Tastes

Nose: lemongrass standing out in an herb garden; cool and flinty with a hint of bubble gum Palate: mixture of herbs and light fruits with hint of citrus Finish: short to medium; light-tasting Overall: interesting and worth trying

This is a good bourbon at a great price. Makes a solid cocktail (Manhattan for me) and is even a decent sipper. It would be nice to see the single barrel at this strength.

Light nose and a mild palate, which makes for a poor cocktail whiskey. This one is decent when used to follow some beer, when a mild sipper is desired.

Nose: honey, apple, vanilla, light non-peat “smoke”, Palate: juicy fruits, honey, pear, light stone fruits, creamy, wood, ginger Finish: light woody flavors with sweet red fruits Overall: with little love for blends I find this to be surprisingly good

A great whisky, both in terms of its quality and price. 2 ppm phenols. Vatting of 75/25 bourbon/sherry casks. As the distillery’s standard bearer this is also nearly in a league of its own, and is one of the great basic scotches available, in the group with Springbank, Highland Park, & Lagavulin. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FiZD6nFo5KQ ; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c0nqz_4Q_XM Aroma of sherry barrel, toasted nuts, and vanilla (brine and/or very light peat?). Palate includes sweet caramel and a bit of brine and ginger. Finish is medium length with light spice. Overall this is a lightly salted caramel and slight funk (brine/peat).

Edradour 2006-17. Aged 10.5 years in a single sherry butt. 59.3 abv. Strong nutty and sherried aromas. With water there is a bit of tropical fruit. Similar to the description on this site, I get cocoa, coffee, and pepper in it with the sherry. Add a little water to bring out more sherry, honey, and red fruits. Unfortunately, on the nose and palate there is also a ton of sulphur in this, perhaps more than should be there (maybe low quality casks?). After opening it took months for the sulphur to subside to a more reasonable level. If not for the sulphur this would get a higher rating, and sure enough, after about six months it starts to open up more and more, becoming a very nice sherry bomb. Only available from U. K. distributors [2017-18].

MB: 12-15% rye (Buffalo Trace #2). Aged 8-9 years. (Sazerac - Buffalo Trace). Though decent, this latest bottle was not what I expect from Blanton's, and seemed most similar to a decent bottle of Elmer (which is half the price), further reducing the rating.

This starts out with the standard Laphroaig-peat nose (the hospital style of peat) but that weakens quickly. In its wake is an odd but more enticing aroma (dried cranberry was suggested and it is something like that). A bit sweeter than the standard, this was a decent older Islay.

Aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Nose: light fruits (some pineapple), salted butter, mint, floral honey, vanilla Palate: brine, toffee, citrus, ginger, lemon candies Finish: brine, citrus Overall: this extremely briney whisky is not something I normally want (and the 12 year I did not like) but is different in some interesting ways and has enough age to give it the complexity to try out from time to time. Sample bottle only.

Starting of strong with an excellent nose of peat and sherry, the much milder flavors then are unable to match that nose, and seem weak by comparison. Allowing it to sit in the glass for a bit calms the nose and seems to bring out more flavor on the palate. In the end a decent whisky, with a very nice nose, but the nose-palate mismatch remains to some degree and deters the whole package from meeting its potential.