Tastes

Presented in an over-sized cologne bottle. Nose opens alarmingly sweet and buttery, with pronounced acetone and magic marker. Some rice wine swirling beneath the chemical layers, and a hint of burning nitrile rubber. Palate is all cheap honey, sweet, grainy and slightly sour. Abrubt yet gentle enough finish, something like plywood resin lingers. An "interesting" dram (in a rather bad way). Sampled at a casual tasting party, someone received this as a gift, via store-clerk recommendation (never, ever listen to the store-clerk). Pure marketing fodder for the uninformed masses. Dry glass: almost nothing! Very strange...

Nose: sweet over-ripe banana, some artificial vanilla, dull horseradish, stewed carrot or parsnip. Palate: more vegetal notes, weak honey, hint of charcoal. Finish: good length, strong buttered bread note, some sharp menthol, gentle lingering cinnamon. Sampled at a friend's casual tasting party, a surprisingly decent pour, but mostly uninspiring. I can only echo the opinion of others; this is what the standard (revolting) Jack Daniel's SHOULD be. Dry glass: faint oak and sourdough.

Nose: smoldering wet pine, sweet malt, nutty, slightly burnt crispy edges of a freshly baked cinnamon roll, drawn butter, freshly turned soil. Palate: gentle and reassuring. Soft honey, savory bacon bits, touch of lemon. Finish: rich oak spices, slowly bittering, hint of floral white watermelon flesh (near the skin) at the very end... Delicious, balanced and surprisingly approachable for it's peat level. Immeasurable gratitude to our prodigious Pranay for the sample! Dry glass: walnuts by the hearth.

Simply delightful. Nose: figgy caramel, sweet and savory sherry, rich oak (exeptional quality casks, similar to Benromach). Slight salty-sour vegetal note in the background, like a half-sour garlic pickle (in a very good way). Palate: crisp sweet apple, more quality oak, deep, earthy, slowly bittering, yet still somehow delicate. Finish: warming vanilla, bitter oak spices, drying orange peel. Many make comparisons to Macallan, but this is more reminiscent of a Dalmore, albeit sans cocoa, in my opinion. Dry glass: sweet malt and earthy Brazil nuts.

Aromas of briny peat, grilled steak with black pepper, smooth cashew butter... hint of licorice? Smoked citrus on the palate, sharp caramel, sweet oak spices. Finish is earthy, mineral, a light floral carrot note lingers... Slightly ragged and not as sherried as I expected (this ain't no Lagavulin) but very satisfying. Gramercy to the chivalrous Pranay for the sample! Dry glass: the sweet wood-stove smoke and somewhat musty basement of my childhood home.

So cloudy with water it's less of a "scotch mist" and more of a "close-the-airport" fog. Nose: Oh for peat's sake... (See what I did there?) Crispy dry-rubbed Carolina-smoked chicken wings. Grilled zucchini. Palate: Southern Sweet tea (specifically made from Lapsang Souchong) with honey, even sweeter with water. Touch of dried apricot. Finish: Delicious bready malt passes through welcoming chimney woodsmoke on a snowy night. An intense cold-weather warmer and intimidating adversary. Dry glass: Ham & Split Pea soup!

Nose: Pear cider, crushed pineapple, fragrant honey, fresh cut green pepper, dry white wine, ginger ale. Palate: starts with juicy sweet pear, then develops into zesty, spicy oak. Finish: less sweet, floral and looming resinous wood. From the total impression, it's character is somewhere betwixt Dalwhinne and a Macallan Fine Oak series (two old friends)... Many-long thanks to the skookum Pranay for the sample! Dry glass: strawberry ice-cream.

Picked up a bottle as a gift for a friend's cocktail party (where I fell in love with Kale salad...), for Manhattans. Nose: gentle, sweet warm vanilla, fresh cut sappy pine, some lemon zest and a hint of bubblegum fruitiness. Palate: smooth, very amiable, overipe banana, cinnamon sugar, more pine. Finish: starts with bold resinous oak, ends with distinct buttered wonder bread. Hot cinnamon accumulates with each swallow. A classic bourbon, so balanced and easy to drink, though a bit boring. Makes one shockingly smooth Manhattan! Dry glass: stove warmed woodshop on a clear winter's morning.

Tasted at the Iberian Lounge, Hotel Hershey. Quite a liberal pour, easily 3x what it should have been! At cask-strength, it requires a lot of water to balance, but the nose was immense, with rich ambrosial raisin, milk chocolate, warm caramel, some caramelized onions and even earthy mushroom, on a background of freshly turned soil (not peat, but nitrogen). On the palate; thick, hint of soap initially, then sweet oak spices, recognizable signature marzipan and hint of zesty grapefruit rind. Long finish, malty, minty and fairly hot, just enough to remind you to pace yourself. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but I believe this NAS Sherry version impressed me almost as much as the original 16. Bravo! Dry glass: sweet, metallic and woody.

A tricky knot to unravel, took quite a few tastings before it's secrets were revealed... Nose opens with a bombardment of sweet woody smoke, salted toffee, old-fashioned doughnuts with cinnamon sugar. Pelagic notes; sea salt, wet hemp rope, scent of land on the horizon. Waft of sautéed mushrooms coming up from the galley. Palate is vegetal, nutty, with rich wood, more smoldering pine than oak. Then settles into smooth lemon-vanilla creme (but not too sweet). Hulking finish, dark caramel, bitter orange peel. Hints of wasabi and pickled ginger on the tail end. (Wait, what?) This dram seemed so simple and one-dimensional on the first pour, but soon I realized every aspect of it was nearly indescribable... deeper than it appears on the surface. A staple fifth. Dry glass: blackened marshmallow.