Recently the SoCal Whiskey Club gathered once again to do what we do best… drink whisky. As usual it was anything but a somber affair as we gathered on the back patio at Everson Royce Bar (ERB) in DTLA. BTW, If you live in Los Angeles and haven’t been there you should go. If you don’t live here in LA, then the next time you’re visiting this fair city you should go. Good food, good booze, good atmosphere… what’s not to like? I digress, let’s back to the tasting at hand.
Gathering inside of a clear plastic tent lit with a string of lights, LA’s Genie Of The Bottle regaled us with info about each of the distilleries we were going to be tasting that evening. While the now famous Whisky Redhead dispensed knowledge yours truly dispensed whisky and there’s a shot of me doing just that in Bozzy’s coverage of this same event if you care to check it out.
So how did it all shake out? What Chieftain’s whiskies soared, which ones merely glided, and which – if any – crashed and burned? Let’s take a look.
Chieftain’s Braeval 19 yr (96-15): 46% – Red Wine Cask Finished
- Nose: Red wine, olde time candy store, malt, sugary sweetness, Cheerwine soda and a light note of buttery toffee.
- Palate: Red wine, malt, red licorice, sugary fruit and a touch of dried orchard fruit.
- Finish: Short skip of grape juice, malt, toffee and dried fruit.
- Overall: B- (80-82) I like this one a bit more than I did the Glenmorangie Milsean, but not by much.
Chieftain’s Glenburgie 16 yr (98-15): 47% – Hogshead
- Nose: Bit O’ Honey, dried citrus, malt, caramel, hay and a touch of spice and cocoa.
- Palate: Tropical fruit, hay, spice, light cocoa and malt.
- Finish: Medium draw of fruit, malt, cocoa and dark sweets.
- Overall: B (83-86) A solid sipper, it would sit on the higher end of the B range.
Chieftain’s Linkwood 17 yr (97-15): 46% – Oloroso Finish
- Nose: Sherry sweetness, malt, Necco wafers, touch of citrus and an overall musty dry sweetness.
- Palate: Brown sugar, dried dark fruit, Necco wafers, malt and a light spice with that same overall musty dry sweetness.
- Finish: Long and fueled by citrus, dried fruit, brown sugar, toasted malt and dusted with that musty dry sweetness.
- Overall: C+ (77-79) It’s an interesting whisky and I didn’t find myself loathing it, but I didn’t find myself liking it very much either.
Chieftain’s Mortlach 18 yr (97-15): 46% – PX Cask Finish
- Nose: Chocolate, malt, red fruit “sweetness”, brown sugar, graham and light notes of wood and candied citrus.
- Palate: Chocolate, malt, dried citrus rind, wood, dried dark fruit and light notes of spice and dark sweets.
- Finish: Long fade of malt, rustic sweets and cocoa powder.
- Overall: B+ (87-89) A deep lovely whisky, no real complaints about it. I could have easily sipped this all night long.
Chieftain’s Glen Grant 20 yr (95-15): 55.1% – Bourbon Finish
- Nose: Raisiny dark fruit, complex dark sweets, toasted malt, candied citrus and light notes of honey and tropical fruit.
- Palate: Orchard fruit, raisiny dark fruit, dark sweets, toasted malt, candied citrus and light notes of honey and spice.
- Finish: Long and fruity with dashes of malt, honey and mint.
- Overall: A- (90-92) I was drawn in on this one almost immediately. It was quite good, but lost to the Fettercairn as my-favorite-whisky-of-the-night by a hair.
Chieftain’s Fettercairn 19 yr (96-15): 57.4% – Oloroso Sherry Butt
- Nose: Sherry, dark fruit, dry olde timey sweets (Necco wafers, smarties & Spots), malt, citrus peel and cocoa with light notes of citrus and nuts.
- Palate: Sherry and citrus pop here along with velvety notes of olde time sweets, malt and cocoa. Light bits of nuts and ash kick up towards the end.
- Finish: Long layers of ash, sherry, nuts, malt, citrus and dried apricots.
- Overall: A- (90-92) A well balanced malt with complimentary notes working off of each other in harmony. I loved this whisky and and as noted above it was my favorite of the night.
And there you have it, all of the new Chieftain’s releases in one shot. It was a great event and I was blown away by that Fettercairn. While I’ve only had one, maybe two, other Fettercairn’s in my life I can say the experience(s) was less than memorable, but this… this one was awesome. Truly a tasty whisky worth checking out. Though most of the whiskies that night were pretty good so really, it’d be hard for you to go wrong with this new line up.
Till the next one, Cheers!
