Tastes

My bottle just reads REBEL (no Yell), so I hope it's the same one. Pours a gold orange color. The nose is lacquered wood, spicy ribbon candy. Peanut dust. The barrel spices just flavor above the glass. There is a peppery spice that manifests like fennel or black licorice. Some sulfuric cabbage/broccoli water. But the final inhale is a perfume of rose petals. Right off the bat, the first taste is spices: black pepper, rye, cinnamon. There is a sawdust and wood mid-palate. Brown leaves. Peanut. A little bit of corn syrup, with some sugary malted barley. With some ice, some stewed red apple emerges. The finish is long and luxurious. The woodiness is more resinous and oily than the dryness of the first taste. Chocolate and bitter mocha. Almonds. There is an earthy, leafy dryness. The burn is very long-lasting. The barrel leaves behind some tannins as well as some residual spices. Rebel (Yell) is an incredibly woody bourbon with a nice secondary burn at the sides of the palate. Peppery, nutty and spicy with a long finish.

Pours a pale yellow color. Leaves a thick collar of lace on the inside rim of the glass. The nose is lemongrass, a perfume of rose petals and herbs. Butterscotch, marshmallow, coconut and an almost piña colada-like aroma emerge. Vanilla and citric, lemon-drop aromas. The flavor is coconut, marshmallow and stewed apples. There is a not inconsiderable burn, but that pleasantly matches with sugarplums, nutmeg, figs, dates and other flavors that must come from the sherry barrel. The tannins from the barrel bloom, giving a kiss of perfume on the front of the palate. The finish is earthy, but not peaty: more like ash, sand, potting soil and mild smoke. Next come sherry and spicy fruitcake, dark cherry and candied oranges. Tomatin Dualchas is luxuriously perfumed, spicy and sherry-forward Scotch that challenges you but rewards you for sitting with it a spell.

Pale gold color. Blotchy on the sides of the glass. The nose is vanilla pipe tobacco. Lemon drop, peeled apples and pear. There is a serious cabbage/broccoli sulfuric character. Some fusel gassiness hovers above the rim. The flavor is first and foremost gasoline, fusels and sulfurics: it's a very "gassy" whiskey. Once you burrow through all that, you'll get mild vanilla, lemon-drop, and a tobacco component that isn't unlike an ashtray. The finish is like what you get after you siphon gas from a neighbor's car and get a little in your mouth. Yes, there is pear, apple skins, vanilla and even some mocha powder. But all of it pales in comparison to the smoky exhaust. I don't actually dislike Concannon: it isn't unpleasant, per se, but it's not a light or easy sipper. It works better when diluted or mixed than straight. It's got the character of car exhaust.

Pours an orange-gold color. On the inside of the glass it leaves not so much legs as blotches. The nose is more dry smoke than usual, although not as much as I had been led to believe. There is an aroma that is nutty, like the insides of an actual jar of peanut butter. The barrel spice pokes it's head out, but it's a secondary character. The heat of red pepper flakes is what gets me, more than any barbecue smoke. It's like a dry, prickly heat, and plenty of it. The barrel spices bloom here, mingling with candied orange slices and mixed fruit peel and potpourri, with star anise/fennel. A second wave of bitter chocolate and burnt molasses. More of that peanut butter comes around in the flavor. Finishes with smoky ash, tobacco leaf, sawdust and cinnamon/rye. Barrel spices, citrus rind and mint leaf. Black tea, black licorice and root beer barrel candy. Dark chocolate Most of the heat in this comes not from the smoke (though there is that) nor the proof, but from the red pepper. The smoke is charcoal smoke, not the meaty smoke of an Islay Scotch, say. Lots of complexity with spice, dark chocolate, candied fruits and orange peel.

Pours a rich amber-gold color. Not very leggy until you add a little water to it. The aroma is very spicy and peppery. The cinnamon component makes me assume it has a good deal of rye. (Note: the mash bill is 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley.) The second wave is lacquered wood and just a touch of varnish. The barrel char is ashy and pairs well with the peanut dust that brings up the rear. The taste is cinnamon spice and red pepper flakes: it leaves a nifty little burn on the palate. The resins from the barrel give a prickly, piney character. The middle of the swallow has a combination of salted toffee and rich butterscotch hard candy. When you dilute it a bit, a bloom of cherry and orange rind comes out. It finishes with red and black pepper heat: the spices dance on the tongue long after the swallow. Dark chocolate, charcoal ash, bitter toffee and coffee grounds. The tail end is orange zest, ribbon candy and fire balls (the candy, not the shot for teenagers). The finish lingers better than I would have expected. This Bourbon is lot of peppery spice, finished wood, charcoal ash. Very well balanced between spicy and woody, both elements compliment each other well. For $15 this is an absolute steal: neat, rocks or mixed.

1 liter bottle. Amber-gold color with thin, wispy legs. The nose is spicy and peppery right off the bat. Rye, fennel and black licorice. A sting of ginger. Dry wood, like an old deck after a thaw. Dry fruit: figs, sugarplums and prunes. The rye spices dance on the palate from the first sip. It's grassy and peppery. The middle of the palate has touches of yeast and sourdough bread. Nutmeg. Prickly orange peel and ribbon candy. The pine needle and forest resins permeate throughout. The finish is leathery cowhide. Cinnamon and prickly herbs.  Tobacco leaf. There is chocolate and mocha in the long finish: dark and dusty.

Quickie review EDIT: Nose is ashy tobacco, definitely some barley. Some kind of broccoli/sulphuric business on the nose which I can't say I love. A drop of water opens it up a bit, releasing a little more flowery stuff. Peat, mint leaf, tobacco ash, vanilla, apple skins, has a cooling feel at the finish. Very earthy without being extremely peaty. Like the taste, some floral/perfume stuff emerges when it opens up. It finishes a little worse than I had hoped: ashy as hell, although not unpleasant. It's just a little one-note at the finish. A droplet doesn't quite solve this. It's not unpleasant by any means, but there isn't much complexity. It's mostly ashy tobacco, which is not going to be enjoyable for a new Scotch drinker.