Angel's Envy Bourbon and Bank Note Blended Scotch

I have a bit of a backlog between these from back in SF and a rather thorough tasting in New York. They'll be going up on tumblr through the queue but I'll just batch them here. First: a two-fer from before I left for New York, one good, one not good.

Angel's Envy Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

One would think this would be a slam dunk for me. I'm predisposed to bourbons. It hits all the notes I look for. Hell, it's even finished in port wine barrels. But no. The elements are somehow out of balance. It has a floral taste making it very perfumey and way down deep in the aftertaste are bananas. Just not a good combination.

Bank Note Blended Scotch Whisky

Oh now that's good. Very soft, not bitter at all, some vanilla, and only the tiniest bit of smoke. Fantastic with a peach crisp smothered in whipped cream.

Isle of Skye Whisky Tastings

Four months ago a Scottish Pub with a devastatingly good whisky selection opened in Brooklyn. I read about it on Gothamist and decided I needed to go the next time I was in town. Amy and her husband and I met there on Thursday (they were there for a wedding; yay timing) and I went back Saturday. I didn't actually have nine whiskies in two days. Not really. The bartender also gifted one of their amazing little glasses to me when I inquired if I could buy one. They have a really huge selection and Scott will talk your ear off in his lovely Scottish brogue if you want him to or leave you alone if you'd prefer. This is the rest of the backlog.

Benraich 12-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Spicy, sweet, a little more spicy than sweet but super tasty.

Aberlour 12-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
So sweet. So smooth. My friend had a hard time not just downing it. I had a hard time not stealing it from her.

Balvenie 14-year Caribbean Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky
All that I had hoped for in a rum-cask finished whisky. It's rich and spicy. Amazing.

Littlemill 12-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This is a weird one. It smells like acetone-free nail polish remover but the taste is not unpleasant. There's really a lot going on in there. It's layered, starkly so. The flavors don't blend together gracefully but rather ricochet off each other quickly shifting from one to the next with little warning and little sense. I can't say I don't like it. I can say this is not a drink of comfort.

Bowmore 25-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This is officially the most extravagant whisky I've ever tried. It tasted like a campfire smells but no bite. Very smooth. I can't say I'd have it again at that price but it was worth it to try and share.

Tomatin 12-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Honey and vanilla and so very smooth. This one has almost no bite.

The Arran Malt 10-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
There's an awful lot going on in here. It smells fruity. There's an after-burn but no smoke or peat that I could discern. It's a different kind of sweet, not the sweet of honey and vanilla and caramel. More the sweet of citrus and melon.

Chivas Brothers Strathisla Pure Highland Malt Scotch Whisky 12-year
Instant favorite. It's like someone made this just for me. The flavor is less intense than caramel. It's almost delicate, like a perfectly roasted marshmallow.

Glenkinchie 12-year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Tastes a bit like carbonized sugar, with an interesting balance of sweet and smokey.

18/52

The Birds of the World Hall at the American Museum of Natural History is on the second floor sandwiched between the Mexico and Central America hall, the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples, and the African Peoples hall. A little incongruous with its surroundings. Like the Warburg Hall of New York State Environment, people tend to pass through it on their way to somewhere else or to consult their maps or to ogle a funny looking bird or two before moving on. I think this makes it a great place to recharge.

The hall has twelve dioramas and a eight or nine benches. I could (and do, given the opportunity) look at them for hours. They are like an inverse hall of impressionist masters. From a distance some of them look like they’re just plants and dirt and sky and maybe some water. The longer you look, the more you get your eyes on. The more you get your eyes on, the more you see.

You can’t see the entire exhibit in this frame so you can’t see all of them but this exhibit has fifty-one species from the Congo represented.

Some of them more than once.

There are more of them in the frame than you think.