McCARTHYS Oregon Single Malt

© 10 Sep '12    photo by smck

McCARTHYS Oregon Single Malt 

Clear Creek Distillery in Portland Oregon, Pot Distilled Whiskey   

Distilled from a Ferment Mash of Peat-Malted Scottish Barley.  

Barrel aged 3 years.  

ALC 42.5%  (85 Proof)

 Himself's Take    (done for the first time in a structured fashion)

COLOUR - Very Pale Gold

NOSE - Mild with soft peat, pleasing suggestion of non-cloyingly sweetness

BODY - slow opening, medium body, slightly oily, hint of alcohol

PALATE - Soothing mild peatyness ,  oaky wood notes, kind of a mystic Lord of the Rings flavours that change as you think you've deciphered them.

FINISH - Long and surprisingly easy on the inhale with those mystic flavours riding steadily on

SCORE - upper 80s, say 89

On Sep 2nd I wrote the following:
While in Baltimore yesterday - 1 Sept '12 - I purchased a single malt distilled in Oregon state.  So it's whiskey with an 'e' and the word Scotch conspicuously missing on the label.  However it is a decent member of the malt whiskey set, Scotch or no.  To wit:  McCarthys Oregon Single Malt, a pot distilled whiskey by Clear Creek Distillery.  These words I'm posting today are really just a warm-up of a more in depth review as I was exhausted when I sampled a wee dram late last night.  It was decent enough though to me seeming a bit 'thin' in the opening taste and then coming through with mildly pleasant peat flavour and other little flavours that I will have to dwell on tonight.  At the present I will simply say neither bland nor overwhelming and pleasing flavours that finish well.  More later on this. Promise!!

I've since sampled a few pleasing 'wee drams' and enjoyed them all - but found it hard to describe this American WhiskEy.  On reading a number of reviews I find that it is an extremely well reviewed whiskey - named one of the ten best American Whiskeys and receiving a score of 96 from Jim Murray's Whiskey Bible.  But the theme that was common to them all is that for a whiskey aged for only 3 years this was an unbelievably well crafted and well and truly aged single malt.  Once you get past the strange tasting comments that reviewers seem compelled to mention (pine-sol??,  butterieness, etc.) you will see that all are in agreement that this is a fine Single Malt.

Me too!!