Tastes

with just a bit more richness to fill out the middle, this would be an absolute top notch bourbon. even as is, it’s a great drink: good amount of dry oak, great sweetness. the flavor doesn’t shrink with food either.

full flavor, oak & spice. great stuff!

slightly oaky, but plenty of body with a decent amount of burn & sweet. biggest hindrance... the burn gets in the way of the taste whereas in the booker’s 30th the proof enhances the flavor. overall not bad at all 👍

now that’s some tasty stuff! back to back with forester 2019 bday, this blows it away. the kick of proof, the pleasant sweetness... it’s all there. privileged to be able to try it.

nutty & oaky. tried to drag out the sweetness with extended holding in mouth or a drop of water, but it never showed up. great bourbon but a little extra sweetness would have taken me over the top.

2018 release - a better than average whiskey. not overly sweet but enough to keep the palate happy with a medium finish. 2019 release - recalibrated my taste buds for whiskey since this IS NOT a bourbon. it’s a sour mash whiskey. taste profile makes sense now. raising score to 4.

was given this blind by gracious host of a dinner party who asked me what i thought of it. it was earthy, but not overly peated. sweet to the right levels . a wonderful balance of flavors that would make it enjoyable solo or with food. i guessed a special release highland park maybe. when he pulled out the bottle i was surprised & when i looked up the bottle i was even more surprised. one of the most elegant finely-tuned peated scotches i will probably ever have the chance of trying.

the proof unfortunately makes it difficult for the sweetness of the canadian blend to shine, but that's easily taken care by a big ice cube. once the ice is applied, the true flavors shine making this very enjoyable.

3/29/20 revision- retried this back to back with stagg jr batch 12. stagg jr is almost all top end. this covered my palate with richness & better balance. so enjoyable. upped the review to 4.25. original review - the review is pretty true to form. takes a lot to get the sweetness out of this one, whether adding an ice cube or water. the longer it sits on the tongue, the sweeter the profile turns. other than that, it's spicy & dark.