It’s not secret that I spend a lot of time over at K&L. For starters it’s really close to both my apartment and where I work and I pass it every time I go to my Trader Joe’s up on Sunset and Vine. So proximity is what got me to start going there, but it was David OG that kept me coming back. His knowledge of whisky is matched only by his friendly demeanor and I soon fond my trips to the bottle shop taking longer and longer because of our conversations.
It was during one of these recent conversations that I offered to do a write up of some of the new Signatory offerings in exchange for samples and so that’s what we have here. I was fortunate enough to get to try all of these and I wanted to share what I thought of them with y’all, and being Signatory, we already know that the bar is going to be fairly high. They aren’t exactly known for bottling crappy barrels.
2001 Bowmore 12 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Refill Sherry Butt Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $100 ABV: 59.1%
- Nose: Powerful and explosive it’s rich with notes of peat, tart fruit, smoked meat, honey, dried dark fruit, vanilla and even a bit of a chlorine like character.
- Palate: Bold, rich and deep flavor with a thick peaty backbone and notes of fruit, dark sweetness, vanilla, complex spice and citrus peel.
- Finish: Long and smoky with hints of wood, iodine, ash and sweetness.
- Overall: A- (90-92) – This is exactly what I was talking about in the Bowmore 21 Review (http://thewhiskeyjug.com/scotch-whiskey/bowmore-21-review/). NDP bottlings of Bowmore can be incredible which is why I already did buy a bottle of this one.
1998 Laphroaig 15 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Single Refill Sherry Butt Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $170 ABV: 59.11%
- Nose: Mouthwateringly amazing. Bold and rich peat and fruit with complex and nuanced undertones of grapefruity citrus, guava jam, dark berries and salinity.
- Palate: Salivatingly good. Bold, rich and dense with great notes of peat, vanilla, honey, fruit, citric acid, caramel, berries, and wood.
- Finish: Long and winding fade of peat, vanilla, cinnamon,citrus, wood and ash.
- Overall: A (93-96) – Simply amazing. It’s a little closed off at first, but give it a bit of water and air and it blossoms into something incredible.
1998 Mortlach 16 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Sherry Butt Finish Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $100 ABV: 55.8%
- Nose: Dark fruit like dates ad blackberries roll out followed by some honey, cinnamon and dark sweets like caramel and butterscotch accompanied by light woody notes.
- Palate: Complex fruit, vermouth and dark sweets mix with some spice and sherry sweetness.
- Finish: Fruit and dark sweets on a long fade mixed with mint, wood and a bit of ashy earth.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) – It’s a lively and dynamic whisky with a lot going on. Lovely stuff and is one of the ones that I’m considering picking up myself.
1997 Glenrothes 17 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Refill Sherry Butt Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $80 ABV: 55.4%
- Nose: Funky dark sweetness mixed with overripe fruit, strawberry frosting, caramel and bit of boggy earthiness to it.
- Palate: Burnt pastries, hay, raw grains, overripe apricots, a dark sherry sweetness, some wood and spice. It’s an odd duck for sure.
- Finish: Long and fueled by dried apricots and dotted with notes of wood and burnt pastry.
- Overall: B- (80-82) – I’m not the world’s biggest Glenrothes fan, but if you are then you might really enjoy this one. Regardless though this one really benefits from both water and air to help it open up and let some of the funkier notes blow off some.
1995 Glenburgie 19 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Hogshead Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $90 ABV: 54.9%
- Nose: There is a freshness to the nose on this one that combines fruity notes, spicy notes and lightly sweet notes like vanilla and honey.
- Palate: A nice rich fruitiness with solid notes of honey, spice and malt. Very light wood and mint flavors trail in at the end.
- Finish: Long and filled with fruit, honey, wood, mint and something a bit like baking flour.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) – Wonderfully rich and fruity and if you like that darker fruitiness of something like the Glenmorangie 18 then you’d definitely enjoy this. I already picked one up.
1995 Imperial 18 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $85 ABV: 52.7%
- Nose: Fantastic fruit and honey laced with vanilla and sprinkled with spices like cinnamon and nut meg with a touch of bay leaf and a malty backdrop.
- Palate: Warm honey and fruit with some graham cracker pie crust, vanilla and brûléecreating additional dimension.
- Finish: Long, fruity and malty with a hint of something that reminds me of buttered toast
- Overall: B+ (87-89) – A great whisky and also one of the cheapest of the Signatorys they have in stock right now.
1992 Longmorn 21 Year Old Signatory Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $200 ABV: 56.2%
- Nose: Juicy and darkly sweet with notes of red vermouth, caramel, grape juice, vanilla, citrus, raisins and pomegranate juice with a warm malty background.
- Palate: Soft velvety sherry and an oily malty goodness coat the mouth but leave room for bits of vanilla, vermouth and dark juicy fruit like plums and blackberries to show through.
- Finish: Medium in length and laden with dark fruit and sherry with light notes of malt and wood.
- Overall: A- (90-92) – This is some seriously good sherried whisky and when you consider that the Macallan 18 Sherry Oak costs $10-$50 more, is 3 years younger and is bottled at only 43%; this is quite the deal in that realm.
1990 Bruichladdich 23 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Refill Sherry Butt Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $160 ABV: 54.8%
- Nose: Sweet and beautifully complex. Packed with notes of fruit, caramel, vermouth, candied citrus, sherry, vanilla and toffee.
- Palate: Complex like the nose with all the same notes along with some light nutty, toasty and earthy grain like notes appearing.
- Finish: Long and dry with notes of sherry, wood, ash and chalk.
- Overall: A- (90-92) – I really enjoy Bruichladdich in general, but this is something a little different, unique and lovely as can be.
1983 Caol Ila 30 Year Old K&L Exclusive Signatory Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky
Price: $280 ABV: 50.59%
- Nose: Balanced peat with a complex spread of of orchard fruit, hay, honey, vanilla, graham cracker, buttered toast and light floral notes.
- Palate: Peat and fruit run at equal paces with nice notes of orchard fruit, wood, honey, malty sweetness and a light spice that reminds me of cider.
- Finish: Long and peaty with mild notes of malt, caramel, wood and sweetness.
- Overall: A (93-96) – It’s all about the balance in this one, it’s incredible how harmonious and flavorful this cask is.
Hope you enjoyed this kind of a write up. As a whisky consumer I always enjoy reading write-ups like this because it helps me figure out what I’m going to spend my money on since sampling exclusive casks like this aren’t always possible and ultimately my goal of writing this site, besides cataloging my whisk(e)y adventures, is to write stuff that’s useful.
