Speyside, 2016, Japonism, Joint Bottling for Sansibar Whisky and Shinanoya, 211 bottles, 44.8% abv.

Bartenders think this is Glenfarclas. The label is the ukiyo-e print "Portrait of Père Tanguy" by Vincent van Gogh. He made the portrait of Julien François Tanguy during the time of Japonism, when Japanese art and design was all the rage across Europe. Perhaps I'll talk about Japonism in another posting. But this posting is about Julien "Père" Tanguy, an art supplies merchant and collector. He would have artists give him their works as payment, which helped him amass quite a collection. Vincent van Gogh was a friend and there are three portraits of Tanguy, each executed in a different art style. There is an interesting movie called "Loving Vincent" that partially talks about Tanguy.

Nose: initially light fruits and light sherry, changes to toast with fruit jam, then to white grape juice. There is a pretty sharp note of light grass.

Palate: thick, very sweet, thick honey, some wood on the front end, but concentrated honey afterwards.

Finish: short to medium, coolness of water, general honey sweetness, akin to vanilla.

The texture of this whisky is quite interesting. It was also very cool. Super sweet, although light wood elements show up initially from here to there. Couldn't really tell it was a sherry cask from the body of flavors, as I though it was pure honey sweetness. Pretty straightforward and likeable.

Grade: B

Couldn't find quantifiable, reliable reviews

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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