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"God creates dinosaurs, God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man, Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs." — Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
"God creates dinosaurs, God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Man, Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs." — Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Now, I know what you are thinking, did he really photographed a bottle of whisky with a toy dinosaur? Yes, yes I did.
God I loved the movie Jurassic Park as a child. And I think my fascination for dinosaurs even led me to my later studies in Archaeology. (Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones being my all time favorite movies.)
So, when I met Ian O'Brien at "the art of drinks" in Amsterdam last October and he let me tast this whisky while mentioning it was a "Jurassic Park" whisky, I knew I wanted this bottle. And it took me just a few days to get one.
And then I placed it in my whisky cabinet and did not write about it.
Why?
Because much better and more professional whisky bloggers already created great blogs about this whisky. This one from Words of Whisky for example.
And if those bloggers did not write some great pieces on this whisky, the Waterford distillery themselves have a great bunch of information about it on their website.
But why the dinosaur? Waterford resurrected a "lost" strain of barley and spend some time sowing and harvesting 50 grams of this strain to gain enough barley for 50 barrels of whisky. See the Jurassic Park resemblance? I do!
After I tried a dram poured by Ian, like I said, I had to get a bottle. And I'm happy I did. I would love to write more about the way it was made, the revival of an old strain of barley and more. But in this case: Waterford did it the best already. So it just leaves me to the tasting and enjoying of this beautiful whisky.
The whisky is bottled at 50% vol. and aged on a combination of casks. Quoting the Waterford website: "Matured in a combination of: 45% first-fill US oak; 19% virgin US oak; 21% Premium French oak; 15% Vin Doux Naturel."
The color is a think straw colored yellow and looks a bit oily. Twirling it in the glass leave some oily legs.
On the nose: Immediately some cereal notes that were going towards coffee grinds. Made me think about breakfast. Grasses after the cereal and barley notes. Some fruit like persimmons and pureed apples.
Taste: I notice an oily feeling on the tongue, immediately followd by some spices. White pepper and cardamom going together with malt. Sweet malt and cereals. Then some hints of chocolate. and maybe some light sulphur. (Which might sound weird, but it makes this dram a balanced delight!)
Finish: Medium long finish that I enjoy so much it made me pauze for a second sip. Again the malty flavor with sweet notes going towards molasses. Some oak and on the very end it reminded me of a great chablis or other dry white wine grown on chalky grounds.
Conclusion: Get yourself a dram of this whisky because I'm not sharing this one!
It is a whisky that triggers emotions, and some memories of summer vacations in France. I enjoyed this dram for a very long time and keep finding new notes and with that new memories and such.
Thank you Ian, for pouring this dram and calling it a "Jurassic Park" whisky. It made me laugh. And thank you Robbert, for pushing me towards the Waterford stand and this specific bottle!
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