Tastes

2016 edition 900 bottles Sherry, Bourbon & Married in Refill Port Cask Nose is absolutely bonkers. Citrus fruits yet with a red wine finish, rich springbank malt, and a hint of oak. Incredibly intense and powerful. The pallet is very vanilla forward with a huge amount of really mellow wood spice, hints of sherry and perhaps grape like notes from the port finish. The finish lasts forever with that nicely seasoned well done wood notes. This comes up short of exceptional. I normally would comment on how at cask strength it would be amazing, but I'm not sure that's needed. The mouth is creamy, viscous, and the alcohol doesn't seem overly tame. I feel weird saying this but it just doesn't have enough impact from the casks it has been in. I think the time in the port was too short and likely too much of it was in the bourbon casks. Meanwhile the oak has mellowed out some of the springbank funk. Make no mistake, this is a truly outstanding whisky and I expect with time it will open up. For now, it's hard to live up to the hype of the price.

I was going into this one pretty low expectations but a vanilla bomb with light and sweet notes, great body, great mouth feel, and just hits on all key notes. If you're looking for a sweater vanilla forward scotch, this is wonderful. It's really one of compass boxes's better sweeter forward bottles. 89-91 range for me. I'll go 89 given the 100+ price but it's really close to the 90's and if it were under 100 I'd give it just for value. Worth it at 130, though i've seen it for 150 and he's where I'm getting iffy on value. At that price you might get disappointed.

Just an other worldly great experience. The underlying malt with the light salts and gentle peat is so deep and complex, it wasn't until my second pour that I realized there was even sherry influence. Of course the perfect blending of oak, spirit, and the finishing of sherry is what brings this one together. Truly an out of body experience. If I could give more refined scores this would be a 96 or 97.

So first pour isn't done yet. first note - wow dusty and spicy. Shockingly odd just from opening the bottle. That fades and yields cream and lightly earth tones. with vanilla and citrus. man - the earthy dark peaty big super old caol and the bright fruity clynelish are almost fighting vs playing nicely with each other. Opens with citrus, turns to the smoke/peat and finishes spicy and citrus floral with I believe sherry kinda dancing over the whole thing and then a long lingering finish that requires old whisky to create. This has some of the best notes I get in old scotch but it's almost too sweat in a pudding like fashion. I really want the darker peat notes to be a hair stronger here. For now I'll give this an 85 out of 100. Mid B which is heavily weighted by the high price. But never review a whisky by the neck pour.