Tastes

Bulleit's a decent pick as an everyday bourbon or one to keep stocked for cocktails.  It basically gives you the classic, primary bourbon flavors (vanilla, caramel, oak, and spices), but without an exceptional sense of balance.  The nose is all vanilla, the palate is mostly light caramel sweetness and rye spice, and then the finish is spice and a hint of oak.  The lack of mature oak flavors may be the biggest downside of this bourbon to me, but at $25 a bottle, it's hard to get enough aging to develop fully.  Solid, unobjectionable, easy-drinking, not particularly memorable. Would probably prefer Evan Williams Single Barrel for $5 more.

I'm torn on rating this scotch, because I certainly enjoyed it, and because of the abiding loyalty I have for most Laphroaig expressions. It may be disappointing only relative to other Laphroaigs, and I wonder whether it's fair to penalize it for such high expectations. The standout feature of this scotch to me is a letdown at the palate. The nose is pretty interesting, with a strong dose of Laphroaig smoke, rounded out and softened by some truly unusual scents like vegetable peppers, tomatoes (I swear, I got a hint of them!), and rose wine. There's a bit of ethanol or acetone at times, which may just be the higher proof, but also makes me suspect this is younger by a few years than Cairdeas 2015 (which was a delight, and roughly 12 years old). The palate is shockingly nondescript. Perhaps I just can't pick out the subtle flavors in it, but it strikes me as a nondescript sweetness, perhaps watermelon, and then an ashier rendition of the smoke on the nose. The finish is intriguing, a bit hot, but good: smoke, some of the same notes as the nose, tobacco, and coffee. I did not particularly like the first dram I had, but I enjoyed this more when revisiting it. Nonetheless, the flat and simple palate caps its rating at a 3.5 or so for me.

This scotch is a sherry bomb for sure. Cherry pie and stewed plums on the nose, very rich, very sherried. The palate is another episode of the sherry show -- raisins, dates, jam, treacle, honey, and that cherry sweetness again. It's like a liquefied dark berry tart. It has a wonderful full texture, and I'm surprised the ABV isn't higher, as this scotch does not feel much watered down. I rate this scotch higher than Aberlour A'bunadh and Macallan 12, it's richer and sweeter. It has a bit of brandy or port character to it, not typical for a scotch. The finish lingers just long enough, and has some coffee and chocolate echoes. I may need to try some more Auchentoshans, this distillery knows how to execute a sherry finish!

I'm a longtime Four Roses fan, dating back to the days before I reflected much on what I was tasting. Four Roses Single Barrel is one of the best values in the market at the moment, and particularly distinctive as a high-rye bourbon. It has a mild and somewhat unusual nose (but in a good way), which reminded me of the honey glaze on great barbecue (to be clear, the glaze itself, not the meat). There's a nice floral touch to the nose as well, along with the baking spices you'd expect due to the high rye content. I had this bourbon side by side with Evan Williams Single Barrel, and Four Roses won in complexity, bringing much more than the standard vanilla, caramel, and oak scents. The palate has great texture without being at all "chewy," like some well-oaked bourbons like Elijah Craig can be. The baking spices are much more pronounced, but that honey sweetness is complemented by some kind of fruit -- pear, perhaps -- that is also an unusual taste in a bourbon. It's noticeably richer in flavor than lower ABV whiskies. The finish is, to fall back to a cliché, sugar, spice, and everything nice. I found it to be a soft and gentle finish, but one that faded relatively quickly, which puzzled me because most reviews I've seen (including at Distiller) note a long finish. It's excellent neat and, given its flavor profile, it should make a standout cocktail as well. It's around a 4.5 for me, particularly taking price into account; I suspect that the barrel strength, private selection versions of this offering would easily merit five stars.

Evan Williams Single Barrel is some seriously impressive stuff at $30. The interesting aspect of this bourbon is that it's the same mashbill that eventually goes into Elijah Craig, just a bit younger and presumably aged in a different location. The result of their selection is that Elijah Craig ends up much oakier and mustier (more tobacco and charcoal), while Evan Williams has a light, carefree character. The predominant notes are vanilla, white sugar, a dash of caramel, and cream. It has a short, quick, clean finish with no burn but a little bit of playful warmth. It's a solid 3.5, and a strong value play in the $30 range. I don't think it would make a great cocktail mixer because it doesn't have a strong backbone that will shine through mixers.

When I reminded my wife today that I'd purchased this bottle two weeks ago but hadn't opened it, she made it clear that was the first thing we'd do once we got home. God, I love her! Happily, Dark Cove lives up to my expectations, and then some. It's a little different than Uigeadail, but within the Ardbeg lineup the two share the closest family resemblance. As soon as I poured it out, this scotch suffused the room with Ardbeg smoke brightened by sherry. It's rich, medicinal, with a distinctly nutty quality at times (peanut, or cashew, a fatty nut), and toasted wood chips. The palate starts out quite salty and oily, with an ideal texture and viscosity for a scotch. It makes other drams seem watery in comparison. Molasses and honey are there in spades, thick and mouth-coating. The photo finish lights up with honeyed smoke, barbecue, iodine, and that dark chocolate characteristic of the best peated whiskies. It also has a vindaloo level of spicy heat at the end, although it doesn't manifest as a burn, just a perfect level of warmth. The Dark Cove name is an apt metaphor for the scotch -- it's like ducking under a stone outcropping and huddling by a fire to shelter from a seastorm. Whether it's worth the substantial premium over Uigeadail (which is $80-85 in most liquor stores) is debatable, but it's a top-notch dram all the same.

Just had a pour of this edition of Old Forester's Whiskey Row after spotting it on the shelf at a happy hour. Undoubtedly, the nose is the highlight of this bourbon -- but it may overpromise concerning what follows. When I held it far away, just enough to get a hint of the scent, the strongest element was lemon peel. A more intimate distance yielded sumptuous aromas of maple syrup and vanilla cream. The nose was enough to get me very excited anticipating what was to come. In comparison to that nose, unfortunately, the palate and finish are much lighter in character, featuring an airy caramel and syrup flavor, verging at times on malty. The final notes are slightly astringent, and the drink as a whole has surprisingly little spice for a bourbon at 50% ABV. The finish is nice, warm, leathery, and a tiny bit minty, but lacking a certain wow factor. Old Forester 1897 is a solid 3.5, fun to drink, but a bit of a letdown -- particularly in its lack of complexity -- after a spectacular, shapeshifting nose.

I've recently been on a tear in the peated Islay scotch world, and just cracked open this bottle. It compares well to the delicious Ardbeg 10 (with which it shares a lot of similarities), and Kilchoman Machir Bay (which is a bit sweeter and fruitier). It is surprising to me how much a small additional amount of aging has mellowed out this Laphroaig. Based on a distillery video featuring John Campbell, this scotch was aged 11 years and 9 months, give or take a little bit of time, so this is about the closest thing you can get to Laphroaig 12 (outside of going to the UK and ordering a bottle of Highgrove, which I intend to do in September!). The extra time balances out some of the harsher notes of Laphroaig 10, transforming it from James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause to Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. It's masculine and substantial, but with the edges of its wild youth rounded off into the confidence that comes in one's prime. To me, 12-15 years is the sweet spot for the Laphroaig lineup. The other interesting feature of this scotch is that it's made only from Laphroaig's own floor maltings, and aged in the warehouse closest to the sea, so it's about as pure an expression of the distillery's character as you're likely to find. At over 50% ABV, this scotch hits the perfect sweet spot, with strong, full flavors in all three phases, but with no unpleasant ethanol characteristics, even in the warm finish. The nose is classic Laphroaig--peat, a bit of oats or dried cereal grain, a mellow, light smoke, and some seaside air. The palate has more sweetness, particularly a lemon characteristic, that melds well with the smoke, which takes on a cigarillo characteristic. The finish is smoky, salty, and again that oat-y or cereal note peaks through. It's just a lovely scotch.

Tried this one at a restaurant last night (a $23 pour, thank the Lord my miserly self had gotten a Groupon with a 70% discount). Having it made me long for the days when there was a 16-year version--now that I would have liked to experience. This bottle was disappointing, and if I had to guess, I'd say there's a lot of scotch mixed in here that hasn't even hit double digits in age now. The palate and nose both felt quite closed off to me, disclosing few distinct notes other than a bright, confectioner's sugar. After a few sips I finally hit the distillery's signature apple note, which made me feel like I'd finally arrived at the house of Glenlivet--albeit after an unremarkable journey. There is a lot of burn--not quite a pleasant warming heat, really more of a burn--on the back end, although it does resolve to some spice notes that are a little bit reminiscent of Balvenie Caribbean Cask (but harsher here). The strange thing about the finish is it felt like the finish from a younger bourbon, hollowed out of some of bourbon's pleasant caramel and oak richness. This one's worth trying, and it's not a bad scotch by any means, but it did not suit my palate.

If they bottled this at 46% ABV with a little more kick of flavor, this probably would be a 5-star scotch in my book. Even as it stands, I prefer this one to the 18-year (blasphemy, I know!), especially since the 18-year is often double the price of this one. The level of complexity and enticing flavors here is impressive. The nose greets you with the distinct flavors of fortified wine, but more like a port or even a moscato than a sherry (the type of cask in which it's actually aged). A few sips later, though, I get the light vanilla cream note that I also find in the 18-year expression--what I think of as settling in to the Highland Park experience. The palate is sweet and a bit tart, again with a lot of the characteristics of a fortified wine. The palate is where a little extra oomph would come in handy, as it is a little thin in texture. The finish is the strongest feature, and it's where that hint of peat comes out to play. I have a hard time believing this is as lightly peated as Distiller claims, because I definitely get a nice toasty finish of barrel char, peat, cocoa nibs, and coffee. It's a wonderful finish, particularly because it's a little unexpected. The best kind of surprise. It is a very different finish than the 18-year, less drying and with more smoke. Although it lacks a bit of the complexity of its older brother, I might prefer this one without taking price into account. And with price factored in, it's no contest--15 all the way!