Getting Creative: Vattings

@Victor is absolutely correct about the language. it would be more easily understood if it was written in layman's terms...if it walks like a skunk and smells like a skunk, it's probably a skunk....insert Canadian for skunk.

@paddockjudge , @Victor. That explains a lot. I've had mixed experiences with Canadian Rye. I understand now why some had little to do with Rye. Some Canadian Rye have been very good.

Cognac Remy Martin VSOP 1 part to 4parts Oban 14y Scotch. This was amazing, hugely long finish, great mouth feel, smells wonderful.
A little water opened up the Oban more. My favorite.

Cognac Remy Martin VSOP 1 part to 4parts Laphroaig 10 Cask Scotch. My friend enjoyed this one more, same great coating of the mouth, fantastic nose. We tried the standard Laphroaig 10 but it needed more smoke.

Cognac Remy Martin VSOP really held it own against the Scotch.

Try it you'll like it

I am now trying a vat of Longrow CV with Glengoyne 10 (50-50). This one need oxygen! The nose gives some drykill wood, some leather and the sourish note from Cambletown but less herbal. On the palate, the peat concede first place to the malt with again some leather and a hint of musk like aftershave finishing on the Glengoynés peach syrup and chared wood (light smoke). This vat has better balance than any of these two scotch!

Firstly I confess that I am a converted rum drinker. I have been thinking of buying a bottle of Balvenie 14 Caribbean cask. Then thought hey why don't I mix some relatively easy to drink inexpensive scotch with some rum to see what I think of that before shelling out a 100 bucks on something I haven't tried before. I mixed 45 ml of Arran 10yo with 15 ml of Flor de Caña 12 yo rum and let it marry for a day. Couldn't wait any longer so tried it tonight, quite delicious. The Arran 10 is a daily go to dram these days and the rum is a favorite sipper when I want something different. I think the combination worked very well. Added some sweetness and that muscovado flavour to the scotch. I do have a sweet tooth & I will be buying the Balvenie Caribbean Cask to give that a whirl.

I was just reading @rigmorole's "love poem to Airigh Nam Beist" (as @victor put it—linked below) where he suggested blending youngish Arbeg with older peated malt—say, a well-aged Caol Ila—to recreate the ANB. Now his suggestion was directe to Ardbeg, but I wonder whether anyone here is up for it?

I have no old Caol Ilas in my cabinet, but it seems fairly common. Who's got some? Who wants to mix some with Ardbeg Ten and report back? This is for science!

Rigmorole's ANB review: connosr.com/reviews/ardbeg/…

Ha Ha Ha a good one!!! @bobsterman91

I did something crazy. I mixed 1oz of Clynelish 14 yo with a ts of Cutty Sark Prohibition, a ts of Tobermory 10 yo ans a ts of Jack Daniels Single Barrel. I start with Clynelish for the salt and the exotic fruit notes than use theCutty to add lower notes and Tobermory for some peat and citrus notes amd finished with JD single Narrel to get some floral notes and spices. As expected the result is a complex dram, one of tHe best vatted I ever did. It was a lot of fun!

Ardbeg Uigeadail + Ocho 8 tequila reposado. Mmmmmm. These both have such elemental flavours that they blend really well. Just found myself a new favourite blend I think. @Victor, I doubted your tequila / ardbeg vattings - I tried an anejo + coal ila a while back that was horrible - way too sickly and caramelised - but this very slightly rested reposado with a nice pure agave hit goes brilliantly with Ardbeg. I'm a convert!

@AndyC, no doubt the specific whiskies chosen and the specific tequilas chosen make all the difference in success or failure. I was quite surprised by how good those vattings of Ardbegs and tequilas are.

In the examples I was vatting using first rate bottles of Ardbeg. I expect the process would be trickier and the results more in doubt if any of the ingredients were on the lower end of quality on the spectrum. For example, that Ardbeg Ten I used was a very vivid batch. Some batches are a bit washed out by comparison. I'm sure that would alter results.

I'm pretty sure no one's even dreamed of doing something like this. First edition Amrut Cask Strength (May 2006) 62.6% + Four Roses Single Barrel (Barrel 69-6W) 50% ----- equal parts.

Work really well together since the Amrut is virgin oak and first-fill bourbon re-cask which means everything is within the same family.

On top of that I paired it with a Butlers Irish Whiskey Truffle Chocolate.

Need I say more?

Ardbeg Uigeadail married in equal parts to Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey (2013). The bold forcefulness of the rye coupled with the lashings of a smoked sherry king. A combo to end all combos.

@MaltActivist, sounds like an atom bomb. I guess I'll have to try this.

I am mixing Cutty Sark Prohibition with Forty Creek Confederation Oak lot 1867 B in equal parts. The result makes me thing of a sweet HP. All flavors seem more defined. Oak, honey and peat. Very interesting.

Last night I mixed equal parts of A'Bunadh batch 36, 45 and 46 into a small sample bottle. I'll leave it for a while to marry and see if they can cancel out each other's rough edges (36 add 46).

Nozinan, have you created the a'bunadh batch 51 ?! :)

What do you do when you have a batch of a whisky you like that is not what its usually is? Personnaly I try to get to what I am used by doing some creating Vattings. My last bottle of Glenfarclas has more chocolate but less spices that the batch that I like. It is also a bit on the bitter side. Solution! I had just some Knob Creek single barrel into it and it did marvels. Please, be gentle on the KC as it will enhance the wood from Glenfarclas in little dose or cover it in larger doses. In the later case there also will be too much of a green cereal on the nose.

I did improve the Prohibition & Confederation Oak vatting. 50% of Prohibition, 10% of HP Dark Origins, 10% of Eagle Rare 10 yo and 30 % of Forty Creek Confederation Oak. It is very very good. Just an advise, if you play with this vatting, don't adjust Confederation Oak on a fresh vatting as it takes way more space with time. I was surprise by that but that is the way it is!

After writing reviews of two whiskies, I performed the sacrilegious act of mixing my remaining Amrut and Booker’s together (50:50). How would the bourbon-matured single malt react with powerful bourbon?

My hypothesis is that Booker’s would overwhelm the Amrut.

---

After a few minutes:

The nose is more muted than the Booker’s alone, and has more sweetness, but is not as bright and fruity as the Amrut alone.

Surprisingly, the bourbon doesn’t overwhelm the malt, with a lot of the flavours coming through.

This is a vatting success.

My dad keeps one of those miniature oak barrels full of bookers. I'm considering doing the same with the custom batches of bookers coming out this year. The miniature barrel has developed tremendous flavor over the years. The stuff that pours out of it is much more like GTS than bookers at this point. All the burn has mellowed into wood, leather, and spice. Yet it maintains the candy corn syrup that i normally associate with bookers.

@Nozinan Looks like Jim Beam had the same idea. BEAM SUNTORY TO LAUNCH NEW PREMIUM BOURBON, JIM BEAM KENTUCKY DRAM Beam Suntory is to launch Jim Beam Kentucky Dram, a premium bourbon infused with highland Scotch whisky. Inspired by the brand’s adventurous forefathers, the distillers who travelled from Scotland, Jim Beam Kentucky Dram is a limited edition which will drive interest in premium bourbons, a focus for growth in the category. beamsuntory.com/news/press-releases/…

@newreverie

Except for a few differences:

My vatting was at near to cask strength

There was no peat

I wouldn't ask anyone for money for it...

Inspired by my success a few days ago, I officiated at a marriage of Booker's 2015-01 and he same Amrut single cask, this time 60 cc of each in a sealed sample bottle, no water added.

I hope to allow the two some privacy in my dark cabinet, and will offer it up at a tasting I'll be going to soon, for anyone who wants to try it.

@Nozinan Sign me up, I'd love to try it.

I've never successfully vatted bourbon and scotch, it's not an easy thing to do.

It amuses me that Uigeadail is the catalyst of choice for so many of these concoctions. I myself have a 21 year old Signatory bottling of HP that I often liven up with a splash of Uigeadail. Uigeadail might be the whisky equivalent of hot sauce.

@McTeague ...as are Macallan Cask Strength and Maple Syrup. @Victor uses Mac CS, amongst other magic bullets.

I mixed up a batch of WL Weller Antique 107 proof with WL Weller 12y 90 proof. The vatting is 50/50.

@Benancio

and......?

Yes @Benancio and??. Please let us know because I fancy trying that one myself.

@Nozinan and @maltmate302,

I'm sorry I meant to post a response as I drank the vatting, but my wife drug me off to dinner, so the glass sat there until I returned home. Then we ran into some friends at dinner and they came back for a bourbon tasting, dessert and dominoes.

Enough excuses, on to the review of the 50/50 vatting AND WL Weller 12y & Antique 107. The Antique 107 is a standard in my bar and I know it very well, caramel, spicey, burn, clean and crisp, Delicious.

The Weller 12y isn't sold in my state and I bought this bottle on travel, only the second time I've had it. So I don't know the 12y compared to the Antique 107 which I love. 90 proof, much smoother, little burn, oaky but not too oaky, dark burnt sugar and caramel, thick great mouth feel.

Vatting 50/50 WL Weller 12y & Antique 107 Amazingly good and complex, medium burn, crisp spicy, oaky, lots of caramel and burnt sugar, great mouth feel, really long finish longer than it's constituents. It's fantastic.

The vatting is my hands down favorite of the three, its the best of both worlds, then the Antique 107 and last the 12y. Not to say the 12y isn't good, it is good, just a little too smooth for my tastes.

My friend who is a bourbon drinker but has never had WL Weller, picked the 12y first, then Antique 107 and the vatting last. He said the vatting was to complex and had too much going on for him. He preferred the smooth, oaky, 12y.

After WL Weller we went on to Elijah Craig Barrel Proof and Bookers 2015-2, it was a Fun night of dominoes. Cheers guys,