Tastes

Bottle states 8yr old, dewars double aged, port wine cask finished. Their tasting notes claim "apricot, honeydew melon, red cherries, heathered honey with vanilla notes" Apricot, honey, and port influence I'll give them, the rest is definitely a stretch Nose is weak. Palate has assertive port cask tones but they arent brash. Strawberry jam, raspberry ice cream, plain dry grain. Absence of floral usually associated with this territory. Silky dewars honey holds the backbone together STURDY like the frame of a 1980 Fleetwood caddy. Im a big dewars fan and I've skipped all the 'illegal smooth' line stuff till this one. The mezcal got bad reviews, and I can pretty much guess with certainty glenlivet caribbean would trounce dewars rum finish... I think this could be a good change of pace!! This is cheap scotch but it's actually a decent representation of a fancier scotch style. No heat, no off-notes, just a complete lack of any fancier depth/body/complexity/class. I'm going to very much enjoy playing with it, it's basically strawberry jam on toast. If you've read this far I'll give you a nice tip: I just read today the next one is "Japanese smooth" with a MIZUNARA(!!!) finish. Yowzer!!! If it's similar VFM as this it could be a crazy bargain. Chivas mizu is too damn expensive @50+ now. Bump it to 4/5 if you get it under $25 and enjoy a well-thrown curveball, or for how respectably the port is handled for the price point.

Tried this to see how different it is than the "smoky black". I'm not sure if one replaced the other, and page 1 of google didn't clarify 'Smoky black' I already reviewed, so this will be some comparisons. The tl;dr of that review is raisin nose, MILD peat, drinkable but very forgettable This one trades down on the nose. Grease, wood varnish, chimney smoke, horehound candy, sweet orange. Presence of peat in nose is enough to make a peat head a lil thirsty. Palate actually has enough peat to justify "black", even "smoky"! Unfortunately there isnt much else. Buttery shortcake, brandied raisin dryness is about all I got besides peat. I like peat, so this is great, but will honestly say it's not much else going for it. Mouth is short but with a definitive pepperiness->salinity. Very light and easy drinking, no off-putting heat or ethanol anywhere. At a higher proof this probably was great-but-boring sipping. At this proof it's just plain snooze-worthy. I'm giving it 3/5 because it's really drinkable, just nothing noteable.

It's like a 4.5 if you get it cheap. How did I never try this until now??! OH, because I always picked up bernheims in the past instead of this and was more than A LITTLE familiar with regular makers... ..MISTAKE. This is a Kentucky straight bourbon whisky barrel finished with the barrel containing 10 french oak staves. '46' refers to the designation this profile was given among barrel experimentation. The makers wheat bill is there but tastes mildly more balanced, if only a touch. Nose: PAST the cherry syrup and AMAZINGLY tantalizing oaky wood*, you nose fudge, old glasses formerly containing burgundy, marzipan/gingerbread cookie *its up-front and unapologetic but is so well placed I truly believe this took 45, then 46 attempts at strategic wood placement to get ultimately balanced against the best of the Kentucky notes. Stand-out enjoyable if you like well-done wood Palate: Somewhere between the olfactory and tongue is this great saltwater taffy, butterscotch, fig, allspice/clove statement that makes the whole thing work like a well-polished work. The details and nuance here are just as much the N/P themselves (standout) as it is the interaction... ...again, fantastic. On the end of a only-as-oily-as-it-should-be-and-not-an-inch-more tasting, you get brought back to the hints of the delicious KY regulars you didnt get in the open--whispers of cinnamon and leather fade into a silky wheater mouth Mouth: Short but on par with the big boys. The 'justtttt oily enough' thing is really killer when you get a glass of it just right. This one takes neat, water, and ice fantastically. I recommend neat or ice sphere after destroying the bottl--i mean 'testing' for the ideal sip.

Bought some off a clearance shelf for $20.99 . Nose Invitingly plain. Clean sheets, green apple, waaaaay hidden in the back is a sweet white pepper. Bland and dull overall. Doesnt 'pop', makes no fanfare. Compared to all other JW products at this MSRP, F+ or D- Palate Peated blend my ass. Maybe I got an off bottle, but this thing is just flat and characterless. Oh sure, the bottle supposedly says the heart is Caol Ila, the juicy orchard fruit notes taste pleasant (however weak), an initially interesting cinnamon (just cinnamon, not red hots or similar) note resounds in the finish. Cream and spice are shown off, but barely seem above a gimmick. D+, for the same MSRP black label or jane walker 10y trounce this Mouth Dont drink this one right away. Let her breathe a few minutes, and dont expect a shot to taste best right after pouring. The younger age is apparent but doesnt detract from a good balance of oily richness and cinnamon. C- For the MSRP it's a hard pass, but on half off clearance it wasnt too bad. Will probably drink this whenever I want something cheap but with a nicer mouthfeel than most cheap. Curious to try a rusty nail or godfather with it, seems like a good candidate.

I finally was in the mood for a peated blend that wasnt cheap or expensive, so this checks all those boxes. Nose is mostly smoke from char, sweet malt, minerality. Hint of peat salinity but it's truly just a tiny hint. Palate was excellent. You can tell they strayed a touch from the standard black blend with a a small dash of earthiness and pepper. The smoke itself is worth describing: not quite sweet, but distinctly not woody either. It dominates the profile but isnt unwelcome. The peated whisky in this isnt heavy or light; and theres just enough of it to set off the smoke notes without becoming too background. Biggest problem here is it seems to disappear quickly on the tongue, leading to follow up sip after follow up sip. CREAMY, MALTY, RICH. Mouth was perhaps a notch or two above regular black or green--the hearty malt in the body makes the whole show silky and refined. It may be one dimensional, but it is nice. I tried it with an ice sphere just now after writing and found it better neat. It just came out much sweeter and the smoke tasted out of place. Enjoy neat, remember this ISNT a peat bomb (it's a notch above green, that's it), and maybe take some shots as it isnt exactly investment booze---defintiely dont pay more than $45USD for this and expect top shelf. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Excellent dram. Some descriptions online state it being at least 4 year, but all the bottle says is it recieved solera vat finishing and water it was cut with is glacial from 13000 ft elevation. 86 proof/43%abv. ~$45-55usd if you can find it. Nose is wonderfully sweet and rich--banana laffy taffy, cantaloupe, at the very end I get a pears-and-sea salt note that balances the sweetness amazingly. Palate is more apricot, cinnamon sugar, toffee, really old raisins. The sugariness never comes off as overpowering or saccharine, cloying--its exceptionally nice to savor it when you combine it with the mouth. Mouth is a treat. Smoothest american whiskey I've ever had, a touch smoother than gentleman jack (this really has no heat in the mouth at all). Its very short and doesnt really linger long. For flavors this well-balanced that's probably too short, but this had so much going for it otherwise you really cant care. Some may even find the 'crispness' of the finish combined with the sweet smoothness a bonus. Good hooch, try a sip if you ever see it.

Its super sweet but surprisingly sippable. N) Candied apples, brown sugar oatmeal, brandied fruit candies, molasses, vanilla from oak tannin, berries, green apple, sweeeeeet citrus P) Dessert in a blender. The fruit, graham crust, and whipped cream and all. The whole kit and caboodle. Honey like a graham cracker. Burnt sugar from peanut brittle. Dark chocolate, espresso(!). Decadence aside, it has a fantastic balance M) Dry, sweet, easy. Johnny blending highlighted here. Ice makes it WAY too easy to drink. The sweetness made me only want it here and there but when I did have it it 100% hits the spot... just not a spot you want hit all the time.

For being cheap the palate had a lot in common with fancier scotch. Raisin is there strongly as others note, I get more raisin bread with dried apricots after myself. The smoke isn't strong like the words 'smoky black' suggest it's justtt enough to trick you into thinking it's a lot nicer than it is--balanced, purposed, gentle, robust enough to not disappear immediately. Unfortunately it seems to be all about polish with this one as everything else specific to the N/P is so boring I'm not gonna bother much more on it It's a touch to sweet as is to make me think it'd be good as a rusty nail base but perhaps it you like them plain with literal DROPS of drambu and no more it could work. Small ethanol nose hint once you first pour but it goes away quickly. It takes ice OK but made it super boring. Mouth when neat was like swallowing air once it breathed nicely and got on your tongue a little. I liked that, even if the liquid wasnt remarkable much. For those thinking budget smoky cokey, it lacks sherry depth and wasnt terribly good. It was way, way better than your usual brown is with mexican coke, however. Made me want to try root beer (called a gunslinger random fact) as it seemed more suited. 2.75/5 real taste score (enjoyable, little else) 4.25/5 on brown value scale.

I very thoroughly enjoyed it at the price point (50% clearance for $16.99) but I wouldnt pay full msrp. It's got grown-up and more distinguished peanut funk. The palate steers towards the delicious rye hints of OGD, age perhaps? Mouth is even more (by truly only a pinch) oily than regular Jimmy B, but it's well placed unlike regular beam. The kind of mouth you get from standard knob--nice enough. The 100 proof got me in trouble. I could see this being a very nice gift for someone who swears by Beam as it's so much more than the regular expression. Bump it up to 3.5 for ease of drinking--this one is easyyyyy going down.

My second review and second bottle. The first one wasnt as good and I gave it 2.75*. Inoffensive smoke and then meh. This one gets almost an entire star more and made me upset I cracked it from the "do not drink" stash. Rubber, saline, roast beef grease, sangria with extra oranges. More peat AND smoke than the first bottle. They amp the whole bottle up in a way the other did not have. At all, whatsoever. This one is just nice and peaty. Literally perfect rusty nail material. Sips much nicer solo rocks, too. Neat brings out a malty and sweet fruit backbone. A lot better than my first bottle suggested. Wish I had splurged on more than just two while on vacation! Regular green, while different, is still just a touch nicer than this.