Tastes

So I just spent 40 minutes trying to add Glengoyne 30 year to the site with zero luck....even using their horrible ap. So that review is pending if I can get it added. So why not review 2018 edition of springbank 25? Also...really each year should have a different review. So I'll be honest, I've read that this has vatting with port after bourbon and sherry maturation and I'm reading one place saying this is exclusive ex sherry. The color doesn't scream sherry. So I'm honestly not sure. But it seems I'm seeing more notes that this is 100% ex sherry so I'll assume that's right. Nose - There's a rich oak note to this one, you can tell this spent time in casks and it has imparted a lot of serious oak notes. It however isn't like a bourbon or even some other older scotches, the oak has almost been taken over by springbank funk and the two are playing in a unique sharp and salty way. There are red fruits but without being told sherry, I wouldn't sure of the finishing. This is an assertive, aggressive, and bitter nose. Taste - As one would expect this is a challenging dram and despite a few months open I'm still not to the shoulder on the bottle. Umami, sweet, salty, and fruity notes are all here. A complex and vanilla infused sherry and oak finish. It does have a finish of those "sugar" cookies that Keith, Malted Man Cave always gets. Water actually does tame some of the oak and brings in more sweet vanillas but also brings a touch more sea salt (which isn't bad). These are some very tired and very very used sherry casks and frankly sometimes if you use such casks you better not chill filter and you sure as heck better age it a while. That said the salty and unami springbank malt is working to make this a really challenging dram with the sherry, light as the notes are, somewhat bringing it back towards balance without getting there. This is 100% going to be a highly polarizing and likely disliked springbank 25 for a great many people. I'm rather enjoying this myself and will go with a 4.0, at 800 bucks that's not really acceptable, but the level of complexity all be it, lacking in depth, and the challenges of this one do lead me to appreciate that this was not a cheap to make whisky. Those seeking candy and sweet drams need stay the hell away, look for a port finished version of their 25. This one is for whisky geeks who want something off the beaten path. Given the price, all but the most extreme of springbank fans should avoid.

Recently landed one of these...not an easy whisky to get here. Nose - I get liquorice , cherry cough drops, and christmas spices. Water tames the spices and brings out a bit of a custards, but the spices don't stay faded long and come back in force. taste - See the nose really. I'm getting perhaps some kind of christmas dessert or you know perhaps even a ginger breadhouse. Yeah the vanilla icing and ginger cookie, I can totally see that here. There's still some cherry cough drops, a bit medicinal for sure, and rye spice. Water might bring out a bit more vanilla and sweet upfront but really not significant adjustments. WOWED, not by whisky standards, but I must admit this was one I went in with low expectations on and I've been really impressed. I'm at a solid 3.0 here which might be among my highest rye scores, a spirit I like but rarely feel doesn't enough special to move into the higher scored ranges.I won't go back to this often, but it'll be a nice change of pace or perhaps a christmas dram.

Back to campbeltown where everything is sun shine, lolly pops, rainbows, and that wonderful springbank funk. This is a 70 cl bottling distilled april of 1997 and bottled January 2015. I did recently also find a few of these here in the states and I have a bottle coming my way of that as well, no clue if there was a second release as it's strange to find anything like this still on an online retailer's stock. This one however I bought off someone. Nose - There's that classic springbank note of salt and brine and that springbank peat. It's sweet and savory all over. I get burnt tire, sulfur, funk, overripe if not sour red berries, vanilla, and sugar cookies. My notes almost come off islay in nature but make no mistake the sweet springbank malt is just as strong as those funky and lightly peated notes. Sherry is really playing well here. Taste - a quick note I get into the tasting notes, but the bottle say a mix of "fresh sherry" which is springbanks wet casks and refill. Given the color one has to assume this was mostly refill, but having had a few single barrel wet casks, I think the refill plays better with springbank's malt. So instantly I get a lot of vanilla almost to the point that i'd have assumed there was some bourbon casking here. Make no mistake once the liquod gets past the front of the tongue you get all those fruity sherry notes, berries, plums, and then transitioning to some chocolate. The finish contains that chocolate lingering note with salty springbank goodness. The more I sip this the more milk chocolate, almost a salted chocolate comes out to complement the funky elements. Water isn't changing much for me. It might be bringing more of the malt out and killing a touch of that chocolaty note, but really it didn't even change the abv feel which is very nice and highly drinkable even at 52.3%. I'd say this is a bit more refined and a bit less sherry forward than the 15 year. I get less weird and odd funky notes here and a more for me enjoyable sherry element to complement the springbank funk. I also just get so much vanilla when I first taste this one and I don't recall that on the 15 and it's just not a part of the single casks I've had with fresh sherry. I just bought a bottle of this for 150 online so I'll use that as the price. Overall, I'm really glad I have a backup. I've had this open a few months now and it's been consistently great since the start. As a springbank fan I cannot find anything to complain about, it's among their better bottlings. I'm going with a 4.0. In all honesty I think many would have this to be a 5.0 if they're into sherry finished springbank. For me while more refined than the 15, this isn't reaching the levels of refinement I get and expect out of those older 21 single casks or even some of the 46% 21's.

Nose - chocolate, tobacco, cinnamon, alcohol, and oak. There's a masterful dusty oaky rich aromatic notes. Sweet oak. Taste - oak chocolate. Maybe a walnut? Rich vanilla. This is buffalo trace's oak with their chocolate cherry notes, but low on the cherry and more the oak. This is their show case stuff. That said the nose is kinda meh.....the flavor is pretty wow. I'm doing a 2.75 and that's huge knock on the nose. Also the flavor is too alcoholic.

So I was cooked earlier and I've discovered any smoke can really ruin a bourbon nose so I'm going off my last pour for nosing. It's caramel, nutty, sweet...more sweet than your knob creeks or bookers. Taste - thankfully no issue on flavor for me here. It's nutty, bready, caramel, slight red fruits. Mouth feel is rich enough but not the super oily. So it's nice sipping whisky. I don't get any off flavor profile elements and that's really impressive with this being a 30 dollar higher proof offering. Heck 2.0 for me, a very high score but I can't find anything off here. I also don't really get anything special. It's a very basic sweet beam product but clean and refined in a way.

B2/19 Nose - vanilla, custard, pie, i get a hint of grape fruit but such a sweet profile over all. Maybe some toasted oak as well. Taste - There's a lot of oak in here. It then moves to a sweet fruity and caramel dessert and then white grape fruit and oak on the finish, long, bitter, lingering but more like an IPA bitter, not an oak astringent or off putting one. Wow - this is nothing of the over the top sweet but nicely toasted oak balanced bottle I had last. I'm less excited with this one. I love the lingering and really cool finish. But I'm so jarred expecting the reach sweet red breast 12 I came to love in CS. Perhaps with the new packaging they felt it was time for a change and with the new NAS coming...well blah. Anyway this is a cool whisky but it's just nothing like what I have had on past batches. For me this is a 2.0. The older bottles I've had would be 3.0+'s

So this is a store pick but they're all single barrels and my experience tells me they are all over the map too so I'd not be too worried about this vs a normal pick. Nose - Spiced apples, saw dust...it's really gives me a bit of an apple juice with a touch of cinnamon and maybe just being in a barn while nosing it. Relatively dry and not high on sweet notes, much more balanced than bourbon tends to be. I'm not getting the big vanilla or caramels of a more traditional bourbon. I do get corn. Taste - A bit of spice, a then a very evenly balanced oak and sweet and earthy profile, which fades into corn bread. There's a drop or two of vanilla. Mostly oak, earthy, corn, more corn, and then some sweet notes here and there. I'm not sure where this one went wrong, but this is pretty below average bourbon. I'd say this is a poor bottle but my recent blanton's bottles have mostly been a bit disappointing. Plenty of alcohol on this one too which at 46.5 seems jarringly out of place. I hate to say this, but a part of me just realizes I've moved past Blanton's being a good bourbon to me. I am tasting flaws and imperfections that should have disqualified these barrels from being picked but due to mass production, younger barrels, and the reality that these were never that good, this one was enough better than side by side barrels a store picked it. Throwing a couple rocks in for the fun of it. This is after all how most people will drink blantons. Actually, it tastes more like a standard bourbon iced, still nothing special. Anyway, I've always felt blanton's was an over priced bourbon, but I used to feel it was still providing a bit of a premium experience. I have to admit, I really do think the bottle was a part of that even back when I started. There is something about mash bill 2 that is perhaps not my preferred choice, but I love small batch EH Taylor for the money. Anyway 1.5 for me today. I think this is a below average whisky and I'm getting notes that make me debate going lower. It is frankly not that pleasant beyond that nice nose. Edit - I'm correcting this. 1.5 was way too high. 1.0, this needed to be finished in coke after drinking too much...otherwise I'd still have it.

Store pick - so buyer beware. Nose - I don't like rye, lol. OK joking aside, this is a harder profile to note. I get those traditional bourbon vanilla and oak notes, but there's a rye note I don't really know how to articulate. It's spicy and sharp but it's pretty nice more bourbon forward rye. Maybe some brown sugar and I dunno some kinda sweet syrup. Taste - There's oak, mint, caramel, rye spice, and really that's it. It's a pretty oak driven flavor. Maybe some butter scotch. I'm a solid 2.0 here. It's average. It's an enjoyable rye whisky. I wouldn't buy it again but I only bought it for the right to get the weller full proof. But it won't got to waste. This might become my starter whisky or the one I pour when I've had a couple and just want to sip and not think.

Dep's Pick Number 2. OK - so store pick, I've had 2 other store pick samples and while they are different, I think there's a profile emerging and more importantly I think we need a collection of tasting notes found in these single barrels as over time I expect they'll get pretty consistent range of common tasting notes. This isn't say knob creek where you have much older whisky and more variability as a result. Nose - fruity, bubble gum (classic bubble ym), drop of oak, and some cinnamon. A decent but not offensive alcohol kick at the end as well. Honestly you could give me this next to a 107 and I'd have no clue which one it was, just be a question of batch/barrel. Taste - Ok the palate we have a really well made and really nicely complex bourbon. You get the classic wheat bready yeasty profile in all wellers. Fruity, bubble gum, but then as it moves to the finish I get dark chocolate, almost a smores with dark chocolate and instead of gram crackers it's that weller wheat. But you totally get toasted marsh mellows and bitter dark chocolate. There's a nice bit of oak here, enough where if someone told me that this was getting into the 12 year range, I'd buy it. The oak is very well integrated into the flavor and enhances the sweetness, but never comes close to distracting. It is perhaps a touch drying on the finish. Overall - really sweet, really rich, really dessert like, and sadly....while no buffalo trace product is worth secondary let alone the hype, this is an outstanding sub 50 dollar bourbon (all be it just BARELY sub 50). 3.25 a score I just gave to a 200 dollar bourbon that I've debated buying a second of. And frankly this might be better. What would it need to move up? Well, it's complex for a weller and certainly for the price, but for a 4 star bourbon it's not there. i could see myself moving this to a 3.5 but any higher doesn't work. I also for science added water (and then more) and it doesn't hurt much, but it somewhat brings to surface what I'll call a lack of refinement that you'd get in the upper upper echelon bourbons. But fear not if you do add water, it'll be fine.

Always fun going back to the classics and this has always been one of my favorite Ardbegs. Lets see if it stands up after what has to have been 2 years since I last had it. Nose - Mint, medicinal rubber, citrus, caramel, a mix of smoke and burn plastic. Oh boy this smells young and unrefined. I'm a bit worried about drinking it. Water brings out more fruity elements. Taste - ok so a lot to discuss here. Opens soft and sweet with some perhaps lime like the ardbeg 10 gives off. It transitions into some young and unrefined medicinal sweet caramel and new make like spirit notes, but then we comes out of that and brings in that coffee and perhaps not a chocolate but a darker sweet which has always been my love with this whisky. I think I'm getting some ginger spice notes. The finish it's medium to somewhat long but mostly just a peppery warm heat. Water tames the beast, still a peppery experience but it brings all those flavors swirling around more into focus and I'm not sure that's a good thing here. Some of the youth is gone and that younger new make element is faded, but oh there it is...I'm getting a touch of banana which was there before and really screams young whisky. 57.1% this thing is throwing the high heat and you know, it's mostly landing them. That said while this is no longer a standout whisky for me, there's still plenty to enjoy with this one. I hate to say it but it feels like I'm growing past Ardbeg as I explore better whiskies or perhaps their quality is falling. Anyway I'm still at 2.5 here. Wonderfully complex, very bold, very creamy and rich mouth feel, and a whisky I dare say any peat head would appreciate. There's more than enough here for most whisky lovers, but there are too many flaws to move this into the 3.0's where I feel whiskies are starting to get special.