Tastes

I’ll be heading back from China in a few days - they sell this in the plane.. should I buy this one? Or is the 15 year fine oak a bit better?

(Darth Vader voice): Impressive ....most impressive. Not a regretful buy, very smooth with little to no bite, no peat, balanced brown sugar sweetness, medium to long finish, leaves you wanting more. 👍🏼

In comparison to EH Taylor 4 Grain - (yes internet, I know this doesn’t contain wheat) - i think this takes the cake. A. It’s cheaper. B. It’s attainable. C. It tastes far more interesting. IMO the barley element is nicely integrated - it hugs the other grains rather than sits beside them in your mouth like a 3rd or 4th wheel like EH. The smell is fantastic and I’d take this over regular woodford neat any day. My only complaint is the sweetness- it’s a tad candy esq - but if you’re in the bourbon mood as a scotch drinker, or just want to share a nice pour with less whisky snobbish friends - this is a great buy. 👍🏼

I love the 12 year double wood, I also enjoy the price- then I tried the 14 and then 15: not worth the hundred clams- they both have a spice that I wasn’t wild about, it’s like a young bourbon spice that hits you in the back end- enjoyable? Sure, but didn’t get me “turned on” by the aging smoothness in a way that many other scotches do (macallan does a great job of this). On to the 17- same spice, just amplified. I’m really glad I didn’t but this bottle and only went with the pour. It has many nice characteristics of scotches, like chocolate and baking spices, .. but I feel this one misses the mark with value- the spices are peppery and youthful, it seems more like the kind of spice nestled into a really peaty young scotch ;minus the peat. The smoothness is only apparent upon the whisky first entering your mouth and then the spice ramps up and overthrows many of the subtleties and even the finish. 🤷🏼‍♂️

This is an Earthy, gritty, mellow bourbon - Carmel, coffee grounds, barley, stewed vegetables, cheesecake, - reminds me a little of a heavier, sweeter version of Woodward double oak.

Oak bomb. ....Seriously.

Interesting - tastes like,... and smells like 1/3 blantons mixed with 1/3 weller antique + EH Taylor and 1/3 Glenfiddich 12. Nice! But not worth going out of my way. 🤙🏼

I’m in New Orleans for fun; , it’s a beautiful old city rich with history and ghost stories - the town is filled with sweaty bridal parties with their arms linked together like the figures in the game “barrel of monkeys” by Milton Bradley (and just as generic), face licking, bible thumpers, thongs, mesh gloves, street vomit, tall phallic token glasses with many plastic straws (obviously this straws are all headed directly for the nasal passages of sea turtles shortly after being discarded), and leashes for full grown men. I partied hard in my 20’s and early 30’s - which leaves me feeling a bit more like a coach than a player in this wild world- and with a target 10:30 bed time (by choice) it doesn’t leave me much room for the wild stuff- besides wildly overpriced booze, a nice dinner with my lady, and a couple hits of Maui wowie vape oil from the pen before bed - if anything is wild for me these days- it’s in my dreams. Annnnnyway- on to the Whiskey - I just caught the 10second ass end glimpse of Balvenie on “Shark Tank” - I’ll have to look it up to see what happened- enough rambling - this $90 pour had an echo of the younger Balvenie - but for me I was overtaken by oak- it was very very dry and had some of the oldest most aggressive oaking i’v tasted to date- I got a little dark chocolate and raisins, but was too overtaken by the oak and spice on the back end to really feel engaged with this whiskey. Idk- I’ll have to try it again- but at this point I’d say meeah... I’m not wild about this one- the spice and oak isn’t vibrant; it tastes more like mouthing a pice of driftwood. NOLA!

It was whatever. The nose was nice...ish... . I wasn’t disappointed or impressed.