2020 World Whisky Exploration Map

A belated welcome to 2020!

Last year's New Year's Resolution sought to explore a few of my favorite distilleries and brands.  2020's resolution is to try more global whiskies and explore beyond Scotch, Irish, Canadian, and bourbon.  (But there will still be plenty of each of those... I'm not going cold turkey!)  My progress is charted on the map below.  Have you tried something unique?  Leave a comment or let me know on Twitter or Instagram @WhiskyRankings.  Slainte!
 

Update - July 2020

So far this year I've successfully carried out my New Year's Resolution and tried whiskies from 13 new  regions, in addition to the usual suspects from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Kentucky and Tennessee.   My goal for this New Year's Resolution was to force myself out of the usual and try to find some new flavors.  I've definitely tried new flavors... but I have not liked most of them.  I am giving up on this resolution and ready to get back to good scotch and bourbon now!  Read on for full details....

My new finds are listed below by their Score (on a 0 - 100 scale) and their current rank (up to 424).

Whisk(e)y	Region	Score 0-100	Rank
Breckenridge Port Cask	Colorado	79.8	43
Penderyn Tan y Ddraig (Vom Fass)	Wales	69.0	95
Omar Lychee Cask Finish	Taiwan	50.8	227
Mackmyra Valbo (Vom Fass)	Sweden	47.5	252
Bastille 1789	France	34.4	342
Wieser Wachau 8 Yr Gabarinza Cask	Austria	30.4	358
Millstone PX Cask 2008 Special #6	Netherlands	29.8	362
One Eight Bottled In Bond Rye	DC	28.7	364
After Dark	India	28.6	366
Two Doves	Serbia	24.0	385
Devil's River	Texas	16.3	414

 

Two things stand out right away:

1) Most of the whiskies are below average.

2) There are only 11 listed above, not 13 as I noted at the beginning of this update.  

Let me address the second point first - two whiskies I tried were so bad I had to pour them out:

 Kentucky Jack is a three year old blended bourbon bottled in Belgium.  The internet told me not to buy it... but it was 9 Euros and 25% off at the local supermarket.  Worth the risk right?  Nope. I think its blended with a grain spirit.

Loko Viski was a much anticipated souvenir from Slovenia.  I didn't expect it to be great, but I did hope it would at least be something fun on my shelf.   My first sip involuntarily caused my legs to walk me backwards away from the cornflake schnapps - acetone blend I just sipped.  Unlike a cat with a sock on its head, I did actually stop once I got to the corner of the kitchen.  At least my friend who went to Slovenia with me had a really good laugh at my reaction.

Regarding the 11 whiskies on the list above, only two were really above average.  The Breckenridge Port Cask finish is a solid bourbon and the Port expresses itself through juicy berries on the nose and palate.  The Penderyn Tan y Ddraig bottled by Vom Fass also has some very nice tropical fruit flavors on top of a base reminiscent of a speyside scotch.  When I finish this bottle I'll definitely try another Penderyn.

The next two on the list are average IMHO.  A sample of the Omar CS Lychee finish was graciously sent to me by @MaltKlaus.  If I hadn't known it was finished in a cask that contained Lychee liquor I would have called its sweetness a tropical fruit sweetness.  The Mackmyra Valbo from Vom Fass has a sweet pineapple sweetness followed up by some grass notes.  If you like trying new things I'd definitely recommend trying these, or another expression from the respective distilleries.  They are good, but average. 

Now we start getting into the whiskies that are below average.  Nothing wrong with the Bastille 1789 from France, but it also doesn't really do anything for me either.  It is finished in Limousine casks and the dry sweetness is present on top of a grassy and slightly bitter whisky.  The next one on my list has a lot of young wood flavors despite being labeled an 8 year old whisky.  The Wieser Wachau Gabarinza cask finish is like sipping on a sweet pine forest.  I won't discourage an adventurous whisky drinker from trying these two, but I'm not going to replace them.  I'll skip down a few places and mention Two Doves here because it is worth trying as well... and for 20 Euros a bottle I'd probably pick up a bottle.  There isn't anything special about it - white sugar sweetness and some bitter grassy notes - but there aren't any major flaws either.

The rest have some character flaws.  Pretty sure I have a bad bottle of Millstone because this one tastes like salty charred meat.  One Eight is one of my favorite distilleries but it missed the mark on the District Made Bottled-In-Bond rye and about 1/2 the time I get some rubber notes.  The After Dark tasted like grainy pineapple juice and the Devil's River had some kind of character flaw that gave off some really funky odors.

I'm glad I branched out and tried these new whiskies, but my interest in new flavors is satiated and I'll go back to my good old Scotch and Bourbons!