Tastes

Beautiful thick legs on this baby. Dark honey color. The nose is salted butterscotch, toffee/molasses, and sherry-wine barrel. Peppercorn and white oak. Mild white plastic. A touch of mint leaf, and more than just a hint of lemon zest, which really ramps up at the tail end. There is a burn right at the beginning, with some fusel heat. The taste is more salty butterscotch, but heavy on the "butter;" almost has a heavy cream component. This dovetails into a second wave of vanilla creme, like the kind you'd find filling a candy bar or sandwich cookie. Apple skins and a bit of baby puke. There is a little burn, but it is smoothed over by that coffee creamer and lemon drop. If you give this baby a little Kentucky Chew, the peat and smoke bust through like a vapor up through a manhole cover. Spearmint leaf with even a bit of a cooling feel accompanying it. Surprisingly, the finish is tobacco/ashtray, which is unusual given how mild and smooth the taste is. The tobacco leaves a cigar burn in the middle of the palate. Some peppery oak on the tail end. It is by turns smooth at first and challenging at the end, like a cigar that starts off sweet and ends with a smoldering, ashy burn.

The aroma is more burn than expected for only 90°, but not too much. Redolent of barrel char spice, caramel, vanilla creme, buttered toast and its flaky crust. There is a second wave of flowery perfume. The taste is toffee, cream, rye cinnamon. Followed by citric acids: lemony. There is more of that buttery toast which dovetails with the cream. Finished wood, like a newly stained deck. Finishes with more of that buttermilk cream flavor primarily. The barrel char manifests itself as that toasted bread crust. Barrel tannins add a bitter little pucker. The oak and rye add a prickly end. This was less than $30 for 1.75L and it is a hell of a good value. It's good on its own and makes an excellent cocktail mixer.

The nose has some heat, but quickly morphs into brown sugar, caramel, toffee, and some sawdust. There is some oaky barrel spice that manifests as perfume. Gets smoothed out by that kindergarten glue bottle I always get from the aromas in Bourbon. There is a little bit of unsalted peanut too. The taste is spicy wood, with black pepper. There is a carraway seed/pumpernickel bitterness, which I don't like in food, but I love in liquid form. Candied cinnamon: not like "Fireball™ whiskey," but like actual Fireball candies from the bulk food aisle. The sugars come off as a sleeve of English toffee cookies. Has a chewy consistency. With some ice you'll get a vanilla bean bloom and spicy sawdust. The finish, while pleasant, is surprisingly tame for 100 proof: there is a tobacco ash heat, and some more spicy oak. It's not an incredibly complex finish, but it sticks around pleasantly; the heat lingers at the end but doesn't hurt ya. Chocolate orange and potpourri spices. A very solid value, an example of Good (B-I-B) Government.

Nose is butterscotch, maybe a little toffee, and that's about it. A dirty bar towel. Honey, toffee, high fructose sugars. The finish is just sugars. It's not a bad thing to drink, it just is made to mix with stuff.

Nose is bonfire embers, black pepper, sea salt, bitter toffee, honey, creme brulee. The taste is a backbone of sweet caramel; more of that creme brulee; and a smoky, peaty second taste. More black pepper and salt flakes. The finish is charcoal, peppery peat, a little barrel spice, but a dry-rub smokiness. This is obviously a superior Scotch. Balanced, smoky, rich, salty, peppery and simply wonderful.

Nose is apple skins, toffee, Elmer's glue. A thousand plastic meatballs and a Stanzo brand fedora. A nice toasted barrel char in the nose. The taste is spicy (high rye?), toffee, black pepper. Definite prickly burn, a little salty too. Red pepper flakes, but like only a few. The peppery spice with the barrel char really pop. The finish is black pepper with spicy burn. A smooth, sweet toffee finish. Charcoal and oak-wood. Barrel char. It lights the palate on fire with it's spicy red pepperness.

The nose is a perfumey, boozy aroma; I'm not sure what kind of barrels are used, but the aroma is some kind of combination between perfume and oak: really pleasant and packs a punch. A mild smoke in the long inhale. The first taste is more perfume, followed by a little smoke. Then toffee, butterscotch, vanilla, and sea salt. Mild burnt plastic, but only a whisper. The oak char rears its read surprisingly prominently. It finds a way to be ashy and yet smooth. The finish is salty and briny, with a finality of tobacco ash. The pungent barrel stuff comes back as bitter tannins, and lingers as the last guest at this party. The feel is slick and oily, which is a terrific counterpoint to the sometimes sharp flavors. This is one terrific Scotch for its price range: somewhere between a Speyside and and Islay in my estimation, and yet with enough barrel perfume to set it apart: great find.

The nose is a surprisingly boozy burn at only 40%. There is bitter cherry, tawny port barrel. A little banana. There is an almost chemical lacquered wood, that for a moment manifests as pool chlorine. The deeper the inhale, the more barrel char that comes through; the alcohol is not camouflaged. Taste is less tawny port and more sherry/cherry liqueur. Bitter/puckery barrel tannins. It's a little saccharine and had a sweet, syrupy taste and texture. There isn't really any dry balance, but it's not this Scotch's responsibility to be balance. Stewed apples. The finish is a thick, syrupy cherry-juice sweetness. Strawberry jam. A mild prickly candi-sugar spiciness. This is going to be a hit for people who are iffy on Scotch but who are into Brandy or Cognac. At $25 it's a good value.

The nose is coconut and salty butterscotch. Decidedly tropical and creamy, like vanilla and toffee. There is some barrel wood oils, followed by jasmine and heather-y florals. It's a bit sulphuric too. I'm not in love with the aroma, but it isn't unpleasant. Coconut dominates. The taste is piña colada and more coconut. The creamy vanilla has a sharp, bitter second wave: barrel tannins with just a hint of bitter sherry. A droplet of water does wonders, letting the vanilla bloom and sweeten up. The texture is slick and oily, and it doesn't disappear easily. The finish is a sharp, bitter flavor that isn't quite doing it for me. Barrel char, tobacco ash. A plastic toy set. It's all just way too harsh for something aged a decade and a half.