Tastes

The nose doesn't have a really distinct smell, but I do get sea-spray for sure. It smells moderately rich but we will see. The palate is very nice. There is a good balance of spice with a lot of fruity sweetness and plenty of sea. Some smoke is present but it is just enough to enhance the character a little bit. The real standout part here is the balance of cheery and orange blossom with a bit of richness that almost tastes like Dungeness crab. It isn't super strong and in-your-face but it is very tasty and balanced. The balance is exquisite and there is a good degree of complexity. The balance between sweet and dry is especially successful, reminding me a little bit of Glenfarclas. The balance is successful as it usually is for Springbank. In this case, the fruitiness is fairly surprising, but the salt is still there. It's good though honestly the 10 is more up my alley despite its relative youngness. This is a great drink. This is on the border between an 18 and a 19, but I left it at 18 because it isn't quite rich enough and the Dungeness crab element is a little weird.

Peat is at the front here and it lingers throughout. The flavor is rich with prominent fruit and floral notes that pop at the beginning and then fade while maintaining a mild presence. Vanilla, on the other hand, is present throughout. The sweetness is greater than expected, but the brine offsets it and no cherry syrup comes through, putting it a but above the Ardbeg Uigeadail. This is a good Scotch with depth, but a bit more variation throughout its duration would have been nice. Also, the flavors do not completely mesh. The sweet notes are composed largely of mild flowers, pears, and cinnamon. This drink is fun and terrifically ablanced. There are peat, smoke, brine, and sweetness immediately present. Impressively, none dominates the others, making this drink very balanced. It is a lot like the Highland Park Valkyrie and I enjoy it greatly. Wood and iodine flavors are in no way overwhelming. There is a bit of something that is savory and burnt and the finish is rich, but not too bitter. There is a lot of oil, but it doesn't taste rancid. Drinking this immediately following Macallan Rare Cask, this is a delight. The Macallan Rare Cask is very good, but this sets a whole new bar. The balance among all sorts of Scotch flavors is supreme. Oban 14 is down; bring it on Highland Park 18! This drink compares favorably to St. George Single Malt with its terrific richness and hints of orange sweetness mixed with a salty sea spray and some mild but bitter dark chocolate and smoke backing that is tinged with a little peat. Floral notes dance through in a delightful manner. This is truly a great drink, but it is difficult to appreciate in some circumstances. There is no particular note here that stands out in an iconic manner, but the drink overall is quite good with a great deal of complexity. There is some rich smoke that is enhanced by some balanced peat. The flavor is on the rich side without being too aggressive or tasting terribly old. There is a bit of a spicy note, but it is just enough to say "hey, I'm here", not enough to come off as aggressive. There is a cereal, slightly mineral backing with some hints of red fruit popping in and out at first and being replaced by orange as it nears the finish. The finish is a bit on the bitter side and the mineral flavor is more salt than flowers, but it may be a bit too salty and there is undeniable vanilla, especially on the nose. There is a lot of complexity here, but not all of the notes land. I'll need another pour to evaluate this better. There's something a bit herbal and medicinal going on too with some licorice and surprisingly prominent mint. The complexity is really good and does well at selling this drink, but the flavor needs more refinement. It's much less peaty than Laphroaig 10, but it has a similar flavor profile with cereal mixed with some sea breeze and herbal notes. I do wish the orange or some other tasty note had a bit more punch, but the cereal presence is kind of fun. The finish is long and tasty. This is maybe somewhere between Macallan 15 and Laphroaig 10. It's great, but falls shy of being a masterpiece. There is so much more depth an complexity than in Laphroaig 10. It doesn't have that gut punch, but it does have a more balanced flavor with some beautifully married flavors. There's a ton going on here and the only clear downside is that it tastes so young. That drawback included, this tastes somewhere between Laphroaig 10 and Highland Park 18. The Highland Park is still better, but this is an astonishingly good statement for its price point. Laphroaig has nothing on Springbank at the 10 year age! I wish it had a more mature flavor, but this is an excellent sign of what is to come.

It smells very leathery. It has more of a mineral flavor than Old Forester Rye does, which is kind of disappointing for a bourbon (the Old Forester Rye is admittedly quite its own thing and very rich though). There is a lot of floral flavor here and there is some vanilla but it pales in comparison. The flavor is kind of mild and bland. It tastes like there is a lot of corn in here, which I tend to like but which tastes bland and uninspiring here. The finish has a little unwanted harshness, but it doesn't have much of an impact on the drink's quality. It tastes kind of obnoxiously wheaty. The fruit is hard to place. It's too sweet. There's some weird buttery maple, but it is very mild. There might be an interesting, rich drink buried under here, but the mineral surface is obnoxious. I might drink this if offered, but it isn't really a sipper. It's fine, but not really worth the calories. The butteriness could be nice if it stood out more and really played a defining role in this drink. Even for me, this is a little sweet. The faintest hint of peanut is present, but it barely matters. Maybe it's a 15. The nose is spicy and fruity with a clear rye presence that doesn't overwhelm. There's some wood and vanilla nose with a little caramel sweetness, but it really smells more like a rye. The palate is very rye. There's some caramel wood balancing it out with some cocoa and vanilla. As a rye, it's actually really good. There's too much rye presence (including mineral) for me to like it as a bourbon though. It's kind of lightly flavored like Evan Williams Black, though its flavor is nicer on the whole. The balance is surprisingly good. Given how little rye is actually in this, it's surprising how much it tastes like rye. There is some wheat in it too, which will definitely lighten it out. I appreciate the sweetness. Distiller is right in calling it harmonious. This seems like a solid 14 because of its balance, and decently varied flavors. The problem is I'm just not a real fan of the light flavor. Drinking more, the caramel sweetness of the corn really does come through, yet it balances nicely with the red apple and isn't overbearing or gross.

Rating: 15/23 N: The nose is fairly pungeant with sour richness that initially reminds me of vomit and Copper Fox Rye. There's prominent peat, sour brine, and smoke. There's a bit of sweetness on the nose too that reminds me of Talisker and Caol Ila when combined with the smoke and strong iodine. The nose is somehow sour and smokey without being particularly herbal or having something else going on. It's fairly intriguing though and I'm looking forward to tasting it despite the apparent lack of balance. As is common with Islay Scotch, it smells savory and there is a decent amount going on. P: The palate is immediately both sweet and smokey with that briny flavor from before holding it together along with a weird jalapeno spiciness coming from the peat. There's quite a bit of iodine adding some richness and bitterness. There's actually a fair amount happening here. It is surprisingly sweet, a bit like sugar water was added to it, and it's kind of light for an Islay Scotch, but that can all be written off as elegance I guess. That vomit element is still a bit of a problem, but sort of like the Laphroaig 10 Band-Aids, it isn't insurmountable. There's a bit of grain coming through here too to really sell the profile. The balance is surprisingly good, actually, despite its brashness. There's some menthol in with the iodine too, though they're blended well to form the peat. It certainly doesn't taste old, but it also doesn't taste hacked together either. F: The peat and smoke linger along with that sugar water sweetness, the brine, and the jalapeno spiciness. It's a lasting finish that is actually pretty soild. For a cheap Islay Scotch, this seems like a great choice. It's definitely at least a 12 and could be a 15. Talisker 10 is undoubtably richer and more harmonious with more sweetness and malt, as well as smoothness. This tastes young in comparison for sure and it's definitely harsh, though Islay whiskeys can actually get away with that. Between the two, I think the Talisker wins, but not by a tremendous margin. Caol Ila 12 is also richer, but with more chocolate to its flavor that makes it quite hedonistic before letting the fruity notes on it. The Caol Ila is also very well balanced. In direct comparison, the Smokey Joe comes across as harsh and young with a thin body. The Caol Ila is definitely better despite perhaps not having as much complexity. Clynelish 14 is also richer with some sweet fruitiness despite the waxiness given way to a less full and rich finish. Of course, this isn't a totally reasonable comparison since Clynelish isn't peated, but it feels warranted somehow. I still like the Clynelish better, though I think the Caol Ila is the best. What's apparent from all of this though is that Smokey Joe is harsh and young in comparison with a thin palate. I think I like the others better, though Smokey Joe is honestly not bad. Clynelish does have a weird long finish, so maybe I'm not as big of a fan of that one. Although light and young, Smokey Joe tastes more like it is filling a niche than like it is an underaged wreck. It isn't bad, frankly. Yeah, there's a lot of weird stuff here that's quite in-your-face, but I keep coming back to this being a fairly drinkable whiskey. This is far from the subtlety and elegance of Lagavulin 16, but it's still not awful. This may have more aggressive nature, but it's still a tad less rich. Yet not awful. It has none of the sweet chocolate richness of Ardbeg Corryvreckan in direct comparison, though that leaves me wondering since when Ardbeg Corryvreckan had those characteristics. In comparison, Smokey Joe unfortunately has a vomit foulness, though it still isn't enough to provide a really disgusting, jarring experience a la Clan MacGregor. Port Charlotte 10 is richer and certainly smokier, but also not super well balanced with some added fruitiness and malty sweetness, but not as much complexity. This isn't as good, but I keep coming back to how surprisingly good this is. Yeah, it's light and young and all that, but it's actually fairly drinkable. Now that I've had it side-by-side with several other drams, I'm giving it at least a 13. I think a 14 is warranted. I could see a 15 as well. Not sure about a 16. This would be easy whiskey to dismiss, but it's actually fairly good. The price is higher than I expected, but so is the quality. I think it might earn that 15 since it was right up there with Talisker and Caol Ila, but I'll give that another try on a clean palate with my last sip. If this were $30 instead of $40, it would be an easy buy. I think the 46% ABV works out here too since it would otherwise be a bit insubstantial. Actually, I think I'm going to up it to 15 right now. In direct comparison, this definitely does not have the sour brashness and sugar water sweetness of Copper Fox Rye, though it does have more complexity. Wow! It's kind of in the style of Copper Fox Rye mixed with Ardbeg and Laphroaig. Given its name, I never suspected that this might be a good whisky.

Wow, the nose has some gross, rancid scotch notes. There's something herbal that is unappealing. The palate is watery with a gross flavor that mixes bitter and sweet with fruit and herbs that have a chemical balance. The flavor ain't entirely monotone, but it is bad and has gross elements that do not producer complexity. It's hard to drink this, though there are occasionally some nice fruity flavors. There's a lot of bad flavor going on here without complexity or nice notes. It's clearly worse than Bushmill's Black by at least a couple of notches.

The nose is pretty flat but a heck of a lot better than "The Classic" Shieldaig. It smells kind of generically like feet. The palate is watery and flat, but it has a nice slightly bitter richness with a somewhat balanced sweetness. The flavor is pretty generically scotch without much variation or complexity, but it's not too bad. The palate is so much better than "The Classic" Shieldaig. Compared with Bushmill's Black Bush, the flavor is just a little richer, but it is less complex by a long shot and also a bit mellower. The difference between this and Bushmill's Black Bush is similar to the difference between this and "The Classic" Shieldaig, though a bit less severe. It's a couple things below Glenfiddich 14 for sure, but it's definitely drinkable. For the price difference, it's hard to justify ever getting this instead of the glenfiddich though. The nose is ho-hum, but it doesn't smell bad and has a little sweetness. The palate is decently viscous and inoffensive. It tastes young, but there are some mild elements of various scotch characters to it, with a bit of malt and the coastline coming through alongside some hints of orange. It's not very good, but it's drinkable and could be a good place to start in blending Scotch at home. It's less interesting than Glenfarclas 12, but also less bad, so it gets to claim a slight victory. Slight though - the Glenfarclas Sherry richness is definitely better.