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Amrut Peated Cask Strength

Batch 12 - MAGIC!

0 2297

@NozinanReview by @Nozinan

5th Jan 2015

0

  • Nose
    25
  • Taste
    25
  • Finish
    23
  • Balance
    24
  • Overall
    97

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Batch 12: January 2014 700 cc 62.8%

I have made no secret that I am a big fan of Amrut. This is not an original opinion. I got the idea to buy Fusion either from Ralfy or from a review in the Globe and Mail about 3 ½ years ago. Since that time I have tried 8 different expressions, and I have enjoyed all of them.

This one is either my favourite or next to it. My first taste of it was at Spirit of Toronto in May 2014. I had intended to buy it when it was released in Ontario, as it was my favourite of the 5 at the masterclass, but when was available I confused it with the single cask expressions and was waiting for the single cask Peated CS, which, of course, never arrived.

Thankfully I was able to locate a couple of bottles in Richmond Hill in December, the month in which this bottle was opened.

This malt is reviewed a little differently than my other reviews. At S.O.T. , Ashok, the brand ambassador asked us to warm the glass after initially nosing. The result was what several of us described as magical. Although it is harder to replicate this with a Glencairn than with a stemmed glass, I’ve done my best. So this is reviewed at room temperature, warmed by hand, then with about 3-4 drops of water to a 15 cc pour (left to sit for about 15 minutes).

Nose

Room temperature: Hint of smoke. Caramel. Tropical fruits. After warming: richer nose, gentle peat, stronger caramel, fruit more subdued With water: Pineapple hits you right away. Vanilla and caramel are still there, peat is in the background.

Taste:

Room temperature: Fruits, peat, hint of chocolate. Pineapple. Sour note. After warming: Explosion of flavour, sweet and sour, vanilla, caramel, some milk chocolate, sweet peat. With water: very fruity, a slight alcohol burn (but mild enough to be pleasant), peat is in the background. Warming it brings the peat back front and centre, and it feels like honey-syrup on the tongue, sweet (but not cloying) with the caramel and vanilla flavours accentuated. When warm the alcohol burn disappears.

Finish: Neat the finish is long, dry with a slight sour note.

This one goes well with milk chocolate, specifically Trader Joe's Belgian milk chocolate.

This is a fantastic single malt… one of the best I’ve ever had. I rank it up there in enjoyment with A’Bunadh and Bladnoch, though of course it is completely different, which is good, because it means more variety of excellence.

This is one I would love to stock up on, especially this batch, which is (to me) proven. I have asked my local LCBO to bring some in and I intend to get my hands on a healthy supply. Hopefully enough to part with a bottle as a trade or a gift sometime.

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22 comments

@JasonHambrey
JasonHambrey commented

high praise...I liked fusion; but didn't love it. This one did catch my eye though - perhaps I'll have to think some more about getting it before it dissapears. how peaty is it?

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Not as peaty as something like QC or Ardbeg 10, but, especially hand-warmed, it does come through. Gentle, not harsh.

9 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Nozinan, thanks for a lovely passionate review. Every last one of those Amruts going to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario presented at Spirit of Toronto 2014 was delicious.

So far, out of 12 Amruts I've tasted the only one I didn't like was that one ringer bottle of @dbk's Fusion. @dbk gave an entertaining review and comment trail on that one. There must have been something wrong with that whole batch, I expect. I've had samples from two other bottles of Fusion, one of which was astoundingly good, the other just ok. What I take from this is that there is perhaps more variation in batches of Fusion than in the other Amrut whiskies.

I wish you the best of luck, @Nozinan, at putting away several bottles of this Amrut Peated Cask Strength, batch 12. I want to drink some more of it in the future!

About glassware, I have lots of Glencairns, but I consider them to be mediocre at best for quality of nose and palate. In my experience almost every other convergent glass I've tried gives superior nose and palate tasting experiences compared to Glencairns. The big bowled glasses seem to give the best results of all, but they are impractical for all but home use, because of their size, fragility, and difficulty to clean. I've settled on stemmed brandy snifters as my standard home whisky tasting glasses.

9 years ago 0

@PeatyZealot
PeatyZealot commented

If u like this, try to get the 100 :)

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

I don't know I will ever get a chance to try the 100, but is sounds good. How is it different, other than the ABV, from the profile of the peated CS?

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

I haven't had PORTONOVA in a long time, so it's an unfair comparison because they are two different styles. I see I ranked it lower in my review.

It was also featured at the SOT masterclass. I can certainly say there wasn't this magical transformation the way this malt performed when warmed. The explosion of flavour in the mouth...unforgettable...and reproducible!

9 years ago 0

@Robert99
Robert99 commented

@Nozinan @Victor Have you tried the Neat Glass. I prefere the Glencairn for under 50% ABV whiskies as I found the heavy notes are more present with it. But for cask strenght the Neat Glass is great even if it looks like a chamber pot. This weird shape dissipes the alcohol and reveal the high notes quite well. When nosing a CS with it you don't get your nose numb by the alcohol giving you more time to appreciate it. But I have to admit taking a sip out of it feels weird at the beginning.

9 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@Robert99, I haven't used the Neat glass, but I am happy to experiment with anything.

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

I have only seen the NEAT glass online. They look interesting. Are they meant for small volumes? My dreams are a little smaller than average.

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

I meant my drams. My dreams are normal caliber.

9 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

Great review @Nozinan. I hope to give this batch a shot if I can get my hands on it. What I did have last week (in fact uncorked it for New Years) was the first ever Amrut Cask Strength (Bottled May 2006). Spoke to Ashok who told me that it was a combination of Virgin and first fill bourbon oak. At 62.6% it was every bit as fiery as the later cask strengths but the virgin oak seems to have done something magical. It almost had a sherry quality to it - the bourbon influence was that strong and that sweet. Insane dram. Will be writing a review soon. Thanks for an awesome review!

9 years ago 0

@MaltActivist
MaltActivist commented

Though it wasn't peated...

9 years ago 0

@Robert99
Robert99 commented

@Nozinan It is ideal for a pour of 1 to 1 1/4 oz where you have maximum air exposure. For me this glass is only needed when you want to get some heavy notes out of the way but I haven't tried it with very light whiskies. But what I found is that when the heavy notes are not overwhelming, the whisky will smell light and dull. I guess, it would be very good with light whiskies at high ABV.

An another way to see it is that the whisky will oxidized itself faster in the Neat Glass. For example, with the Farclas 15 the gentle wood spices came faster and so did the cherries and the almond. The alcool, the chocolate and the malt were pushed backward. Generaly speaking, I find that this glass as the biggest effect on the perception of the malt. With the Glengoyne 10, for example, the malt seems less bitter, more smoky and fruity. So even if the Goyne is at 42 ABV, I sometime prefer it in the Neat. If I want the Goyne to smell velvety rich and even taste velvety rich, I will use my Glencairn.

Two last comments. Of course you would have no problem to warmed your pour with it and if you want the heavy notes back a bit, just incline the glass as if you were preparing to have a sip and plunge your nose in the glass. It quite surprising the first time. As the sip itself, because of the shape you really have to incline the glass more than usual and the liquid hit your tongue with some wideness which is strange at the beginning for a sipper like me used to a thrickle.

9 years ago 0

@Robert99
Robert99 commented

@Nozinan BTW there no such think as a normal caliber dream. There's a great cartoon from Gotlieb titled "Le fond de l'air est frais" that shows that fact. Scarry. And as Freud said "Man is a polymorphous perverse" so there's nothing standard with him.

Cheers!

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@robert99 - my pours are usually 15-20 cc, about half of what you describe (1,25 oz is about 35cc) so I wonder if it's not as useful to use a neat glass.

I'm still looking for some mini-glencairns I've seen displayed a couple of times. When I had my first FC Confederation oak it was in such a glass and it was the best I ever tasted it.

@MaltActivist, I'm intrigued. I have a couple of minis and a full size bottle of Amrut Cask Strength "limited Edition" bottle in September 2007, no batch number, at 61.9%. I had thought that was the original bottling. Oh well, guess I should drink it then... I'm happy to say the mini and a later batch were both excellent. I now have a multi-year supply of the peated CS so if you're out of luck you just need to make the trip to Toronto... There will be some waiting for you.

9 years ago 0

@PeatyZealot
PeatyZealot commented

@Nozinan It seems to have a lot in common like the tropical fruits, chocolate and gentle peat, but in the 100 there is an Indian spice oak flavour from the second maturation. It was my first Amrut so I dont know how it is, I have a review of it up, so feel free to compare

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Came back to this on a cold winter night. This time in a brandy snifter to make hand warming easier. I had to add an extra point to the nose, bringing this up to 97 out of 100.

Though I prefer a glencairn for ease of holding, I have to admit I was able to get some subtleties in the nose this way. Some banana in addition to the tropical fruits and specifically the pineapple.

The spirit was a little hot tonight with a few drops of water, but heat was good on such a cold night.

9 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

What the heck happened to my detailed review???????

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

phew...it's back

8 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Came back to this. It's been poured off into a smaller glass bottle for 6 months, having been opened about a year ago. Normally I find the subtleties are harder to make out as the bottle is open longer. not doing a formal tasting so I can't tell if this is still a 97, but it's definitely near there...

8 years ago 0

@Alexsweden
Alexsweden commented

I'm sitting on one of these and await the right moment and company to open it. Reading your review really makes me look forward to it!

8 years ago 0

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