Tastes

Pro tip - let this one sit out a bit. Nose - Dark damp dunnage warehouse. Port pipes are sitting on heavily malt soaked wood. Dusty oak. Some nice spice notes. Taste - The 62+% coats the mouth, sweat malt, port pipe, old wood dries, spices. This is completely unique in how the wood spice and drying notes mix with huge abv and alcohol. The oak notes are completely unique while the sweetness gives us figs, dates, raisins, and vanilla sweetness. Really unique and tasty whisky. I've bought a second bottle. First bottle I bought was $128 but the newer bottle was $86. 3.25 - if this is your wheelhouse it's one to seek out. If not, you may still enjoy a pour, but not one to chase after.

I really have to assume this is the old first fill, it is certainly the darkest bottle I've seen and purchased in a shop I KNOW doesn't move scotch quickly. Nose - red fruits, dark caramels, and creme brulee. Taste - sherry BOMB. It's figs, plums, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, toasted oak. Finish is oak and raisins and it's slow and long lingering. If you can find this for 115 and it's a super dark bottle, get it. An absolutely must drink of anyone who likes sherry at all.

Nose - savory, salty wine, brine. This is the most savory springbank I've ever nosed, by a lot. Taste - Hot - really hot. Has that classic springbank BBQ peat, sugar cookie finish, then the Sauternes must be giving off that more salty savory notes or brings them out along with a very rich sweatness. The sweat and savory is really enjoyable but it hides any additional complexity. The finish is medium, hot, and sweat. I'm reviewing off a sample and I'd gladly buy a bottle at 150 or less.

I don't know why I'm doing another review but I've been wanting to open this and see if this bottle is turning or if it's getting better. I've got about 6 oz left in the bottle and it's been there for a while. Gold color - with a touch of finishing gives it a nice look. Nose - bubble gum, oily citrus fruits, I don't get smoke but I get an earthy undertone. Oh wow how did I ignore vanilla, Huge vanilla. Taste - Citrus, bold bright over powering. Some spice. Oily, spicy, touch of oak, pepper. But this is so much sugary dessert. Finish - my god this finishes as just pure vanilla and caramel. it's insane. A bit short for the age and cost but so good. So good. I originally thought this was not closer to a 300 dollar bottle, but with time oxidizing. Oh man, this is dessert, complex, old, insanely good. Man, I'm fan boying on this one now. I really want another bottle! That said we're not into those all time great elite pours. This is very good if you enjoy the dessert notes, the fruits, and a bit of waxy notes. This is completely worth 300 dollars.

So people keep asking about these, I figured I'd put my notes together. So completely terrible disclosure, just that it was bottled in Ohio. I'm betting this is Tennessee Dickle juice. Nose - Nice bright sweetness, fruity notes, dusty corn, caramel and vanilla. It's pretty standard bourbon notes with a bit more depth thanks to the age. Taste- Dusty corn, slightly sour, a bit of funk, vanilla, and caramel. Light body. So much dusty corn. If you like the dusty corn and sweetness, you'll enjoy. This however is a 115 dollar bottle of bourbon. That's not what I want at that price. This is a firm pass at these prices. I'd pay 40-50 and buy it again.

The Circle - This one was a bit of an unknown and good surprise. So lets get the details out there. Tamdhu 78.38% and it's between 15 and 19 years old. Then a sherry butt from Clynelish makes up 14.8%...aged...on the younger side of above. And then Highland Park, bourbon barrel, and a pretty common older age, 20+ years old. There you go compass box, I didn't share the ages! Oh and then younger highland malt makes up the last 1.5%. Color is pretty light golden. It doesn't look older and it surprises me on the sherry butt in there. 46% perhaps lightening it down. The nose has some nice barrel char surprisingly, light red fruit, vanilla, and dare I say some smoke? Flavor - it's just nice. Apples, touch of oak, nice sweat malt, some vanillas, and yeah there's a light smoke. Creamy mouth feel though it won't take water (the cream is killed). The 46% is sadly about 1% too low for a decent amount of water for me to play with it. Water does bring out some bite from the citrus notes and normally I'd think there's spice there but really this is clean no spice. Finish - oh yeah i get a wood and I swear smoke linger on the finish as the sweat flavors fade out. Not a long finish but it's on the long side of medium. So the question is if this is 150 dollars good? I honestly at first taste loved it but felt it was a bit over priced. Having now gotten is down to the top of the label (the compass box gold part so not THAT much) I'm really starting to appreciate this one. This really is as they call it "sunshine", it's sweat, balanced, complex, but it lacks the really complex notes you'll get with more aggressive notes. At first I took this to be a "lesser" note, but I completely disagree with that now. They've created a perfect day time sipper to have with friends. I'm not one to give more than a 3 score often. A 3 is a really high quality whisky, but this is priced right and just kills it. This would be a 4.5 from a lot of people.

With the insane bourbon boom comes many very good all be it younger bourbon options. This one also brings in a price tag nearing 200 bucks. Sadly my intrigue out paced my annoyance with this ever growing high priced NAS bourbon market. Color and body are pretty much bourbon, cask strength. It's coming in a bit lighter than say a 60 dollar ECBP, so I'm guessing we're a bit under 12 years, likely in the 7-9, but I have not researched it. The nose is very sweat, almost a banana bread like note, very little wood and the wood is this sweat nice tame note. I'm not getting any oak bitterness nor am I getting those dark leathers or those old cherry notes. I do however get some more fresh cherry like notes in here. Just like the nose this bourbon is all sweetness with just a few hints of oak bitter to keep it from being overly sweat. Carmel, vanilla, touch of varnish (there's some age here). There's a candied fruit note as well, something between a peach and a cherry but certainly not either. I'm also getting perhaps a touch of custard, heavy in some bready notes. Finish is medium, it's nice. It's not great. OK so I paid lets say 175, I bough it a while ago. Is it worth it if you're willing to spend that on a bourbon? That's a challenge for me. This isn't for those of us who love heavy oak. This isn't my favorite flavor profile where it gives me those more complex dark chocolates and cherries. It however is a very middle of the road creamy sweat flavor without much bitter and really no off putting notes. This is a bourbon you just can't dislike. I somewhat wish I'd bought a second bottle, but I'm really willing to spend on whisky I enjoy. I can't recommend though, it's over priced and it isn't going to wow. There are plenty of bottles in the 50-60 range that are going to compare to this. I'd for example put a lot of 1792 bottles next to this, and there's a lot in common between the two.

Second edition. My understanding is these were 900+ USD retail, but likely poor sales due to the NAS statement has lead to far more favorable pricing for me. As a result I have two bottles! Color is a really deep rich golden, super oily, super thick body, long slow legs. Nose is honey, citrus, I'm getting a touch of apple pie crust. I can get apples, pears, and maybe even a touch of a dry white grape. Water sweetness the nose and makes it much more approachable and more inviting. This is one of the hardest whiskies I've had to review. It will start at one point, jumps over there, and then the high abv comes on like a wall. Opening is sweat fruits, with a touch of a waxy note that keeps things from the citrus bite. The whisky then turns to oily and lightly savory. Water brings out some of those sour fruit notes and pushes the oily waxy notes to the back. There's a touch of herbal bitterness and mineral water. The finish is long, sweat, mineral notes, perhaps some kind of light smoke. So what's the verdict? Well this is really good stuff. It's complex, nuanced, it lingers, and really keeps with you. The high abv is a delightful addition as well. I bought 2 bottle at just under 300, but I can't say that this is a must buy at this price point.

Lets open with laughing at whatever idiot gave this a 95 on distillers. Anyway, after the massive failure that was the 25th anniversary I thought it would be fun to go ahead and try the 2001. As we all know Knob Creek has become really well known for the insanely good store picks that are coming out often with 14-15 year age statements. This 14 year at 100 proof however is likely going to be a huge failure. It's bourbon so looks don't matter. Nose is classic bourbon. Slightly nutty, vanilla, oak, light fruits, and maybe a touch of a custard. The flavor brings a lot of oak, not the old rich leather oak but just a lot of fresh cut oak, vanilla of course, it's a really good quality bourbon. Finish is medium, nothing special again. More or less this is knob creek 9 year old with a touch more oak and quality. It's nothing more than that though. The standard single barrels are often better, not even the older store picks. That said unlike the 25th, this is very good bourbon. It's just 120 bucks which is a joke.

So this is my 4th pour of this one. I'll just say it here because others will ask, yes I got this at an insane deal. Ohio just gives whisky away if it doesn't sell. I'm not well read on what is actually in this bottle, so i'm not sure the driver of the color. It's actually a really lovely amber but I can't tell if that's from 37 years in oak or if there's more wine finishing. Legs are well slow forming and long lasting. The nose is super citrus at first. However as it sits I start to get dusty wood notes, the kinds of notes I never get in scotch, but only REALLY old bourbon. The nose is oily, viscous, rich... Please note you'll need this one to open up at least 30 minutes but an hour is best. Still even open it's rich, oily, citrus, there's a touch of white chocolate and even some creme. The flavor is complex bringing out that citrus, long lingering vanillas, spices, buttery. This is outstanding scotch, I can't imagine paying over 1,000 dollars for an whisky, but this is truly special stuff. I'm scoring it a 4.5 but only given that I think others will be able to find this for under the retail prices. I'm honestly not even sure how to score something with a price that high.