Tastes
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Nose - Right away sherry and charred american oak barrels jump out to me. Sweet fruits with roasted vanilla and caramel. There's a light note of either peat or salt, I don't know much about Arran but perhaps it's coastal or they use the ever so slightest amount of peat. Shoulda looked at the bottle, but it's an island so that makes perfect sense. Overall there's a more rustic and older more hearty malt nose but the lower abv at 46 is leaving me a bit flat at the end. Still very interesting nose that keeps me coming back. Taste - This takes me back to the charred american oak though instead of richer sweetness it's more soft oak tannins with some richness in that french vanilla toasted sugar range, but more focus on the toasted barrel flavor. Then we get sea salt and chocolate with little hints of fruits at most. There's a slightly bitter/metallic note that brings me back to a springbank type dram, a very nice complement. There's a touch of a waxy muted note. Overall a well made 18 year old whisky at a reasonable all be it a bit low proof. So the verdict? Will I buy another bottle? Nope. Would I be happy to get a free bottle? Yep. Will I happily finish this bottle? You're damn right. So 2.0 it's a pretty average whisky in today's world of quality drams. After some time open I'm upping to 2.5, that finish is still a step up.99.99 USD per Bottle
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Widow Jane Lucky Thirteen Single Barrel Straight Bourbon (2020 Release)
Bourbon — USA
Reviewed October 12, 2020 (edited December 6, 2021)I'm not sure what the story on this is so if these are batches and not all the same, sorry. nose - MGP heaven! It's that rye forward bourbon with spices and sweetness turned up both to 11. It's so inviting, so rich, and it just billows out of the glass like few whiskies. It's awesome. Taste - This has it all. Mints, and tobacco, and apples, and pears, and just more fruits and vanilla and caramel and grain, and some ethanol touches. This is as complex as whisky gets. I know this is a shorter review and it's frankly because these earthy rye notes are harder for me to compare to. This is to me the best MGP product without finishing I've ever had. They have perfected the balance here. I bought 5, 3 were sadly for a friend. I should have bought more.98.0 USD per Bottle -
Starward Nova Single Malt
Single Malt — Victoria, Australia
Reviewed October 12, 2020 (edited August 5, 2022)So LONG story but I was recently a judge in a whisky competition and a friend, another judge got this sample. It came home with me and I'm SURE he doesn't want it. So why not review it? Nose - wow 41% but it's pretty rich and a good mix of sweet, beady, rich vanilla, chocolate, toffee, and a hint of savory sweetness. Taste - A lighter and watered down version of the nose. It's a pastry with some salty notes driving it. I don't get distinct red wine notes but it's kinda savory and sweet and salty, with the focus on bready pastry sweet. The mouth feel is awful and ruins this in a way. So...I'll go high. This was free but I have ZERO tries to this guy. 1.75. It's got a nose that's above average for SURE but it's so thin and watery and under done. I'd pay no more than 50 on this and I'd want it for 30. -
So full disclosure had 3 pours this weekend, including one today (vacation), but I don't have it in my glass as I write it. I'd never otherwise do this but multiple glasses, with or without water, and multiple pours...I think I can judge this fairly but maybe not my best review notes. Nose - So it's a fruity bomb that's unreal and has no real comp up front. It's this rich fruity sherry driven dessert bomb that transitions to mint (spearmint) and tobacco with oak smoke and spice. Taste - This comes in with a punch of unreal sweetness. It's this dark and deep fruity profile powered by waxy oils and muted vanilla. It's like a kid's candy at first and while it's unique....it isn't mind blowing yet. Then the whisky transitions to oak, spices, tobacco, mint...much like the nose really. The oak is flawless in this tannic touch with sweet oaks and flawless balance. It actually took me 45 minutes with a half dram before I fully accepted that mint was distinct and not an influence of tobacco notes. This has so much more going on, but these were the high lights. Overall - This is a standout unicorn vs the roughly 20 Lagavulin special releases I've had. I generally don't review these as I have most of these over at my friend mike's where we DO review some of these on his channel, often together, so I don't review these here, but I have a pretty sold experience with these, far more than I deserve. This and the 24 year 1991, 2015 release...which we have a review coming, are the two EPIC standouts that we've had. There are a few other stand outs but they don't leap out. So price? Well I don't want to get too into the prices paid by my friend but 1100-1800 USD is kinda the range this one is going for with better deals in the US and far worse for our UK friends. well let me rant a second.... So is this worth over a 1,000 dollars? Well....do you want a unique flavor you can't get anywhere else? If you do then this is the price of entry. That said the market says kinda yes and no. It's many years old and still on shelves but it's dwindling as lovers of this bottle are buying it up, and I'm sure for YEARS it will be on auctions as weirdo's buy whisky like an investment....that's kinda cool as it means we can get bottles down the road but it also means people just buy stuff so real buyers can't? Anyway is this better than some lag's for less? Maybe, but there's nothing else they have done that's ANYTHING like this at least in the last 5-10 years that I've had. So if you want this crazy fruity dessert lag profile, get this one. It's the ONLY choice you have. So score? Well, my 5 star isn't a PERFECT whisky, it's just an insanely high standard for the best of the best of the best I've had. It's a 5 star bottle. This is truly an epic dram, one you'll never forget.
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Hazelburn 9 Year Barolo Cask Matured
Single Malt — Campbeltown, Scotland
Reviewed October 3, 2020 (edited October 6, 2020)Long story but this was bought for the purpose of buying bourbon...I'd had it, I wasn't that impressed. nose - so it's light and well interesting. Oak, vanilla, perhaps a cashew, pears, and some barn elements. taste - Now I'm getting some springbank, just this savory unami thing they do so well. Water is a MUST. Water really brings out that sweet wine and really just opens up the flavors. The end result is a fruity sweet, hazelburn that's young, spirited, and not really one that I'll go back to often. The lack of peat on these or whatever really takes away a lot of what makes springbank springbank. These wine casks just leave an almost coyingly sweet dram with just enough savory to make it a fun experience. I'm enjoying it and I'll likely enjoy this whole bottle, it might be my "no regret" springbank to drink when I want CS and the 10 just won't do. Anyway, these are STILL available in places, 10,800 bottles were made. It's a bit over 100 bucks and frankly, it's very good but not great whisky. I think they rushed these and should have left them in the bourbon casks another 3 or so years. I mean really a 9 year? I'm leaning towards a 2.5. It's above average whisky, springbank doesn't do average. But it's below their average by a lot.100.0 USD per Bottle -
Yellowstone Kentucky Straight Bourbon 7 Year (2020 Limited Edition)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed October 3, 2020 (edited October 8, 2020)This is the first of these LE's I've bought. Their core offering has been pretty meh, but with word Nancy Fraley has been working with them, I'm excited. Nose - The first thing that really jumps out is a dusty corn and nutty element, very much making me think of a younger beam, perhaps a bakers or a knob creek 9ish year (well actually those NAS ones). Or you know bookers if bookers weren't terrible :) Then comes a very pleasant sweetness that I would without knowing there's finishing associate with really well aged older bourbons. That antique food finishing and intense brown sugar and candied oak. But more nosing starts to bring out almost a fresh rain over fall leaves with baking spices and rock candy. if not clear, there's peanuts on here as well. There's a pie crust here, heavy cinnamon and brown sugar on it, but yet balanced with the dough not letting the cinnamon bite the nostrils. Taste - While the nose is really something the taste takes a bit of a step back towards 7 year old bourbon. It's sweet but not deep or rich. The mouth feel isn't much to speak of. It however is explosive in total flavor. That sweet a bit thin upfront then gets spicy and oaky and peanuty and it bites pretty nice and hard on the finish. That finish mind you is really long and lingers. It's so much of a beam or perhaps a really nutty heaven hill kind of experience, but those armagnac casks are adding depth to finish, adding more sweetness and adding more mellow fruits. The armagnac is also responsible for a sweetness up front big time. But it seems that this one needed 3 more months in the finishing casks and another year or two in the bourbon barrels. 100 bucks? I have to say, yeah this is worth about that, but you'd want it for 75. Overall I'm at a 2.5 here. But I'm debating going a lot higher. There's just something off for me. I think this just needs more age or more proof. But it's honestly pretty dang good as it is. And thus 2.5, this is about an 85-86 in my book. And at 100 bucks that's not bad.100.0 USD per Bottle -
So this is going to be unique....oranges and sherry, and 6 years old? OK. Nose - well not to shock anyone but orange spice. It actually brings me back to the one and only time I had an orange chocolate and was confused as hell with it. Like people want THAT? However on whisky I'm not sure I have such an instant dislike. In fact, I'm somewhat intrigued by the lack of an amrut oak finish on the nose. More shocked I even get some vanilla with the chocolate (sherry influence?) and well orange peels for sure. Taste - So once again orange way hard up front, but then comes spices and oak, then it softens and lets in vanilla and perhaps even honey, then back to oak and rich flavors. The finish almost even has me thinking for a second there might be some peat in here. Bitters and sours and sweet and spicy are all over this dram. This is complex and truly unique whisky so in these sense, I'm a big fan. Would this be a daily drinker for me? No. Will I buy another bottle? Nope. Am I reasonably happy with this however? Yeah, actually am pretty happy with this. It once again shows that power of amrut's finish from the oak being able to offset odd and overly sweet whiskies. Scoring a 3.25 due to the insane complexity but holding back a bit as I can't really get past the orange oddities I get. I think here again Amrut had epic potential and we got good whisky instead.150.0 USD per Bottle
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Nose - spicy, fruity, oranges and tangerines, deep oak, burned oak, some red fruits, and even a touch of orchard fruits. Sweet, oakey, balanced, but not all that exciting or enticing. Taste - I get a sweet fruity up front blast, then it turns jammy and marmaladey, then transitions to spices and oak and heat. The finish is long and lingering with intense oaks. I'm struggling to really put notes to this one. It's off. The sweetness is a bit artificial, it doesn't have amruts normal intensity of finishing. It however just kills it on the finish. There's wood smoke for sure. Overall a solid 2.75 for me. I just love how Amrut finishes and that saves a nice sweet but uneventful whisky and almost swings it into pretty special.150.0 USD per Bottle
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Sam Houston 14 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed September 25, 2020 (edited April 2, 2021)This one has gotten all kinds of hype and there are dozens of batches around so I jumped on the KY-3 after passing on the first 2 batches. Nose - so right off the bat I'm kinda getting Barton'd out. I like their juice and I've had some really good stuff, but it's kinda also becoming boring when everyone is releasing another 12-14 year single barrel with similar profiles. I do get a bit more oak smoke and oak than some of these. Adds a nice balance to the apples and cinnamon spices I tend to find here. Vanilla notes but a thinner less creamy vanilla. Taste - Up front a lot of classic barton, sweet, fruity, then going into spices. The mid pallet starts to get a bit funky with old bourbon notes coming through and then the finish is more rye spice, a lot more old antique oak barrels. I'm really impressed with some of these notes here. I think these barrels they're blending (3 barrels in this batch) are really finding a way to push the complexity up in a very good way. Outstanding blending and down right tasty bourbon. I'm in for another at this price point to be honest with you. I just wish some other distilleries could get some 12-14 year stuff out at under 150 bucks and at reasonable proofs. 3.25, well above average, but not exceptional. I'd have to debate this vs cream of kentucky vs down home 12 year batch 2. Not sure where I scored all those, but this would be the one to get for the weller fans as it's sweeter and seems to be going in a similar direction as WLW. Not sure why I made that connection but here we are. Cream is more generic bourbon, but exceptional at that. And downhome is more oak and spice and a bit more complex and assertive. I'm clearly in the down home camp and I think it is the better whisky of the group in scoring as there's more to it, but that doesn't mean you'll like it more than this.109.0 USD per Bottle -
Lagavulin 12 Year (2018 Special Release)
Single Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed September 21, 2020 (edited September 22, 2020)Nose - sweet with hints of lagavulin's classic malt, but a bit of astringent oak and alcohol combining. A bit of vegetable notes but then turning smokey and sweet. Taste - the 2018 is best noted with a rich amount of complexity. A mix of oak, spice, some youth, and the lagavulin malt. If you and more classic lag 12, add some water and it brings the peat and smoke and aristocratic sweet lagavulin malt forward. The 2018 certainly uses some tired casks but has some nice still vanilla rich casks. Youth and some less than optimal casks leaves this one a bit short, but the high abv and quality mouth feel drive this one to a 2.75 for me. Quality quality dram for those of you looking for quality on a reasonable budget and who are ok with spirit forward whisky.
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