Laphroaig Quarter Cask

Laphroaig Quarter Cask
ABC stock 005433 $57.90

Nathan: Ah. Smells like Laphroaig! I pick up some light peat smoke, maybe some citrus. While it is sweet smelling, it burns the nose and hints of the higher alcohol content to come. Keeping the jug of Tums by the bed tonight.

Jen: When Nate first brought out the glass and I took my initial breath all I could really smell is the typical antiseptic scent of Laphroaig. However after letting it sit for a minute and open up in the glass I had a pleasant surprise of a strong sweet vanilla sent with a hint of smokiness.

Straight

Nathan: As soon as I tip the glass up, the smoke rolls in and sits on my tongue a minute. Not too strong, not too soft. As it hits my lips, it burns slightly...straight down and gently warming. On the tongue, it's pretty dry, sweet, with a hint of malt. I think straight up is perfect for this. I almost don't want to try it with ice or water.

Jen: As it hits my mouth I immediately can feel the smokiness fill my mouth with the taste of smoked peat. It goes down very smoothly and has a finish of smoke with a hint of sweetness that lingers on minutes after it has gone down.

Diluted

Nathan: Diluted, I can see the color change characteristics as soon as the water hits. Again, we're mixing 1oz to 1/2oz scotch/water. In the future, a smaller amount of water will probably serve better. Something to grow on. Then again, I don't have time to be that fancy. The nose has calmed down a good bit, losing the alcohol smell but bringing out the sweet mellow smoke. It doesn’t burn on the initial sip, but the finish has a small kick. I pick up more hints of malt and less smoke now though.

Jen: Diluted the nose loses the antiseptic smell and immediately I pick up the sweet vanilla scent. The taste... as it hits my lips and goes down I can definantly tell that the water has calmed down the intenseness of smoked peat and lingering sweetness of this scotch. However compared to straight I feel diluted almost does the complete opposite of the taste. For me, I pick up more of the sweetness diluted and less of the smokiness. Which in my opinion isn't as good; I would say they have diluted it to perfection before bottling this one.

Iced

Nathan: With a bit of ice, the nose is about the same as being diluted. Not that it has sit for more than a minute, but it mellows it out immediately. Overall, I think ice puts this Scotch in Ninja Mode. Nothing, then POW! A kick, and then gone in a flash of smoke, and you're left wondering what just happened. WHERE'D MY SCOTCH GO?!

Jen: Iced is how I usually prefer my Scotch, but I think with this one I am going to say straight. As far as the nose I will have to say I concur with Nate it is about the same as diluted. With the initial sip I must say I enjoy the coolness of the scotch being chilled, that may be because its summer. However I must say with being chilled it mellows out this scotch so much that I don't pick up much of anything as I take a drink, and the finish is as disappointing.

Scapa 16yr

Scapa 16yr
Abc stock # 006033, $69.90
www.scapamalt.com

The Scapa 16yr is 40% alc/vol. The bottle states ‘Aged in Orkney for 16 years this golden malt delivers sweet and silk-smooth heather-honey taste perfectly balanced with delicate spice’. The bottle has a snazzy sailboat (or is that a schooner?) stamped in the glass.

Seeing as how I have a good bit of tasting to do this evening, my buddy Tyler will be lending a hand.

Nathan: The color is a light golden honey color. It smells a bit floral and spicey, with a tad hint of honey. It has a slight peat smell if you breathe in deeply. It flat out ‘smells’ smooth.

Tyler: It smells like my fireplace and some straw. I couldn’t quite place it at first, it kind of smelled like fresh dirt (not the band), so I went and sniffed some of Amy’s stoneware, and it wasn’t quite right. Then I thought of bricks (not Tom), and went into the living room, and there it was. Bricks and old smoke. Not that this is terribly smoky scotch, but it has some of the same notes. Also some honey? I’ll taste it shortly.

Nathan: Tasting it straight, it is smooth. Mild honey. It doesn’t numb your mouth as most will do, but it steps it up a notch down the gullet. After a few seconds, the finish has some spice. It reminds me of the American Honey bourbon, albeit thinner and much smooth.

Tyler: On the tongue, it starts off really smooth, almost too subtle, but then burns once it gets to the esophagus. Not a huge fan of it neat, but maybe some ice or distilled water will open it up some.
Nathan: Iced…it doesn’t require cooling to drink. As I said, it’s very smooth and pleasing. It does, however, dull down aroma a good bit, but also helps bring out the Heather in the finish.

Tyler: Iced…it doesn’t help much. It cools the burn, to be sure, but I think it takes most of the flavor away, leaving just a bit of sweetness on the tongue. Where Nate gets more “heather-y”aroma out of it right after the ice has been added, I just get more of an “alcohol-y” smell (And who is Heather?). I doubt I’ll drink this on the rocks again. It’s too “wintery” for icing down, and a bit too rough for me to drink neat when it’s this hot out. Maybe distilled water will do the trick. Nathan: Diluted: 1oz scotch, 1/2oz distilled water….., it seems that any sort of straight dilution takes away from this Scotch. I think much of the aromas are gone, except for the spice. The honey still lingers in the finish, but mostly I get the heather and spice.

Tyler: Nope. Distilled water did almost exactly what you might expect, given the previous two tastings. It brought out the “alcohol-y” smell again, and removed most of the taste. It landed on the heartburn scale right between “neat” and “on the rocks”.

Will I drink this again? Sure! Will I buy it? Probably not. I just feel like there are other scotches out there that fit my tastes better at this time. Maybe as my palette develops, however, I’ll gain an appreciation for it.
Nathan: Overall, I’m slightly disappointed. For the price, I somewhat expected more. Maybe it’s the heat and humidity this time of year in Virginia, but this isn’t something that I think I’d enjoy frequently right now. As Tyler said, it’s probably better mixed/blended. Maybe once it’s much colder out, and the wood stove is slow roasting me, I’ll try it again. For some reason, after a few minutes, I feel like the Scapa has a bit of citrus in it. We may try it again at Christmas time, with some orange peel candies. For science!

Tyler: I don’t think we’re going to get to it tonight, but if I felt like spending a few dollars at a bar for a single malt, this might make a decent Scotch and Soda. Purists out there screaming at your computer monitor can simmer down. I enjoy a scotch and soda, and like someone on pipes.com said to me once, “if you enjoy it, you’re doing it right.” It’s something I can just get through without thinking too much about, like my high school math classes.

Also

I'll do my best to stick with sampling ratios.
I'll probably stick with the same tumblers I use at home. I don't expect, or even think, that everyone has fancy sniffing glasses that may bring out just a tad bit of some other smell.
The reviews will most likely be elementary. I'm lost when I look at othe reviews with fancy diagrams. I failed geometry, and I don't need it junking up my drinking.

First!

Alrighty, here it goes.

I thought I'd make an online resource about my Scotch trials. I'm not here to educate you about what is/is not Scotch. I may go into how different regions produce different types of Scotch. This is not a professional review, and your experiences and tastes may differ. This is a working/drinking mans opinion for others. I intend to stay within a certain price range. That being said, at some point I may enable ads on the page. Ads=money=more Scotch. See what I did there? Sometimes, I'll have a guest reviewer....their opinion and experience may differ, and that's ok. I'll do my best to share how I drink the various bottles...straight up, iced, dash of water. Not all Scotches are best enjoyed the same way.

I'll always try to post pictures, prices, where I got it from, and the VA ABC item code. For those in VA, here's a link: http://www.abc.state.va.us/Pricelist/SCOTCH_WHISKY.html

Not all ABC stores carry the same stock. If you want to grab a bottle of something I write about, call with the item code and find it.

I'll do my best to keep the postings are clean as possible, but some things may require profanity...such as Bowmans.

Please enjoy responsibly.