Tastes
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Grangestone Highland Single Malt Rum Cask Finish
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed January 4, 2021 (edited January 29, 2024)Nose - banana, pineapple, vanilla cream, honey, caramel, cereal grain, hay, apple juice, citrus zest, light oak, floral notes, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - vanilla cream, honey, apricot, citrus zest, young grain, black pepper, ginger, caramel, banana, apple juice, hay, brine, light oak, moderate alcohol bite, finishing fast with young, bright alcohol, nondescript citrus, brine, and grass flavor. It seems my Grangestone horror show gets one more chapter, as I overlooked this beauty hiding at the bottom of my Total Wine sample bag. To be fair, this isn’t horrible. Much better than the Sherry Cask, slightly better than the Bourbon Cask, and certainly worse than the 12 year. It’s obviously very young, as there’s a marked malty graininess to the entire experience. I get the rum finish in the form of some pineapple and banana notes, but it’s not overpowering and seems reasonably well done (or perhaps I’m still just scarred from the Sherry Cask nightmare). Hopefully now I can put Grangestone behind me. I’m a bit interested in trying some of their higher age statement releases, but not enough to take a flyer on a bottle. -
Nose - nutmeg, egg nog, brown sugar, black pepper, rubber, cocoa, dusty corn, artificial caramel, vanilla, old wood, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - bland corn sweetness, nutmeg, cherry, black pepper, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, dry honey, light oak notes, nondescript citrus, mild alcohol bite, finishing fast and cloying with chemical caramel, vanilla, and a bit of barrel spice. Oh, Canada. We meet again. Actually this is one of the better Canadians I’ve tasted, certainly superior to Canadian Mist, but not quite at the level of Crown Royal Deluxe. However, there’s not much to love here. It’s got that same nasty, bland, cloying sweetness that seems to accompany most of the whiskies from Canada I’ve tried. This is poor, but not undrinkable.
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Johnny Drum Private Stock Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed December 26, 2020 (edited December 28, 2020)Nose - cherry, orange zest, butterscotch, toffee, sweet tobacco, apple, leather, milk chocolate, cinnamon sugar almond, vanilla, musty nut, hay, brown sugar, caramel, strong oak, plastic, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - cherry juice, leather, chocolate, coffee, tobacco, orange and lime zest, apple, caramel, vanilla, walnut, almond, cinnamon, allspice, brown sugar, toasted tannic oak, dusty corn, black pepper, mint, high alcohol bite, finishing medium length with cocoa, sour citrus, leather, and strong tannic oak flavors. This reminds me of a sweeter, hotter, oakier Elijah Craig. I get some of that characteristic Heaven Hill musty nut going on here. It tastes simultaneously overoaked and relatively young. Not four years young, but definitely not fifteen years old, as it was before becoming NAS. Maybe there’s some heavier than average char going on with the barrels they use. A bit like EC Toasted Barrel, but definitely not as well executed. I’m a bit split on this. There’s a good amount of tasty complexity to be found on the nose and palate, especially if you have a sweet tooth. However it’s too hot, sour, and bitter (especially in the finish) for me to recommend this as an after dinner dram. Another reviewer recommended this as a good match for an Old Fashioned. I haven’t tried that yet, but could see it working well when cut with a bit of demerara syrup and water. If you find it near the $30 retail price, I think it’s worth trying, but absolutely does not justify the secondary markup I’ve seen on this one recently. I’m going with a better than average rating, but not quite good. -
Pure Scot Signature Blended Whisky
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed December 25, 2020 (edited January 29, 2022)Nose - pear, honey, malty cereal grain, stale fungal notes, stale bread, sour apple, floral notes, light peach, lemon pith, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sour apple, pear, lemon rind, floral tea, grainy malt, stale bread, banana, bitter oak, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast and thin with bright, young alcohol, sour fruit, and bitter citrus pith flavors. There’s really nothing good going on here. It tastes young, bitter, sour, and stale all at the same time. It’s a step up from the Grangestone sherry cask finish and some of the Canadian dogs I’ve endured, but that’s not saying very much. I’d rate this about on par with JW Red, but I think the Johnnie is a bit better. And I’m just seeing that this is close to $50 a bottle near me, more than double the JW. Wow, this is a contender for worst value liquor I’ve reviewed. In the $50 price range, I’d recommend just about any other blended scotch, or some really solid single malts. Thank you to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample. It’s just as useful to learn what you don’t like as it is what you do. -
Nose - anise, cocoa, dill, eucalyptus, banana bread, walnut, spearmint, clove, allspice, dry vanilla, caramel, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - anise, oak notes, cinnamon, leather, tobacco, eucalyptus, mint, menthol, clove and assorted rye spice, vanilla, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with minty menthol, anise, and sour, tannic oak flavors. I purchased a bottle of this to evaluate as a possible candidate for replacing my house mixing rye, as I was looking for something reasonably budget friendly with a high rye mash bill. The MGP component in the blend comes through loud and clear with the mint, dill, and eucalyptus flavors. Overall, I really like the nose, but feel that the quality doesn’t quite transfer to the palate. It’s simple, thin, and a bit too sour and bitter on the finish to pass the test. I decided to keep the Rittenhouse as my house mixer, which I later replaced with New Riff rye, an excellent high rye whiskey for cocktails. I’d say this is above average, but nothing special. And the price pits it unfavorably against many strong contenders on the shelf.
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Nose - orange zest, juniper, mint, coriander, cardamom, white pepper, subtle vanilla, anise, earthy herbal notes, effervescent lemon and lime, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - ginger ale, orange zest, sweet lemon and lime, nutmeg, coriander, juniper, cardamom, thyme, herbal earthiness, white pepper, licorice, vanilla, mint, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with ginger, orange, lemon, lime, and earthy juniper flavors. Coming off the Barr Hill, this is extremely mild with very subdued juniper notes. It bears a non-trivial resemblance to a vodka and ginger ale cocktail. I can see this being a really nice mixing gin, definitely a step up from Beefeater, but not at the excellent, complex sipping level of Drumshanbo and Monkey 47. This concludes my gin tasting series, at least for a while. Over the course of these past two weeks, I’ve tried around 20 different gins, ranging from traditional to modern. I came into this series strongly disliking the entire category, but have learned just how varied and nuanced gin profiles can be. I plan to continue exploring the category as the budget permits, and appreciate everyone’s input and recommendations. There are a few more on my list to track down that unfortunately aren’t sold in sample sizes, so I’ll get around to them eventually. My favorite of the 20 has been Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, followed closely by Monkey 47. For now, I’ll be returning to business as usual, but plan to embark on a tasting series in next the month or so of my next most disliked liquor category: vodka. As this is Christmas Eve, I’ll take a moment to wish all of you a wonderful and safe holiday and a happy New Year. I started my liquor exploration earlier this year in February, right when COVID began locking us all down. Over these past 11 months, I’ve reviewed 200+ different spirits and have just begun to scratch the surface of the hobby. I cannot wait to continue this journey into next year and feel privileged to have such knowledgeable compadres with whom to share the experience. Cheers!
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Nose - strong juniper, coriander, black pepper, spicy herbal notes, honey, thyme, lavender, spruce, pine sap, anise, lime zest, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - spicy juniper, honey lemon cough drop, menthol, coriander, thyme, black pepper, lavender, ginger, pine, anise, pine, spruce, herbal and floral notes, spearmint, rose, lemon and lime zest, moderate alcohol bite, finishing long with spicy juniper, sweet honey, and rose flavors. For a more traditionally flavored gin, this one is really nice. The juniper aroma leaps from the glass; I can smell it halfway across the room. The spicy juniper transfers to the palate nicely, followed by an uncanny flavor resemblance to the mentholated Hall’s lemon honey cough drops. Overall, I really appreciate how robust and defined the nose and palate are. I think this is most comparable to the Botanist, and whether you like it more or less would depend on your affinity for the lemon honey menthol profile.
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Nose - juniper, black pepper, coriander, nondescript citrus, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - grain alcohol, sweet citrus, juniper, coriander, black pepper or ginger, high alcohol bite, finishing fast with bright alcohol and bitter herbal flavors. Tucker’s is brought to you by the masterminds behind Winchester bourbon, so you know it must be delicious. TLDR: it’s not. It’s very young and hot with very little in the way of actual flavors. There’s a bit of citrus and some spiciness that could be construed as juniper if you think really hard about it. There are no off flavors, as there are with the Seagram’s, but I would say it’s about on par with it in quality. If the budget mandates you spend less than $15 a bottle, then this might be for you, but I recommend springing a bit more for the Beefeater.
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Nose - cherry cola or Kool-Aid, cough syrup, raspberry hard candy, mild ethanol burn. Taste - cloying cherry cough syrup, raspberry lollipop, grape juice, vanilla, nondescript herbal notes, finishing long with syrupy cherry Kool-Aid and cough syrup flavors. This smells and tastes like mixing half cherry Kool-Aid and half cherry cough syrup. It’s very easy to drink, but chemically and cloying. I can’t imagine ever wanting to drink this, either neat or in a mixed drink. I’m rinsing my mouth out with water now to flush out the lingering sickeningly sweet stickiness.
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Hofland London Dry Gin
London Dry Gin — Holland, Hungary
Reviewed December 22, 2020 (edited December 31, 2021)Nose - juniper, coriander, lemon and lime zest, black pepper, anise, ginger, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - juniper, sweet vanilla, coriander, lemon and orange zest, black pepper, ginger, anise, mint, moderate ethanol burn, finishing fast with juniper, citrus, and anise flavors. There’s not much to say about this gin. It’s a very middle of the road London Dry. The only thing worth noting as a departure from the standard is the vanilla flavor. It adds some sweetness without becoming cloying like the Seagram’s does. For that reason, I think it’s reasonably serviceable and a step up from the Seagram’s, but not quite as good as Tanqueray and Beefeater.
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