r/whisky

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one the third and final bottle from their first "Essence of Suntory Whisky" release!

As written in a prior post, the "Essence of Suntory Whisky" were a series of special releases from Suntory, featuring experimental and atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. 

The first release of this series from 2018, with the motif 創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream), featuring the Hakushu Rye Type, the Red Wine Cask Chita, and finally this bottle here- Yamazaki Peated Malt!

Details in comments!

i love that apple taste but it also taste a bit too alcoholic (like i can’t breathe after a sip). i only tried this so i’m kinda new to whiskey (or is that a bourbon?)

So following a thread on here regarding Johnnie Walker Black Label, I got a bottle from the supermarket however on the shelf next to it was Bunnahabhain Stiüireadair, which was on my list to try, so I got both.
Black label was a pleasant drink, with enough initial taste complexity to keep it interesting but then the Stiüireadair was tasted.
This had so much complexity of initial taste that I struggled to make sense of it all, amazing drink and even more so given both of these were the same price.

A lot has been said of whisky’s taste profile but little attention is paid to the label aesthetics. Here’s a beautiful one from Ben Nevis that invokes an Old World sort of charming quaintness, emphasising information density (like a resume!) on textured stock with scalloped (not the modern straight) edge adorned in serif, ornate typefaces (the gold foil like ones within a frame feels especially old school), accompanied by etching-like monochrome landscape and apparatus rendition. So beautiful.

On Friday I visited Lihnell, a local Swedish distillery. They are perhaps best known for their sherry-matured whiskies.

This time they had something particularly unusual: a new limited edition with just 87 bottles. It is a bilberry matured whisky (or blueberries, depending on what you call them), and then finished in a bourbon barrel. Pretty strange and unusual, right?

But was it any good?

My friend actually opened his bottle that evening, and we were pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something fun and unusual, but perhaps not something I would actually want to drink. Instead, it turned out to be surprisingly good.

The distillery describes it as having an intense, vinous-like character, bursting with dark forest berries and a crisp, fruity acidity. The bourbon finish adds warm, toasted oak and creamy vanilla. They compare the overall experience to a caramelized blueberry crumble pie served with rich vanilla custard, with a sweet and spicy character and a sophisticated, tea-like finish.

And what about the barrels?

The whisky was first matured in small 18-litre oak barrels. These had previously been used by someone else for making blueberry “wine”. After the blueberry maturation, the whisky had become a little too "wild", so they decided to finish it in a 50-litre bourbon barrel to calm it down and bring some balance to the flavour.

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one is their very regular NAS Chita!

I got this bottle primarily for experimental purposes. A few friends and I are planning to do a series of blending experiments some time in the near future, and are considering a base whisky for the blending. 

Originally we're more leaning towards grabbing a Toki, but somehow all the Tokis in the various liquor shops I've visited have sold out. I guess I had to make a compromise and go for Chita instead lmao.

I'm just going to skip to the conclusion and say don't get this one, it's not good.

Details in comments anyways!

My collection, although it looks a little novice vs the collections I've seen here😲🥃

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

EDIT: I want to thank all of you (mostly the silent majority) who signed up and who are submitting feedback. I'd love to receive either comments or messages on how you're liking the daily email, the bottles included, etc. If there is any other feedback you have, please keep posting and sharing and messaging. I'll be as active on here as possible.

I think my next post will just be my personal whiskey collection. I'm really grateful for all the pushback. Even the comments that are not in support of the app I'm creating are helpful.

END EDIT

First time poster, long(ish) time drinker and hecka long lurker.

I wanted to share a website and app I’ve developed with y’all. It’s free.

Like many of you, I hate using the OLCC’s liquor lookup. I hate guessing when stores get their shipments. I hate going to a store that straight up lies about their inventory and there’s nothing I can do.

But I love finding a good Weller Single Barrel, an Antique 107, a Stagg or (ONE DAY!) a Russels 13.

So, I’d like to introduce bourbonbeacon.com

This site takes OLCC inventory information, data analytics and community input to develop *the most* accurate and useful bourbon hunting tool in Oregon.

Right now, it’s completely free. There are subscription tiers but right now I’m manually upgrading everyone to the highest tier to help with beta testing.

What it does (at a basic level): lets you track stores in your area, track specific bottles you’re looking for, and sends you an email, every morning before any stores open about what their inventory is. The lookup, search and UI are just like a billion times more friendly and clear.

Weller SiB coming in? If OLCC says they’re getting it, you’ll know at 8:30 and can be in line. If people call and the stores says “nope”, you can leave a note and anyone checking on the site will know they aren’t selling it. If someone gets the bottle, they can post about it and we can all cheer them on.

Beyond just being a tool to make hunting easier, this site is designed to add excitement to the hunt, crowdsource information and hopefully give the average hunter a fighting chance in the highly competitive allocation search. So they can know the store that put their stock out, get stock in and they have a shot with.

I’d love your feedback, for you to test the features, tell me what bottles you want to recommend, share cool store picks and more.

Super open to criticism and just want to make a useful, fun bourbon hunting app ala OnlyDrams

Bourbonbeacon.com
Know before they do

(And, a bottle shared is better than a bottle shelved)