Tastes

I'm not going to lie. I haven't tried this. I just really want to make a joke about how it's double-plus good.

Not terrible, but gimmicky and overpriced--what we have here is another maker of unpeated whiskies bottling a young, peated spirit and selling it at an inflated price. Doesn't know what it wants to be: a mish-mash of flavours, most of them too weak, that don't really cohere. Lightly smoky (think campfire smoke, not earthy, green, vegetal Islay smoke), with flavours of light orchard fruit, light berries. Vanilla, butterscotch, diacetyl (movie popcorn butter), grapefruit and citrus pith. Stomach bile. Tastes young, sour, yeasty or doughy. Light tasting, with some faint tropical fruits, peppery, floral notes (heather), and a bit of saltiness. Reminds me of a lightly smoky blend or an off-brand Highland Park.

Outside of barrel proof offerings, E.H. Taylor Small Batch is probably the purest, most beautiful expression of Buffalo Trace's #1 mashbill out there. Lovely auburn colour. Flavours of cherry, cherrywood, red and green apples, sour candies, caramel/toffee/butterscotch. Orange zest and a bit of a minty, herbal hint. Vanilla. Angostura or some other aromatic bitters. Creamy and warm taste, but not hot. Big butterscotch on the taste, cherry and apple pie. Raw sugar. Maple syrup. Orange zest on the finish. No joke: this whiskey almost tastes like a pre-mixed old-fashioned, straight from the bottle, just on its own. Absurdly drinkable. Would be my every day pour if it were $15 or $20 cheaper locally.

Old Charter has recently lost its age statement (it's now "Old Charter No. 8"), and this is a review of the non-age stated version. Old Charter is based on the Buffalo Trace #1 (low rye) mashbill, and tastes like what it is: a low-cost bourbon pulled from the barrels that didn't make the cut for standard Buffalo Trace. Flavours are sour, sour cherry, nail polish remover, pecan, green apple, Sharpie. Soggy wood, basement. Caramel (caramel syrup), vanilla. Hot on the mouth, chalky, waves of sweet and dry. Crab apples, faint apple pie. Pine wood. Very "meh".

According to the company's promotional material, likely the first whiskey aged in Canadian oak--it's the same species of oak as found in the US, but environmental differences supposedly create some differences (the wood is tigher, less porous, heavier in vanillans, supposedly). Good quality, but a bit overpriced, and is desperately crying out for more proof. Flavours of toffee, butterscotch, big vanilla, rye spiciness, cinnamon hearts, orange peel, rye bread, berries, tobacco. Fresh cut lumber on the taste, a nice blend of sweet and spicy. But quite soft, and the flavours require a lot of teasing out. Gets drowned out in cocktails, and honestly--while it's better than its younger brother, Forty Creek Copper Pot--it's not so much better as to justify the $30 higher pricetag).