Tastes

Edradour is one of my favorite distilleries. They have a nice spirit profile, that works incredibly good with sherry casks; and that is why you always expect a beautifully crafted whisky, made in very small batches, since this is the smallest distillery in Scotland. As you pour this whisky in a Glencairn, you find an appealing red color, full of sweet flavors and aromas. Bottled at 40%abv, Chesnut Color. On the nose, a good mixture between a sherry influence and a nice distillery profile. Almomds, Christmas cake, Candied fruits; Sherried and Winey. Light lemon. After a first sip, it revealed glazed pork, cherries and vanilla. On the palate, it has the edradour DNA all over it. Red wine, red fruits, Bbq sauce and Maraschino Cherry syrup. Aftertaste has a little smokiness on it, very appealing. Smokey, tobacco, hay and a dim spiciness; pepper. Overall, for a 10yo and a very affordable price, this is quite unbeatable. Very round dram, not too complex but very easy drinkable and enjoyable. My score for it is a solid 85 over 100.

I found this whiskey in a nice restaurant in Texas, called The Taste of Texas, and it called my attention, so i ask for a glass of it. Bottled at 40%abv On the nose, very bourbonish. Vanilla, Caramel, Red apples, Sider; hay straw, pepper and Bbq sauce. A second sip gave me banana and vanilla cream. The palate is a little simple, yet nice. Yellow apples, peppery, salt and sider. Aftertaste is spicy and good to pair with a meat. Bbq sauce, Stewed apples, Salty and Woody. Oak spice. Overall, this is a simple whiskey, with a bourbon profile, which can really be an everyday dram. Nothing special. My score for it is 69 over 100.

Unexpectedly tropical, i was really surprised by my first AnCnoc ever. I actually didn't have big information about this distillery, and to be honest i just didn't pay too much attention to it. It seems this whisky is made by the Knockdhu distillery, and uses only the traditional method. Bottled at 43%abv, golden color. On the nose, welcome to the caribbean. A super tropical aroma, pineapple, bananas, white wine, caramel, mint, and sweet condensed milk. After a first sip i also got a milk cream note. On the palate, it was oily and spicy but still tropical. Very Oily and Peppery; Salty and Yeasty. A second sip revealed pineapple and other tropical fruits. Aftertaste is decent. Yeasty with a little sulphur. A Long gingery finish with a hint of salt. Overall this is a good offering for a 12yo and definitively a different one from your standard fruity flavors on everyday whiskies. I enjoyed it, nothing to die for but not bad; i will be looking for more expressions of this distillery. My score for it is a well deserved 81 over 100.

AMAZING. From the beggining to the end, this one was a dram i truly enjoyed. I have had the 2015 Supernova (the space experiment one) and that was incredible, but this one is even better. Marketing offered an abduction to your senses and i think they truly delivered it. Ardbeg Supernova 2019 was one of those NAS releases that are surrounded by certain skepticism by whisky lovers, and i have read some mixed reviews about it, but yesterday i had it, and it was one of the most powerful but balanced peated whiskies i have ever had. Bottled at 53.8%abv, amber color. On the nose, right from the first second you know something truly special has arrived to earth. Super fresh peat; chocolate, medicinal notes, bacon, super appealing. Recently done coffee, plastic, lemon, grapefruit, wet grass, a farm pond, tree sap. After a first sip, you get earthy peat, oranges, eucalyptus, cloth softener, humidity and floral notes. Crazy, interesting, intense and fabulous. The palate is very nice, sweet and spicy, with lots of character. Vanilla, grapefruit, pepper, lemon, lime, chocolate and butter. Aftertaste is out of this world. A great smoke note, one that i haven't felt in a long time on various peated whiskies i have had. Aromatic, peaty, smokey, perfectly salty, spanish ham, smoked ribs and a pepper bomb. Long lasting finish. Overall, everything is great and NO ALCOHOL NOTE WAS EVER PRESENT. For 53.8% this amount of aroma and tasting notes are incredibly well delivered, easy drinkable but powerful and flavorful. I have no points to deduct in any of the criterias of my scoring system, therefore this one is a 100 over 100 in my book. Sláinte Mhath!

I was wondering what to expect of this high end Highland Park, that comes in the most beautiful wooden box you can imagine, and i finally had it on a tasting event i held, and guess what? It was totally disappointing. Highland Park Sigurd tells the story of Sigurd "the Mighty", a powerful viking jarl that conquered and rule Orkney and northern parts of Scotland, till the day he died after challenging Máel Brigte, to a 40-man-a-side battle. Treacherously, Sigurd brought 80 men to the fight. Máel Brigte was defeated and beheaded. Sigurd strapped the head to his saddle as a trophy, but as Sigurd rode, Máel Brigte's buck-tooth scratched his leg. The leg became infected and Sigurd died of sepsis. Bottled at 43%abv, tawny color. On the nose, everything was dim, difficult to describe, and overall it felt like it had a lower tone. It doesn't have that heathery Highland Park Peat; it has oranges, the aroma feels dusty, with chocolate powder, cinnamon, sown land and smoke from a recently made cup of coffee. After a first sip, and a long time breathing, it released more aroma notes like Vanilla, Banana, Hawaian tropic / coppertone bronzer; macadamia, nutty, oaky, sawdust, and sand. There is this ghostly pineapple aroma surrounding everything but it is not really clear. On the palate it is sweet and normal. Caramel, pepper, dulce de leche and sulphur. The second sip was a little watery, vanilla and cinnamon. It tastes nice, but very simple and everything seems dimmed. Aftertaste was the good part of this dram. Sulphur, pepper; very metallic, like copper or blood you taste from your finger when you accidentally cut yourself with papers, it reminded me when you lick an Eveready AA battery as a kid. Earthy, salty, peaty. It has this ghostly pineapple surrounding everything. Overall this was not what i expected. All the Highland Park Parafernalia to get a very standard / normal whisky. It was mostly bourbonish than sherried which was announced in the box of this bottle. Completely dissapointing, you can actually buy better whiskies within this price. Still easy to drink, this doesn't have Highland Park DNA anywhere. Having said that, my score for it is 84 over 100, which is not bad, but nowhere near what was expected for it, the good aftertaste scored most of the points.

Peat and love! I have read so many things about this whisky, mostly mixed reviews, that actually made me a little skeptic on even trying it. Ardbeg Grooves was the Ardbeg Day Release for 2018, and its name comes from actual grooves that are formed while charring oak barrels, in this particular case, heavily charring ex-red wine casks, where this dram was finished. We have heard the word "Grooves" or "Groovy" but a few of us really know what it means. It actually is a slang for "enjoying something deeply; something cool or excelent". That term was very popular during the 60s and the 70s, so, put a nice heavily bass song in the background, because we are tasting this beauty. Bottled at 46%abv, tawny color (which is not an Ardbeg standard). On the nose, it is quite amazing and super complex. Nice peat, Cotton socks And Gooseberries. Black pepper, Lemon and other Citric aromas everywhere. Wasabi, Chilli and really lots of cinnamon. Red fruits, Strawberries. Prety complex and changing. Cotton candy. After 4 minutes it became super winey. After a second sip It has become a red fruits - cinnamon perfume; it has that texture. Cloth softener. Stinging. Grapefruits; The peat is minty, and fresh. On the palate it is not complex at all, and feels more like a transition between an outsanding nose, and a great aftertaste. It has a vanilla kickstart that lasts 1 microsecond. Sweet Red fruits, mixed with Pepper and chilli. Very spicy; gooseberries. Aftertaste is delicious and rewarding. Smokey and Spicy; it has the perfect amout of salt. Not scorching, but definitively firey in a pleasant way. Not overly complex but just a great peaty finish. Herbal, medicinal. Overall, i was mistaken to ever doubt buying this. It is a delicious, suoer enjoyable Ardbeg; maybe the most easy drinkable dram from this distillery, without losing its character and distinctive profile. I might put some jazz tonight before going to sleep, just to enhance my experience with this whisky. My score for it is a well deserved 92 over 100.

There are some whiskies you just have to try in your lifetime, because of the fame they have, their followers, their overall hype. You just have to experience it for yourself. That is why, everytime there is a chance to try something that is really a renowned dram, you just cant miss the opportunity. Having said that, i have tasted the mythical Hakushu 18yo, a single malt that is harder to come by (and pay) with each day that passes. Hakushu is the "Speysider" expression of Suntory, while i tend to perceive Yamazaki as a Sherry-Highland one. I have had some Hakushus before, i liked them, but i already have built this paradigm that i am going to encounter some heavy fruitiness here and no special, breathtaking aroma and tasting notes. Bottled at 43%abv, a solid burnished gold color. On the nose, it is SUPER fruity. Yes, i used caps lock on that one. Yellow apples; Very floral, very fruity. A fancy dulce de leche note anda fancy vanilla With some slight citrus notes rising. Oranges, Hay, Fruit salad, fresh fruits. Mimics an aged speysider; It is very aromatic, lots of fruits. Cranberries. After a first sip i got red fruits and lemon. It is lovely on the nose. Everything well delivered, complex an appealing. Kiwi. After a second sip the aroma was fantastic. It is like nosing a bowl of fresh, tropical and classic fruits. Not my preffered type of aroma, but i got to recognize how good it is. Fruits mixed with toffee and dulce de leche. On the palate is a lot more "human" and does not follow the promise from the nose. Apples and spices. It is spicy as soon as it touches your tongue. The spiciness is lovely. Dim vanilla. It has a spicy personality but it is not overly spicy, actually you can hold it for hours. Pears. toffee, and red apples. Aftertaste should be peaty, as promised in the description, but i really did not get it. Dry, hay, dried leaf, not very spicy, it is mouth drying like licking an envelope before closing it. A little, very dim ginger is there. There is this ghostly chocolate feeling glooming everywhere. I dont feel it smokey, nor peaty, but after three sips i did get some powerful, long lasting ginger. Overall, this one is clearly the spirit predominant in the Hibiki blend; it has the same DNA all over it. It is fancy. It is well delivered. Only the nose is complex; it surely works, it is super enjoyable, but my personal preferences are not the super fruity drams. Having said that, any score less than 90 would be unfair for something this good, but i also feel any score over 90 would be an over-evaluation of it. It is clearly why so much people love it, it is pleasant to drink, my score is an accurate 90 over 100 for it. Kanpai!

For a $17 whisky, this blended scotch is pretty decent. I think it is easy for Grant's to pull a fair blend since their main malts are Glenfiddich, Glenkinchie and Balvenie. One could agree that the only difference with Monkey Shoulder is that this one has grain whisky in it. Bottled at 40%abv. On the nose, starts with a Grain Whisky, but good notes of lemon, apples and almonds. Creamy. On the palate, starts very watery, with some caramel notes. Woody, lots of vanilla. Aftertaste is spicy. Peppery and salty, some hay notes also present. Overall this is a very easy drinkable whisky, specially if you consider the price. You normally expect that cheap blends are intended for heavy "discotheque" drinking and cocktails, but this one can really be enjoyed neat. My score for it doesn't reveal my true feelings about it, but it really lacks complexity and the grain whisky notes are a little annoying, therefore, it is a 63 over 100 in my sheet.

I am certain most of you have never heard about Old Parr Scotch whisky, which in Ecuador is super famous and competes against Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker. Well, this is a cheaper expression, which is not a good thing since Old Parr is not a very good whisky, even if half the country is drinking it. Sandy Mac is really called Sandy MacDonald, and i don't want to read about this dram history, since it is an awful whisky. Bottled at 40%abv. On the nose, the aroma is so dim this might be plain water. Cardboard, humidity and the same vanilla note from Old Parr. On the palate there is only a caramel note, very dim. Afrertaste has a simple oak spice. Yep, that is all. Overall, probably you will never encounter this whisky, but if you do, don't buy it. My score for it is 30 over 100.

I have yet to taste a good whisky from this "That Boutique-y Whisky Company" since most of their offerings that i have had are usually not that good. Having said that, i managed to get me a sample (thank god it was only a sample) of a whisky that initially looked like a very interesting dram, since this "World Whisky Blend" allegedly has whiskies from Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, USA, Switzerland, Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Germany (Bavaria), France, Japan and Finland. Bottled at 41.6%abv, a very pale straw color. On the nose, it resembled a lot to a cheap irish whiskey. Grain whisky, young grain whisky. Hay and typical cheap vanilla from grain whiskies. Acetone. Some chocolate fudge but not fancy. Some cheap lemon. Taxi Air freshener. Creamy vanilla from grain whiskies. Letting it breath turns it into vanilla ice cream. Toffee is rising after 4 minutes. After a first sip i got fresh corn fields. On the palate, it was oily, creamy and grainy. Full of vanilla. Salty, feels a lot like an Irish whiskey. Aftertaste follows the same path. Creamy vanilla. Pepper. Maize. Ginger. Super normal low-end blend. Very salty not off-putting. Overall, i did not knew what to expect before drinking it, and i got nothing in return so that seems fair somehow. Not horrible, but not good or remarkable in any way. I struggled to finish it, since it felt young and boring. I usually avoid reading things about a new whisky and then, after tasting it, i google about the dram i just had; but not this time, i don't have even the slightest curiosity on which distilleries are blended here. My score for it, is 60 over 100. I won't be buying a bottle. Ever.