Tastes

Not great or even good, but acceptable: surprisingly smooth for a bottom-shelf whiskey, but the flipside of that is that it's also damn near tasteless. Light in colour, light in nose, almost non-existent in the mouth. Flavours are solvent, corn oil, corn syrup, honey, green apple, peanut butter--all light and indistinct. Just a hint of wood on the taste and finish. faint vanilla, even fainter cherry. Sweet. Something for a flask or a bonfire on a hot, cheap summer evening.

The low-ish ABV hurts this one, but as someone who's normally antagonistic toward the Beam flavour profile, I have to admit I actually kind of enjoyed it: twelve years in oak help to add a bit more dimension and flavour to complement (if not outright mask) the funky-nutty Beam yeast. Flavours here of peanut butter, earthy nuttiness, hot roasted peanuts, cinnamon, vanilla, leather, corn husk. Gravel, cherry, raspberry. Chocolate, something vinous. Tastes a bit like Nerds candy. Stone fruits, cinnamon, vanilla. Fairly dry, tobacco. The finish is the only point at which this stuff feels a bit over-oaked, bitter, and tannic. But in general the Beam Signature Craft does wear its twelve years of ageing pretty well.

Given that each production batch is about 8-to-15 barrels, and that the company sources their whiskey, there's bound to be some variance between batches. The batch I tried (#92) was decent, and somewhat unique, but certainly not worth the ($55+ Cdn.) asking price. It's a pretty mild bourbon, so I can see why people like it. Flavours of vanilla, cream soda, grape drink, with a touch of nuttiness. Noticeable oak. Banana, citrus zest. Wood smoke, maple syrup, and sour candies. There's an interesting almost medicinal sourness/smokiness on the taste and an almost black pepper flavour that is quite interesting and unique (though it might very well actually be an off-note). A bit of brown sugar and baking apples. A surprisingly herbal finish. Similarities to Elijah Craig 12 (I wouldn't be surprised if Jefferson's is predominantly sourced from Heaven Hill) without quite as much big, chewy oak.

I really like the Quarter Cask, and I think that it's one of the better dollar-for-dollar peated single malts out there (I actually prefer it--though only narrowly--to the 10 year old Laphroaig, which costs $10-15 more locally). But I'm also less in love with it now than I am when I first tried it: at the time, I loved the idea of a blast of pure peat, but as time goes by I find I want a bit more elegance, subtlety, and nuance from my whiskies. Flavours here of huge peat, smoke, iodine. Toasted coconut with vanilla and ginger. Licorice, nutmeg. Seawater and campfire. A bit of toffee. That toasted coconut note is the flavour that always brings me back.

High West American Prairie Reserve isn't a bad whiskey--it's pretty good, actually. It's just hurt by the fact that it's more expensive than it should be. To wit: one of its component whiskeys comes from Four Roses, but I can buy a bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel for $10-15 less locally. And in terms of flavours, this is a blend whose lineage is unmistakeably a mix of LDI and Four Roses: the gin-y, herbal, metholated, faintly nutty character of LDI whiskey with the cherry cola and plums of Four Roses. And yet it tastes strangely younger than its age--surprisingly green and hot. Flavours here of clove, caraway, mint, vanilla, fruit, baking spice. Chocolate, cinnamon, some orange peel. A lot of sweetness with a spice backbone on the taste. Good whiskey, and I suppose you can feel good about some of the proceeds going to charity, but I really would just rather pay less for the superior tasting, higher ABV Four Roses Single Barrel.

A really, really good straight rye that's super versatile and so much more sophisticated than its price would suggest. Sippable neat or on the rocks (though it's rather aggressive), but it does a lot of heavy lifting in really, really, good, whiskey-forward cocktails (old-fashioneds, Manhattans, etc.,). Flavours of toffee, caramel, vanilla, butterscotch, hay (or cut grass), oregano, clove, ginger. Wood sap, faint orchard fruits (pears and apples), licorice, a bit of maple syrup. Honeycomb. Yeasty rye bread, pine, and baking spices. Hard to find locally, but when it is available it's certainly worth snatching up. Did I mention how good a Rittenhouse old-fashioned is? Because it's very good.

It's not quite the masterpiece that the High West Rendezvous Rye is, but it's also $20 less, locally. A mix of (very) young and old straight ryes, it's a pretty unique flavour profile that I like, though I think it's more (top-shelf) cocktail whiskey than straight sipper. Flavours of pears, pineapple, tropical fruit. Also big menthol, pine, gin (trademarks of LDI rye). Agave. Toffee, butterscotch, eucalyptus, clove, baking spice, orange zest. Dry, pine, minty finish. Makes a very, very good old-fashioned.

The current release of Lot 40 (you can tell the difference by the absence of the "2012" date on current bottles), according to the manufacturer, comes from the same distillation run as the initial 2012 edition. Which means that the only difference is that this current release has spent a couple more years aging than its predecessor. Given how much I loved the 2012 batch, that sounded like great news. Unfortunately, those couple extra years tipped the balance on this whisky--and while the nose is as beautiful as ever, the taste has tipped over into distinctly tannic over-oakedness. Flavours of sourdough bread, sweet rye, spicy rye. Orange soda, licorice, dill. Sawdust, Christmas spice, wood smoke, light cinnamon. Black tea, cedar, and eucalyptus on the taste. Quite woody and dry, with the oaky elements overshadowing some of the distinctness and elegance of the 2012 bottling. Still a great whisky, but a step down from the last release.

As the price of Green Spot and Redbreast have risen exorbitantly (my first bottle of Redbreast 12, ten years ago, cost me $45 Cdn. There are now some local stores selling it for $90 or more), Writers Tears has become *the* bang-for-buck buy in the Irish pot still segment (it hovers around $44 Cdn. locally). Flavours of apple, citrus (especially grapefruit), cereals. Maple syrup, toffee, oak, vanilla. Lots of heather honey. Raisins, plums. Grassy meadow. Light in flavour, but what's here is surprisingly nice. A few more ABV percentage points would be nice, but I do really dig this stuff.

The grand-daddy of widely available American straight ryes, without a doubt. A blend of 6- and 16-year-old straight ryes, Rendezvous mixes the liveliness of a good, young rye mixed with some of the mellow elegance of a good older rye. At first there are a lot of flavours I associate with LDI rye: dill, pickle, menthol, something "gin-like". But then those mellow and it really starts to come together into something softer, sweeter. Caramel, ginger, vanilla, watermelon. Cinnamon, candy corn, bubble gum, caraway, brown sugar, custard. Creme brulee and tropical fruits. A hint of pencil shavings. Taste is, considering its two high-rye mashbills, surprisingly soft, creamy, and sweet.