Tastes

Nose is initially of "sweet paint" with spicy eye notes. You gotta let it air out a little bit because for the first few minutes on the glass, it just smells like grapes in powdered sugar and drenched with acetone. The more time you give it, the more grapes and rye and less acetone you get. Taste is shiny, dusty, sugary sweet oatmeal with a fair bit of anise on the finish at the back of the tongue.

Nose is classic wheated cherry note which then develops quickly to a Speyside-like honeyed green apple. Floral accents flitting up above. Taste is very sweet, honey, some cherry, some cinnamon, a decent amount of musty red wine barrel impact. Body is surprisingly not very thin, despite being only 40% abv. It's one of those whiskeys where you can distinctly taste every element in it. I don't think it's anything super amazing or complex but it's immensely easy to drink and approachable without any drop of trashiness. Plus, it's hard to beat this price point. I plan on keeping a bottle for myself and gifting bottles to whiskey newbie friends.

Nose is bubble gum and bright tart cherry candy with some apple juice. I swear to God, I smell citric acid. If I try, I can get some herbal character. In some ways, it's the best parts of a cherry cough drop. Taste first hits you with the candy coating of a candy apple and then morphs to cream soda and then soft buttery caramel and then soft preserved plum candy you can get at Chinese supermarkets. Incredible.

Nose is toffee, apple juice, bright mango sweetness, and umami. Taste is a bit thin. It's bright, sherry impact with an odd mushroom-like umami in the middle with a somewhat skunky red wine barrel tannin. Finishes warm with warm bourbon barrel spice. Surprisingly more dry throughout than the nose would suggest. I think more body and sweetness would help this one out tremendously. Very odd. Not my thing, but it may be up someone's alley.

Bright, shiny, cherry candy with some mustiness to it that is more green and bread crust with some mintiness. I get a lot of wood on the nose but it's less barrel char and more straight up lumber. Taste is first a dry, dusty cherry before the familiar bourbon barrel spices poke in. Still a bit bready, especially the crust to a soft loaf of honey wheat. Overall, the best taste comparison is an unglazed cherry-filled kolache. Pretty good, no weird spikes in the flavor. A solid bourbon, though I like "weird" things, and it doesn't necessarily jump out.

Big nose of juicy papaya, toffee, dried apricots, and rum-soaked raisins. First thought was "Did they empty the sherry barrels first?" Taste is more brown and purple, for lack of a better word. Toasted almonds, more of the raisins, some sweet tobacco, dried prunes. It's definitely sweet on the palate but not nearly as syrupy as I expected with just the nose. There is a slight bit of astringency on the finish but not enough to detract; more than that, it feels like it cleanses your mouth of too much sweetness. It's too bad I don't smoke cigars anymore; it would make for a nice pair.

Nose starts with peated smoke and dry figs in honey. Also with some pear fruit leather. Taste is initially a bomb of juicy pear, then moving quickly to sweet smoke spiked with peat, and then a full bodied cigar smoke. Aftertaste is that of tamarind fruit. Throughout, there appear to be spicy, almost bitter barrel tannins I would associate with a high proof, small barrel bourbon. Pretty okay. Very scotchy without committing to any particular region, with more oomph and some of its associated rough edges.

Nose is apples, caramel, sticky dried cherries, walnuts, and a somewhat meaty smoke. Texture is smooth, goes down like butter. Taste doubles down on the smoke like a sweet Texas BBQ pecan wood smoke, but it's perfectly manageable and has no weird flavors sticking out. The apple hits first but the peel flavor disintegrates to just a soft honey to the end. Finishes with just wispy smoke. All in all, very well balanced. Good for when I'm feeling for something softer than the Corryvreckan. For the price, it had better.