Tastes

Sweet floral and nutty notes with a tiny and subtle hint of brine and some ethanol on the nose. The taste is well balanced with sweet and dark fruit as well as a little spice. The finish is long and has malty and nutty notes at the end before it fades. Good, more interesting than a lot of highland single malts I’ve tried.

The nose is pears and salt and the taste is the same with a malted barley and mild pepper finish. Not bad at all, but also not my favorite. I wouldn’t turn it down but I probably wouldn’t pay for it again.

Sweet fruit and floral notes on the nose. Maybe a little apple coming through from the sherry, not dark fruits like plum but light red fruits, and the tiniest hint of smoke. Floral, sweet, and balanced sherry on the taste. Coming back to the nose you can start to get some barrel spice and malt. The darker fruits show up on the finish, but not dominant. Not the sherry bomb I was expecting, between this and Macallan I prefer Macallan.

Brown sugar, cinnamon, and oak spice peek through the ethanol vapors, with maybe some honey and cherry if you live in it long enough. The high proof shows up on the palate, but doesn’t completely drown out the flavors. Up front is apple pie with a cherry after taste. After the first taste the cinnamon on the nose is more present. The finish lasts for days as a constant warmth and sweet honey. This bourbon is subtle and complex. I can’t really pin it down except that it’s really good.

It might be psychosomatic, but where Green Spot has green apple candies on the nose, Yellow Spot has caramel and honey crisp apples on the nose with the classic Irish butter cookie slightly behind, but still fruit forward. The taste is slow to arrive but when it does it’s very sweet, apples and honey with some vanilla. More dense and more mids than the Green Spot’s light and bright freshness. The ethanol is more present in the finish as well. Between the two, I think Yellow Spot is more in line with typical Irish and has a bit more behind it. The higher proof carries it past the Green Spot during the AB test, but on their own I slightly prefer the Green Spot, I just wish I could try it at a higher proof.

Brown sugar, honey, and a hint of citrus on the nose, really sweet smelling with only a suggestion of barrel spice. One of the sweetest bourbons I’ve tried, it almost tastes like a cocktail on its own. A little spice on the tongue but mostly honey, vanilla, and oranges on the palate with a thick mouthfeel. Finish is pleasantly long but not dramatic.

Cherry, oak spice on the nose, but don’t breathe too deep as the ethanol punches above its weight. The palate mirrors the nose with a cherry vanilla finish. Good stuff.

The sherry is very dominant on the nose, coming off as figs, plums, with a bit of a musty funk and cinnamon. The nose comes across on the taste as well with honey sweetness. The finish is back to the figs and plums. Really good.

The nose is smoked meat with hints of campfire, trying to go any deeper for other notes is blocked by the high ABV. On the taste, the smoke bomb up front is a little spicy but also honey sweet. It’s not dissimilar to other Islays except this one is turned up to eleven, minus any briny or medicinal notes. There might be other notes behind the smoke but I can’t pick them out. The finish is long with a dry smoke.

Vanilla and honey on the nose with an underlying hint of peat that doesn’t quite expose its character, you can’t quite tell if you’re in for a smoke bomb or something more subtle. Upon tasting, though, it’s clear that the smoke isn’t the star, instead it’s a nice treat of a well balanced butterscotch forward Scotch with just the right amount of a smoke and spice finish. It’s not dramatic, but it’s solid and does what it does very well.