Tastes

BenRiach is not as well known as some of its Speyside peers, but perhaps it should be. On the nose, I get stone fruit, like peach, sherry, toffee, and a little hint of ethanol. It is an easy-drinking scotch, with a slightly nutty, sherry-influenced palate, a few streaks of oak and cocoa, and an almost ale-like richness or spiciness. BenRiach 10 ends with a malty finish of good length, with just a little bitterness, copper, and sulfur, but also more pleasant notes of cocoa, citrus acid, and grape. This scotch reminds me of a dilute Aberlour A'bunadh, and is better than Glenfarclas 12. It also comes in a peated version, which I'm looking forward to trying. Thanks to Telex for the sample!

Bulleit Rye (45%) - My first note on this rye was "two-dimensional." That's exactly the issue with it. It hits the core rye flavors well, kind of like how Bulleit bourbon hits the core high-rye bourbon flavors well. But everything is served up right away, without much development after that point. The nose is vanilla and oak, actually more like a bourbon than a rye. The palate is a classic rye, with strong spice, pepper, and some Capri Sun-esque sweetness. The finish is very crushed-red-pepper and black pepper spicy. It's not expensive, so it'd be a good cocktail mixer.

I have a soft spot for this bourbon in my heart because of the first time I tried it. At my best friend's wedding, the father of the bride brought the groomsmen a bottle two hours before the ceremony. The bottle was beautiful, with those arcing angel's wings gracing the glass. We passed it around, taking pulls until we finished it, and then left it on the worn, wooden floor and went down to get my friend married. I got another glass this weekend, a year and a half later. It's enjoyable but not a knockout. The nose doesn't reveal too much of the port influence, instead favoring a vanilla and toasted oak combination that I associate with more heavily aged bourbons. It tastes of that oak as well, along with some pronounced grape flavor, which is where the influence of the port pipes shows up. The finish is drying, a little grassy, and overoaked in my estimation. I'm shocked this bourbon is aged only 4 to 6 years, it has picked up a heap of oak influence in that time. At the price point ($50), I'd prefer something a bit more well-rounded like Russell's Reserve Single Barrel or Four Roses Single Barrel, both of which have more pronounced, sweet, fruity notes. I'll always treasure the memories of the first time I tried this, but Angel's Envy is not going to be a regular in my rotation.

This whiskey is an example of how a drop in proof, or perhaps standards, can make such a difference in the drinking experience of a whiskey. I wonder if the bar where I tried this had an old, over-oxidized bottle. The nose holds up well: banana bread, fresh banana, brown sugar, and the vanilla aspects of the barrel. It is a great combination of scents. But the palate is stunningly watery, a little grassy, with faint flavors that resemble bourbon. It's almost like I accidentally spilled water into the glass and diluted it down to 25%. It's strange. It gets even stranger because the finish is warm butterscotch and whipped cream on banana pudding -- again, very pleasant. If the palate had the same flavors, this would be a 4-star dram, but a drink that's missing a palate isn't much of a drink.

This is one of the few Irish whiskies I've reviewed, and among the few I've tried. For some reason, I've never focused on the category -- perhaps because they don't make many peated or smoky ones. Redbreast 12 has a very promising start: aromas of mint chocolate, cream, malt, cherry, and maybe a hint of sherry. It's pleasant, but there's a bit of a young spirit whiff to it, which is surprising considering the low ABV and its age. The palate hits that minty, milk chocolate again, with some mild honey, citrus, and a slight metallic tang. The finish is where this goes off the rails somewhat. The beginning is all good -- pepper, vanilla, cream, maybe even chocolate milkshake -- but for some reason it gets more and more bitter as time passes. The bitterness lasts a long time. After two sips, I stood there waiting for it to fade, eventually resorting to drinking some water, and silently ticking down the rating in my mind. Thanks to MMMNRice for the sample!

This may be the closest a rye has come to hitting the sweet spot for me personally -- but that's because it's a bit more bourbon-like than most ryes. The nose is darker, for lack of a better word, or smokier than a typical rye. I detect coffee, barrel char, and then a maple syrup sweetness and rye spice. The palate opens with a brief overture of rich, caramelized brown sugar sweet notes, but gradually more multigrain bread or poppy seed flavors emerge, which is where the rye content manifests itself. There's a nutty, slightly bitter, salty, nut or seed note that seizes the palate after a few seconds -- my best guess is poppy or pumpkin seed, or a mix of those two. The finish is nice, peppery, and not too dry. The strong multigrain crust notes here remind me of Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition, so I see the family resemblance. I'm a fan.

This scotch welcomes you with scents of apple, citrus, malt, and oily peat. The palate is a bit of a letdown, quite watery, with malt, simple syrup, and orchard fruit flavors again, along with some slightly charred woodsmoke. The finish is smoky, sweet, and short. It doesn't linger long enough to pick up much more than that. This relatively new expression from Laphroaig almost feels like a peated Glenlivet, a resemblance that I picked up on because I'd just had the Nadurra a day or two earlier. It's eerily gentle and a bit out of character for the distillery. I know based on the marketing that it's supposed to contain a bunch of different whiskies subjected to different cask aging or finishing, including sherry, but some of those are (at least for me) too subtle to be noticeable. This could be a decent introduction for new whiskey drinkers to the Islay style. For more experienced drinkers, it's a little league Laphroaig.

Wow, this glass brings me straight to fall. It's like cupping an apple and a pear in either hand and taking big bites out of both, right in the middle of the orchard. Then there's cereal, some oak, and underripe strawberry. Great start. The taste has a bit of a nutmeg and again it's full of pears and apples, but emphasizing the sweeter, riper side of those fruits, which makes this scotch like a liquid fruit tart. Then on top of that, there's coffee, a sweet and salty combination, ginger, oak spices and tannins, and cherry. It finishes with a final rush of orchard fruits, salted caramel, and the heat that I expected given the ABV. For some reason, I hated the new, no age statement Nadurra First Fill. But this one makes up for that. Final note -- this scotch was bottled at cask strength so the proof varied. The one I tried was 60.2%, so on the high end of the spectrum. Thanks to MMMNRice for the sample!

The strange thing about my whiskey journey, which I imagine is true for a lot of other people as well, is that I've tried a ton of brands -- including some relatively rare, hard-to-find drams -- but I have missed some of the best-selling whiskies along the way. Jack Daniel's is one of them. I honestly can't remember if I've ever had standard Jack Daniel's, either in a mixed drink or neat. Anyways, I tried to make up for it by trying the single barrel variant at a behind-the-unmarked-door-in-the-taco-shop kind of bar. This "Tennessee whiskey," which in my understanding technically qualifies as a bourbon but is subject to an extra charcoal filtration step known as the Lincoln County Process, is a high-quality drink for under $50 a bottle. The nose is full of vanilla, toasted oak, and candy corn. The palate is sweet and syrupy, and again the vanilla and oak are the highlights for me. After swallowing, I detect some marshmallow. I did not get the purported Jack Daniel's signature note of banana, but these sorts of forgotten flavors are one of the pitfalls of trying whiskies at the tail end of a long night of drinking. 9/2/17 update: Tried this whiskey again in a more sober state -- I get the banana now as part of a syrupy scent and flavor, akin to bananas foster. In comparison, Gentleman Jack has a lot more fresh banana or banana bread smell.

Floral peat, and relatively little smoke, characterize this gentle dram. There is not as much fruit sweetness either, but rather a distinct and powerful roasted nut smell (among the strongest nut notes I've gotten from any whisky): both unshelled peanuts and Brazil nuts. Again, this is by far the nuttiest Laphroaig I've encountered. The palate is a bit light and thin (what do you expect at 40%?), with pleasant flavors of coffee, vanilla, and roasted nuts giving it an overall character of mild creaminess. I get very little smoke on the palate, so much so that I didn't even bother writing down peat or smoke in my notes -- a rarity for any Islay scotch. There also isn't either a strong honey sweetness or a citrus sweetness, which suggests to me that the QA barrels are not charred like bourbon barrels. This finishes quickly for an Islay or a Laphroaig, with a pinch of smoke and sweetness, and then roasted coffee, light woody spice, and those nuts again. There's a bit too much lingering bitterness, which is the main flaw in the finish. It's the absence of that unvarnished, powerful peat punch that most people have criticized about QA Cask. That strikes me as a bit unfair -- if this scotch had a Campbeltown label or came from a new distillery, I suspect a lot of critics would be praising it as a well-balanced, lightly-peated scotch. It's also priced about the same as Laphroaig 10 or Quarter Cask, after adjusting for the higher volume of the travel retail bottle, which seems fair. It's better than other online reviews make it out to be. Thanks to Telex for the sample!