Tastes

I wish I'd had the sample reviewed by the pro staff, because mine is most emphatically not that! Nose is faint, primarily vegetal with just a whiff of smoke. Palate is prickly pear and lightly carameled apple, with a very pleasant novacaine numbness from start to finish. Very light, very fruity, and not much else. Finish is clean and dry, with a splash of oak and maybe if I think about it hard enough, some cedar. Altogether this is a pleasant drink, and I'm glad I bought a bottle. But, I doubt I'll buy another.

Light nose, mild palate, easy sipping. This is EC with a smidge of star anise balanced well with oak. Compare with your milder Pennsylvania ryes and you won't be disappointed, but if you're after pine, mint and nutmeg, you should look elsewhere.

Let's cool expectations right away...You'll never mistake this for Stagg. It's good, but it's not nearly that good. Nose is hot, with ethyl cloaking the apple and oak, but not in an objectionable way.. Palate is obviously rye, and there are the expected nutmeg/cinnamon/anise flavors that meld nicely with the vanilla and caramel that are in all KC product. Finish is medium and mostly just novacaine numb. It's good, and you should try it. Preferably at a bar where you don't spend $75+ for the whole bottle. Just don't think it's anywhere near Stagg. Or Stagg Jr. Or Whistle Pig. Or even Rare Breed Rye.

I've been putting off this review for months. When I first opened the bottle, it wasn't pleasant...there was dill and clove and mint, but there was much more ethanol and heat. I liked this much less than the standard Rare Breed. Time and air have had a beneficial influence, and what was once opened with reluctance is now anticipated. Nose is straightforward, and like most WT products for me, pretty mild. There's light brown sugar, some vanilla, black tea and then ethanol...not stellar for sure, but also not objectionable. Palate is much better, offering a sharp, dry splash of pepper, spearmint and dill carried on a rich vanilla backdrop that ties it all together. Black tea shows again in the finish, cutting what little sweetness there is and leading to a clean, dry close. Well worth the price, and a welcome addition to the Rare Breed lineup.

The nose...Man is that interesting! It's peat without question, but carried aboard an undercurrent of freshly turned, really old, really rich soil, a blast of burning rubber, coal, and then the smell of a chalkboard eraser. An old car junkyard, in the south, in the middle of the summer. Most of the smells carry over to the palate and smoke, earth, gunpowder and grass are predominant with just a dash of salt to keep from getting too dirty. Finish starts with that burned rubber (not at all objectionable in this case) which turns to roofing tar and then a blast of fresh cut hay before fading to smoke.

This presents as young, and has most of the faults thereby associated...faint nose, thin body and overly hot. Dig deeper after a splash of water and you can smell a whiff of oak, reminiscent of a freshly washed wood floor. Palate opens thin and hot, but the heat doesn't linger instead moving to demerara sugar and vanilla. Sadly, the vanilla is the imitation variety and there's not much else to fill the gap before a brief, slightly tingly end. This is my least favorite of the series, and doesn't hold a candle to the 1920. Try if you must, but be aware there are better options for the price point.

Solid drink for when you don't want to think about what you're drinking. Light, sweet, fruity and almost dangerously quafable, this is to single malt what JW Black Label is to blended scotch. Buy this is you've never had Glenlivet before, if you want something equally at ease in mixers or straight up, or if you're introducing someone new into the single malt world.

The pro's review pretty much nails the general taste...it's Glenlivet, albeit with a slightly spicier twist. There's little to laud here, but also little to call a flagrant fault. Fruit, grass, a splash of honey, a dash of nutmeg, then a clean, dry, short, finish. I like the standard 12yr more, but this is a perfectly reasonable drink.

Smell is light and floral, with just a hint of coconut and rum funk. Palate is smooth and sweet, opening with pear and apple before a flash of molasses leads to a brief, dry, and almost bitter close. Time and air are an enemy, making this thin and more bitter after only 30 minutes in the glass.