Tastes

I often find older Scotches to be overwhelmingly woody, but not this one. Rich and full in the mouth, Lyle’s Golden Syrup with exotic spices and a whisper of honey. Opens up significantly, so wait 20-30 minutes after pouring before sipping. Beautiful, pronounced and sleekly complex Speyside character with a long finish. Recommend highly.

People do like to do shots, and this is a great choice for them, because heat and strong flavors are completely absent. Sleek and innocuous, this stealthy whisky disappears in mixed drinks and in Irish Coffee. There’s a slightly astringent, saline finish/aftertaste which for me disqualifies this as a sipper, but as mentioned above, it’s useful and worth having around.

For such a young whiskey there’s a decent length of finish. Caramel and vanilla notes are foremost. A good value proposition and a fine choice for cocktails.

Salted butter, mint, cake frosting. Bright, crisp, precise. Warm. Almost everything you could want in Bourbon, but dare I say it: I think I prefer Stagg to GTS for its deep, dark notes.

Powerful, briny, kelpy, smoked kipper, fresh floral, orange zest, bonfire toffee. Marvelous long finish. A supremely craveable dram.

Sherry, caramel,full-bodied, rich. Charred orange peel, burnt sugar and vanilla. Malted barley and Yoichi/Springbank shared history shine through —yoichi 15 on steroids. Brooding, pronounced. Masterful.

Peaty, baking spices, baked apple, demerara, salt. Extremely long finish, feels dark and rich. Well worth seeking out.

Quite often, one note might overwhelm the rest in a Scotch —maybe it’s unusually oaky, or spicy, or peaty. What intrigues me about this one is that all the component flavors are in perfect equilibrium: it has oak and brine and cereal and barley sugar, but none of these flavors overwhelm the others, all is in beautiful balance with a touch of cocoa smoke. There’s a good bit of heat, but adding 6 drops of water to a 1.5 ounce pour was enough to remove the heat and open up the flavors and aromas. Wonderfully long finish. Delicious.

This is a fascinating dram. Given the age, many of the flavors you’d generally associate with Scotch have long been lost to time, but what’s left is here to stay. I get subtle but noticeable roasted cacao and astringent Italian salad greens, like radicchio, followed by oak and seaspray —and not the vanilla you get from wine barrel oak, but like wood-chip oak. Long, savory finish, and the mildly bitter astringent qualities are surprisingly pleasant, setting up the palate nicely for the next sip and the next. Like having a conversation with a sharp ninety-year-old whose youthful vigor and ebullience is gone, but what remains —character, tenacity and grit— is well worth contemplating and interesting to be around. Not a hedonistic drink but certainly an unusual, cerebral and enjoyable one.

Very pleased with this. Balanced, complex, supple, with fascinating notes of mint and black tea layered over red fruit and a whisper of vanilla. I expected more heat from 100 proof, but was rewarded with finesse instead. What a terrific way to launch Dread River’s Master Series, and congratulations to Eboni Major.