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The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

By Miguel in Compass Box , Drink & Arts

The Kiss is a discreet expression of Klimt’s emphasis on eroticism and the liberation therein.

kiss Gustav Klimt

The picture

The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, and is probably his most famous work. He began work on it in 1907 and it is the highpoint of his so-called ‘Golden Period’. It depicts a couple, in various shades of gold and symbols, sharing a kiss against a bronze background.

When he painted The Kiss Klimt was 45 and still lived at home with his mother and two unmarried sisters – but behind the respectable facade he was a man with a ferocious sexual appetite. Klimt fathered at least three illegitimate children and probably many more. He was obsessed by women and he had a fixation with redheads. It is no surprise that the woman in The Kiss has red hair. According to writer Frank Whitford: “Together the man and the woman form the shape of a penis and I think that is intentional – it’s about sex and about the fulfillment of sex between a man and a woman.”

The Dram: Compass Box The Spice Tree

a bottle of Compass Box The Spice Tree
Compass Box’s delicious Spice Tree was briefly illegitimate, according to SWA regulations. After adjusting it’s creation, Spice Tree is back, and better than ever. It’s a blended malt made from Highland malt whiskies, aged in specially made casks with new French oak heads.

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Bruichladdich XVII Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Bruichladdich
91
Bruichladdich XVII 17 year
17 year old Bruichladdich. The first edition of the 17 year old comes from 100% first fill American Oak casks.

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (88): inexistent. sweet, mature red fruits, grapes, honey, spices, smoke, wood. First nosing data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Palate (92): . sweet, honey, fruits, wood, spices, smoke. Bouquet data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Finish (92): no finish. honey, wood, spices, a little smoke. Finish length is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bruichladdich XVII 17 year with 91 points over 100.

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Bruichladdich Fifteen Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Recommended , Bruichladdich

“ A great dram. More mature than 10 years old, with more wood and spices. Sweeter. Great.”

92
Bruichladdich 15 Year Old / 1st Edition Islay Whisky
A 15 year old Bruichladdich, released by the new owners of this Islay distillery.

As soon as the distillery was reopened in 2001 Jim McEwan started creating new whiskies with the existing casks, releasing jewels like this 15 years old single malt that soon capture the heart of all the whisky aficionados out there.

Pure Bruichladdich pleasure!

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (92): inexistent. sweet, peat, honey, fruit, pears, spices, vanilla, wood. First nosing data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Palate (92): . sweet, fruit, wood, peat, honey, spices, tobacco. Bouquet data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Finish (92): no finish. spices, honey, wood. Finish length is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bruichladdich 15 Year Old / 1st Edition Islay Whisky with 92 points over 100.

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Bruichladdich 10 years old Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Recommended , Bruichladdich

“ A great affordable dram from Bruichladdich that is a kind fruity welcome tp the peat world of Islay.”

91
Bruichladdich 10 year
Recently reborn with the great Jim McEwan at the helm in the distillery, Bruichladdich has once again started producing the kind of malts Islay fans adore.

Fresh, vibrant and as clean as a whistle.

This Islay single malt was one of the first whiskies released after the reopening of the distillery in 2000. It has been recently replaced by a bottle done totally with the whisky distilled by the new owners.

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (92): inexistent. sweet, fruit, red fruits, honey, peat, marine, vanilla. First nosing data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Palate (92): . sweet, salt, honey, fruits, wood, spices, tobacco. Bouquet data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Finish (88): no finish. spices, wood, honey, smoke. Finish length is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bruichladdich 10 year with 91 points over 100.

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Finished Laphroaig Cask Strength: Whisky maturation

By Miguel in News , Laphroaig

A Laphroaig Cask Strength 10 years old matured for one month on a small four litres cask that contained Oloroso sherry.

Extra matured Laphroaig Cask Strength in a glencairn glass

I have matured this cask strength Laphroaig for one month on a 4 litres american oak cask that has contained oloroso sherry for 4 months.
Initially I had in mind maturing it for a few years but someone advised me against the idea because most of the whisky will evaporate and explained me that typical maturation periods for these small casks are within months.

Nose (20): Sweet, iodine, hospital, raisins, vanilla.
Taste (22): Peat, sweet, ripe apples, sherry, cocoa, chocolate.
Finish (22): Peat, wood.
Balance (21): Too much sherry.

Score:

85

It is really worse than the original cask strength Laphroaig, the sherry took too much influence on the whisky.

The whisky isn’t bad, but the original peat punch of Laphroaig isn’t there anymore. It is still peated a lot, but as someone said, peat and sherry doesn’t do good friends. Each of them is cancelling the other.

Anyone wants 2 bottles of this? :)

I am thinking about breaking now a Macallan in a Moscatel Sherry cask :D


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Whisky blogs round up: April, 3rd week

By Miguel in Blogs

Last week on the blogsphere we read about:

a bottle of Kilchoman Spring Release 2011

Whiskyfun: Around the world in 80 whiskies

Whiskyfun is doing a special about Around the world in 80 whiskies. Serge is travelling around the world tasting some whiskies. He has started in Canada with a Glen Breton 15 years old and moved to the USA with three bourbons: Blanton’s Original, Four Roses Single Barrel 2010 and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Whiskey 2010.

You can’t left Whiskyfun without reading Pete McPeat and Jack Washback plans for Royal Wedding.

What Does John Knows: Ardbeg Alligator

John Hansell writes about Glenmorangie Pride, a 28 years Glenmo for just $3600, a bargain. Also he tasted Ardbeg Alligator, which seems that will be bottled at 51.7% and that will be available at USA as a Committee release in June. He also reviews two Irish whiskeys: Michael Collins and Knappogue Castle.

Dramming has been reviewing some bottles as Tamnavulin 16 years old from Master of Malt, Eagle Rare 10 years old and Whyte and Mackay Special

In Edinburgh Whisky Blog, Chris writes about his trip to Speyside were he visited Glenburgie, Glenlivet and Strathisla.

a bottle of Mackinlay Shacklenton Highland Malt Whisky

Whiskynotes has been tasting LittleMill 1989, Kilchoman Spring Release 2011 and Goudem Carolus 2009. Kilchoman announced that there will be a 100% Islay malt version in June, a 4.5 years old fully sherry matured in September and a 5 years old in November.

Whisky Israel: Tasting Shacklenton whisky

Whisky Israel have been after Mackinlay’s Shacklenton Rare Old Highland Malt that you can still buy at Master of Malt for £99, a Glengoyne 9 years old from the Creative Whisky Company and a SMWS Macallan Cask 24.104 called “Chocolate box at Christmas”.

Whisky for Everyone writes a quite interesting article about their visit to Glenburgie distillery.

The casks has been reviewing Chieftain’s Cigar Malt, Evan Williams Single Barrel and Bulleit (95) Rye Whiskey.

Nonjatta: Number One Whiskies unaffected by Fukushima radiation

Nonjatta posts few reviews of Japanese whisky ( if you haven’t tried it yet you really don’t know what you are missing ): White Oak Crown Blended Whisky, Genshu Single Cask Yoichi 20 years old and Nikka Pure Malt Tarudashi. They also post the press release of Number one drinks about their whiskies to be unaffected by Fukushima’s radiation.

Happy reading!.


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Bruichladdich: The Resurrection

By Miguel in Featured , Bruichladdich

From a mothballed distillery to a jewel in less than ten years. Know a bit more about Bruichladdich history

Bruichladdich Distillery
Bruichladdich was founded in 1881 by the brother Robert William and John Gourlay Harvey near the shore of Loch Indaal, near the town of Port Charlotte. When it was founded the distillery was an example of the state-of-art and most of the equipment is still used unchanged.

The distillery was built from stone since its foundation as it was built on the purpouse of distilling whisky.

The distillery changed owners and was out of use from 1929 to 1937.
In 1938 it was sold to Hatim Attari, Joheph W. Hobbs and Alexander W. Tolmie. In 1952 sold again to Ross & Coulter Ltd, who sold to A.B. Grant in 1960.
In 1968 Invergordon Distillers acquired Bruichladdich and doubled the number of stills, before selling it to Whyte and Mackay in 1975.

The distillery closed again in 1994 but was purchased by Murray McDavid on December 19, 2000 and completly renovated by a team of enginiers. Jim McEwan, who has previously worked at Bowmore distiller, was hired as Production director. Most of the distillery is still operated without computers.

They managed to get production again in May 2001. And started inmediately selling whisky from the old maturing stocks.

Bruichladdich Stills
Bruichladdich traditionally produces a low peated spirit, to which the new owners added a heavily peated malt called Port Charlotte and an even more peated malt called Octomore, named after a silent distillery of the area.

The distillery uses one mashtun and six washbacks. The still is composed of two wash stills and two spirit stills, around 23000 litres each of them together, all heated by steam.

It is the only Islay’s distillery that uses on-site bottling.

In 2006 Bruichladdich new owners introduced the first whisky matured and bottled under their management: Port Charlotte PC5.

Some Bruichladdichs from my collection



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April's orders batch: Holidelays

By Miguel in Orders , Cooley , Kilchoman

Holidays, family, whisky and raining: Nothing is perfect.

April order from The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt

This month I haven’t had time to photo all the bottles received, so finally they did a huge batch that I have finished photographing today.

This batch features some interesting bottles as the “limited release” Mackinlays Shacklenton , Cooley’s Greenore 18 years old, the latest Kilchoman Spring 2011 and the finish Terenpeli whisky.
Also I bought another bunch of miniatures and samples to keep writing about them. As usual I ordered them from Master Of Malt and The Whisky Exchange

Here is the list:


BTW Master of Malt has Mackinlays Shacklenton’s whisky again in stock now: http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/mackinlays-shackleton-rare-old-highland-malt-whisky/


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Bowmore 18 years old Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Recommended , Bowmore

“ The peat on this truly Islay malt lives together with a delicious citrus freshness altogether with some great notes of cocoa and nuts. Thirsty already?”

93
Bowmore 18 year
This increible single malt whisky was distilled at Bowmore in Islay.

Bowmore 18 years old is a complex, enigmatic and interesting malt. One to ponder over at a leisurely Islay-time pace, as it won't be rushed and takes a little time to open up and reveal its true quality.

One of the best Bowmore that I have had from the distillery range.

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (96): inexistent. sweet, peat, sea, citrus freshness, coffee, cocoa. First nosing data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Palate (92): . sweet, peat, iodine, coffee, floral, citrus, dates, nuts. Bouquet data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Finish (92): no finish. peat, iodine, sweet, citrus. Finish length is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bowmore 18 year with 93 points over 100.

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Bowmore 12 years old Tasting note

By Miguel in Tasting , Bowmore
89
Bowmore 12 year
Established in 1779, Bowmore Distillery is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and nestles on the shores of Loch Indaal on the Inner Hebridean Isle of Islay.

Bowmore is universally regarded as the best balanced of all the Islay malts, as characterised by its wonderfully rich and complex flavors.

This dram has a white-like color.

Nose (88): inexistent. sweet, floral, citrus, lime, peat, marine, salt. First nosing data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Palate (92): . sweet, peat, peat, cocoa and salt. Bouquet data is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

Finish (88): no finish. peat, floral, sweet. Finish length is innacurate as the previous tasting sheet lacked of this field.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Bowmore 12 year with 89 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

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