Tastes

It’s good. It kinda tastes like a premium Jack Daniels.

I got notes of blackberry and cola on the nose. Tasted chocolate-covered cherry flavor notes with some lemon rind, cinnamon, and astringency. Really enjoyable to drink.

New wood, vanilla, and some astringency (walnut skin?). Theres plenty of juice from the port finish all over the nose, palate, and finish. It’s a bit youthful in flavor but otherwise very solid.

Gotta say that I did not -love- this one like I loved the first Rare Cask installment. The nose and finish here are both exceptional. But my palate picked up a mint/menthol flavor that was distracting from everything else. I tried to like the combination but couldn’t. This would be needlessly nitpicky if this expression were, like, something you just found on the top shelf of an ordinary bar. Mint notes work in other whiskies. Just didn’t think it worked perfectly here. The 2020 rare cask remains probably the best Irish whiskey I’ve ever had.

Pretty exceptional. I got an earthy nose and cola and cherry on the palate, with more of the same (think a flat cherry Coke) on the finish. Drank it in this random dive bar in Chicago, near the river. Never seen the bottle before in my life.

This was just really, really great. There's obviously a lot of port in both the nose and the flavor, but there's also a ton of nuance: orange peel, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and ginger all appear at one point or another. I wouldn't call it a port bomb. It's multidimensional. Loved drinking it. I named this expression to my 2021 best-of list in The Whiskey Reviewer, so check it out at www.whiskeyreviewer.com.

Great, deep notes of maraschino cherry, fig, and milk chocolate.

Notes of spearmint and lemon peel are what’s most apparent to me on the nose. I found those aromas light and subdued rather than filling-the-room bold, but nevertheless nice. The lemon peel scent was appealing. On the palate, the whiskey layers an immediate rush of white pepper, charred vegetables, and more mint on top of traces of roasted peanuts. There are notes of agave syrup that register very subtly at first and then become more dominant on the mid-palate and the finish. Pepper is reintroduced on the finish, but this time it’s in the form of coarsely ground black pepper flavors, which I found deeper and more earthy than what’s at the front of the palate. It's a decent-to-good dram and very good value for the listed price.

On the palate, the whiskey presents an immediate, and very brief, rush of intense sweetness that reminds of simple syrup or cake frosting before retreating towards comparatively balanced flavor notes of honey buns, sweet corn, and macerated peach. The finish is very peppery and long, turning herbaceous and leaving a minty sharpness. Once my palate got introduced to this whiskey’s boldness, particularly the finish, it was easy to drink. There wasn’t a residual alcohol burn. The initial punch of sugar on the palate could be overwhelming to some, but we’re talking about a whiskey that’s so high-proof that it technically isn’t allowed on airplanes, so it’s not like some intensity isn’t advertised. I would wager that the intensity is the entire point.

The nose of Taconic’s Dutchess Private Reserve begins with subtle notes of vanilla and new wood. Swirling the whiskey in the glass opens it up to expose an aroma of toasted marshmallows and pie crust. On the palate, the sweet notes mellow and become creamier and a tad floral -- think buttermilk biscuit with a drizzle of clover honey. Charred citrus elbows its way onto the palate on the finish, followed by a warming herbaceousness that reminded my palate of fresh rosemary.