Tastes

I started my scotch journey backwards. Most people start with blended scotch like JW and Dewars. If the like it well enough, they move on to single malts. I started with single malts and am just now exploring blended scotch. After trying this JW Black, I’m starting to see why blends have held such a strong market share for so long. JW Black is a 12 yr. old blended scotch bottled at the standard 40% ABV. It’s a nice medium amber color in the glass. It has a decent oily coating that leaves only sparse legs. Less water droplets than I remember with Dewars. The nose has vanilla, light smoke, and orchard fruits: pears and apples. Light grassy/floral notes with dry oak. Really not bad, pretty nice. The palate is less impressive with dry oak, vanilla, and floral peat. It has a light mouthfeel. Very drinkable. The finish is decent with lingering ashy campfire smoke. This is a very drinkable whisky. I can see why it appeals to so many people: decent flavors, but nothing too strong or overpowering or objectionable. Dewars was kind of the same minus the smoke: very easy (almost too easy) to drink. I saw somewhere that JW Black was best with a cube of ice. I tried it with ice and it completely ruined it; the water and the chill killed all the flavor. This whisky is not strong enough for ice or water but works great neat. Add to that the price of $50/liter here in Ohio and you’ve got a pretty decent value. 4.0/5.0. Cheers!

I got this bottle through a mistake. I had ordered the Batch strength after hearing such great things about it, but received this instead. After getting a refund for the difference in the price as well as a $15 credit to my account for my trouble, I decided to give it a go. That was at Christmas and I’m still trying to decide what to make of this whisky. This review is based on several tastings over the last couple of weeks. In the glass it’s a beautiful copper color. It clings to the glass with a thick oily coating that develops very slow legs. It’s bottled at 43% ABV. My first impression on opening the bottle was not good. There was a significant alcohol burn and the most noticeable scent to me was something I can only describe as “stinky peat”. A strong earthy, wet, organic odor. I thought “what the hell have I got into here?” After some time in the glass the alcohol faded and I could pick out some dark fruits, but that was it. Fortunately, two weeks after opening the nose has improved immensely. The “stinky peat” has faded to an earthy tone revealing raisins, plums, and cherries. Sweetness like burnt sugar. Dark chocolate and orange peel. A light smoke and rum soaked fruitcake. Much better than the initial impression. The palate did not evolve as much over time as the nose did. At first it seemed a little hot, but that has calmed down. There is brown sugar sweetness, light smoke, and a floral peat tone. Some chocolate and sherry and red fruits. Water seems to help bring out the fruity/sherry notes for me. The finish is fairly long, with more brown sugar and dark honey. Water improves the finish as well, adding a malty cereal note that lingers quite a while. Overall this is a pretty good whisky that greatly benefitted, for me at least, from some time in the bottle. It can be found online for about $65 which makes it an average value in my opinion. 4.25/5.0. Cheers!

Been holding on to this bottle since we toured the Wild Turkey distillery back in September. This was one of the samples provided for the post-tour tasting and it was promising enough to make me drop $60 for a bottle. I’m seeing this for about $47 online. At that price it is a no-brainer. This is a barrel strength whiskey, bottled at 58.4% ABV. It’s a nice medium amber in the glass, with a thick oily coating that produces nice long legs. The nose is reminiscent of WT101. There is only a slight burn despite the high ABV. Lots of vanilla and rye/cinnamon spice. The spice is a result of their distilling process, not because of a high rye content. Water had no effect on the nose, but greatly enhanced the palate. The palate from the neat tasting is hot, spicy, with vanilla and a thick mouthfeel. Water makes it richer, tames the heat and enhances both the sweet and spicy character, much like WT101. The finish is long and warm, with cinnamon and oak. This is a very good barrel strength whiskey. The online price of $47 makes this a no-brainer if you can’t get it locally. 4.5/5. Cheers!

This is a blend of two ryes, hence the name. The first is two years old from MGP with a 95% Rye/5% barley mashbill. The other is a 16 yr old from Barton with a 53/37/10 Rye/corn/barley mashbill. No idea what the proportion is. The whiskey is a nice gold color in the glass with plentiful, quick developing legs, and is bottled at 46% ABV. The nose is rye and cinnamon spice, minty eucalyptus, and a light caramel tone. It’s very light in the mouth, almost watery, with a light, clean mouth feel. It has a minty, spicy, dry, taste with some light corn sweetness. Quite different from most ryes that I’ve had, but very nice. Very easy sipping. The finish is fairly short, but warm and rich with more cinnamon spice and some oak. This is a very easy drinking rye with a lot of spice. The tag on the bottle claims it’s “the spiciest rye on the planet”. I don’t know about that, but it is definitely one of the spicier ryes I’ve had and that makes it a winner in my book. $35 locally, $25 online. 4.0/5. Cheers!

Last sample of the night is Nikka Pure Malt Black. This is an NAS blended malt whisky from Japan, it's also my first Japanese whisky, so there's that! Bottled at 43% ABV it's a medium gold in the glass. It coats the glass with a nice oily coating and leaves decent legs. On the nose there are light grassy/floral notes; some citrus and orchard fruits. There's not really any noticable smoke, but there is a very light alcohol burn. Not bad, but not too impressive. The palate is much better. There is slightly dark sweetness like light caramel. Also apples and honey. A light heat with some dark sweet cereal tones. Really pretty nice. The finish is a little disappointing. It's short, malty, and finally reveals a hint of smoke. This edition of Nikka is not available in the US. It lists for $51 on MasterOfMalt. If I could pick up a bottle locally for $51 I would be willing to do so. Overall not bad. 3.75/5.0. Cheers!

Second sample from Flaviar is BenRiach Curositas 10 yr. This is a peated Speysider, bottled at a respectable 46% ABV. It's a nice light gold and produces average legs while leaving a decent oily coating on the glass. For a 10 yr whisky at 92 proof, it's remarkably tame in the nose, with almost no trace of alcohol burn. The nose has orchard fruits, berries, floral notes and some barely there smoke. It's lacking the sweet richness of a typical Speysider, but also the smoke of an Islay. What is this stuff? Hmm, maybe that's why they called it Curiositas? The palate is much bolder than the nose, similar to the Caol Ila earlier. It's dry with apples, pears, and some nice smoke. There is a peppery oak flavor as well, and it has a thick mouthfeel. Not bad at all. The finish is unremarkable - just a light campfire smoke, although it does linger a while. At $72 online, I just can't see myself buying a bottle of this. Not bad, but not for me. 3.5/5. Cheers!

My latest sampler from Flaviar starts with Caol Ila 12 yr. This is a 43% ABV dram from Islay. In the glass it is a medium straw/light gold color. No idea whether it is chill filtered or colored. Swirling produces thin legs and a fair amount of water droplets on the glass. Not the most auspicious beginning. The nose is underwhelming. Light smoke/peat, with citrus/lemon notes. Some light vanilla sweetness and some grassy or herbal tones. Light and pleasant, but nothing like the Islay peat monsters from Laphroaig or Ardbeg. The palate is completely different. Strong smoke followed by light honey sweetness. Kind of one-dimensional; not a lot of complexity here. Surprising considering the nose. Nice, but nothing memorable. The finish is also smoky, with ash and campfire smoke. It hangs on for a while and is probably the best aspect of this whisky. This is a decent whisky, but considering the online price of $70 I'd have to pass on it. 3.5/5. Cheers!

Finally got my hands on this dram and I have to say, it was not what I expected. This beautiful whisky is bottled at 46% ABV, light straw colored, and non-chill filtered. It leaves long quick legs when swirled. There is a fair amount of water in it as evidenced by the droplets left behind: a little surprising considering the proof. The nose is dominated by the smoke of course, but there is also brine and citrus fruits; lemon zest and sweet candied citron. Very nice. The palate was much sweeter than I expected, with honey, BBQ smoke, lemon peel, and orchard fruits. The finish was long and warm, with BBQ smoke and ash. Having had the Laphroaig 10 yr prior to this I actually expected it to be smokier/peatier. Instead it was considerably sweeter. Much more balanced than Laphroaig in my opinion. This is one fine whisky. 4.5/5. Cheers!

Picked this up this evening. BH is a product of Beam Global. This whiskey is bottled at the minimum 40% ABV. In the glass it is a nice golden amber. This is a "high rye" mash bill although I could not find any numbers other than it shares the same mash bill with Old Grand Dad. The nose is pleasant enough with light fruit, mint, vanilla, and cinnamon. The palate follows this profile: honey sweetness, citrus notes, pepper. This whiskey is lacking the caramel and toffee notes usually found in bourbon. It is light in the mouth with a short, dry, peppery finish. I found this to be an easy drinking bourbon more suited to summer months than the season we find ourselves in now. Not bad, but the $40 price tag is a bit steep for what it is. 3.75/5. Cheers!

Larceny is an NAS offering from Heaven Hill. There is a story with the bottle about John E. Fitzgerald being a treasury agent who chose only the best barrels during prohibition. It is also a wheated bourbon instead of Rye. Bottled at 46% ABV it is a nice medium amber that produces decent legs and an oily coating in the glass. On the nose there is caramel, toffee, butter, and a bit of oak char but not much. It's a very sweet nose. The palate is more of the same, with a little burn to go with it. The finish is warm but not memorable. This is the first Heaven Hill product I've been disappointed in. It's not bad, but just nothing memorable. It proved better in cocktails than neat or on the rocks. Will not look to buy it again. 3.5/5. Cheers