Tastes

Not a sample per-se, but I am near the end of the bottle and I never did a "proper" review of this (some of you may recall my Christmas soliloquy from last year). This is the rare bottle that remains constant from start to finish, and only gets better with air. These older sherry monsters really oxidize well, and only reach their peak after they've been open 5-6 months. This one certainly did. I have one of the older 2017 bottlings, which means this is 22-23 years old. It's certainly different than younger sherry monsters. In place of bright red fruits and raisins, there's old, old oak, leather, prunes, and a VERY dry aftertaste. The dryness is almost too much at times unless you let it sit on your tongue for a very long time. Many of you have written about how difficult it is to describe that "old" whisky flavor, and I'm finding myself coming up short as well. This is something to be experienced. So how does it compare to the 21 Parliament? There's about a $70-100 price difference for starters, and you're getting comparably aged juice. If you have to money, my taste prefers the 21. I like PX, which is missing from the 18. I think the Glendronach house style is best with a blend of PX and Oloroso (none of this Port nonsense we've seen lately...). The Oloroso only aging comes off a bit too dry for me, but hey, that's just one snob's opinion. Still an amazing dram, and the .25 off is only for that overly dry finish. Cheers!

Day 2 of sample madness. I had this early on in my whisky journey, but I neither knew anything about scotch nor what good whisky was. After numerous fancy pours and tastes, what does this budget blend yield? The nose offers up a bouquet of fruit (insert fancy descriptor here). Apples, pears, berries. There's also a buttery softness from the grain, and a mild nip from the alcohol (not the proof). It enters the palate more like an Irish whisky than a scotch. Soft, buttery grain notes dominate, but not in an unpleasant way. Mid-palate there's this weird surge of alcohol that diminishes almost as fast as it comes. The finish is embarrassingly short. As I let it open up more in the glass and sip it more, it just becomes more astringent and less appealing. So it's budget blended scotch. For what it's worth, and since it has such an Irish leaning palate, I'd rather just drink Bushmills Black Bush. Easy enough to drink if someone offers it to you, but not something to seek out and spend your hard earned cash on. Cheers!

Time to start working through my sample stores in an effort to clear out my cabinet, much like our friend @Soba45 . Starting with this bottle, expect sample reviews for about the next two weeks. This one is a NAS that looks like it was aged in bourbon barrels, and there's a lot of lovely heather peat smoke on the nose. A lovely Highland Park calling card. Beneath that it's fruity: Apples, pears, etc. It's slightly astringent, but not that much at 40%. It enters soft on the palate. The malt really shines on this one, with a puff of smoke enveloping it all, with a surprisingly long finish! It's a bit one-note, but I find myself liking this more than Highland Park 12 year. Plus a regular bottle has an affordable price tag. This could be a great introduction to someone looking to get into peaty scotch without the Islay 1-2 punch. Good stuff!

My neighbors have been awesome during this pandemic. Every weekend we all get together on someone’s lawn to drink. My wife and most of the others like to drink wine, but they know I’m a whisky fan, so one of them always brings a bottle of $30ish bourbon to mix or sip (I share some fancy scotch too). The neighborhood solidarity during these times is pretty awesome, and one of the best parts of being in Texas. Now, this was tonight’s offering. I could nose this forever. Buckets of caramel and vanilla, well balanced oak, and a herbal note, likely from the high rye. There’s also peanuts and an umami element I can’t quite place that others describe as the “Beam funk”. Sadly, it fell apart for me after that. The palate hits with a wave of ethanol that doesn’t really dissipate after the initial sip, and the finish is surprisingly short for 100 proof. There’s an intriguing minty note on the finish that I’ve only ever found in Lagavulin, but it’s not enough to salvage this one for me. I’m going 2.75 on this one. I know there’s a lot of Beam fans on here, and this may come off as overly harsh, but I just don’t care for their house spirit style I guess. I feel the same way about Buffalo Trace products if it’s any consolation. I’m glad I got to try this, and I appreciate as always the thought and consideration of my neighbor. This is a fine mixer, and indeed we mad bourbon slushes out of this which hit the spot on a hot Texas summer night. Cheers!

This has been rated highly and recommended by several here, so when I found it on a dusty local hole-in-the-wall liquor store shelf for $100 (generous given the asking price at big box stores in the states these days...) I sprang. It certainly looks pretty in the bottle and the glass, with that pinkish hue that only port casks can impart, but what's under the hood? Let's get the scuz out of of the way first. It comes across a bit watery at 40% (proof snob, back in the house). Would love to see this even at 43% or 46% to have a bit more heft and flavor. Despite being a single malt, there's a metallic note on the nose that lingers over into the palate. It's not grain whisky, so all I can guess is bad/tired port casks? That's it. Now the good stuff (and there's plenty). This comes at your palate bursting with flavor. Creamy malt, baking spices (particularly cloves and allspice) come out, along with ripe fruits from the wine casks (in this case, berries like strawberries and blueberries, rather than the typical stone/stewed fruits you get in Oloroso cask only matured drams). At 40%, it's dangerously drinkable, and like all Bushmills bottles I've tried, it gets better the longer the bottle is open and has time to oxidize. Bushmills is a spirit that takes air well (but not water. One drop and it all falls apart). The finish isn't particularly long, but while it's there it reminds me of strawberries and cream, or perhaps strawberry shortcake. Repeated visits reveal more subtle notes of lemon and hazelnut, and the longer I drink it, the more the port finish reveals itself in its velvety smoothness (not unlike Glenmo Quinta Ruban). Though the port finish on my bottle feels like it may have come from refill casks, it is still present and well integrated; no easy feat, as some port finishes can be easily overbearing. This is easily a 4 to 4.25 star dram, but with some drawbacks. The metallic note lingers, and I'm hoping that the longer the bottle is open, the more that dissipates. Also, price is an issue. This is a 16 year old single malt that normally retails for around $120 in the states now. My guess is that Bushmills prices went up with the tariffs because the distillery is in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and therefore subject to the same tariffs that Scotch single malt is. That being said, if you remember my earlier tirade about Lagavulin 16 being $100 now, that's still $20 less than this, and arguably a superior whisky, so between price and that weird, metallic note, I'm docking a quarter point, leaving us with a 3.75. I got this for a good deal, so if you can find it for $80-$100, buy on sight. I'd skip paying retail for this, though. It's got lots of good, complex flavors that belie it's age, but if all you're looking for a good port finish, go for the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban at about half the price. Cheers! BOTTLE KILL UPDATE: As I expected, this bottle took air really well, and once it did, it went down like candy. Beautiful notes of caramel, toffee, pecans, strawberries, and that luscious port finish. I’m bumping this up to a 4, for being eminently drinkable, but still overpriced.

I had higher hopes for this. I love Lag 16. I love PX sherry. Both are what one might categorize as at the extreme ends of their respective categories, one being bold, meaty, and heavily peated, the other being darkly concentrated sweetness bordering on cloying. One would be right to assume that these two extremes would complement one another - and yet, I find myself a bit let down. Let me explain. We buy Lagavulin for the smoke. We all know what we're getting into when we buy Lagavulin, and we've all probably tormented a relative with it who's sworn off scotch for the rest of their living days because they feel we fed them a liquid ashtray. No, just me? Ok, well... The nose on this is the best part. They pulled a Macallan on this one, where the nose has waves and waves of evolving notes, one minute meaty peat, the next raisins and dark, dark fruits ALA the PX finish. Very complex. Very enjoyable. Unfortunately, like many Macallans, this one also fails to follow up on the palate. Instead of complementing the peat, the PX finish smooths it over, thereby diminishing what makes Lagavulin, well...Lagavulin. The finish is pleasant enough, medium length, sweet and sour and savory and blah blah blah. By now I've lost interest. So what is the final assessment? The nose is magnificent. I spent 20 minutes with the Glencairn just nosing this trying to pick out this and that. Palate is a disappointment, and the finish is meh. Given all that, I'd say a 3.75-4.0 is in order, but I paid $120 for this, which is a good $20 over the (in my opinion, much superior) Lagavulin 16. For that, it gets the 3.5 before you, and I feel that's being generous. I've now tried the Lag 16, the Lag 8, the subpar Lag 9 from the GOT marketing push last year, and now this. My guess is that (1) Diageo directs barrels that don't make the cut for the standard Lag 16 bottling for the "Distillers Edition" line, and use the PX finish to mask rather than enhance poor maturation, and (2) this expression used to be much better, hence the 96 distiller rating from several years ago and the 4.5 average user rating, and (3) skip the "diversified portfolio" that Lagavulin has put out and stick with the Lag 16. Yes, it's gone up in price here in the states, but it's still that good. It leaves the rest of their core line dead in the dust. I'll happily drink this bottle. It'll be good desert fodder and easy to please company with (better than Ardbeg anyways...), but it's far from the best I've tried. Cheers all!

Now this is a whiskey nerd's whiskey. First, the details. This is 9-11 year old high rye MGP bourbon (aged just right in my opinion), which is then further finished in what I'm guessing are quality, fresh Spanish Oloroso sherry casks, not tired used ones like some Scotch distillers are using (cough...Highland Park). I'm reviewing batch 19-01, bottle 154 (love the details and transparency). There's a lot of MGP bourbon on the market. A lot of startups and craft distillers are using it, some larger brands like Bulleit use it, and these guys at Nelson's Green Brier are using it. Some people get snobby about sourced whiskey, but I've noticed that everyone who does source it does something to it, such as age it longer or finish it in something else. If you've read my reviews for a while now you know I'm a huge sherry head, so this seemed like a well met match. The nose isn't what you'd expect. While you can detect the sherry finish, with all the classic fruit and nuts, the bourbon isn't masked or covered up. You can instantly tell the rye spice is there, but the sherry finish has almost sanded down the rough edges, balancing it out and complementing the MGP bourbon rather than compromising it; enhancing the overall experience. The taste is magnificent. All the hype on this is worthy. Usually a high rye, well-aged bourbon smacks you in the face on first visit (think Knob or Turkey). This would do that were it not for the sherry, which again, complements the bourbon and enhances it rather than masking it. The classic caramel, vanilla, and rye spice are balanced with a fruity, velvety coat that initially confuses the experienced palate, but repeat visits present a cohesive portrait combining the best of old and new world techniques. The lingering notes on the finish are reminiscent of raspberry dark chocolate ganache and caramel praline, with a lingering spicy sweetness that begs you to go back for more. A finished bourbon isn't really such an outrageous notion. When the early American settlers were making rye and corn whiskies, there weren't always new, charred oak barrels to use (That process wasn't adopted until the late 1700's). Rather, the settlers would use what barrels they had on hand, which were often fortified wine casks from Spain and Portugal. In a way, this bourbon and its Madiera finished cousin are a possible snapshot of what early American whiskey tasted like. That's about the tastiest history lesson I've ever received. Cheers all!

It's Scotch. Fruity, vanilla, hint of barrel spice. Easy to drink. Highly inoffensive. Available at every bar around the world. I've seen this for as low as $30 a bottle in some places. Easy choice if you're on the road provided the bar doesn't have this listed as their "premium" whisky option and charges you $15 a pour.

This may be one of my new favorite bourbons, and it's definitely helped me out of my recent bourbon slump. Maybe it's something about summer, but bourbon just feels right during this time of year (let's be clear, it's good anytime, but I find myself reaching for Scotch in the cooler months). The nose is subtle, muted, even after repeated visits and reviewing mid bottle. If I look real hard, I get notes of fresh pastries with lots of butter and maybe a chocolate filling. Not surprising given that Woodford triple distills their bourbon, so it's mouthfeel and nose is somewhat (read: SOMEWHAT) reminiscent of an Irish or Lowland pour. The palate is where this one shines. Rich, bready, coating, chocolaty (love that note!), oaky, but not as much as you'd expect given the name, and smooth all the way down with a hug that lasts for days! I've gone through half a bottle this week already, with plans to buy another when some room frees up in my cabinet. I can see why this one is popular and why it's got so many reviews. Great stuff! P.S. - Do yourselves a HUGE favor and eat some rich milk chocolate (Hershey's will do, but look for the good stuff) while you drink this pour. Thank me later.