Tastes

This is quite tasty... Well-crafted. Composed. Quality. Pale yellow. Mezcal nose - smoke, salt, and a touch of vegetation, then buttery biscuit, faint almond, and raw grain. Rich and very sweet to start the taste, evolving quickly to embrace the peat. Smoked whipped cream with sea salt. Deeply pleasing flavors, but simple. A slap of smoke that somehow stays sweet and inviting. Admittedly not a side-by-side, but I'll be darned if this isn't Laphroaig 10's demure and cultured sibling that can get invited to any soiree, is friendly and personable and interesting, but doesn't ruffle any feathers and ultimately maybe isn't quite the life of the party either? Kilchoman is home by midnight while Lap10 is recounting the night's achievements at a diner at 4:30 am. Similar medicinal notes, but even though Lap is quite sweet somehow this tops it, and is even defined by it. Not complaining by any measure, and this bottle will go quite fast I'm sure... just wondering if I had to choose between the two why I'd lean this way.

Extremely light color. Thin. Creamy vanilla syrup with a gentle green apple. Actually quite pleasant, but forgettable and nothing worth seeking out. More like a sweet soda than a whisky. No layers, but probably just fine to introduce a neophyte. Not sure where the brother in law dug this up or for what price. Considering it probably is quite affordable, truly not complaining. I’d drink it, but not on purpose.

Monstrous highs and lows today - needed to escape and try something new. Tugged foil, popped cork, long pour, and settled in. A solid orangey-gold. May be a touch of colorant. Semi-sweet aspartame, cinnamon, clementine peel, pineapple, and copper on the nose. Vanilla. Gentle floral notes. Quite sniffable. The palate delivers on the promise of the nose. Tart lemon, vanilla, copper, a pleasant sour edge. Creamy. Tangy. Modestly metallic. Interwebs didn't offer much insight, but Spidey Sense shouts of at least a modest component of Oloroso casks. Proof is nice - enough to linger on the tongue but not challenging. Didn't know until a little reading that some version of this distillate likely forms the backbone of Dewar's. Full disclosure #1: I am unapologetic in my relative distaste for Dewar's White Label. I will drink it, and find a handful of redeemable qualities, but may temporarily resent the offerer for their poor taste. Full disclosure #2: This is nearly EVERYTHING good that one can find in Dewar's, and almost NONE of the bad. I will resolutely proclaim the unassailable judgment, kindness, and valor of the offerer. Honestly, pulling on comparables, I feel like this is a skillful balancing act somewhere between Glenfarclas 12 and Springbank 10 - rich, funkadelic character with a heavy body, bold aspartame, dried fruit, proper ABV, and zesty spice. Unexpected, and unequivocally awesome if at a sale price. Half notch above 'farclas 12, and about on par with Springbank 10 (this night, at least - gasp!). Good stuff.

Red wine finishing is prominent in good and bad ways. This isn’t my ideal single malt, but it presents cleanly and is an enjoyable pour. Well done for an out of the way craft distiller, and will be a clear winner for those that like a spicier profile with those red wine barrel notes. Rich tawny red-gold. Grapey with a pleasant twinge of spice on the nose. A touch sour. Palate builds upon the nose. Grapes that edge toward grappa, persistent cinnamon, red fruit, and the vein of sourness stays. Aspartame. Walnut. Sweet start is overrun by a building spice that lingers. Shares a common hallmark with other CR products. A little young overall but a nice pour if you want a little assertiveness.

Unexpectedly good. I’d say this is in the style of Tullamore DEW 12 but a step up in richness. A buttery shortbread thumbprint cookie with a dollop of raspberry jam, but in whiskey form. Delicious. Deep reddish orange and notably oily. Apricot, orange blossom, biscuit, cream. Wow, this belongs in the dessert aisle. Not complex, and not challenging, but this is tasty. Very hard not to pour a little bit more when you glass runs low.

2019 bottling. A pleasant golden straw with orange hue. Medium weight. Peat controls the nose, but tempered with subtle fruits lingering in the margins waiting to reward those with perseverance. A bit grapey with touches of vanilla. Iodine teases, but remains restrained. Chestnut. Honeydew. Heather. Not overpowering, but not captivating either. Smoke opens - notably more ashy than meaty. Sweet sherry and malt rise up, then are beaten back by the phenols. Cantaloupe. Honeysuckle. Biscuit. Cigarette smoke returns and lingers, which is likely a negative. There are other smokes that I enjoy much more (bring on the applewood!) I had some unfounded optimism that I was surely to "discover" the ideal highball scotch when I purchased this - in my mind's eye: a balanced yet wildly affordable blend in which the peat affirmed one's manliness and the "scotchy" origins while the sherry and more genteel components made it refreshing and quaffable at any time of day. In short, I'm not sure my vision had any realistic basis whatsoever, and this bottle's failure to meet those expectations is 99.5% not the scotch's fault. The peat is far too pronounced for me to have, as yet, skillfully render an elegant and effervescent cocktail. In a stirred alternative it may shine, and assuredly as a neat pour I have few reservations for the price. In the recent past when I could find Laphroaig 10 for $35, I would see little rationale to own this bottle. But while the tariff effect is still in play preventing any single malt competition worth mentioning for less than $50, this bottle knocks the socks off most peated blends. Clean, cohesive, balanced, and little one might find objectionable beyond the cigarette note. You could do much worse.

Revisiting 2/3rds of the way down. Butter. Gently malted grain. Lemon tart. Gooseberries. Sherry. Fresh bread. Buttery butter. Astringent oak. Custard. Toasted pie crust. Oh god look at those legs. Boozy bananas foster. Rosewater. A snickerdoodle cookie where the cream of tartar stands front and center. OK. Me and this whisky are finally having a moment... I think I get it now. This ‘farclas distillate and aging are one of a kind. Creamy, grainy, salty kettle corn with a very sharp tanginess. Musty. Heather. Oloroso DNA is all over this but somehow doesn’t feel sherry-dominated. Challenging and aggressive, yet somehow still refined. This is not a crowd-pleaser. But it has a concentrated lemon drop hard candy essence and an “abuse me and I like it” intensity that get into you a bit.