Port Charlotte CC:01 wins again

Again the Port Charlotte CC:01 won, and by a large margin this time.  So much so that after the comparison tastings it was the only one I drank before rotating it back to storage.  Every night for three straight nights I'd drink a dram of this and watch "The Three Drinkers Do Scotch Whisky" on Amazon.  It was a good fun show that I'd recommend, if for nothing else, the scenery of Scotland and nice shots of the distilleries.  In my last post in I noted the stone fruit scents and essences in the PC CC:01 and after this go I'm going to add raisin and mint.  After I started smelling the raising, I couldn’t unsmell it; and with the mint I only picked it up once... but I swear it was there.  But the peat still dominated in a very nice way.  Overall my takeaway wasn't on the flavors themselves, but rather the bold lingering finish that relieved my need to keep coming back immediately for another sip and allowed me to slowly go through an ounce during each 28 minute episode.  Super excited to have a back-up bottle I found at duty free.

What a crappy picture. Bernheim Original is probably
 happy that I killed the bottle and it isn't pictured.

Next up was the Filibuster Dual Cask Bourbon.  According to their website the dual cask "method combines the long-held tradition of new American oak aging with the avant garde approach of a shorter, secondary aging period in wine-seasoned French oak."  When I looked for it, the wine finish came through very nicely on the finish but I don't know if I would have picked it out without looking for it.  Overall this is a solid bourbon (especially for $30 at Costco) with a smoother, more complex finish than most.  (In my view the bourbon is a mild version of the Dual Cask Rye, but that will be for a later post.)

I'm always a little uncertain about reaching for the Ardbeg 10.  For some reason I remember the menthols and stinky peat but then when I actually sip it I'm surprised at how creamy, chocolaty, and how not-stinky the peat is. But, there still were some underlying characteristics I didn’t like while there really wasn’t anything in the Filibuster I didn’t like… so the edge goes to Filibuster.

Rarely does it occur that I cannot come to a conclusion as to which whisky I like more during a tasting.  But it happened with the Jim Beam Black and Bernheim Original.  I went back and forth, back and forth, trying them with varying amounts of water and in different glasses. The mouthfeel, intensity of flavors and scents, and length of finish were all identical to me.  The only difference is that I would describe JBB as “sweet” and Bernheim “minerally”.  It was like they were made from the same base (I know they aren’t) but then a little vanilla sweetness was added to make JBB and a little very hard water with a minerally taste was added to make the Bernheim.  And I found both of these differing flavors equally appealing.

And finally Glenmorangie The Tayne.  This is a NAS, travel exclusive, finished in Amontillado casks.  Loved my first bottle and made sure I picked up another the first time I travelled again.  But, not sure what happened but I really can't say I like this bottle.  The change is probably on my end as I'd bet on Glenmorangie's quality control and ability to reproduce the same scotch over my own ability to perceive the same scotch over the span of a few months.  The dominant characteristics with this bottle are young oak and artificial sweetener and I've gone as far as to add a dram to my Sippable Unsipple blend.

After this tasting here's how they stack up in my total rankings.  In previous tastings the Filibuster was pretty good but it jumped up quite a bit due to its good showing in this comparisons. The Tayne was bolstered by the good showing of my first bottle but continues to drop in the rankings as it continues to unimpress.  The other three are relatively unchanged.

Rank	Name	R-Rating	Wins	Losses	SOS Rank	Change
2	Port Charlotte CC:01	1.0739	24	0	38	1
70	Filibuster Dual Cask Bourbon	0.7107	8	3	118	29
134	Ardbeg 10	0.5294	71	69	116	3
153	Glenmorangie Tayne	0.4904	35	39	126	-17
177	Bernheim	0.4440	22	26	179	-4
239	Jim Beam Black	0.2826	5	20	68	10