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Interesting one for day 16: a Highland whisky finished in an ex-Islay cask. This is a 9-year-old Ardmore, finished in a Laphroiag, 61.3% ABV. Pale golden color, pretty long legs, and brine and a bit of citrus on the nose. The palate is dark honey, some floral notes, and peat that blooms into the finish, where the Laphroig cask really comes out. This one is really tasty, and a surprise after seeing "Ardmore" as the top billing.
I spent a good chunk of my evening conversing with an old friend for a new installment of the Memories of Cachalot interview series, so the shot was by necessity something I could set up quickly. All things considered, not bad.
Day 19 brings the other kid home from college, and a 12-year-old Dalmore finished in a 1st fill Oloroso sherry cask and bottled at 57.2% ABV. Nice, deep copper color, with a lot of dried citrus, vanilla, and ginger on the nose. Spice, sherry sweet, and dried plums and figs on the palate, leading to a nice warming finish where the citrus notes come out again. This is another sherry bomb, not surprising given the color. A hair sweeter than I prefer, but a nice dram for the night.
Tonight's photo is largely an exercise in "what haven't I used for a prop yet?"
Is it day 21 already? Closing in fast on the end of the calendar this year.
Tonight's wee bottle is Wemyss Malt's "Gardener's Biscuit Break" bottling of an 18-year-old Linkwood, finished in what is only described as a butt (I'm guessing a refill sherry butt, but I don't know for sure.) The color is a pale gold, and the nose is a bit musty, with a hint of citrus. The palate is honey sweet, with a bit of shortbread and a fruit I can't quite place. Maybe quince, maybe pear. The finish is rather short, and a bit peppery. Nice enough, but not something I'd seek out again.
Another relatively quick setup and search for as-yet-unused props tonight, since I was out at my alumni board meeting for the first part of the evening. Had a bit of a hand from Thing One to hold a makeshift reflector (a.k.a. a new-ish aluminum sheet pan) to get a bit of light, but not too much, on the typewriter.
After a nice breakfast with a few other photographers, then spending about eight hours on the road to pick up one daughter from college, a quick photograph without a lot of setup was in order this evening. Handy string of Christmas lights helped.
The day 11 dram is an 11-year-old Speyside malt from Dufftown, finished in a first fill Oloroso sherry cask, and bottled at 55.4% ABV. Deep copper color, and a nose full of dark berries, figs, and orange. Not too sweet for a sherry-finished whisky, with more of that big fruit character on the palate: blueberries, cherries, dates, and warm spices. Those spices linger on into the finish, along with another faint note that I can't quite place. Not oak, but something akin to it. It's a sherry bomb, and I'm fine with that. Delicious.
The dram of the day is old enough to drink.
It's a 21-year-old Arran from a refill ex-Bourbon, bottled at 52% ABV, sourced from Douglas Laing. This was distilled in '96, and Arran only opened in '95, so this is from their second year of production. The color is a pale gold, and this has a very light nose with hints of caramel and maybe stone fruits. I get pineapple, citrus, and more caramel on the palate, and the finish is lingering and warm, with the fruit fading off to a grassy note. This isn't the character of the whiskies I tend to seek out most of the time, but it's certainly tasty. Looking around at bottles I have the feeling this would be a tricky (and pricey) one to seek out again, though. Guess I'll just enjoy this glass.
Tonight's photo is mostly an excuse to see how this new double glass responds to light. Certainly has potential.
"Watermelon Wedge" are two words I did not expect to see when cracking open door number 17 on the Whisky Advent calendar, but there they were.
This is apparently a single grain whisky from North British, in Edinburgh. For Scotch whisky, "single grain" means that the mash bill contains something other than malted barley, but the "single" is still "single distillery" not "single kind of grain." It was bottled from cask WVM264 at 46% ABV.
The color is a very, very pale straw (which made it tricky to shoot, since I didn't want to just go with a white background.) Quite a bit of alcohol on the nose, and faint fruit. I guess I could say it's watermelon, but I think I'm getting something more like honeydew and pineapple. The palate reminds me of peaches or pears in syrup, but the lingering warmth of the finish skews towards oak. It has a bit of moonshine-ness to it, with the edges filed off by time in what I'm guessing was a second or third refill bourbon barrel given the color.
You might say that the whisky isn't really the focus of tonight's picture. OR IS IT?
I'll chalk this up as another experiment, but, yes, this is one shot in-camera, no photocompositing involved.
The whisky itself is a 10-year-old Miltonduff, bourbon cask, 60.9% ABV. Pale gold in color, with vanilla and shortbread on the nose. Maraschino cherry and dried fruit on the palate, with a bit of citrus and some warmth in the finish. Lot of body to this one, more than I'd have expected given the color. It's a nice dram after a longish day.
Unlike the calendars I've bought the last few years, this one has a final Christmas Day offering, and it's a nice one: a 30-year-old Bunnahabhain, finished in a puncheon, and bottled at 46% ABV by Wemyss Malts, who calls this "Luxury Damson Jam."
It's a deep copper in the glass. Even though this is an Islay single malt, I don't get any real peat on the nose. Instead, I get dried fruit, wood, and a faint hint of brine, a combination that brings to mind my grandfather's pipe tobacco. I get dark fruits on the palate: plums, cherries, figs, with a bit of orange peel. That bit of citrus expands into the finish, along with a bit more of the wood. I suspect if this had much more age on it the wood would start to overpower things, but as it is it's just a nice grace note. This is a very lovely tipple to enjoy as I wrap up Christmas Day.
These have been a lot of fun for me for the last few years, mostly as an excuse to have a whisky at night and attempt to be creative with the camera. Hard to not get repetitive, now that I've got almost 100 shots under my belt. But I'm sure I'll give it another go next year.
OK, *now* it's Christmas.
Day 12 of Whisky Advent brings a bottle of Wemyss Malts' Lord Elcho blended Scotch whisky, a 60%/40% blend of single grain to single malt whisky. Lord Elcho was the commander of Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army, exiled to France after their loss. He was also the son of the Earl of Wemyss, which connects the name to the brand, I suppose.
Nice amber color. I get pears and maybe some green grape on the nose, and the palate is a little sweet with apple and pear. I get lingering sweetness and a little bit of oak on the finish. There's something very wine-like about the overall character. It's a good sipper, not exactly to my tastes, but again, wouldn't turn down a sniff if offered.
Well, it's not exactly a normal year, in that I'm not going to have 50 or more friends and family stop by the house tomorrow night, but I did still indulge myself in annual holiday dessert baking day (you have your 12 Days of Christmas, I have mine.) Which means I'm just getting to the little bottle behind door 23 now.
Nice little bottle, too: a 21-year-old Glen Spey, finished in a sherry butt, bottled at 59.2% ABV by J. D. Rattray. I think the only Glen Spey I've ever had was a Flora and Fauna bottling I sampled in Edinburgh on my last visit. I get a whiff of citrus and toffee on the nose, and a floral note that borders on medicinal but doesn't quite get there. Ginger and chiles on the palate, with maybe some cocoa, and that dried fruit backbone I'd expect from sherry. Not overly sweet. Very warming finish, with a bit more citrus peel. This will go nicely with my last task of the day (getting a little gift wrapping done.)
As you might have guessed, I was a bit busy today, so I just framed the glass with some of the products of today's busy-ness: a pair of whiskey pear tarts (slices of whiskey-macerated poached pears, baked in a shell of páte sucrée with frangipane and a whiskey-pear juice reduction for a glaze. Not a Scotch whisky in the dessert, though, just a not-too-pricey bourbon.)
And just like that, I'm on vacation. Today's dram became porch whisky.
It's a 10-year-old single malt from Deanston, a Highland distillery that I don't think I've tasted before. Finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry (quite a few of those in this calendar), and bottled at a whopping 65% ABV. Nice golden color, and really coats the glass. Nose is vanilla, toffee, and shortbread. More vanilla, and dried cherries on the palate, with a bit of oak to the finish. Warm all the way down, unsurprisingly.
Just a quick shot tonight, since I spent the bulk of the evening on electronics repair and the fallout from said repair. At least the hold times with cable company support were mercifully short tonight.
Day 20's dram is a 7-year-old Caol Ila matured in first fill Oloroso sherry and bottled at 55.5% ABV. Color is… buffed leather? Not red enough to call it coppery. I get salt air, a whiff of smoke, and dried fruit on the nose. Dried apricots and figs on the palate, with that medicinal peaty backbone bringing some iodine. The finish is warm spices and more of the sea air. This is a very nice whisky; the combination of a young Islay malt and the big sherry finish is right up my alley. It has a lot of sherry sweetness, but the peat balances that out nicely.
Door number 8 opened to reveal a Benrinnes 10-year-old single malt. This is a Speyside malt finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks, bottled at 56.1% ABV. Nice copper hue. Chocolate and candied oranges/fruits on the nose, along with maybe some faint pipe tobacco. The chocolate and fruit stick around on the palate, with a bit of sweetness from the sherry and some alcohol heat. The orange notes linger into the finish, which is a little astringent. This is certainly a Christmas-y dram. It's sweet, but the heat from the higher alcohol content balances that out for me.
Another framing I wanted to try, with the focus being on the pour into the glass. I had an alternate take (with a black backdrop), but after going back-and-forth a dozen times I think the color worked out just slightly better against the white, and this one had slightly more interesting refractions in the spilling whisky.
Day 24 of Whisky Advent, and while it wasn't nearly as busy as a normal Christmas Eve at my place, it was busy enough that I just grabbed a quick iPhone shot of the glass. Still a nice way to start my evening, though.
The dram itself is a 29-year-old Invergordon single grain whisky, bottled by Wemyss Malts as "Strawberry Fondant Icing" (once again, words I don't expect to see on a whisky bottle.) Matured in a butt (variety not specified on the bottle, but apparently sherry), 46% ABV. Didn't make tasting notes when actually drinking it, but my recollection is that it had lemon peel and vanilla on the nose, more vanilla and dark fruits on the palate, and a sweet but not terribly pronounced finish.
Today's photo is the result of a bit of happy coincidence. Since I play archivist for the Cachalot Alumni, I was already planning to do some more slide scanning tonight of the current batch I'm working on. As luck would have it, another alum brought a new batch of slides and documents by the house to add to the pile of material to scan and preserve. Then, when I opened door number fifteen on the Whisky Advent calendar, it revealed a bottle of "Lossit Archivist." I almost *had* to pose the dram amidst the new fodder for the scanner.
The dram itself is another of The Lost Distillery Company's attempts to recreate the flavor profile of a whisky from a no-longer-extant distillery, in this case a shuttered Islay distillery called Lossit that hasn't made new whisky since 1867. Once again, I have no idea whether they've been successful, but it certainly tastes of something that could originate on Islay. It's 46% ABV, with a golden color and brine, oak, and a touch of smoke on the nose. The palate is apples and smoky soot, and a faint acid note, and more brininess. Long finish, still tasting of the sea, fading to that peaty iodine. Like I said, what I'd expect from an Islay malt, and right up my alley.
Off to finish some scanning while I finish off the glass.
Hi, I'm Dennis, and I overdo things. ("Hi, Dennis!")
So, I figured I'd just grab a quick photo tonight, since we had the game to watch. But, I didn't really like the first two ideas I had once I saw the pale not-quite-straw color of tonight's dram, and I wanted to do something that played a little bit with the "Dream" part of the whisky's name. Somehow, my brain tied that to the crystal ball my wife keeps in the front hall as a decoration, and ran with it. I landed here, after taking 8 or 9 base shots and spending a lot of time masking things to where I wanted them to be, mostly. The light isn't exactly true-to-life, but, hey, the reality testing part of your brain is turned off when you dream, so I'll live with it.
Tonight's whisky is apparently the first finished release from the new Kingsbarns distillery, run by Wemyss Malts. They're calling it "Dream to Dram." It's got no age statement I could find, is finished in Bourbon and Portuguese wine barrels, and was bottled at 46% ABV. The schnoz tells me it was mostly vanilla and melon on the nose. The palate contines that melon and vanilla theme, with a bit of grassiness and a good amount of sweetness. The finish keeps on with that vanilla, and shifts a bit towards shortbread. It tastes young, if that makes sense, although it's still reasonably well-rounded. A bit sweet for me, but I'm sure this would appeal to a lot of folks.
Day 7's dram is a bit of Douglas Laing's "Scallywag", a blend of several different Speyside malts finished in bourbon and sherry, bottled at 46% ABV. I've seen a few tasting notes that say wine gums and jujubes on the nose, but I get more of a strawberry or raspberry jam. Sherry sweetness (although not too much) on the palate with notes of almond and warm spices, and the finish lingers with black pepper and ginger (maybe with just a trailing bit of funk.) It's certainly the character that I expect from a Speyside, and looking at the bottle price online I'd say this has pretty good bang for your buck if you enjoy a Speyside whisky.
Went with a simple setup compared to last night's effort, since I have other stuff to get done tonight. Bit more abstract, too — the pattern here is the bottom of an Edinburgh cut crystal glass that Kris and I acquired on our very first trip to Scotland a few decades ago, lit from below by a strobe firing into a small softbox.
Another Douglas Laing blend behind door number ten, this time one of their Big Peat bottlings, a blend of Islay malts at 46% ABV.
Palest color in the box so far, looking every bit like a Pinot Grigio or something along those lines. The nose cancels that impression right away: smoke, menthol, iodine, and a bit of the sea, which would signal a pretty bad Pinot Grigio but predicts a good whisky. More of the same on the palate, but it gets a bit, well, meaty, with the smoke becoming quite pronounced. The combination makes me think of good barbecue. The finish is warm, and lingering, with some ginger and slight bitter ash. Absolutely Islay character. I've had a few other tastes of other Big Peat bottles, and this is consistent with what I remember of them. Nice bottle for folks who like Islay malts, and I do.
Quick shot this evening, since I've got other stuff to do. The whisky and glass combination actually picked up a little color from the old wood surface it was on; it's actually even more pale than seen here.
OK, so today's picture might amuse only me, and I'm fine with that.
But everybody in the late 1970s had one of these cheesy mall photography studio double-exposure portraits, right? I certainly remember seeing a lot of them way back when.
Today's dram is another we-can't-name-the-distillery bottling, but it's from a distillery in Kirkwall on Orkney, which narrows it down to one that rhymes with Island Shark. It's a 10-year-old single malt from a Bourbon hogshead, 63% ABV. It's as pale as the "Dream to Dram" from the other day, a gold/straw color. The nose is actually pretty faint: a little bit of sweetness, a hint of peat, and just a whiff of alcohol (surprising at 63%.) Orange and other citrus on the palate, with some very faint peat to it. The finish has a bit of ginger, or at least some heat from the alcohol, and just a tiny bit of that peaty iodine. I can't say I'd mind a bit more peat overall, but it's a well-balanced thing already especially given its strength, so maybe I'd regret asking for it. I've liked other expressions from this same distiller, so I'm not surprised I like this one as well.
Nice Speyside whisky tonight behind door number two: a 13-year-old Tomintoul, bottled by A. D. Rattray at 60% ABV, finished in a Sherry butt. Color is a nice amber. There's a good amount of alcohol on the nose (hey, it's 60%), along with some almond and shortbread. Sherry comes through on the palate, with some dried fruit and more of that shortbread. The finish gets some lingering peppery heat from the alcohol content, and maybe a bit more of the almond. It's quite nice, and even though it's a strong dram, I'm not really tempted to thin it out.
The pen and the big pile o' stuff behind the Glencairn is tonight's project: numbering and signing 50 limited edition Camp Cachalot calendars, something I do every year to raise some money for the Camp Cachalot Alumni Association. I take all the photos, do all the layout, foot the bill for the printing costs, number and sign them all by hand, then sell them for $20 each (including shipping.) I donate the entire $20 to the Association. Basically, this turns $500 of printing and mailing costs into a $1000 donation, and 50 people who like photos of camp get a calendar out of it.
(Day 1 was an experiment with video; while I could upload it here on Flickr, I thought it turned out "meh" at best, since I was going for slow motion and the quality of iPhone X slo-mo even with a decent LED light panel is pretty limited. If you really want to see it, it's here on my Instagram feed.)
Day 3 of Whisky Advent brings a new one to me: "Towiemore Classic." Except that the Speyside-based Towiemore Distillery hasn't existed since in over ninety years, having closed in 1930. This isn't really a Towiemore distillate, but rather a blended whisky made by The Lost Distillery Company in an attempt to approximate what Towiemore might have tasted like. Interesting idea; obviously I have no idea whether they're successful, but I did enjoy the tipple.
Not a very pronounced nose. I get a bit of walnut, and something I can't quite place, almost toffee but not quite. Some vanilla and biscuit on the palate, with a soft finish with a bit of that walnut again. It's smooth, but I didn't find it especially complex. Falls solidly in my "wouldn't refuse, but wouldn't seek out" file.
Experimenting a bit with the lighting setup tonight (since that's part of the point of this exercise for me) using a peach crate as a gobo for the single strobe that lit this. I was going for a low-key look, and I'm pretty happy with where it landed, even if I did have to spend a bunch of time cloning out little dust sparkles off a glass that I thought I had polished well enough before shooting. Sigh.
Mmmmm. Peat.
Islands but not Islay for day 5, with a 10-year-old Ledaig finished in ex-Bourbon and bottled at 46.2% ABV. This is from Tobermory on Mull, one of the places I've not yet visited in Scotland (the only islands I've made it to so far are Orkney and Skye), something I plan to correct someday.
Peat smoke on the nose, with a bit of vanilla sitting behind it. Bourbon sweet on the palate, with a bit of sea salt, maybe some hints of fruit. The sweet fades to the faint iodine medicinal notes I expect with a peated whisky. It's not overpoweringly peated, but the combination is nice, although it might be just a smidge too sweet for my usual tastes.
Nothing fancy for the shot tonight, since I didn't get a start on it until late.
So, the Secret Spirits company apparently can't actually name the distillery behind today's dram, but they drop a lot of hints, and it's pretty clear that the distillery starts with a "Bal", rhymes with "ni!", and doesn't often allow independent bottlings. They're calling it a "Burnside." It's also drawn from a "teaspooned" cask, where a single teaspoon of another malt is added to the cask (unless someone, er, conveniently forgets), technically making it a blended whisky and not a single malt. They do give it a 7-year-old age statement, though, and say it's sherry finished. Went into the bottle at 46.2% ABV.
Nice amber color, with warm spice and a little vanilla on the nose. I get a good amount of the sherry on the palate, along with maybe some dark/bitter chocolate, which carries over into the finish. Warm, but not peppery, and very drinkable.
Another night, another lighting experiment, too. Since my main project for the evening is feeding slides into the slide scanner, I wondered what it might look like to use the sweep light from the scanner to light things up. Fiddled a bit with a few different takes, and thought this one was the most interesting of the bunch.
Finally getting to around to Day 1. At this rate it will only take me until next Christmas to get to Day 25!⠀ ⠀ #scotchyscotchscotch #caskstrength #whiskyadventcalendar #whiskyadvent via Instagram ocas.nl/2ojr2Yr
Day 3 #scotchyscotchscotch #caskstrength #whiskyadventcalendar #whiskyadvent via Instagram ocas.nl/2kNRDsI
Day 2. Delicious. #scotchyscotchscotch #caskstrength #whiskyadventcalendar #whiskyadvent via Instagram ocas.nl/2Bcmt4h
Finally getting to around to Day 1. At this rate it will only take me until next Christmas to get to Day 25!⠀ ⠀ #scotchyscotchscotch #caskstrength #whiskyadventcalendar #whiskyadvent via Instagram ocas.nl/2BfL1tY