Tastes

Just about the best bang-for-the-buck scotch out there. While the likes of Macallan are pushing 12 year whisky to the $100 mark, Highland Park can be had for less than $60 in my area and at that price it’s an absolute bargain. Lovely honey and toffee notes with a touch of apricot that comes through on the finish. Dang it’s good!

If you are wanting to get into Japanese whiskies but are not sure where to start, then start with this. It’s a wonderful whisky that stands up against some of the best whiskies coming out of Scotland. Very complex, very affordable and very available. Don’t chase Yamasaki — get this instead.

If, like me, you’ve been on a decades-long whisky journey and have explored most of what Scotland has to offer, you might be tempted to return to the gateway whiskies that you started with. If thats so, then go grab a bottle of Black Label. It might not be the best Scotch on your shelf in terms of complexity or mouthfeel, but it’s very affordable, very tasty, and just like an old friend, it brings back fond memories.

At $100 it’s a bit on the pricey side for a 12 year, but if port finished scotch is in your wheelhouse, you will love this expression from Glenallachie. It’s much like the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban but with the flavor tuned up a notch due to the 48% ABV. Super stuff — 84/100.

Wonderful bourbon thats always had a place in my cabinet. I drink a bottle and immediately buy another. It punches so far above its price point. In a blind tasting this will score above bourbons twice the price. Oh, and if you like Russells Reserve 10, you will love Rare Breed!

Fresh baked bread with a knob of butter, rich caramel and toffee, followed by a pleasent amount of spice on the finish. Easily one of the best bargains in all of bourbon land.

Havent had this for several years so decided to buy a bottle when i found it at my local liquor store. Dang, this is hot! This drinks hotter than the 114 proof would suggest. Yes, there’s some cinnamon and a few other flavors, but its just so hard to get beyond the heat. Water or a cube will bring done the heat somewhat but that reduces whatever flavors exist. Im a fan of high-proof bourbons (love the EC Barrel Proofs) so its not like im new to 100+ proof whiskies. Did something change with this expression? It seems so much harsher (younger?) than I remember it to be.

Its easy to dismiss Red Label due to its price point, but i challenge you to do a Johnnie Walker blind tasting of 4 or 5 JW expressions and then see how you feel about it. My whisky group did a blind of the Red, Black, Green, and Blue. The only expression that was easy for everyone to identify was the Blue. Not because it was so much better but because it is just soft and easy to drink to the point where most people will find it almost bland and lacking some bite. The surpise was that none of us picked the Red in last place. Red punches so much better than you expect when you dont know what you are drinking.

Horse Soldier bourbon had been circulating in my local liquor stores for a couple of years but I had resisted buying a bottle as I was under the impression that it was all about branding (if you have seen the 12 Strong movie or read the background story, you will know what I mean) and not a quality product. Well, I was wrong. This is a quality bourbon. I attended a Horse Soldier tasting even last week where I tried the three expressions in the core range and was given the Straight Bourbon expression as part of the package. At 87 proof it won’t blow your socks off or wow your palette with complexity. What it will do is give you a solid bourbon with those usual bourbon notes of vanilla, cinnamon, toffee, honey, and some warming species on the finish. It’s very rounded and easy to drink neat, but it does have a decent amount of rye in the mash bill so I suspect it would also be good with ice or in a cocktail. If you prefer higher proof bourbons, they also have a cask strength (wheated) expression which provides that extra punch and a longer finish. This straight bourbon goes for about $45 where I live, and I think it’s a fair price. 80/100

Bourbon fans, stop chasing those overpriced and allocated bottles. Instead, buy Rare Breed. It’s an amazing bourbon at an affordable price (less than $50 in most areas) that’s widely available. Drink it neat, drink it over ice, drink it with water. Tons of flavor whichever way you like it. It’s great and better than most whiskies twice the price.