So, the folks over at 'Laddie came out with some bottles which were finished in a kosher wine cask from Mt. Carmel. Rumor has it, they were only distributed in the general New York City area which is 20% Jewish - you gotta love target marketing! I have some friends that keep kosher so I figured, before I suggest a new "finished" dram to my kosher keeping buddies who would normally not touch a dram which has been finished in a non-kosher cask, that I'd give it a go. The price was right, less than $50 or so.
I'm glad I tried first because they never would have forgiven me had I suggested this one. I will tell you that, even though this is my least favorite bottle on my shelf it's still not bad. It's just not spectacular and I've never craved it. Don't get me wrong, the folks @ 'Laddie have bottled some absolutely amazing stuff just, not this time.
Nose - lots of spirit here and a dryness hits you right away. Some faint smoke and maybe the smell of daisies - kind of flowery.
Palate - This sort of reminds of day old salad or veggies that are starting to go bad. Slight smoke again and a little salty. Still a lot of spirit in this too.
Finish - As dry as a (insert your own dirty comment here) on a slow saturday night. The nice thing here though it that you can tell that the dryness is a wine dryness so, they nailed here. So, that's good.
Sorry folks, this is my first bad review and actually, the first 'laddie that I haven't loved. I'll still drink her though, just not too often.
It's one of those things a whisky maker might try - how about this wine, about about that wine. I guess there's no harm in trying a kosher wine, and they obviously thought it might just be good enough for a specific niche market.
One that won't go on my wishlist.
I got a large sample bottle 100ML from Jim McEwan this year. But when I was at Bruichladdich he took it straight from the cask and didnt even measure the gravity. So I dont know how many % ABV it is. At cask strength, I can tell you that this dram truly is very nice indeed. Dried fruits and raisins come out as well as milk chocolate and cocoa. The finish at cask strength also has some miniral notes such as cloves and a slight taste of toast and butter. Starts dry and ends up quite sweet. I would like to try it head to head with the regular bottling as my experience of it at cask strength, is very good indeed and I would give it an 8