Malt Mission 2009 #349

Glenmorangie Sonnalta
Highland Single Malt Whisky
46% abv
£50
$70 (USD)

You know when you come home and feel like enjoying a whisky but can't find one on your shelf that you fancy? Well this can happen no matter how vast your selection is and it is a phenomenon that blows my little whisky-soaked mind but completely puzzles friends and family. 4, 10, 40, 400 bottles and not a drop to drink. When you get this feeling, I officially welcome you to geek country.

At the beginning of 2009, Glenmorangie announced a new line of "private expressions" to be released. Glenmorangie Sonnalta (meaning "generous") is the first of the series and is only available at selected Duty Free.

For more distillery info and to see all Glenmorangies had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Fruity and light in spite of the often weighty influence of Pedro Ximenez casks. Beachy, with the aromas of suntan lotion (coconut, jojoba) and sea air. Chocolate covered raisins, banana chips, apple cider and dessert wine are also wound up with the beautiful Glenmorangie vanilla notes.

Big and initially oily on the palate with cinnamon, pears and apples, with hints of mint and salt as well. Dries out and gets your mouth ready for another sip through a finish of flan and oak. Very appetizing and very quaffable.

SUMMARY:

Light but rich, full but restrained, spicy but wonderfully sweet. An aperitif style sherried malt if ever there was one, but equally well-suited for enjoying al fresco with dessert. How seasonally appropriate...

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Malt Mission 2009 #348

Glemorangie Astar
Highland Single Malt Whisky
57.1% abv
£52
$80 (USD)

Nearly a month since my last post making me the real April Fool. Thanks for your emails and comments of inquiry, concern, and encouragement. The good news is I have been trying some excellent stuff in recent weeks, but the bad news is I have had less and less time to post them on the Malt Mission. So here come three new drops from Glenmorangie. Let's see if I can do it in three days...

Some of you may remember the 2005 (?) Glenmorangie Artisan Cask, a 500ml bottle of Glenmo matured in slow-growth, air seasoned oak from the Ozark mountains. It was a toasty, creamy, vanilla-soaked fruitbowl of a whisky that was loved by those lucky enough to try it.

Launched in late 2008 in the UK and available in the USA in early 2009, The Astar takes its name from the gaelic for "journey", referencing the decade plus experiment with Missouri "designer oak" by Dr. Bill Lumsden, the visionary whisky creator behind Glenmorangie.

For all Glenmorangie had on the mission, click HERE. Tasted with ISM, and his notes appear in quotes.

TASTING NOTES:

Wonderfully fruity, if slightly acetone, with "grapes and pears and fuckloads of them." Baked goods like buttertarts. Spicy with ginger and pepper, sweetened with butterscotch, and toasted with peanuts... and lager.

Sweet, creamy vanilla with more of the pepper but some salty tang as well. Slight skunky notes like some European beers and even bitter near the end at full strength. Leathery books, paper, and tarte tatin.

SUMMARY:

Inder let out a wheeze upon sipping it so I think it is worth noting that this is bottled at cask strength. The nose is gorgeous with all the best elements of quality american oak cask maturation, if having a few hints of youth in the acetone, nailpolish elements noted. Flavourwise, water gets rid of a bitter/acrid flavour that was present at full strength. Unfortunately, the skunky element remains and there simply is no amount of water one can add to mask it. Nonetheless, this liquid is proof that tough, macho whisky can be made without peat or sherry casks. Go try it! I would love to hear your thoughts as I am to date the only person I know who has tried this and not been 100% blown away.

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Malt Mission 2009 #347

Glenavon
Special Liqueur Whisky
40% abv
₤14,850
$25,000

Sold at auction in November of 2006 and subject to much scientific and historical scrutiny to test its authenticity, this is believed to be the oldest bottle of scotch whisky in the world.

I was fortunate enough to sit down with the anonymous buyer who won this at Bonham's for ₤14850/$25,000 USD and after a passionate discussion about the cultural history of the New York rat she insisted that "we do a shot of some scotch." I thought, as long as it's not Aldunie, I am in!

She poured this amber nectar from a nasty old bottle that smelled like the yellowed pages of a first edition of Charles Darwin's Origins of the Species (1859) found in the bottom of a shoe and I asked her, "How old is this? Where is it from?" Her answer was as seductive as it was simple, "who gives a shit?" she said.

So I called Charlie Maclean [+44 (0) 773 808 8008], the worlds #1 authority whisky historian and bassist in Motorhead (1979-83). So Chuck, from what distillery does this drop come? He answered, "It has been suggested that Glenavon and Denalbo were one and it the same. What is certain is that the Smiths closed Denalbo in 1858 and in the following year they consolidated all their distilleries - including Denalbo/Glenavon - at Minmore, the site of the present Glenlivet distillery." You lost me, mate.

For all 150 year old whiskies had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Opens with a burst of bad breath, ash, and porno music. Hints of slaveholders' guilt emerge with time and there are whiffs of abolitionism, even allusions to Uncle Tom's Cabin with deep nosings. With water, the whisky begins to smell like post-asparagus urine and the labs of Benjiman "Silly" Silliman.

Explodes on the palate like blood from the fields of Bleeding Kansas, with gentle nuances of paint, paint thinner, and College Pro Painters. Notes of Bessemer processed steel and Newman's Own Three Cheese Balsamic Vinaigrette are unleashed with a touch of water while the finish brings us opium, a touch of Huckleberry Finn's father's racist pride and a lingering note of Tom Sawyer's pathetic pussy-footed admiration of his mate, Huck.

SUMMARY:

Old, smelly, and lacking enough literary references to really be called "whisky" at all. The liqueur in the name of this drop is its only redeeming feature as I would much rather lick 'er than drink 'er.

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