Tastes

To the point: This stuff tastes like someone mixed a cheap bottom-shelf plastic jug whisky with grape kool-aide mix. I can't find anything good to say about it. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'd dump it down the drain, but I don't think my septic tank deserves the pain.

I must start by saying it saddens me to finally be writing this review. I had held out hope my last three bottles (different lot codes, over the last 19 months) were simply victims of batch variation, and the wonderfulness of smoked meat, bacon and leather would once again appear in my kitchen when I popped the cork on a fresh bottle of Laga. Sadly...it has not come to pass, and I must conclude there was definitely a change in production to meet the increased demand, and quality has suffered for it. The new Laga 16 is somewhat light on the nose, mostly cereal grains with a hint of fresh-turned earth and the lingering smoke from a water-quenched campfire. The palate is thin, dry and almost bitter, dominated by vegetals before turning just slightly sweeter and tapering off to an ashy taste that lingers for a few minutes. Blind, I would have pegged this for a 5-year Bowmore/Bruichladdich blend, and a somewhat unpleasant one at that. this will probably be my last bottle of Laga 16...I can only hope they haven't also ruined the Laga 12 Cask Strength.

Another one where the 5-point scale doesn't do justice...this is better than 4, but not quite 5. In any case, the nose is a bit woody, with sugarcane and butter hints mixed with alcohol astringency. The palate, fortunately, is much better. Rich butterscotch coats the tongue, intermingled with baking spices and just a hint too much wood before leading to a dry, sweet finish. Very surprised at the amount of spice in this considering there's no rye in the mashbill. A really good variant of the wheated whiskys; better than Maker's Mark, on-par with (yet very much different than) Maker's 46, but not quite as good as Weller's 107. Give this a try if you find traditional wheated bourbons too sweet, or if you're looking for a little more "smooth" than in your regular rye-blend drams.

Whim purchase, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it...Nose is clean and fragrant with spices; mint, torn basil and a hint of sage mostly. The palate is hard to pin down, but always opens very earthy, almost dirty, with an overpowering presence of fresh-turned potting soil. A large sip next leads to juniper, sour apples and mint before the oak takes you to the finish. A small sip with a bit of air goes from earth to an almost fishy flavor not unlike Korean fish sauce barbecue, then goes minty with a smaller apple presence before the oak carries you to the finish. The finish in both cases is similar, with hints of astringency, more juniper (or outright balsam needles to be more truthful) and then a warm cinnamon dryness that lingers for a few minutes. This is nothing if not interesting; a complex whisky that doesn't conform to any norms yet manages to touch all of them. Not as sweet as a bourbon, not as rich as a good Scotch, not as floral as a good Irish, yet hints of all three are woven into each sip. If oddball is your thing, this is a good buy...otherwise find a well-stocked bar before committing to the whole bottle.

If you're looking for a great whisky that you can drink every night while you relax in front of the TV this is NOT that dram. Complex, bold, vibrant, demanding; the descriptors could go on and on... This is an amazing whisky! Absolutely over the top, yet understated; rich and full, yet delicate; hot and spicy, yet sweet and floral. It's an oxymoron in a bottle...like nothing I've ever had before. Pop the cork and a campfire fills the room (my wife smelled this from 18 feet away the instant I opened it). Getting past the smoke and peat, you can find a bit of old leather (think horse saddle or well-used carpenter's belt) and a field of fresh-cut hay. The palate opens unsurprisingly with smoke and sweet peat, but doesn't dominate and hide everything. Citrus, hard nuts, vanilla, stone fruit and rose petals are there for the tasting, all wrapped in an underlying honey-like sweetness. The finish is all smoke and takes forever, leaving an ashy taste in your mouth for more than an hour. Add water, and things get even more interesting! The nose stays the same, but the smoke is amplified and dominates the palate entry before a showcase of sweet peat, pears, vanilla and clover honey cascade across your tongue. The finish is slightly drying with a pleasant numbness preceding the campfire that leaves your mouth dry and wishing for more. I've never had a whisky get more smokey with water, but this does. Eminently drinkable straight, but almost a different dram when cut to about 50% ABV. I know it's expensive, and I know it's hard to find, but if you love Scotch, and you like Islay malts, you simply must try to find a glass of this...

This most recent bottle was put in casks in 2006: Nose is sweet, vanilla competing with caramel and fresh brown sugar. Very, very slight whiff of alcohol before ending with corn syrup. Sweet, followed by sweet, finished with sweet, and the palate is very much the same. This bottle is a bit thinner than my last, but still fairly viscous. The first sip slowly and smoothly coats the mouth with a warm rush of brown sugar and vanilla before just a tingle of dryness sets in around mid-tongue. Caramel and corn mingle with a bit of oak, but none is competing; rather they seem to balance and offset each other highlighting the good (sweet & smooth) and minimizing the bad (tannins). I found this bottle to be a bit hotter than my last few, and even somewhat spicier than the standard EW Black Label, with some rye profile showing up just before the finish. The finish is smooth, creamy, and (surprise!) sweet, with a lot of caramel and finally aged vanilla bean rounding things out. If you can find a bottle of this for less than $30, it's a steal. At $40, it's money well spent. Only when you get into the above $50 range will you find other bourbon this good, this true to what bourbon was supposed to be, and this consistent, bottle after bottle. Even then, it'll still be a close comparison.

Nose is light and faintly floral before turning vegetal with hay and fresh-turned soil. Maybe fresh grass clippings? Just the slightest whiff of peat smoke underlying the whole thing. Understated certainly; almost too much so for my preference. Palate is very smooth with a creaminess bordering on oily. Trademark Bowmore hay/grass/peat combo, but just a bit more restrained than in the older vintages. A hint almost of rum (coconut and sugar?) followed by mild herbaceous flavors, mostly sage, mint and basil, almost like an American rye, to be closed out with smoke, ash and, finally, a sweet peatiness. This is clearly younger than the other Bowmore offerings, and in this case it's not a bad thing. Bowmore for me borders on too refined, too smooth, and this has enough youthful exuberance in it that you'll never forget you're drinking Scotch, yet you won't also feel like you just put out a campfire with your tongue. This is now a permanent member of my liquor rack.

Oh. Sweet. Heaven. It's like Laphroaig Quarter Cask and Lagavulin Distiller's Edition had a lovechild while bathing in a fountain of Bowmore 12yr. Seriously. The nose is leather and barbecue beef, backed up by a sweet salt breeze blowing off the ocean. Dig a little and there's the iodine and peat so famous to Islay. The palate is remarkably smooth, leading with the brine and seaweed and backed up by a blast of peat, leather and iodine. Swirl it a bit and you'll find a hint of raisins then treacle before the leather, tobacco and peat finish the swallow. This is exceptional in so many ways; no single note is dominant, and all support the other so that the finished product is so much more than the sum of its parts. If you're traveling, do yourself a favor and grab a bottle.

Mine was 139.8 Proof/69.9% ABV, and it was definitely noticeable. Uncut, from a Glencairn, the nose is overpowering alcohol, even from a distance. After a few minutes in the glass, a hint of cinnamon and mint can be found, but if you venture too deep into the glass your nose will never forgive you. The palate of mine was rather thin for the ABV, thinner even than the standard 12yr EC. Flavors are all over the place, with the ever-expected vanilla fighting the dominant cinnamon before astringency wipes out anything remaining. Finish is medium-short in length and almost hostile, as though punishing you for trying to drink this straight; exceedingly astringent, somewhat woody, and very, very drying. With water, this is similar to the standard 12yr EC, except you can sense that it's younger, less refined, more in-your-face, even when cut to the same ABV. Despite the water, there's still a novocaine numbness to it that coats the entire mouth, making it difficult to pull out the hints of spearmint, molasses and brown sugar. With water the body feels better (odd; right?) , and the finish is much smoother but still medium, and still very, very dry. It's decent, but I'd recommend a bottle of the standard 12yr EC and a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel instead.