Tastes

Nose: Heavy malted barley, raisins, plums. Warm maple and brown sugar oatmeal. More sweetness, almost like molasses. As a whole, it reminds me of warm oatmeal raisin cookies. Palate: Sweet brown sugar syrup. Smokey cinnamon and molasses cookies again. Damn, that is so reminiscent of warm, doughy, spiced baked goods - like pumpkin break. A bit of spicy baking spices and rounded oak notes. Finish: Medium-long finish. Mouthwatering, warm, open maltiness. Slowly fading brown sugar sweetness. The end is dominated by delicious oak and slight smoke. Conclusion: My god... I wasn't expecting this to be so good. This has so much character, one of those whiskies you could pick out immediately in a blind test (in a good way). Westland wanted to branch away from the Scottish way of single malts and make a defining American Single Malt. They succeeded. If it weren't for the hefty price tag on this, it would quickly become my everyday drinker. I applaud Westland for what they've done here.

I wanted to like it... To be honest, this is the worst whiskey I've ever had in my life. I can barely bring the glass to my nose before the smell turns my stomach. For anyone who has every worked with horses, the smell is unmistakable: that super grassy horse shit that is more mushed grass than actual shit. Like that damo bottom layer of half-rotten hay in the back of the the barn on the most humid day of the summer. The taste is exactly what you'd expect from the smell. I couldn't drink it, had to pour the glass down the drain.

Nose: Sweet, smoky peat. Dried grass, Almost charcoal-like smoke, but not overpowering. Sage, basil, and wintergreen. Spruce tips. A bit of something savory underneath. Dried apricot and dates. Palate: Grassy fresh. Cooling herbs, subtle mint. A smokiness that isn't overpowering, like the wisps of white smoke when you first light a fire. Light heather honey. Slight oak and spice, some white peppercorns. Finish: Cooling finish with rounded earth and smoke. Some more peppercorns slowly fade into savory peat. Conclusion: Herbs galore! All those wonderful cooling herbs that remind me of a cold, wet Irish morning that I miss so much. The peat is definitely not the overpowering "I'm a tough man so I only drink heavily-peated Islays" type of peat. It's got a lot more subtleties and layers than a lot of the peaty notes in other whiskies, and "smoky" is not what I'd use to describe it. There's far less sweetness than I remember, though it's been probably 4 years since I had this last. I do wish that Kilbeggan would have bottled this at maybe 43% ABV, though there's a surprising amount of complexity in here for a 40% ABV NAS whiskey.

Nose: Sweet grain, toasted corn, a bit of nice spice, a rounded honey-like sweetness. Searching for stout influence leads me to a chocolate malt note, not chocolate itself, but that dark note from toasted barley. There's a vanilla milk-chocolate sweetness in the back too. Palate: Light and watery at first. Turns dark honey sweet with a surprising amount of light floral and a bit of citrus. The stout is there in the back as well with a woody chocolate. A bit of dark toffee with a coffee hint, then back to sweet dark honey. Loads more chocolate-coffee stout influence now on the second go. The stout hits mid-to-back-palate where it lingers on the way back of the tongue. Finish: Medium-short, slightly sweet. Milk chocolate is the main lingering note. Maybe a bit of peach too? odd. Much more milk chocolate now that lingers way on the back of the tongue with a bit of woody vanilla. Conclusion: At the first sip, I thought this was going to be pretty boring, but after giving it a little while to open up it changed completely. So much chocolate now that I'd have a hard time drinking more than a small pour at a time. I'd honestly prefer a little less sweetness, but I can also see why it is so sweet. A pour of this for desert might be a good way to drink it. I'm impressed, for a budget whiskey, this one's got some real complexity and character!

Nose: Bright green apple, vanilla, toffee, a bit of cinnamon. Warm butter and honey with a flighty floral note that's hard to pin down. Palate: Like silk on the tongue. Creamy, sweet vanilla cake, delicate orange frosting, cinnamon and clove bite. An almost floral spice note, like cardamom. Green pear and soft apple. More floral notes that accompany the honey, right before the spicy kick. Finish: Medium. Absolutely mouthwatering. Sweet and buttery throughout, with lingering potstill spices that come in waves. Conclusion: This is hard to beat for the price. At $30 a bottle, I would be challenged to come up with a better whiskey for the price, across ALL categories. I have a love for pot still whiskey, so you could call me biased, but if I had to choose one bottle to keep in stock all the time, this would be it.

I finally got my Irish Tuath glass in the mail, so I decided to break it in with my favorite Irish Whiskey! I really love the look of these glasses, but I love the way they feel even more so. Slightly larger than a Glencairn, but MUCH more comfortable to hold. I also like the curved lip, it just feels better to drink from. Let's see how it compares though! Nose: Bright orange and peach, a bit of a surprise. Warm christmas cake, caramel toffee, a bit of ginger? Cinnamon sugar on buttered toast. Palate: Sweet berry jam, almost minty spices. Nice warm spices, cinnamon, clove, slight bitter oak, subtle white pepper. Sweet citrus, candied pecans, hard toffee. Finish: Long finish. Astringent at first, but mouthwatering as it lingers. Spices hold on for a short while, followed by shortbread that fades to a buttery warmth. That astringency is warming, like the white smoke from a dry fire, though I don't mean to say this is smokey at all. Conclusion: I honestly didn't know what to expect, whether I'd even be able to tell a difference or not, but there were some real differences with this glass. The biggest thing I noticed was that a lot of those super sweet and nutty notes I usually get from Redbreast 12 were a lot less prominent, allowing me to delve deeper into some of the spice accents. The difference isn't huge, but I think I'll keep trying this out until I decide whether it'll be my go-to glass. If it were all based on comfort, the Irish Tuath glass would win 10 times out of 10.

Nose: The nose is warming with oatmeal, sweet peat, honey, and a small bit of toasted coconut. There's a note in there that reminds me of banana chips. A big dose of sweet malt rounds it out. Maybe a bit of toasted grain and woodsmoke that weren't there initially. Palate: Honey sweet initially, followed by an oily peatiness that lingers and turns more earthy. Heather and toasted malt, a small bit of roasted apple. Leather and seaweed. Finish: Medium length oily. Warming, earthy peat. Toasted barley with a slight hint of coconut. Candied corn. Oaky sweetness. Conclusion: I've seen some good reviews and bad reviews. Most of the bad reviews though, say something like "disappointed with the level of peat" or something. It says "Lightly Peated" right on the bottle... They did what they set out to do, I think it's a wonderful example of a lightly peated scotch. The smoke doesn't overwhelm any of the other components, but it's still there if you look for it. This isn't the most complex whisky out there, but I find it rather enjoyable. It's not the best, but it's a great casual sipper.

Warehouse # 125 Barrel # 35-4R Nose: A warming vanilla and almost-burnt-toffee accompanies a slight alcohol burn. Though there's a slight burn, I expected a bit more of it from the 50% ABV. Milk chocolate almost hides a hint of banana. Ripe, sweet pear. A small amount of oak and pepper follow at the end. Palate: Juicy, ripe peaches and sweet cherries appear immediately, followed by an explosion of pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and barrel spice. Some toasted coconut peaks out now with a very subtle tart citrus note. Oaky sweetness slowly turns to a creamy milk chocolate with lingering cinnamon. Finish: Long, warming finish dominated by vanilla and oak. Lingering baking spices accent the whole way. Adding a few drops of water lets loose a huge amount of vanilla in the nose while opening up some sweet corn and more of that banana. The oak and spice disappear, as does the alcohol warmth. The immediate sweetness it the taste is dialed down and the fruitiness is replaced by a lingering honey and corn sweetness. More tropical notes, pear and coconut are more pronounced along with the vanilla now. The Finish is a bit warmer with a simpler pear and vanilla. Conclusion: This is one of the best bourbons I've had to date. Very complex, but also delivers a variety of flavors powerfully enough that you don't have to go looking all that hard. The 50% ABV makes this a nice one for those cold days. I was surprised a the amount of tropical flavors in there, coconut, peach, pear, and even banana. I definitely prefer it without any added water. This might be my new go-to bourbon.

Nose: Sour cherries are the big one right off the bat. Vanilla and baking spice follow, with a lingering fruitiness from the initial cherry note. Some subtle chamomile and white tea rise toward the end as a pleasant floral accent. Woody oak rounds out the lot. Palate: Immediate floral-honey sweetness followed by big spices. Oak spice, cinnamon, menthol, and a bit of black pepper. A small amount of ripe cherry comes out with that initial honey sweetness. Is that eucalyptus and spearmint? Finish: Medium length and slightly astringent. That mint and oak spice keeps going for quite some time, eventually mellowing into a warming vanilla and gentle oak sweetness.

It's been a while since I've had anything Irish, let alone sherried, so this might have a bit of an effect. Nose: Big pear and green apple burst at the beginning followed by a darker, sweet red cherry and stewed fruits. Reminds me of spiced apple cider with the baking spices tossed on top of all that fruit. I have to search around a bit for the malty base, but it's there as a rich buttery cereal. Palate: Slightly tart cherries and a bit of apricot? A fleeting floral, honey sweetness follows. Big, buttery maltiness comes next, a little oilier than I remember. Shortbread biscuits with a little extra butter. A subtle cedar sawdust now, though not in a bad way, accents the malt notes. Finish: Long finish that rides pretty neutral in astringency. The most prominent component is a sweet, uplifting floral note. A little honey and pear sweetness rounds out the floral note as it drifts away from the grain and malt characteristics. Towards the very end a nuttiness like a mixture of fresh almond and toasted coconut appears. Conclusion: To be honest, I don't remember liking this one this much. I expected it to be much simpler, like I had noted before, but I found much more complexity this time. If every dram of this were like the one I just had, I'd definitely buy again.