Tastes

Popular whiskys are not only popular due to marketing. Johnnie Walker has great marketing. But this is also a fine whisky. If you’re new to scotch it’s easy to find the candied honey, caramel, peppercorn, and green apple on the nose, with hints of leather and peat. On the taste, the sweet and thin gives way to grain spices, more peat, bright fruits and leather. Finish: short to medium. This is one of my favorite budget whiskys. There are supposedly dozens of whiskys in this blend but it is very consistent and reliable, and for its price and age it’s just damned good. And for newcomers it’s a great starting point to explore Scottish whisky.

Highland Park 12-year is one of my favorite scotches and whiskys in general for that matter. It’s very approachable, can be someone’s first intro to scotch, or to peat, because it’s a gently peated single malt. This is my first time trying the 18-year so I was very interested to see what doubling the cost and adding six years would give this scotch. Nose: rich balance of oak, fig, vanilla, peppercorn, hints of sulfur and brine Taste: sweet but not candy sweet, cream, a little bit more peat than from the nose, cherries, hints of caramel, more spice, vanilla and salt Finish: one more dash of spice, peat and salt, with a caramel flourish This is a great whisky. It definitely benefited from the additional six years in the barrel. However, on this first tasting it’s not worth double the price of the 12-year, which I guess is a good thing because I’d rather spend $60 and get the 12-year. Is it an inexpensive (comparatively) bottle to buy *if* you want a middle-aged whisky? Sure. Glenfarclas might be one of the others in the range. But in the end, the 18-year is 10-15 percent better than the Highland 12 but that doesn’t justify the cost in my opinion.

Besides meaty barbecue notes of something like a Lagavulin, these scotches that at some point touch a Sherry cask might be my favorite of the whisky across the pond. Delightfully bright and rich, reliable and a great entry point into Scotch. Nose: oak, pear, vanilla, candy corn with hints of peppercorn Taste: bright, not light, in my opinion but rather rich, more peppery notes, honey, buttered bread, light orchard fruits. Finish: short to medium This is such a simple, balanced, all-around example of a Speyside single malt. Cheers.

Nose: hints of honey and malt, corn, banana bread, maybe some oak back there Taste: little bit more honey, some briny notes and more malted barley, nothing special to be honest. Kind of falls flat Finish: medium, mostly cinnamon spice and malted barley, a little fruitiness from the Cabernet. Something musty and weird at the end. As with a lot of these Jefferson bottles, they are hit or miss—mostly miss. Some love them especially the Ocean series. I haven’t been a fan.

Good ol’ Weller 12. One of my all-time faves. If you can find it at retail buy buy buy. I will spend upwards of $75-100 for this bourbon. I won’t pay more than that. To me it’s a $100 bourbon tops. Weller Antique is a decent wheater but still a lot younger. Nose: cherries, pecans, orange peel, oak, leather Palate: more cherries, brown sugar, hints of caramel, toffee, more citrus Finish: short to medium. It doesn’t hang around long. Barrel tannins occasionally linger and for what it’s worth the Weller Antique 107 does have a longer finish. A great wheater. Don’t pay more than $100. To me the Stitzel-Weller stocks were just head and shoulders above what’s sitting at Buffalo Trace. Sorry I don’t make the rules. Cheers.

Whenever I taste Old Grand-Dad I get annoyed because I think of the overpriced Basil Hayden 10-year which could have been a phenomenal release at 100 proof. Instead they kept it at 80. This is probably my favorite OGD offering. There is nothing wrong with the 114, but for my palate this is the best proof for the high rye Beam recipe, which is also in Basil Hayden. Nose: very approachable and balanced with hints of honey, peppercorn, spruce tree, cinnamon, mint, vanilla and corn and some malty notes as well. Palate: quite rich for a $20 bourbon. More honey, caramel, brown sugar, and then some oak, a nice cinnamon and nutmeg rush on the middle palate. Finish: medium finish, quite nice for a “bottom-shelf” bottle. This continues to be one of the best values on the shelf. There really isn’t much you can say that’s negative. Great winter/Christmas bourbon in my opinion.

This is a barrel pick. Store: Kentucky OG Party Center (Louisville, USA) Age: NAS Bottle date: 04/01/2020 Barrel: 20-1187 Warehouse: A Rick: 8 Color: deep copper Nose: this bourbon noses a lot more like WT Rare Breed which is a barrel proof whiskey. Vanilla, caramel, honey, hints of clove, floral notes and oak. One of the best Wild Turkey nosings I can remember. Taste: wow a lot going on here...molasses, creamy, rich, citrus with butterscotch and some baking spices, more floral notes. Very little ethanol. It’s what many would likely call a smooth bourbon. Finish: medium to *long* finish, which is surprising for a 101-proof bourbon in my experience. It hangs around a good 30 seconds and is a nice finish. I love Wild Turkey and while Russell’s Reserve 10 is probably my favorite, this particular bottle rivals the best store picks of RR10 I’ve had in the past. Fantastically balanced. An underrated whiskey. But in my opinion it’s one of the best.

I’m not a huge fan of Bulleit bourbon. To me it’s always been a less-exciting-tasting version of something like Four Roses or Woodford Reserve. This however should be interesting. It’s a store pick that I’ve been told is likely 12-year-old Four Roses stock. Store Pick: Ernie’s (Lexington, KY USA) Age: 12 years Proof: 104 Barrel: 1-E2-0838 Mashbill: 75% corn, 21% rye, and only 4% malted barley Nickname: Law and Order: Mask Enforcement Unit Nose: think Bulleit but less spicy, less cinnamon. That spearmint spice I often get on Bulleit is in the background here. Some hints of vanilla, leather and molasses. Taste: well-matured, caramel, cream and more oak than is typically found from Bulleit, just a little rye spice which seems to have really mellowed with the extra years of age. Floral notes are definitely there and overall it’s a sweeter palate than regular Bulleit. Finish: short to medium, very little bite at all. Interesting expression. Noses like Bulleit but more candy dessert flavors and not as many floral notes on the taste. I’ll have to come back to this bottle after a few weeks and maybe compare it to an older bottle of Four Roses Single Barrel or even Bulleit 10. EDIT: after a week of the bottle open I tasted this again. Nothing different. For a $70 store pick it’s quite subpar. I have easily had three or four bottles of different Elijah Craig barrel picks for $30 that were better than this. It’s not a bad bourbon and despite the lack of 10+ year barrels in stocks this is not a good value at that price point.

This bourbon’s tasting notes have always (for me) drifted somewhere between a Woodford rye and Four Roses. The Four Roses makes sense because Bulleit has sourced its bourbon from FR. The nose reminds me of Four Roses, while the taste is closer to a Woodford rye. Nose: very floral, and I always think of this bourbon when floral notes come up in othe bourbons; there’s also hints of oak, corn, leather and tobacco. Taste: more of the same with vanilla baking spices Finish: short to medium

One of the most underrated bourbons on the shelves. Every time I buy this I forget how much I liked it. Nose: sweet corn, oak, hint of leather and vanilla Taste: good dose of cinnamon from the rye spice Finish: short to medium Always reliable. This is a staple to have in any bar next to small batches like Elijah Craig, Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, Makers and Four Roses. There’s nothing “special” about this bourbon, but the pure balance of all the traditional bourbon notes is hard to find in such an inexpensive bottle.