Offensive Scents/Flavors

by **peergynt323** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:10 am

In my traditional lack of originality, I'm going to spin off a chat thread. What whisky flavors do you find offensive? Which ones compel you to give a whisky a below average or even below likeable score and which whiskies have you found it in? Here's mine:

Bubblegum: Dalmore 21, Balvenie 15yo, Glenrothes 1992
Cheap Chinese Barbecued Pork: Isle of Jura Superstition, Caol Ila 25yo
Heavy Iodine: Bowmore Legend
Fertilizer/Sod: Finlaggan

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:54 am

Burnt popcorn. Yuck. Tasted it in several drams; the worst offender was a G&M Cask Old Pulteney, from a sherry cask, sampled at the Bow Bar in Edinburgh.

Overcooked corn, in Woodford Reserve. I've tasted very little bourbon, and am curious to see if I find this in other ones.

Bubblegum in Balvenie 15? I've never noticed it. I've tasted it quite strongly in a Cadenheads Clynelish, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. Never tasted cheap Chinese pork, but I have tasted bacon. Maybe that's in the same vein. But again, I didn't find it distasteful.

by **les taylor** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:49 am

Water in a Connoiseurs Choice Ardbeg. It was definitely there because the ardbeg was so weak. ( Diluted ugghh ).

by **Mr Fjeld** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:01 pm

Rotten leafs like you would expect in the late autumn and ufortunately very present in Ledaig NAS.

by **Deactivated Member** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:31 pm

Mr Fjeld wrote:Rotten leafs like you would expect in the late autumn and ufortunately very present in Ledaig NAS.

You lucky thing. Oh how I've longed for rotten leaves in Ledaig sherry - anything to mask the farmyard slurry gently mixed with burnt rubber

by **fishboy** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:40 pm

My father-in-law is a big fan of the ledaig NAS.........

Personally I also get those decaying vegetable matter/slurry notes mentioned earlier. Really reminds me of those february mornings as a child walking to school when the local farmer used to let the sheep loose in the field of decaying Brussel sprout stalks. not good. Still, if you can fight past the nose...

by **peergynt323** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:23 pm

MrTattieHeid wrote:Burnt popcorn. Yuck. Tasted it in several drams; the worst offender was a G&M Cask Old Pulteney, from a sherry cask, sampled at the Bow Bar in Edinburgh.

Overcooked corn, in Woodford Reserve. I've tasted very little bourbon, and am curious to see if I find this in other ones.

Bubblegum in Balvenie 15? I've never noticed it. I've tasted it quite strongly in a Cadenheads Clynelish, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. Never tasted cheap Chinese pork, but I have tasted bacon. Maybe that's in the same vein. But again, I didn't find it distasteful.

I think it was a flawed cask. I've had other Balvenie 15yos that were great.

by **Reggaeblues** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:49 pm

Paint stripper in a cheap blend, Glen Flossie or somesuch, mixed with, yes, bubblegum'll do...yuk.

"I don't wish to insult you by telling you what it tasted like..." American non-whisky loving friend upon sampling a bottle of Serendipitydoo given to him by someone because the name had a cosmic ring to them both. how sweet!

Anyway, he's promised to give me the rest of the bottle next time i'm in North London, which is even sweeter!

Not that i was blown away by this "freak accident in a bottling hall" as JM describes it. In fact, i swapped my last bottle for a "Still Young" at oddbins, bless 'em!

Nevertheless, as this bottle is open, and a gift, i shall enjoy it as a piece of Serendipitudinous history, and ignore the fact that were the bottle unopened it could have been worth a bob or two in a coupla years...

Oh, and "how can you enjoy something that smells like toilet cleaner?"
The voice of my mother, unimpressed by the scents of my Ardbeg 10 wafting across her dining room table...