Tastes

I was eager to taste this whisky since it came out. The bottle was so beautiful and everyone was talking about it and i finally had the chance of getting my hands on it and it is what the name says: a Fire. Lets talk about the bottle. It is a reddish crimson glass which looks like lava, and it comes in a wooden volcano shaped case. Amazing presentation, that symbolizes "Muspelheim, the glowing Norse fire realm of destruction". It is all about the viking mythology of Ragnarok and rebirth. Amazing. But... is the whisky any good? Well... lets see: Bottled at 45.2%abv, golden - ambar color. This have been entirely matured in refilled port wine casks. On the nose, on the palate, the aftertaste, everything is a volcano. Nose: uncorking gives you a salty - heathery peat right away. Once in the glass, it is warm sand, very sulphuric. Ashes, a scorched field from some war, or a braveheart / Mel Gibson movie. After a while, some lemon or mild citrusness appear. After the first sip, some milk chocolate magical appears. Palate is as hot as it can be. Look at this tasting notes: ashes, pepper, Red Hot Chilli Peppers (not the band), super spicy, slight vanilla and maybe some red fruits, but they are way too undermine by the spiciness. Aftertaste is a Mortal Kombat Fatality for your palate. Wasabi, Chilli and salt... but not off-putting. So... if you look at the notes, it is a fire. It is a volcano. But is it any good? I don't think this is a bad whisky at all, but i am not a spice fan myself, so for me, its a 77 over a 100 and i know some of you will kill me for that score. I know that maybe im punishing its score due to mu own personal taste, buy i got to stay true to my feelings about this whisky and it doesn't have the greatest nose, or a great palate or a great aftertaste. I am not a hardcore fan about port matured whiskies so this might not come as a suprise either. So, its a 77, hope the Ice Edition is better.

I often say how Compass Box dissapoints me, and i have noticed that it is my fault for putting to much faith on every expression due to their great marketing and overall hype. When i had the "No Name" those paradigms changed and i said i loved it. No Name has a "sister bottle" (they were release kinda together) and it is this "Phenomenology", whose name comes from a phsycology school of thought, that it is all about how people experience different things on one same object. That is why they "held" the tasting notes on this one, for us to debate on what flavors and aromas we can find on this "Dissonant blend, form 72% Glenlossie 24.5% Tamdhu in bourbon cask, 2% Highland Park, 1% Talisker and 0.5% Caol Ila". This sounds nice! But, does it live to its expectations? Well ... lets see: Bottled at 46%abv, golden color. On the nose it is quite beautiful. Red apples, vanilla, feels like a GLENFARCLAS (this is how it felt, i didn't read anything about this whisky before tasting it so i threw this impression in my notes. There is no Glenfarclas in this hahaha.) Coca cola that lost its gas, pears, cantaloupe, tobacco, dry grass, a pineapple juice (this note was so clean and easy to find). Rancid vanilla. NO PEAT. On the palate is a little simple. Apples, Cinnamon, pepper, pineapple, vanilla. It is oily. I feel that Compass Box often prefers an easy-going palate, and maybe that is why it tends to lose points in my scorecard. Aftertaste is more of the same, apples and spices like cinnamon and clove. Overall this feels like your typical speysider. I couldn't find any peaty notes, the nearest ones were dry grass and tobacco. Well, i wanted to validate my notes on this, so i started watching some youtube reviews to see if everyone gets something different as Compass Box Claims. They all had something very similar to my notes (except the coca cola without gas, lol). Some of them find very little peat, which i didn't. I don't think this is a bad dram, i just find it too speysider and it fails to deliver the talisker and Highland Park notes, maybe the Caol Ila citrusness was there. My score for it, is a rough 80 over 100.

From the "unpronounceable" Bunnahabhain series, comes this Eirigh Na Greine which means "Morning Sky" in Gaelic. Actually this whisky, non chill-filthered and without any added color, has a deep copper, reddish tone, just like the sky in the morning. Matured in different red wine casks (from Italy and France) this is one fine dram, that promised a lot on the nose, and just couldn't deliver on the palate. Bottled at 46.3% On the nose is just marvelous. Prepare to read some crazy notes here. As soon as you uncork it, you get a Coca Cola aroma. After a couple seconds, without pouring it yet, it delivers the exact aroma of another rare, argentinian spirit, called Fernet. It transported me to an argentinian discotheque were fernet is the preferred drink. Then, after pouring it, dry brown cake, prunes, old thick orange syrup, everything wrapped in a very nice earthy peatiness aroma. Ashes also appear. After 5 minutes breathing, you will get some strange overload of sweetness and i got to say it got me some time to actually detect the exact note.... it was.. Trix cereal. Trix for kids. Im not kidding. I loved it. After the first sip, a lor of red fruitiness appear on the nose. There is a cough syrup of kids called "Coricidin" which is super sweet. It is exactly that. Perfect score on the nose. On the palate, it is still a good dram, but nowhere near as the nose. Very nice, starts sweet like red fruits, to turn spicy and then again this trix cereal sensation. Second sip is very earthy - Dry. Almondy. Aftertaste gives you a puff of smoke right away. A chocolate powder mouth drying note. It is a warm dram, that just drains the saliva. Smoky like cigarretes. Earthy. Short to medium finish. It is woody. Sawdust. Overall i loved this dram, but the palate and the aftertaste are not as appealing as the incredible aroma of it. I wish i could give it a higher score but the fair rate for it is 88 over 100. For $60 it's worth trying.

This travel exclusive i have never seen before, i tried on one of my tasting events, the owner of the house had it and poured me a dram. Spoiler: it is a beauty. Bottled at 40%abv, on the nose it has Dry cake, Sherry with peat, Caramel, icing sugar. Wonderful. On the palate is very "islander": Spicy herbal, Meat, hard Salt and Ashes. Finish salty and Ginger. Overall this is a great dram, 95 over 100, if you find it, grab it.

Ok i had my reviews a little wrong. Actually, this review is for my latest whisky tasted, the "Isle of Jura 42%abv". Previously i had another Jura 18, which was 40%. I am now fixing the issue in all rating apps. This one, right away as soon as i opened the sample it gave me a Christmas Cake and Orange aroma. Great. Bronze color. It has an amazing aroma, creamy, some nice aged mild peat, that mixes with the old dried fruitiness here. I got a small cigarrette note. Old, almost expired raisins. Dried fruits. Hazelnut. A little winey. Wonderfully complex. Some citrus notes appear after 5 minutes. Christmas cake, dried fruits everywhere. After first sip, oranges appeared on the nose again. Second sip, caramel aroma. On the palate: it is bitter, very bitter, very peaty. It is not harsh at all. Its a bitter, acid, peaty flavor, no clear notes but mostly "profiles", very smooth. The feeling is strange because your have this sensation that the flavors you are experiencing are harsh, but it is super smooth, and your palate is like "tricked". It is not the greatest on the palate, it is kind of weird, but not bad. Finish: Cigarrettes, ashes, smoke in a very lovely way. No spiciness, lots of smoke from a watered off campfire. Thatbis exactly how it felt on the aftertaste. Overall this is something different. I don't think i would recommend to buy a bottle, but this is a good whisky. It is just strange, not pleasant, but not unpleasant. It lacks "soul". I think that is a fair statement. At the same time it is smooth. But strange. I don't know how to rate it, and i think that if you have read this, you can feel my dilemma. Aroma is great, 25 out of 25 there. Palate is bizarre, but not bad. 20 points. Aftertaste is good. Nothing special. 20 points. Balance 21. It is a great perfume. It smells amazing.

I had heard this whisky was very good and extremely peaty. 50% of that statement was true... since it is not THAT peaty. So, you have figured out already that i loved it; and that is good because i have the overall impression that Compass Box is more marketing than Whisky. Bottled at 48.9%abv, this has a gold color. On the nose, the first sniff is smoke with pepper. Citrus, slight vanilla and a very clean grapefruit note. A little dim on the nose at first, mostly citric flavors. After the First sip, The nose becomes incredible, with the most beautiful Chocolate note ever. On the palate, it rocks. Incredible milk chocolate, milk powder, grapefruit, everything happening surrounded by a peppery wall. Vanilla. Very sweet and spicy. Amazing. Aftertaste is more sulphuric, with peat smoke but very pleasant, more pepper and some citric flavors. Overall this is one bottle i would definitively buy repeatedly. Nice dram, interesting, lots of flavors, spiciness, sweetness and peatiness all in one, inna very balanced way. 90 over 100. Thumbs up.

When the Barman of the Hotel in Speyside opened the special cabinet and took out what he said was a rarity, i knew that something very special was about to happen. This is a Glen Garioch 1985, 33 year old bottled in 2018, matured in a sherry butt, where only 199 bottles where made from each cask. Its color is Pitch dark. It is like Coca Cola. Bottled at 43.1%abv. BLACK COLOR. On the nose, dried fruit. Chocolate. Citric notes; prunes. Its like a box of raisins. On the palate, it is perfect. Bitter Dark Chocolate; milk powder. Very dry. Raisins. It is so good. Aftertaste is also amazing and out of this world. Very old dried fruit, feels like they are about to expire. Ultra sweet raisin flavor. Overall this is a delicious very dark dram. There is this feeling of a chocolate madness everywhere. If it weren't for some points deducted on the nose, this would have a perfect score. Still it is an outstanding dram. 95 over 100.

Lets start by telling everyone that i normally despise grain whisky. And when i say i despise grain whisky, i find rye whisky the most awful of them all. Lets get the things even more interesting: i bought this 52yo sample with another sample, an invergordon 41yo which was horrible. After explaining all this, i got to say that i am very happy to have bought this sample, to have tasted my oldest whisky up to this date and that i really enjoyed it. On the nose it is absolutely beautiful. It really surprised me. Super sweet, Creamy, Rye, custard cream, Caramel and vanilla; Herbal vanilla plant, Acetone dim note, Banana, Bronzer. Sweet very sweet Lemon pie. The palate is not as good, but still a fairly decent dram. Hot not unpleasant. Cream, Dark chocolate dim note. Rye all over the place, a typical rye whisky. Rye clove spice turns bitter; and After a couple minutes gets sweeter. Finish is medium but actually was in my mouth after a long while that i took a glass of water. I feel that i have enjoyed the best single grain whisky so far, 83 over 100.

This week I was lucky enough to try a very special whisky, only for sale in the worldwide Duty Free stores, the Ballantine's 23, matured in American White Oak. Ballantine's, famous for using whiskies from each of Scotland's regions in their blends, has made a great expression here. On the nose: Oranges and that Ballantine vanilla, fondant typical aroma. Cake, Minerals like salt. Herbal like a fresh field. Slight peat, Toffee and Grapefruit. Pretty nice on the nose. On the palate, only 3 flavors, a little straightforward. Chocolate, vanilla and pepper. Aftertaste is a great reward for this whisky. It is literally a vanilla ice cream, with dulce de leche. Lemons and currants. Overall, This blend is especially soft, easy to drink, and although the fruity and sweet is its most notorious profile, it does not cease to have a certain mineral sensation that the small portion of peat has given it. 84 over 100.

Every now and then i get invited to taste a super old, super expensive whiskey. This time my friend, who already invited me to taste a "Very Old Fitzgerald", now scored a "VERY VERY OLD FITZGERALD" a 12yo bourbon, 100 proof (50%abv). I am not as studied in bourbon as i am in scotch, but i will always love a good dram, specially if it is vintage, rare and wonderful. On the nose, it is incredible. Feels old in the aroma: smells like an Old library, Cherries, Prunes, Soap. Brownies and figs. Very refined. Glue. On the palate, it is also amazing. A strong prune note. It is like prune POWDER, don't ask me how that works. Feels old. Green mangos, reminds me of my time as a highschool student; the school bus stopped at certain semaphores where people sold this green mangos. Aftertaste is a whole different thing. Still a great one. Spent matches, Wonderful spices, Wasabi and/or Chilli. Tastes like Dust. Cardboard. Yes, all that is true. Overall this is a super interesting dram. It just doesn't feel as anything i have ever tasted before. I wouldn't stay a whole night drinking it, but to taste it once seems interesting enough. Because of how good it is, but so different on the nose, palate and aftertaste, i will deduct 2 points on balance. So 98/100. Cheers!