12 Glenmorangies
11 Auchentoshens
10 Highland Parks
9 Lagavulins
8 Aged Macallans
7 Compass Boxes
6 Old Pulteneys
5 Bruichladdichs
4 Bunnahabhains
3 French Oaks
2 Tomintouls
and a Portwood Balvenie
1st Day: A Portwood Balvenie: As the song progresses, it always comes back to the first day. Wouldn’t you want to keep coming back to the Balvenie Portwood 21 yr. with all the qualities you think of at Christmas: reddish in color, raisins, nuts and Marzipan on the nose; a full rich body on the tongue; and toffee, cream and anisette on the finish. You only need one of these to keep you warm on a cold night in Decembrrrr.
2nd Day: 2 Tomintouls: The “gentle dram” of Speyside, Tomintoul 10yr. sparkles like gold in the glass and delivers its signature grassy notes from the nose through the finish. Sweet, light and smooth on the tongue, Tomintoul remains fresh and clean and a perfect place to flush 2 turtle doves out of the lemongrass. Get a bottle of their 27yr. and you’ll swoon over the rich creaminess right off the nose. For those of you in the NY Metro area: Lorne Mackillop’s "Mackillop's Choice" 1966 Tomintoul will be released in 2009. Let's see, 1966: Shelley Olson was making me swoon from the 3rd row in homeroom every time she got up to sharpen her pencils. Yeah, '66 was a great year.
3rd Day: 3 French Oaks: Glenlivet is the only consistent distillery to create a French Oak expression, with the Limousin oak giving a smoother, more subtle nose and soft mouthfeel. During a JetFuel Afterburn Festival tasting, Tony nailed the distinct fruity apple and soft oak of the 17yr while blindfolded. The 12yr. does not add much complexity from an American Oak Glenlivet, but adds enough berries and fruit at the end to make it the dram to serve to Uncle Ed when he comes over the house looking for “scotch”. He may add you into the will after a few knockers of this.
4th Day: 4 Bunnahabhains: From the 12 year to the classic aged expressions, Bunnahabhain is the most beguiling of all the Islay whiskies. A great story with the distillery itself, with the “kerb” built to keep cars from slipping into the sea to the way the water is piped in from the limestone to consciously avoid the peat on the way to the distillery. Avoid the peat? On Islay? Only a whisky with too many consonants can be so contrarian, but the result is pure heaven on the isle, with its delicacy, freshness, salt and herbal notes consistent throughout the expressions. If you don’t have at least a 12 year on your home shelf, ye kinna call yerself a whiskym’n, and the strength of the 18 yr. is what blew away the Festival and made it a mid-winter, around the fire with cigars bona fide hit.
5th Day: 5 Bruichladdies: has a nice ring to it, right? Overall, there’s nothing I don’t love about these whiskies: I love the packaging; I love the name, and the correct pronunciation is akin to assessing a native New Yorker vs. the tourist when asking directions to “Houston St.”. Mostly, Jim McEwan is just so damn creative over there: from the light, citrus and banana tinged aperitif 10yr to the peat crazy Moine Mhor, there’s a Bruichladdich for almost any single malt drinker. Don’t stop at 5, get one for every season; every grandchild; every room in the house; every car you had since you were 16; every….
6th Day 6 Old Pulteneys: Old Pulteney has no problem telling you their signature expression is their youngest, the 12 year. This whisky has that dry sea air and salt combination that is distinctive among all the island and coastal whiskies, and the finish of salt and sherry is outstandingly balanced. The 15yr starts out with a smack to the palatte and you have to let it mellow out in the glass before proceeding. As you get older, the saltiness gives way to more complexity with the Sherry finish and hints of cocoa. Neither Jim Murray nor Michael Jackson where overwhelmingly impressed with the full line from here, with an exception of the Gordon & MacPhail 1969 batch, but I know Scott loves ‘em, and so do I.
7th day: 7 Compass Boxes: I continue to be impressed by what John Glaser’s doing at Compass Box and have added them as the only non-single-malt to the Christmas line up. It’s hard to know where to begin: their Oak Cross is delicate, sweet and complex; the Hedonism Maximus is big sweet, big, balanced and lingering in the finish; The Peat Monster Reserve a balanced palatte of billowy smoke, chocolate, peat and full phenolic glory. John continues to show the way of boutique blends and vatted malts, and each new expression takes our palette in a new, delightful direction. Get one for your wife, another for your son-in-law: be a new hero to 2 generations.
8th day: 8 Aged Macallans. Okay, everyone knows Macallan is the “king of single malts” and all that. The 12 year is probably one of best entries into premium Scotch whisky you can find and the 25 is why I fell in love with this stuff in the first place. If you want to know anything at all about the rise of single-malt whiskies in Scotland, you would read the Macallan story, as it encompasses the full history and weight of the industry well beyond the Speyside district. For that reason, and we’re supposing you’ve already had snifters of the 10, 12, 18 and maybe 25 (on an expense account), it’s time to go after some heavy weights: 1982 - powerful; 1874 replica – cumin, orange and anis; 1961 – clean with peppermint and cedar; 1948 – the way all Speysides once may have tasted. Verdict: contact Bernie Madoff on ponzi schemes and go on a buying spree before anyone catches on.
9th day: 9 Lagavulin. Go ahead, I dare you to have more than one. And you’d better be starting with the 16yr, or you’re cheating. After Christmas, I’ll see you in the peat-stoked fires of hell, snorting sulphur, salt, oyster shells, tar boxes and medicine chests and we’ll laugh in glorious agony for eternity at the sissies who drink Capt. Morgan and dance on fairy clouds in the sky. And we will be happy and content.
10th day: 10 Highland Parks: OK, let’s see: Orkney Islands; most northern distillery; Highland whisky…or is it? Highland Park, with its almost generic name, has got to be the best overall, no-one’s-ever-heard-of-this whisky out there. It’s always one of the best priced in the stores, and its different expressions seem to travel from the Highlands to Speyside to the islands with easy delicate ease: heathered peat to rich dried fruit and nuts. I’m surprised it’s not stocked on more bars, next to the Glenlivet. The 12yr is one of the best buys on the market, full of flavor and complexity. Put the 25 yr next to the Macallan of the same age and let your friends fight over them. A good diversion while you’re reading my blog.
11th day: 11 Auchentochens: just a great, classic lowland whisky, triple-distilled in the manner of lowlands. These are characterized by their lightness of being, with heather, grass, hay, perfumy malts and citrus notes present from nose to finish. This is a mood-bender whisky, like the Bruichladdich 10yr, drunk during spring or summer, with a little water in the middle of a field, low-lying jazz or Maroon5 on the iPod, some kids running around playing mindless games, a small, cigar-shaped aircraft lands nearby and small, pod-like creatures descend on radio-waves…wait, no, never mind. What’s nice about Auchentochens: you can almost drink 11 of them and find your way back home after the probing is done.
12th day: 12 Glenmorangies. Sixteen men of Tain get the 12th day of Christmas, and these guys are staying busy. I have to admit, I’m both confused and impressed at what Glenmorangie is doing: they run some great business practices, i.e., associations with American distillers like Jack Daniels; air drying their wood from specially picked trees in Missouri and are marketing madmen. But they’re confounding in their insistence on special wood maturations, and you can find their expressions matured in everything from Cognac to Cote de Beaune to Sauternes to rum. So they’re definitely marketing to the American tastes and keeping themselves as leaders in popularity. I guess there’s some part of me that’s purist that says: “ok, where’s the whisky?” I tasted the 21yr. Rum barrel and couldn’t find it anywhere. So while one of my guilty pleasures is the Burgundy wood finish, I still love the classic 10yr. Stuff these in the stockings of your most favorite people.