Tastes

I didn't realize what this was when I first sipped it, expecting a variation on the distillery's bourbon. To my surprise, this tasted like a rye; in fact, more like a rye than Wild Turkey 101 Rye, which has more of a chameleon quality to its flavor. Then I googled it and found out that this is a blend of bourbon and rye, along the lines of other maverick whiskies like High West's well-regarded Bourye. To be honest, I thought this one was a little boring mostly because the bourbon is getting its ass kicked in this blend. Sure, there's a little vanilla and cherry that's more reminiscent of bourbon in the nose and at times in the palate, but this reads like a rye: heavy on the spice, dill, and sesame seed. Perhaps because I was signing up for a more bourbon-like experience, this one left me a little cold.

Spice Tree, which I reviewed a few months ago, is the best of Compass Box's regular lineup of blended scotches, and is a better scotch at around $60 a bottle than Johnnie Walker Green Label or Blue Label, two much more expensive and well-known blends. Extravaganza is the company's "upscale" version of Spice Tree, which means that the components are older and presumably more expensive to acquire than those that make up the original. At about $130 a bottle, this is squarely in the middle of the high end or limited edition Compass Box blends. It is also an excellent whisky, although not without flaws. The nose features some graham cracker, oats, orange, sherry, and spice. That spice, the whisky's namesake, grows in influence in its taste, which features pepper, all-spice, and honey in addition to those grain notes and sherry. The finish is where the age reveals itself, as it's much oakier than standard Spice Tree and quite long. I found this scotch to be a little hot, which was a surprise for an older blend.

Dickel 12 (a recipe number, not the age, akin to Jack Daniel's No. 7) is the less famous of the two major Tennessee whiskey houses (take a wild guess at the other one). It's also the better one, albeit one with a more unique profile that might not suit all drinkers. As you'd expect from what essentially is a bourbon, the dominant mix of flavors are vanilla, caramel, and some citrus fruit. However, there is a chalky or vitamin-like quality to Dickel's spirit which reminds me of Springbank in the scotch world. This expression also features some unusual spice qualia, particularly in the finish. My wife identified cardamom as one of the last notes, so all credit to her for that one. Hard to complain about something this good that costs around $25 a bottle. As someone stuck in the shadow of a more famous name might say, "They'll forget they ever heard about Jack Daniels."

Four Roses' main line has three expressions, and, unsurprisingly, the quality marches side by side with the price. Four Roses Small Batch is a good value for its $30 price tag, although not my favorite in that range, and Four Roses Single Barrel is close to the best at $40-45. Four Roses Yellow Label, however, is those bourbons' sub-$20, meant for mixed drinks little brother. The youth of this bourbon shines through in more raw grain notes and more rye taste, without a corresponding balance with the deeper, richer, dense fruit or caramel and syrup flavors that come to dominate the more expensive, better-aged Four Roses. I drank this neat just to try it, but wouldn't have it again. Its rye-heavy and relatively less sweet profile may be well-suited to cocktails where it's blended with sweeter ingredients, such as an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan (which is meant to have rye anyways).

For those who like sweet, complex, dessert-style bourbons, Joseph Magnus is a strong contender. For those who want a craft distillery pedigree with an interesting story behind it (the family that owns it traces it lineage to a pre-Prohibition era distiller, for whom they named the brand), Joseph Magnus is a strong contender. For those who want a critically well-reviewed bourbon, Joseph Magnus, which has won a bevy of gold medals at San Francisco's high-end Spirits Competition, is a strong contender. Now, for those who want an affordable bourbon . . . not so much. This is a $80-100 bourbon, which means this DC-based label places itself among the limited releases and double-digit aged expressions from the best Kentucky distilleries. Moreover, it asks such high prices despite not distilling its own product -- this, like Belle Meade and many other brands, is actually sourced MGP bourbon from Indiana, albeit finished in a variety of casks (sherry, port, and cognac) in their DC warehouse. Perhaps one day they'll have aged their own distillate enough to transition fully to their own product but, right now, the ask is $100 for a bottle of finished MGP. To its tremendous credit, it's worth it, and I thought long and harda bout ordering a bottle after getting home. This is a rich, tasty bourbon, with vivid syrup and fruit notes: vanilla, strawberry, and some smoke from the barrel char, which hints at chocolate and coffee. Coincidentally, my friends and I stumbled upon this distillery while we lived in DC, and it also has a great tasting room and an incorporated cocktail bar inside the warehouse space itself, where one can see barrel upon barrel of this bourbon still aging.

This is one of those expressions that revises one's impression of an entire distillery. Previously, I knew Glenrothes as a relatively unremarkable Speyside maker that puts out a lot of no-age-statement expressions in funny-shaped bottles that resemble Blanton's. Now, I know them as the makers of Glenrothes '95. The combined effect of the oak and sherry aging here produces the scent and taste of a malted chocolate milkshake, with a pleasing mouthcoat and a moderately long finish. As expected with a Speysider, there are some dark fruit flavors at times, although this whisky would never be mistaken for the rich, dates-and-figs flavor of Glendronach or other heavily sherried whiskies, like the better Macallan expressions. Nor does this appear to be the distillery's aim, as the idea seems to be to produce a sweet, rich, balanced expression. In this, they succeed spectacularly. Interestingly enough, despite the huge DC premium on drinks, this 20-year old Speyside scotch was going for a (relatively) affordable $9 an ounce at Boundary Stone. Keep in mind, it's all relative, as the bar charged the same price for Ardbeg 10, Laphroaig 10, and Talisker Storm -- each around $50-60 in liquor stores. Glenrothes '95 is a $100+ bottle of scotch, so I had to give it a go. I'm glad I did! Note that this review is for the later version of Glenrothes 1995, which was bottled in 2014 and is an 18-19 year old whiskey.

To be honest, I have a hard time differentiating all of the Beam products (white label, black label, etc.). Double Oak seems like it fills the exact same niche as Devil's Cut, albeit it gets there via a different aging technique. As expected, this bourbon is woody as hell. That's the dominant scent on the nose, along with a little caramel sweetness, and a slightly bitter oak is the main feature of the palate and finish as well. This bottle actually is hard to distinguish from Devil's Cut, which arguably has more pleasant wood flavors but a little less sweetness, and sells at a similar price point right around $20. Take two Andrew Jacksons, buy both, and decide which you like better, then make that your go-to bottom-shelf bourbon.

Tobermory is a close cousin of Ledaig 10. Or, perhaps to put it more accurately, Tobermory is heir to the throne, bearing the name of the distillery itself, while Ledaig 10 is the cousin and second-in-line. The distinction between the two is that Tobermory's malt is unpeated, although its flavor profile purportedly picks up some peat influence because the spring water used actually flows over peat bogs. To be honest, I was hard-pressed to detect that here, but what is apparent is that this is a high-quality single malt. The nose features a slightly oily aroma, green apple, and toffee, and those flavors are joined on the palate by a rich, chewy, pure cereal grain note that is much more pronounced and cleaner than in your typical 10-year single malt. The finish is also cereal and oat-flavored, and makes for a satisfying conclusion to this one. For $50-60, you could do a lot worse.

We bought this bottle in Paris on one of the last days of our vacation there last September, but it's taken me a while to review it, mostly due to benign neglect. Talisker adds color to their whiskies, so I'm not sure that it matters much, but this whiskey has taken on some of the rich, ruby-brown shade that one would expect from a port-finished whisky. Port Ruighe has great balance between the rugged nature of the underlying single malt and the influence of the port finish, which could make other whiskies overly sweet (I'm imagining a port-finished Balvenie and shuddering). The initial scents are earthy and briny, before a powerful wash of vanilla and chocolate icing takes over, and then an enduring base layer of orange and slight smoke. Compared to the bountiful nose, the palate opens up more reluctantly. The flavor has herbal and youthful hints at the outset, but the mid-palate has abundant milk chocolate and caramel, along with some more citrus and the first emergence of Talisker's signature pepper. Talisker produces fairly complex single malts, without being overly challenging, and this one is no exception. The port sweetness shines through at the end, accompanied by mild smoke, citrus, and pepper. The finish is more bitter than I would like, but it's a minor flaw. Port Ruighe has a lengthy coda but doesn't overstay its welcome. Compared to Talisker's other bottlings, Port Ruighe is more of a sweet, dessert dram, and a solid value play at $60 or so overseas.

This is a strange rye, and only after trying it did I read online that this whiskey is notorious (and much criticized among enthusiasts) for adding some flavoring compounds to this otherwise standard MGP juice. I won't be buying this whiskey again, but for what it's worth, it's an inoffensive dram. Other than a standard blend of mild sweetness and herbal rye scents, the most unique and standout note for this rye is a strong flavor of green or eucalyptus tea on the palate and finish. Hey, who knows, maybe that's what they threw in through artificial flavoring.