Tastes

Over the last few days, I have been visiting family in GA. During that time some of the Scotch drinkers in the family have been sharing their favorites and/or their go-to bottles with me and I have been sharing my Bourbons and Gins with them. It is one of my favorite ways to have a family reunion. Anyway, my dad brings out this bottle of McClelland's Highlands Single Malt for us to try and it has been sitting for so long that the cork breaks apart and pieces fall into the bottle. After filtering all of the cork out of the scotch and cleaning the bottle we all had a glass before dinner and it was a wonderful surprise. Neat I can taste a nice fruitiness and some wood and maybe smoke. Over ice, it is even better with the sharp taste I associate with scotch smoothed out and some other flavors moving forward. Between this and Glenmorangie 10yr I am beginning to see why people drink scotch. I am looking forward to trying the other 3 McClelland expressions I read the reviews and will add them to the list of scotches to try and hopefully by Christmas I will have 2 or 3 of the bottles to review. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy.

Over the weekend I met up with some of my drinking friends and one of them offered this to me as an inexpensive Scotch and it was not pleasant. Poured neat it was sharp and watery and with ice, the flavors smoothed out but it still was not tasty. He told me he got it on sale for $13 so for that price it is not bad but I have a hard time seeing a use for this stuff. I have read that Grant has some good blends but this is not one of them.

I am finally able to review the very solid full-flavored Bourbon. This is not one of the subtle complex bourbons on the market it is an in your face I dare you to take another sip bourbon. That is not to say it is bad it is very good but it is strong. The nose is sweet vanilla and a light spice that goes into the body where the full flavor explodes onto your palate. I tasted a sweetness like brown sugar or caramel and some of the heat from the alcohol but it is ok it is expected. I went to the web site and it says it is a "wheated" bourbon and it is not like any wheater I have ever had but it is not a bad thing. The Bourbon makes an outstanding Old Fashioned as the flavor really compliments the bitters and orange peel in my OF. Is this the best bourbon for the price no it is not. Is it a very solid that shows that not all wheated bourbons are smooth sippers yes it does. I believe that it would be interesting if it were in the barrel for a few more years but this is very good "I had a rough day and I need a drink of something to make me get over it". This is your drink. It is not easy to find and it runs around $40 a bottle but it is worth trying in my humble opinion. Enjoy. Over the Memorial Day weekend, this won a blind taste test between Russell Reserve, Very Old Barton BiB, and Henry McKenna BiB. I upped the score. This is a very good bold bourbon.

I had this at my Dad's house before Thanksgiving and enjoyed it but I was on a Scotch and Colonel EH Taylor Small Batch tasting expedition. Now just before Christmas, I had a chance to revisit Sexton and I really enjoyed it. It reminds me of Bushmills Red Bush Irish Whiskey in that it is fruity and smooth. I had it neat and it was a solid sipping whiskey, but I really enjoyed it with some ice as it mellowed the flavors. I will say that the bottle is very cool but it is what is inside that will keep me buying this more than once. In my area, it is about $23 a bottle so it is an easy yes for me. I will try this in drinks when I get my next bottle. Enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone.

During this holiday season, I have had the wonderful opportunity to try several different things and Crown Royal Apple is one of the more divisive liquids in the group. My dad and a few others did not like it at all. While I and some others liked it but it is easy to drink too much of this and be done with it. Now when I first drank this neat it was very nice with the apple flavor mixing well with the whiskey and when ice is added it made the drink even better. I have not mixed this with anything but I have read and heard from friends that it does mix very well and the sweetness is reduced a great deal. I do not like this as much as the Birddog Peach but this is a nice flavored whiskey and by the time I finished drinking a few drinks of this I was not enjoying the sweetness if you know someone that likes apple-flavored things they will most likely enjoy this. Enjoy.

Happy New Year everyone. I had a chance this wonderful Rye whiskey yesterday and it is wonderful. The flavor is spicey and big. When I first sipped this neat it filled my mouth with spices like nutmeg or allspice and some sweetness with ice it mellows and I tasted some woodiness and caramel. This is a 100 proof spirit and even at that strength it is not super hot but I knew I was drinking a strong spirit. The only real criticisms I have are that it is expensive and it is hard to find consistently in my area. I wish I could taste all of the flavors that Ctrexman and Chumppunk could taste but this is still an outstanding Rye and I am glad I tasted it.