Tastes

Nose is not much. First taste is drywall mud and not much else. Second taste is still mud and there is just not much else. A little water just thins the mud. This is one of the weirdest tasting "bourbons" I have ever had.

New Bottle. Color is a rich amber. Nose is honey and brown sugar and spice. Entry is a bit warm, spicy, oily. A bit of herbal bitterness. Flavor is full and rih with strong notes of clove and vanilla and a bit of charred wood. Finish is more of the same. Good but this is probably not going to be my favorite rye. UPDATE: Much better with a few drops of water. It opens up and the flavors are better balanced. It still won't make the top of the list but it will make the lise as a good alternative.

Color is pale amber/old gold, nose is light and clearly more grain than malt, entry is smooth and balanced, spice, toasted honey graham cracker. Pallet is not complex, Rich simplicity is a good description. There are hints of smoke and peat playing hide-and-seek in there. Finish is smooth, and reminiscent of fresh apples. A few drops of water brings out a bit of brine and salt but it doesn't add much. Priced about rignt.

Color is amber. Nose is butterscotch and molasses, entry is more of the same with spice, candied fruit and nuts (think fruit cake) and a touch of salt. Body is rich and full. Finish is spice and malt with hints of root beer. This may be a 100% single malt, but ti is like no other single malt, Scotch or Irish, I have ever tasted. It is definitely different and intriguing and very good.

Knappogue Castle 1990 is perhaps the smoothest whiskey of any kind I have ever drank. A friend and I went through a bottle one New Years Eve and woke the next morning with no deleterious effects other than thirst. But that was 20 years ago and the memory is fading. Light and fruity with a hint of caramel.

Selected from 6 of 4 Roses 10 bourbon recipes. Nose is Oak bark, cinnamon, vanilla. Entry is warm and spicy (high rye mash) with fruit and vanilla notes. Very pleasant, even though high ABV (52%). Finish still carries the spice, joined by a touch of leather oak and a vanilla sweetness, medium length finish. I don't care for most bourbons as I find them cloyingly sweet; this one isn't and I like it.

Very light nose, entry is warm on the tongue with rye spice, caramel, vanilla, and molasses, not overly sweet. Most bourbons seem cloyingly sweet to me but this is one of the few bourbons I have found to be drinkable neat and is even better with a few drops of water.

Pale gold in the glass. Pears on the nose, entry is a little hot, the mellows into lightly spiced fruit. Body is light and smooth and a bit watery. Finish quickly fades. A decent entry level Irish, nothing offensive but no depth or character. Low price point but there are better options.

Nose is cinnamon toast, entry is hot with spice, apples and notes of oak, followed by an oily dark chocolate, more wood, and brown sugar and more spice. The 100% rye mashbill allows nothing to get in the way of the rye and the 100 proof carries it well. I generally like rye whiskies but this is the first 100% rye I've had in a while and it is definitely different.

Thin on the nose, mostly ethanol and fruit. entry is a little smoke, cherries, some spice, more ethanol, a touch of honey on burnt toast. More body than J&B, not as much as McClellands, and no match for Johnnie Walker Black. Thin, short, sour, peppery finish. The more of it I drink, the less I like it.