Tastes

Specifically, BC Liquor Stores Select Nose: ripe cherry, cinnamon sugar, tobacco notes and smokey like a cigar Palate: table salt savory, orange citrus sweet, and cinnamon Finish: not as hot as you'd expect for the proof, peppery and savory finish

Nose: sweet and creamy vanilla, bubblegum, almond puff pastry Palate: lemon candy is the first flavor that comes in, lighter orchard fruit that I can't pick out. Green grapes. Finish: hot finish while enjoyed neat that burns pleasantly and slowly on the way down. Tastes like how rubber or pencil eraser smells.

Nose: shortbread and vanilla (surprise!...), very delicate and light Palate: honey sweetness and reminded me of baked goods Finish: comforting warm burn in the back of the throat, but pleasant and moderate. Had the sharp tartness of the skin of a plum, but only for a quick flash and then it was gone

Nose: smokey of course, like Hickory Sticks chips, but then the nose splits to burnt rubber or the tar on a newly paved road. Palate: a mix between milk and dark chocolate initially, but then was quite overwhelmingly a very rich and dark sugar like burnt caramel Finish: smoked sea salt - a savory taste that makes the mouth water, and an earthy, medicinal finish, specifically ginseng

Nose: started with vanilla mainly at the start. As the Nikka opened up, marzipan was the clear and dominant odor. Somewhat amaretto-esque, but with the honey notes of marzipan. Beneath the strong marzipan note, a faint smell of barely ripened peach that's firmly on the sour end. Palate: surprisingly hot, with a faint horseradish burn through the nose. Fairly sweet like marzipan Finish: bitter aftertaste left on the tongue like a dark chocolate and as one inhales and exhales, orange zest comes through.

Nose: same smoke as always that you expect from Ardbeg, smoked meats and bacon bits. But a sweet dark cherry note comes through and some rubber, similar to an eraser Palate: similar to the 10, but more subdued. Mix of orchard fruits to begin, progresses into pepper and spices Finish: ends with a black pepper flavor similar to the 10 and Wee Beastie, but a licorice/anise flavor comes through mixed with the sour cherry note Ardbeg mentions on the bottle