Tastes

Too sippable at full strength. Tongue warming mouth feel, like melting cotton candy. Everything you'd expect from a 9 year old barrel strength bourbon. Vanilla, Cinnamon, Cherry, and Oak at an intense but very tasty level. Very good.

This one goes to show how much palates vary. While some say it's not very complex and sort of entry level, I couldn't disagree more. Does it remind me of a particular blue gel toothpaste with sparkles in it that I used as a child? Yes. But I also get dill, and an oak character that I usually only find in older and more expensive whisky. Man. there's loads of different flavours in here compared to anything else in the range except Lot 40. It drinks like something in a higher range. I tried it back to back with Wiser's dissertation and could barely tell which one I liked more. I think it's a steal at $35 cad (regardless of price increase), and feel if Jim Murray wouldn't have awarded it, it would have been considered a hidden gem by many Canadian Rye whisky connoisseurs. I always really enjoy this rye.

Bulleit 10 is delicious. Has pretty much everything I'm looking for in a bourbon other than being barrel proof...That being said I'd pay triple for a full strength single barrel version of this at least. For the time being this is essentially a four roses product (I think?)...Who knows what the future holds, but as long as it tastes this good it will always be in my cabinet. It's earthy with a lot of cinnamon and clove, followed by vanilla, cherry and oak char. Very good!

Great price in Ontario for something which competes with most $50 bottles over here. I know I talk a lot about cost in my notes, but when you are not wealthy and are obsessed with trying everything out, value matters. Especially in Ontario where you're paying more than double the price for many desirable American spirits. That being said at $37 you really can't go wrong. I'd say it's a perfect everyday bourbon but it's not always available. So scarcity is really part of the appeal as well. It's not as good as many single barrels, or well aged bourbons imo, but it's a lot better than the entry level jim beams, and Jack Daniels...etc. Tons of cherry, and overall buttery confectionery sweetness. Great neat as well!

3.5/5 for the value. Wonderful clay like peat aroma with a very sweet distinctly bowmore malt underneath. Yeah it's 40%, probaly chill filtered, coloured bla bla bla...But, It's not too expensive, it's a blast of peat and it tastes very good. Its about double the price of a cheap blend and it's about 3 times better than any of them, at least to me. A great entry level islay.

I absolutely love this Scotch. It seems regardless of what I have in the cabinet, I keep coming back to this. And I have to say I'm very relieved that my 2nd May 2017 bottling was just as good as the 2016 bottling I had the first time. My last bottle before this was not quite as good, and I was let down. I hope whatever I'm drinking right now never changes again (it probably will). It's so intense and well blended...It tastes very close to an 18 year old single malt. This is something that probably would have made me sick a few years ago because of the rich intense smell and taste, but now It's the sort of thing I hope for. If you get a bad bottle it's still pretty good, however if you get a good bottle it's very good. You'll know by the blast of intense aroma in your nostrils as you exhale after a sip. Lovely intese American oak and medium but quality peat from talisker and coal isla.

2.5/5 -. Trying for the first time in a while. I Honestly used to love this scotch when the only thing I could compare it to was Crown Royal or Canadian club. So much more flavorful than either of those....I thought people who stuck their noses up at it and called it garbage were full of crap and were just trying to seem sophisticated. Well now I can't even drink it unless it's mixed with coke on a mountain of ice. To be fair, as a first drink with loads of ice it's not terrible...But compared to practically any single malt on the shelf it's not even close in quality. It tastes metalic, and funky and overly sweet. It's truly hard to believe how great I thought JW Red was just 3 years ago. Wow.

Not much to complain about coming in at under $30 Canadian for a 750ml 8yr at 46 % abv. It's more complex than anything else at this price point except Alberta Premium Dark Horse, and Wisers tripple barrel but it does have a higher abv than both....There is a significant rye influence, and the added 3-4 years in the barrel does up the intensity of the vanilla and overall sweetness as well. My biggest gripe with Gibson's bold 8 is the marketing and the obvious added colouring. it's not just a bit of color its a damn lot!! And these are not even virgin oak casks...Has the same colour as a 30yo first fill at least... It's also being marketed as the perfect mixer for rye and cola. So there's that...But it sure doesn't taste like crap. It's good. 3/5

I did have a very good bottling of this a couple years ago which surprised me and almost won me over. But never again since. this is my 3rd try. The current bottle I have is barely drinkable with ice. Tastes of prune, oversteeped tea, vanilla, and pencil eraser but with a nice peat note although more subtle than that other bottle. There is some vanilla and pleasant flavor in the finish but the arrival just completely ruins it. I'd honestly prefer a bland canadian blend over this because even though it lacks the added flavor, the Canadian whiskies don't taste awful. This is very bad to me. I can't imagine this is what Dean Martin was drinking...

Had this side by side with the older bottling last night and although it shares the same character, the intensity was not there. Not only are the casks clealy not as fresh but there wasn't as much peat either. So far I've experienced this with Tomatin Legacy, and now HP 12. All within the matter of a single year or two and different bottling which claimed to have changed nothing. I used to think Ralphy was a bitter old man who had a hard time remembering how things really used to be, but can clearly see he knows what he's talking about. It's one thing to remember, it's another thing entirely to compare side by side which I have been doing. For whatever reason this get's a higher score on distiller than the older black and orange bottle, but it's simply not as good. Could be a bad batch for sure, but for $80 Canadian it shouldn't be! People seem to be losing sight of how much money that really is for a common bottle of scotch from a massive brand. Anyways, it's not bad but considering its the same price and now tastes awfully close to the 10 year old, it should at least be just as good. And I'm not the only one who's experienced this difference.