Tastes

The nose is your classic butterscotch and salt, just a touch of mild wood char. It's a sweet, rounded and very friendly nose, with not much burn at all. The legs are nice and oily. The tips of the tongue is Werther's Original butterscotch with a salty follow-up. A chewy body amplifies the sweet savoriness. It's not sugary, but it's got that toffee second part. The finish settled into some more ashy wood and barrel business. It's slightly bitter, with only a trace of the tannins that sometimes show up at the end. There is more dark burnt-cookie bottom than there is a pucker. It's not an incredibly complex Scotch but it's very pleasant, if you can handle the bitter end. It is a good starter Scotch for the price and for it's adherence to style.

The nose is shortbread, but obscured by a heavier-than-expected alcohol fume. The taste is more of that buttery shortbread, with some apple syrup, dark stone fruits. With a little water added, that apple pie syrup really blooms. The water added brings out the cask tannins that pucker up the middle of the tongue. The texture is slick and buttery to the touch. The finish is Cask tannins, apple pie syrup, stone fruits and spicy citrus rind. This Irish is so beautifully easy to drink: so friendly and pleasant. It's not too sweet because the pucker short-circuits any oversweetness that might have tipped it out or balance. A wonderful value.

Nose of marshmallow, shortbread. Charcoal burn, tobacco, marshmallow sugars, salt brine basically Black Label on steroids. High alcohol burn.

Nose is spicy red pepper flakes, with black pepper seasoning over a steak from cast iron. Bonfire smoke with just a hint of barrel char. Those nose is a dry smoky peat, and not wet bog. Slightly on the medicinal side of the fence, but more like a campfire in late summer. Part of the heat in the nose is the ABV of 47% but there is a not insignificant portion of that coming from the peppery aromas. Still, considering how high the ABV is there isn't quite as much burn as I would have expected. Or maybe it's just more pleasant than I would have anticipated. The taste is jalapeno and habanero heat in the middle of the tongue. Just a hint of menthol/mint at the swallow. The peat manifests itself as more boggy and muddy at the swallow than it does in the nose. The finish is dry cigar tobacco ash, the finish is not very long but it is very pleasant. It's dry like a bonfire that you just doused water all over. The burn is just this side of being overkill, but I really enjoy it. If you are a peat-head You need to get your hands on some because it's not that expensive.

The nose is oak, with a spicy black pepper char. There is Skybar vanilla creme, with a second wave of syrupy toffee. The diesel burn hits the nasal cavity before quickly dissipating. That barrel char is wonderful. It's also got a nice set of stems dripping down the inside of the glass. The first taste is ribbon candy sugar, quickly swallowed up by the oak char. After the char, there is a little tannic plum, morphing into a metallic flavor. There is a little heat on the tip of the tongue, but it mellows into a mild cigar/pipe-like bite. The finish is tobacco ash, with some spicy orange zest in the fade-out. The finish is long and really sets up shot on the palate. It's got a dry, ashy finish.

This is my first Campbeltown , so I'm not sure if this is indicative of the region or not. The nose is sawdust, cherrywood/sherry (it used Pedro Jimenez sherry casks), and a hell of a lot of smoky booze. It may benefit to let this one air out a bit due to every digit of that 46% entering the nasal cavity. With a drop of water, a lot of rich maple emerges. The taste is a really prickly combination of orange rind, oak, finished sandalwood, and spicy white pepper. The orange zest and that sweet, syrupy maple stuff. With a droplet to open it up, more floral notes bloom. The maple amps up in the taste the more water that is added. The finish is first the cherry/sherry cask remants. That later morphs into oak and char from them barrels. There is a burn and a dry charcoal ash in the finish.

Imagine my surprise at having my first pour of Wild Turkey 101, a brand I had always assumed to be below average, and really enjoying my first bottle. The nose is vanilla and oak, which rounds out to toffee and molasses at the swallow. The burn is not insignificant, but it also doesn't scorch the palate. In fact, once you process the burn out of your nasal cavity, that bit of heat dovetails beautifully with the dry barrel char. The barrel spices come through as a combination of lemon pepper and orange rind. (I'm guessing that's the rye.) Also has a cinnamon component that adds a little prickle at the end. The finish is a tannic pucker, which merges with an inky, metallic coda. I'm so pleased with this, and surprised by it's complexity, and it will have a regular presence on my shelf.

First off, the burn and the smoke in this thing are no joke. Even at 50% this is above and beyond. I recommend drinking this out of a wide mouth glass. Drinking it out of a glencairn is not going to be easy, especially for nosing. The nose is pure smoke: tobacco and extinguished matches. The burn in the nose isn't "hot," but it's out of a fire that's been put out. If you add some water, the nose turns into peaty melted plastic. The smoke turns into mild tobacco box and cedar. The taste is pure heat, even with dilution. Adding water here is a must to me, because the heat barely subsides even as you pour a bunch in. Tobacco and smoke are legit, with a dry, smoky meat component. Campfire smoke, with some underlying molasses. Salt brine and honey. The finish: There is a distinct burn on the lips, not unlike eating a hot, peppery dish. The back of the tongue smolders like it just walked on hot coals. This is a hot, smoky dram. It's Varsity-level smoke and heat, but if you are into peat, you can handle it.

Nose of apple and pear. The second sniff is just a touch of spilled black ink and the last, fleeting drippings of a gas pump. The flavor is more tree fruits: pear, red apple skins, apricot. The potpourri, flowery spice comes dances on the palate. There is a surprising burn for 86 proof. The finish is tobacco smoke and more of that inky stuff. The more you add water droplets, the more the burn subsides and the apple skins pop out. Tannic/puckery tartness that dovetails well with the citrus and spice. A pretty solid, affordable Irish.