Archetypal whiskies

Clynelish made in early 90's (bottled later of course), White label Springbank 10 year from 2012, Ardbeg Beist, Clynelish 15 Exclusive Malts, Talisker 18, Bruichladdich Comus, Hudson Four Grain, Pappy Van 23 (this year), Pappy Van 15 (last year), Brora (any you can get your hands on), Longmorn 15, PC8. These whiskies have transported me to eldritch time/space musings, little glimmers of ethereal "HERE."

I've really been enjoying this young strapping little Hudson Four Grain over past few days. It went on sale in Oregon from $50 for a half bottle to $20. Needless to say, I stocked up! Bought four bottles. It's not terribly complex but it is primal. I really like the interplay of heirloom varietys of rye, wheat, barley and corn. There is an arc to it: traditional yet somewhat gentle opener on palate to complex strange admixture of oak and grains to nice smooth creamy barley and wheat finish. It's a nice dram for springtime to be sure.

It's sounds bizarre, but nibbling on Jewish marbled rye with Baba Ghan on top, in between little sips of this Hudson brings out some really interesting nuances on the taste buds. I've made little squares of this appetizer, toasted it in a toaster oven, and snacked on it for two days now. The rye bread and eggplant seems to accentuate some qualities in the four grain, highlighting the rye presence as it comes and goes amid other grain accents.

BTW: this Hudson is listed as 2011 batch 21 bottle 1490. I don't now if that means it was put into the cask in 2011 or bottled. However, I seem to recall the company is rather new, so it must have been put in the barrel then and probably bottled this year. Hudsons are hyper-aged in small barrels, not unlike Sprinbank's Rundlets and Kilderkins series.

p.s Whoever put a minus on my first reply to this discussion is a spineless jellyfish. "That's right, you. are. a. little. girl." Respond if you don't like something I write. Coward.

@rigmorole,

Yeah, pretty week. I evened the score.

Agreed, stand up and be counted. Hopefully the new connosr format will do away with the anonymous thumbs down facility.

@Oberon - Try a vertical tasting. E.g. Bottles of a different age from the same distillery. That can help you see similarities and as the bottles get older the complexity increases and flavours change. You can try "similar" whiskies but overall my advice is.... drink lots of Whiskies and practice.

Or maybe had a "tasting dram", one you know well and use this first to get your senses tuned to something familiar and then try a different whisky afterwards.

Very interesting discussion. So we're talking about archetypal whiskies, ones that are closest to the standard nose and taste profiles for a particular category of whisky. Based on my experience up until this point and knowing full well that my malt mileage is quite limited in certain categories. I'll say…

Islay - Coal Ila 12

Speyside - Glenlivet 12

Lowlands - Glenkinchie 12

Islands - Highland Park 12

Highlands - Glen Garioch 12

Campletown - Hazelburn 12

Japanese - Nikka Black 8

Canadian - Gibson's Finest 12

Rye (purposefully made this a separate category from Canadian!) - Old Overholt 4

Irish - Bushmills 10

Bourbon - Four Roses NAS

Blended - Chivas Regal 12

I was surprised by how many of these expressions were aged for 12 years! Anyway, there is obviously plenty of room for disagreement and debate but this would be my list!

@tjb I've tried the vertical tasting, and that's definitely a lot of fun and informative, giving an idea of how just the aging processes changes the flavor.

Thanks for the responses!

@CanadianNinja Good choices, I like your thoughts on the regions.

I've copied all of my posts here, and stored them on my computer, so if a tag team of anonymous bullies votes them into oblivion I will delight in reposting them ASAP. {:>))