Tastes

Oaky, honey, lacquer, black licorice, fennel, pepper spices, salty, herbal. Very solid.

Pale yellow color. The legs are par for the course. The aroma is vanilla cake frosting and non-dairy coffee creamer. Musty wood. Some broccoli and cabbage water sulfurics. There is a chemical magic marker scent, or jet-black car exhaust fumes. The taste is vanilla, the same creamy cake frosting. Just a hint of lemon drop. I'm getting a sort of menthol coolness, with an ashy tobacco smoke following close behind. It's dark and dry, like burnt charcoal briquettes. The finish is astringent and metallic. There are barrel tannins galore. Salt and white pepper, charred cigar box wood and a dry, chalky feel. Charred wood and tobacco ash with more minty coolness. There is a distinctively inky finish too, like a pen you were chewing that exploded in your mouth. McConnell's is a decent, nicely-priced Northern Irish offering. It's got a dry, ashy quality that is tempered by some vanilla sweetness. It improves slightly with a big ice cube to smooth out some of the sharper edges.

Was finally able to locate this elusive bottle. Honey-gold color. Sticky spider's legs trickle down the inner walls of the Glencairn. The nose is that famous aroma of peanut shells and sawdust: woody and nutty in nearly equal measure. There is a sniff is something that reminds me of pool chlorine. Black pepper spices that mingle well with the wood of the barrel it came from. A distinct wood lacquer aroma in the way back of the nostril. The first flavor is peanuts with the shells still on them: almost overwhelmingly salty. Barrel spices and burnt oak char. More of that lacquer that manifests itself almost as dark chocolate. Black licorice, corn syrup and toffee. Spicy cinnamon at the tail end. The finish has a lot of wood that is more like a sherry barrel than burnt oak, although there is definitely a char there. It's very, very dry on the palate. Cinnamon and pepper spices keep dancing while everyone else rests. The corn syrup is the final flavor I can pick up. IF you can find this obscure Bourbon, I recommend picking it up for the right price. It's a dry and nutty concoction that drinks great neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail. Despite being low-rye, it stands up pretty well to whatever you throw it in.

Honey orange color with sticky legs. The very first sniff is honeysuckle, green apple, pear, lemongrass and vanilla. It's a soft aroma, redolent of linen or maybe lavender fabric softener. Barley sugars, candied orange and dried berries. The flavor is honey and vanilla bean coffee creamer. Fresh tobacco leaf. It has a grassy, rustic component; hay and barley. There is an oak char bitterness that acts as a counterpoint to the other, sweeter qualities. Finishes with tobacco smoke and wood char. More barley sugars and toffee/molasses sweetness. A mint/menthol coolness that lingers after everything else fades. I have no beef with Monkey Shoulder, but I'm curious as to why this is the blend that captured America's heart. Is it because it's a blend that drinks like a single malt? I'd put it in the above average camp: very (repeatably) drinkable and priced nicely.

Honey colored, EXTREMELY leggy. The first nose is citric lemon drop with a dollop of honey. Some sugary syrup and vanilla. A touch of banana cream. There is a real barley husk with an extra herbal quality. There is a sourdough bread, yeast aspect in the back of the nasal cavity. The first sip is lemon drop right in the front or the tongue, quickly washed over by a great deal of honey, molasses, caramel sugars and vanilla bean. It has a very viscous, oily feel. Some traces of smoke, but not a fetishistic amount; it comes off less like peat and more like charcoal ash. There is a pungent stewed apple at the tail end. The remants of vanilla pipe tobacco. There is a little heat, but not from the smoke. It's a peppery, "chili catch" that is closer to jalapeño than to to peat. There is some old cellar wood and sandalwood. Andes mint chocolates and a menthol coolness. The smoke is residual, like a bonfire that's burned out. This is fine Scotch, although it is undoubtedly overpriced. It's a little smoky, a little spicy, and a little sweet. Bold, disparate flavors that don't make a masterpiece, but make a dependable shelf piece that will impress a guest.

Light honey yellow color. Not very leggy; more specks. I do have to say this is a terrific bargain rye, and an outstanding mixer for bourbon cocktails. All told, it is a very "prickly" rye that will live in my cabinet from now on. The initial nose is a very heavy sourdough bread and yeast component. It almost reminds me of a wheated whiskey at first. As you dip your beak deeper into it, however, you get much more finished wood and seeded pumpernickel rye bread. There are traces of cinnamon spice, rock salt and white pepper as well, plus some sulfuric broccoli water. The front of the palate is dark rye bread, not surprisingly. It's pepper spices at first, then cinnamon spices mid-palate. Lots of herbal notes, and a black licorice/star anise bite, which always reminds me of fennel. A dry sawdust at the tail end that puts a nice button on the swallow. The finish is pumpernickel rye bread. There is a bit of black pepper and even red pepper heat. A finish of dark chocolate. Lacquered wood. Herbs and fennel.

Honey-gold, topaz color. Really beautiful to look at. Leaves a thick collar around the sides; the thin legs take a while to fall, but they do, slowly. The nose is vanilla and coconut, with thick honey. Mashed cinnamon apples. Malted barley and mildly sherried wood. Mint that comes off like menthol tobacco; mildly smoky and a bit sulfuric. The flavor is more honey, with just a touch of brown sugar. Malted barley and dry vanilla. Stewed apples and some resinous sherried woods. Spiced coconut and marshmallow fluff. The finish is cut tobacco leaf, with more of that mint/menthol stuff. The smoky finish is mild, like vanilla tobacco. There is an unusual note if ground cinnamon powder: not spicy per se, but dry. The surprising amount of smoke takes on an earthy quality, like soil or mud. The barrel wood is decidedly sherried. The very tail end has a metallic/tin component. The Singleton Luscious Nectar starts off sweet and fluffy, but finishes with a challenging coda. I may have slightly overpayed for it, but only by a few bucks.