Tastes

Spicy, but not overly so. There is plenty of rye in here, but it is still somewhat sweet. The flavor is robust with wood faintly present and some nice coconut on the finish. I'd appreciate less rye and spice, but it's hard to deny the fullness of this drink's character and the sweetness provides good balance. Some smoke lingers at the end and is mixed with some slightly medicinal herbal flavor that adds a bit of bitterness that mixes with the wood with a slightly minty tinge. Not a ton of fruit and flowers are here, though some vanilla is present. The main flavors: spice, toffee, rye, wood, mint, and maybe some citus and vanilla. I don't love bourbon, but I must admit that this is quite good. I would personally like a sweeter finish, but for fans of bourbon, this is already on the sweeter side

The nose is ridiculously sweet and floral with a honey nectar element. The color is also very light for a bourbon. It almost smells like some sort of Irish whiskey. The palate is exceedingly weak until the bitterness and harshness kick in. Really, it tastes like an awful Irish whiskey with bourbon harshness. This is extraordinarily difficult to drink. It tastes like awful floral Irish ick mixed with huge amounts of minerals that have gone slightly rancid a la scotch gross bread. The vegetal hints add to the rancid impression and are terribly out of place for a bourbon. One sip is enough to make me never want to try it again. It reminds me of Herradura Blanco and a little of Don Julio Blanco, but it shouldn't and it doesn't remind me in any sort of good way. This is without doubt the worst bourbon I have ever tasted. It's badness reminds me of Clan MacGregor, but this is weaker and less complex. Side by side, this almost makes Clan MacGregor taste decent - though I know that's an illusion. It's bad for sure when Clan MacGregor tastes appreciably better. They say it's aged a minimum of 6 months and boy do I believe that's the maximum too. Somehow, the bitter, floral, and mineral notes here shout down the ones in Winchester Extra Smooth. Truly, this is proof that the label "small batch" carries no meaning whatsoever. Rotten flowers, a little vegetable stench, overly sweet nectar, oppressive minerals, harsh spice that carries no flavor or variation. I sure hope that this is a uniquely bad drink.

Quite a first impression. Peat and smoke hit, but they are immediately followed by fruity sweetness. The smoke gives way, leaving peat and sweet fruit. The fruit has a clean, somewhat refreshing flavor that makes this drink interesting, unlike the many over-sherried scotches out there. It reminds me a bit of Ardbeg Uigeadail, but mellower. The balance is terrific, with some mineral notes coming in with the alcohol flavor, but not hogging the spotlight. As the peat fades, coffee and rich chocolate come in, rounding things out and giving it a smooth, creamy finish. Unfortunately, as I drink it, the astringent coffee and mineral flavors increasingly stand out, impairing the experience. By the end, it is a bit too much like Bastille 1789, though it is somewhat better balanced. The peat is effective at adding some balance and depth, but the drink as a whole does not quite come together. Sadly, it falls victim to the fruit, much like the Uigeadail. It smells smokey and a little peaty, but also a bit of cereal. The palate is all three of those things with the peat and cereal overwhelming the smoke. It's smooth, but also mild. There's some cinnamon spice going on and a little bit of prickliness, but it doesn't burn. Fresh apples dance in the background, adding some interest and making it a little refreshing. It's fairly complex and it is balanced, but the notes are fairly mediocre and there is a weakness to it where everything just kind of blends together. It reminds me of a less aggressive Laphroaig 10. There is some medicinal flavor to it, but it doesn't really punch you in the face. The seaweed flavor balances the orange that hangs out with the cereal. I don't love the flavors, but I could sip this easily. There's something generically sweet hanging out here that provides a monotone backing. This could be a lot better if it had some sort of backing with character, like fruit or toffee. It's a solid smokey whisky, but it really needs something more - and simply adding age wouldn't be enough. That said, there are no bad notes here - nothing stands out as great, but nothing stands out as bad either. As with all Japanese whiskey though, it is absolutely not worth the price. I'd call it better than Laphroaig 10, but decidedly inferior to Highland Park 18.

The nose has scotch, but it is dominated by a strawberry fruit snacks scent that is actually pretty appealing. The palate is disappointingly light with scotch coming in and having too light of a fruit flavor to make it taste at all mature. The flavor is quite like somebody soaked some strawberry fruit snacks briefly in some young scotch. It's super watery and really not appealing, though it isn't too actively bad. The nose is tremendously sweet like strawberry mild with caramel that has been tainted by scotch. The palate is surprisingly watery with a definite sweet strawberry flavor to it that is too strong, but is not viscous. Scotch is present on the palate, but it is super generic and the whole thing mostly tastes like a watery strawberry cocktail. It's weird and bad. Grangestone Rum is better and so is Grangestone Bourbon. This is somehow some of the worst scotch I have ever tasted in that it is nothing like the finished product should be. It isn't wholly unpalatable, but it is a really weird and inappropriate flavor. The nose is strawberry with some sulfury grass. The palate has some richness and a hint of spiciness and is less watery than I had initially thought. There's a fairly nasty rotting flavor underlying the whole thing and it isn't particularly complex.

The nose is standard scotch with maybe a little rum influence in the form of sweetness that might hold the faintest hint of banana. There's something a little leathery in the scent too. The palate is pretty standard scotch, but there is some nice rum sweetness in there and a hint of rum firework smoke. It's fairly light on the palate, but it sort of works with the flavor balance. There's a bit much of the generic scotch flavor though. The nose is a slightly rich scotch, but not much special aside from a bit of must. On the palate, the drink is light with plenty of hay at first. There are some smoky, malty, salty allusions to decent scotch that have a fair amount of sweetness, but the lightness and alcohol prevail. The flavor has some minor complexity and the rum sweetness is nice, but the industrial flavor of the alcohol quickly takes over. It isn't undrinkable, but it's definitely not great. Clan MacGregor is better. The nose is scotchy and flat with maybe the faintest hint of orange blossom and a little vanilla. It smells rich enough. The palate is pretty standard scotch with some richness. It's a bit floral in its sweetness, but the backing is a bit bitter in a bad way. It develops less than Glenmorangie The Original and it has stronger off notes, but it is a bit more off in terms of flavor.

The nose has a bit of a vanilla and caramel side that could be mistaken for rum but is definitely reminiscent of bourbon. The nose also has more hay than expected. The palate is grassier and more viscous than Grangestone Rum Cask, with less sweetness as well but also no particularly interesting character to balance the absence. There is some caramel and vanilla to be sure, but it all kind of blends together. The nose has some nice rich vanilla with a bit of butterscotch, but also wet wood and some earthy grass. The palate is very grassy with some earthiness and a tiny bit of squashy vegetal flavor. It's very lightly flavored, though it does have plenty of vanilla and a little bit of very light caramel. It isn't so much delicate as it is watered-down. There's a bit of a bad flavor in here that is hard to suss out entirely, but it's kind of fiery and a bit bitter in an herbal way like bad alcohol. The nose is kind of grassy and a little squashy in a kind of scotchy way. The palate is sweet and light in way that is a bit reminiscent of an Irish whiskey. It's grassy and sweet like the lightest possible caramel. It's not great, but it's not totally terrible. There's some gross bitter backing, but it's not a deal-breaker. The quality is far below that of Bushmill's Black.

It smells like scotch. There's definitely some peat and bacon on the nose, a bit like Lagavulin 16. The palate is a bit harsh, but it doe shave some decent caramel balancing the smoke and peat. There is some sweetness too, though there's no particular further quality to the sweetness. The saltiness is a bit nice without being overwhelming. This is better than Clan MacGregor. The nose has minerals and salt with dry grass. The palate is light, but it does have some nice orange flavor to it. There are the usual scotch mineral notes underlying it and blending decently with the floral flavors and vanilla. It isn't tart or spicy. There is some nice richness that maintains the sweetness and gives it a bit of a watery toffee flavor. This isn't very good scotch, but it isn't a total disaster either. It lacks the complexity of Glenmorangie The Original sort of like how Maker's Mark lacks the complexity of Corsair Quinoa, but its rich sweetness saves it substantially. This is certainly not on the same level as Springbank 10 either, but it is surprisingly decent (mostly because of its sweetness with toffee and orange notes). The nose is much more pleasant than the Grangestone cask finished releases. It has some scotchy sea spray and smoke mixed with some floral apricot notes and a dash of vanilla. The palate isn't terribly strong, but it is reasonably balanced with a bit of sea spray, some bitter herbal notes, some sweet notes of orange with hints of butterscotch. This is actually pretty sippable. It reminds me a bit of Springbank 10, but it's watery in comparison - nowhere near being on the same level. Compared with Springbank 10, the flavor of this is watery and grassy with less well executed flavors. It has less vanilla and orange than Glenmorangie The Original and the flavors are also more muddled despite their moderate complexity. Still, it's borderline sippable. I'd take Glenmorangie The Original, but this isn't bad.