it's a great deal.
Laphroaig 1998 Signatory, 15 years old, Cask 700386, Refill Butt, 59.1% abv ($127)
The nose has tropical fruit. The palate is pure peaty Laphroaig with a very light fruitiness that stays on the palate for the finish, but the nasal exhale of the finish is pure peat. If this was indeed, aged in a sherry cask, it must have been used multiple time as there is almost no sherry character, but it's quite good as a straight forward Laphroaig...tastes like something that could have been a distillery bottling.
That's three very solid peaters from K&L. They were all good, but the Laphroaig was my favorite, followed by the Bowmore and then the BenRiach. That being said, I generally tend not to favor BenRiachs as much as some others do; if you're a BenRiach fan, you may well like that one the best.
wow, peaty much?
ReplyDeletehey, in this case, could you list both sale and regular price? so we know what is what? Thanks
Rick
Rick, all of the prices listed are the current, marked down price. As far as I know, these are mark-downs, not time limited sales, so the prices will stay marked down. Originally, the BenRiach was $150, the Bowmore was $110 and the Laphroaig was $160.
ReplyDeleteIs this a make-up post, Sku? I kid, I kid.
ReplyDeleteI really like that Bowmore (which I purchased in LA last month at the interim price of $80). I have a split of the Benriach coming at some point from M. Kravitz. And now you're making me think about the Laphroaig too.
That Bowmore would be on my list if I were doing an order from K&L.
ReplyDelete- Ol' Jas
awesome, thanks Sku!
ReplyDeleteThose are some serious prices for scotch. I found a pair of Bruichladdich 16 and 17 year olds for 90 CND$ each, and was very pleased. My better half would love the BenRiach....
Rick
Sorry, and no offense should to be taken with what I going to say.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I had a dram of Scotch that was peated, I almost spit it back out. I did manage to choke it down. My thoughts; I thought I'd just put ash's from a campfire in my mouth, just before I choked it down I tasted the swimming pool. The girl serving the sample was at Binny's in downtown Chicago. She asked what I thought? She should of known by the color of my face it was a no sale. She was young, HOT, and I was polite. I'll pass was my answer.
"She was young, HOT, and I was polite"....although not as hot as the scotch! :-O
ReplyDelete