Tastes

Lol. Again, if I paid $500 for this bottle I’d give this a 2 but I didn’t so it’s quite good. Lagavulin 16 is better tho. I have a Talisker 30 that is magnificent. This is really good but it’s a bit thin. It’s nice but at 25 years it should be amazing. Because this was shared with me it gets a 4+ but I give the Talisker 30 a 5 and I paid for it. If I paid for this what I just googled the prices are I’d be a little pissed

For the price tag I was expecting more but this is easy drinking and extremely well balanced. A lot of the usual bourbon notes...some wood, vanilla, a little caramel but not a ton. I like it but can’t believe the price tag. I should remove so points for that but since it’s my friend’s bottle I didn’t do the buying 🤷‍♂️

I thought this was lovely. Not my usual dram but very nice. Not much smoke but a lot of various flavors, none of which smack you in the face. Balanced but I normally like to be smacked by an Islay so won’t be my go to

Pretty tasty. I get an interesting fruit on the palate that I don’t nose and also don’t KNOW well. My buddy says apricot. I just ate an apricot and I’m not convinced but it’s weird and good

I honestly don’t know how to rate this. Let me start by saying THANKS to David for the sample. Because I didn’t pay the $300 (or whatever!) for this bottle I can say this was very nice. However knowing the price is above $80 for this bottle I’ll take a Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Compass Box, Laphroaig and others in THAT price range over this. Nice peat. A little more subtle than my Islay favorites (even the Caol Ila) but that’s to be expected. Very smooth and no burn neat (granted I drink a decent amount of Cask Strength stuff so maybe you’ll disagree with that). Something I don’t always get with Islay single malts is the range of flavors. This has sweetness of vanilla and some red fruits and some other fruitiness. It has some nuttiness. The mid palate is where this shines and might be worth A higher price tag (not THAT high). I expected more on the finish. It’s medium at best and doesn’t coat my mouth as well as I would have wanted. Definitely doesn’t linger for long before I need another sip. Again, THRILLED to have tried this and, with no price concerns, this is almost as good as the compass box no name blend I’ve had before. That being said, the CB bottle is about half as much as this one and BETTER. This is worth a POUR but go get a BOTTLE of flaming heart or No Name

Enjoyed neat in a glencairn. I liked this more than I was expecting to. The WFE rye is excellent but this is pretty good. I get a lot of vanilla and a lot of sweetness. A good amount of barrel too/ Thanks Dave for the sample. I may have to buy one of those ridiculous looking bottles next time I see it.

It says there’s some smoke/peat in there. I’m not finding any. Maybe in the exhale after holding it in my mouth a while. This is a little burny. I also had some Cask Strength Willett Rye, Talisker (45.8) and GOT Lagavulin 9 (46%) tonight that were WAY smoother and less burn than this. There is burn on the nose and palate. Try and find an age statement rather than going for this. I’ve had Hakushu and Yamazaki 12 and they are both better balanced and less burn. I hope Hibiki can eventually get back to age stated whiskies cuz they are stuff of legend now.

I prefer Islay normally so find this a little boring. I actually get a lot of orange? Is that usual in the fruity sherried whiskies? I’m trying to get past it but that’s most of what I’m getting. This is smooth and easy drinking but I’m normally drinking something like a Cask Strength Laphroaig (or even a normal one) so at 40% surely it’s going to be easier than that.