Tastes

Nose: apple, honey, shortbread cookie - a lot like I remember Green Spot Taste: vanilla, apple, the sweetness fades until the taste is almost vegetal Finish: velvety, a hint of the shortbread cookie remains with some of the vegetal note After reading reviews: honey and fruity are common to reviews, Distiller’s grassy and Whizzky’s vegetal are in line with what I got, I didn’t get the mint that Distiller noted nor the almond/marzipan in other reviews. Overall, this was really nice and was like 95% of Green Spot for 75% of the price. Personal preference would have been for more sweetness in the late taste and finish versus the vegetal. I guess I’ll have to try the 14 year to see if it heads that direction...

Nose: alcohol jumped out of the glass early on - almost impossible to smell anything beyond that. Finally mellowed after a few minutes. Vanilla, cola, brown sugar, clove, maybe cherry Taste: cherry to start, then a sour note, and a nuttiness later Finish: dry then almost waxy, chocolate, eventually some rye came through After reading reviews: not getting the rye spiciness on the nose/taste that reviews mention prominently, did appreciate caramel on the taste after seeing that, citrus in reviews could be the sour note I got, not finding mint or menthol. This was the neck pour - we’ll see if more comes through in later pours.

Better than the original but still pretty thin. A definite peanut note.

Nose: tobacco, leather, baking spice - spicier than cinnamon but not quite clove, black tea, anise Taste: vanilla, malty, oak Finish: hot, oak After reading reviews: I didn’t find this as sweet as the reviews suggest. Cherry did make sense on the taste once I saw that. Fig may be what I got as maltiness - reminiscent of a scotch note. Wonderful nose, but a little too much barrel bitterness from the oak for my taste keeps it from being great overall.

Nose: smoke, barbecued meat, apricots, caramel Taste: smoke dominates, not finding the sweetness Finish: not much beyond the smoke, not dry and not much burn After reading reviews: tobacco on the nose makes sense but I don’t find chocolate, nor can I get chili/spicy notes beyond the smoke on the taste

Nose: cherry, vanilla, clove Taste: similar notes to the nose but less pronounced, almost a maltiness late Finish: the cherry is still there, actually less burn than on the taste After reading reviews: pretty consistent with me although my clove is others’ cinnamon - which I eventually got on the finish, the malty note I got on the taste is probably oak. Overall, this is a really good bourbon but I was spoiled by a store pick the first time I tried it so this was a little disappointing in that the amazing cherry note isn’t there to the same degree.

Nose: brown sugar, clove, rye, tea, mint Taste: oh no - it’s the banana bread note I get from Larceny (I hate bananas) Finish: almost a waxy feeling, nice Kentucky hug, a little rye lingers After reading reviews: reviews have caramel or vanilla as the sweetness on the nose but it’s more brown sugar to me, the baking spices are there, distiller notes the banana bread (ugh) and some nutty things that hopefully become more prominent as I work down the bottle

Nose: a dark sweetness like molasses, cloves, tobacco, rye Taste: brown sugar and cola but that being said not overly sweet, rye - dill more than anise but not a huge tilt in that direction, maybe a bit of orange Finish: dry, there’s a freshness to it that’s not a minty taste but that feeling on your tongue, rye After reading reviews: I didn’t get the cherry and vanilla mentioned in a lot of reviews for the standard release, but the consistent rye notes make sense now knowing it’s 20% rye with no barley, the brown sugar I got easily could be the caramel others reference and my molasses could be others’ honey, reassuring to see a menthol mention to know I’m not crazy or at least the only one

Nose: brown sugar, molasses, cherry, rye towards licorice Taste: can definitely feel the proof, rye, clove, caramel, oak Finish: the rye note persists, salty, almost a minty fresh feeling with my tongue tingling from the alcohol After reading reviews: maple syrup on the nose makes some sense though to me it was darker like molasses, I didn’t really get the buttery note that Distiller focused on. Overall, I’m hoping this opens up a bit as I work down the bottle (this was the neck pour).

Nose: honey, figs, leather, tobacco, black tea Taste: dry red wine at first but quickly turns, lots of malt like a dark beer, strangely reminiscent of matzo bread, not much sweetness hints of the honey and figs that were more prominent on the nose Finish: the malt and matzo notes linger with some spice like clove After reading reviews: I didn’t get as much fruitiness but orange marmalade makes sense, at no point did it strike me as a 53% ABV