A 1000 mL Love Affair
Finding the perfect whiskey is like catching the perfect wave. You know that perfection is impossible, but there is great pleasure in the search.
We picked up a bottle of The Ardmore Triple Wood in the duty free shop as we were leaving Iceland. Icelanders love their duty free shop. The taxes are very high and they suffered through prohibition until the middle of the 1980s. One of our guides even told us that it became customary to stop at the airport bar for a beer whenever one was traveling through the airport, even if it was early in the morning.
Colour - Golden straw, natural honey.
Nose - Biscuity cereal notes and the scent of banana underlie the initial nose of ginger, burnt sugar, cherries and honey. A drop of water intensifies the ginger snap biscuit notes with a hint of cinnamon, and soft highland peat smoke.
Palate - Light caramelised sugar, toasted barley, and warming, light peat smoke are followed by sweet vanilla custard. Water releases notes of pink peppercorn, and dried fruit flavours (raisin and candid orange peel).
Finish - Light with soft peat smoke, lingering pepper and toasted almonds with a well-balanced dry mouth feel.
This whisky has the perfect balance for my palate. The peat is a dominant flavor and aroma, but it is light enough allow sweetness, vanilla, toasted oak, and spice flavors to come to the surface. The body and finish are both very light compared to the bourbons that are coming out on the market now.
I finished off the last little bit last night while watching an episode of Ken Burn's Vietnam that covered the time when my father was drafted. Dad's 73rd birthday was yesterday, too. My father is a very lucky man, which is a strange thing to say about someone who was drafted, but that will have to be a post for another day.
Cheers,
ProfessorBromide
Great post mate, keep up the good work.