Tastes

Nose: cherries, cigar ash, wet leather, licorice (red and black), pepper, and crushed mint leaves. Taste: nutmeg, clove, , leather, bitter sweet dark chocolate, a full body cigar, and burnt sugar. Experience: Muted luxury. Dark chocolate, leather seats, big bookshelves, a thick and deep experience, not a flash in the pan. It's not a gold watch but a leather couch. Not a Lamborghini but a custom Land Rover. Money made from having a better product than anyone else, not investing in bit coin. What I am trying to get at is it's not sweet or flashy but deep and well made. Lots to find if you care to take your time but none of it will impress your friends unless they know what to look for. I'll admit I was not expecting as much as I got. This is a fantastic example of why new distillers should be spending less time worrying about pure Bourbon and more time experimenting with finishes.

Going back to the start of my whiskey journey. This was a daily drinker for me years back. after not having it for over 2 years, here I am giving it another go. Nose: nuttier than I remember, pepper, corn meal, sliiiight dried fruit or vanilla. Taste: Dry and earthy for a Bourbon, hard caramels, the type your grandma might keep in her purse, and cornbread. Unfortunately this does not hold up neat as well as it did to a cube of ice with some bitters and a pinch of sugar. So if you need a mellow base for a cocktail this will do in a pinch. But as a solid pour, not so much.

Nose: Sweet vanilla, cinnamon spice, pastry batter, tobacco. Taste: Cinnamon sugar, vanilla frosting, nutmeg, leather. Experience: Waking up late on a Saturday to hot cinnamon rolls.

Nose: Buttered Biscuit, marmalade, honey, crackers, jam, and dried cherries, light wood. Taste: Jam on toast, fruit, heat and baking spices with a wood finish. Experience: A picnic. It is a nice day the sun is out but it isn't hot and the breeze is perfect, you pack up some unsalted butter, fresh soda bread or biscuits, some jams and cheeses and a bottle of sherry. Mix it all together and you'll have a grand time, just like with this whiskey.

Nose: pepper, sweet cinnamon sugar, cigar ash, black cherry, slight baking powder or dill (whatever that note is in all ryes that everyone takes a different way.) Taste: Cinnamon, black cherry, wood, tobacco, molasses, cracked pepper. Experience: meeting an old friend after a few years. Everything you expect is there but some of their personality has mellowed out while others they've doubled down on. After the high praise this rye received I was expecting something unique, it isnt. it is a lot like cheaper more accessible ryes, however some parts are deeper, while others like the "ryeness" are mellowed. It feels like a rye that is trying to be an old bourbon. A good choice if moving from bourbon to rye for sure.

Nose: Sweet short bread, dried apricots, butter, slight barrel char, and a tad bit of cherry. Taste: shortbread, buttered biscuits, and a sweet fruit finish: apricots, apple, and cherry Experience: it's morning, it feels early but you actually slept in, vacation and all that. The bed and breakfast has fresh baked biscuits and an assortment of jams and preserves, you decide to try them all. I wish the 12 year variant was further separated from the base Tullamore, however this is more high praise for their base than it is a knock against the 12 year.

Nose: Roasted marshmallow, slight floral, cereal, caramel. Taste: Sweet tea, more marshmallow, soft caramel candy. Experience: A sweets shop, not the new kind with giant Teddy bears and plastic everywhere, but the old kind you might find in a small town or off a pier. I feel like corn whiskey deserves it's own category like Irish or rye. It's respectful stuff but distilleries haven't done enough with it. Play around with it and see what you think.

Revisiting this after over a year. Nose: Sweet tea, mushrooms, put out camp fire, sea salt, chocolate. Taste: fruit, black tea, cherry, walnuts. Experience: Eating a chocolate by a now wet fire pit. It is a very well balanced whiskey which is great but to be honest it's little brother the 12 is also fantastic and for a fraction of the price. if the dropped this to $80 I would recommend it more readily.

Nose: Oh so much. Honey, apple, hay, oak, almonds, toast, pair, slight cinnamon and cream. Taste: Sweet apple, honey, bear claw pastry, molasses, burnt cookies, ending in a woody and waxy walnut. Experience: A cool fall day at golden hour. The sun is just about set and everything is lit with a warm glow, you pick up a walnut or pecan (you cant tell) on your stroll home through crisp leafs. The air is sweet with many meals and treats being cooked in doors, before you step inside to the warmth of home you take a deep breath of perfection. Not the chill of winter or the sticky sweet of summer, but the round comfort of fall. *Note: This was my first ever Scotch purchase. It was love at first sip, I wanted to give it another go now that my taste has developed. I have had the chance to try and own much more expensive, old, and rare whiskys, but for the price, this might be one of the best. Don't get me wrong there are better, but I've paid 2-3 times what this bottle costs and came up short. Get it if you want to raise your bar of what quality scotch is.

Nose: cream, chocolate, cola, short bread, slight fruit. Taste: watered down cola, chocolate cake without the frosting, a little underwhelming after the great nose but still good. Finish is quick and a tad bitter ending on the sides of the tongue. A great nose with a body that just can't keep up. Sorta like a good movie or book that doesn't know how to end and just fizzes out.