Tastes

After having an Old Carter 27 year single barrel in Kentucky and then being able to buy and taste their 13 year American batch 4, both 5 star drinks, I was very excited to get a single barrel bourbon from them. On the nose you get toasted pecans, rich vanilla caramel, apricot preserves, freshly baked cinnamon rolls, leather and oak. The taste follows the same notes as the nose with some cherries jubilee mixed in with a medium mouthfeel with a medium finish that goes towards a bitter oak note but not overpowering. Overall this is delicious and very enjoyable. It’s not a show stopper like the other two I had but great to drink. I wouldn’t spend 200 on another bottle as there are better choices out there for the same price but this isn’t a regret like other bottles I’ve paid too much for and wish there was a return option.

This whisky is much like a concert. You hear that a new band is coming to town, the band sounds promising, a Scottish single malt genre with 23 years experience playing and they even have a fusion twist of Grand Cru finishing to just change it up with some sounds. The tickets are expensive, but what the hell, it’s a band that sounds interesting with a new fresh vibe from some Grand Cru influence. You start the concert off with an opening band to start, a Glenlivet 12 helps get you on your feet with songs your familiar with and you’re feeling pretty good, as they finish their set, you’re anxiously anticipating the new band Glenfiddich Grand Cru 23 to come out and hopefully blow you away with their fusion twist. The lights are still dark, but you hear them playing with a nose of apple, pear, orange creamsicle and grappa that makes you intrigued. Then the curtain goes up, lights go on with that first sip, and then you realize that there is no lead singer, the singer is a no show and what you’re left with is the drummer, lead guitarist and bassist. You’re shocked the singer didn’t show, but you already spent the money, so you stick out the concert taking another sip and enjoying the songs of apple, pear, orange creamsicle, grappa, cigar box done to a velvety smooth rhythm and even enjoy their finale of apple, pear, orange creamsicle, grappa with a ginger snap. The band did a good job and you actually have a good time, but can’t help but wonder what happened to the lead singer that should have shown up to be the front runner that adds the vibrant and dynamic lyrics, and charismatic persona to wrap it all together in an epic experience. It’s a concert you enjoyed, but wouldn’t recommend to friends as you can find far better bands out there for the same price point if not much lower that actually have dependable lead singers that always show up to put on a great performance.

So here it is the final number in the Macallan number series. Each year Macallan picks a different color for their release and the colors of the series are 1-Brown, 2- Orange, 3- Yellow, 4-Green, 5- Purple and final number 6-Blue. It seems to me that Macallan was trying to make themselves their own infinity stone bottle selection, but decided to change one color, brown instead of red for number 1, so as to not get sued by Marvel for stealing their color selection. So now that I am about to finish my quest for trying every infinity bottle, here’s hoping for some super powers after tasting or better yet maybe just some really great whiskey. On the nose, the first smell is overwhelming me with spices of nutmeg, cloves, but the second whiff shows baked cinnamon apples, chocolate covered raisins, orange zest, walnuts, sour cherries and vanilla cupcake. So far so good, with one exception being a faint off-note hinting at sulfur. Then on to the tasting: a medium mouthfeel with no burn, sulfur, golden raisins, chocolate, cinnamon apples, walnuts, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla cupcake that finishes with a medium length and notes of cinnamon apples, chocolate covered caramel and golden raisins. Overall this isn’t a great one, I like a lot of the notes in it, but there is a lot of spice and sulfur that overwhelm a lot of the flavors. I was hoping this would be the best of the series, but I feel like number 5 was my favorite. Plus, after the tasting and completion of the series, I tried to snap my fingers at the end hoping to rescue some of those Ardbeg barrels that met an untimely death to make An Oa that @ScotchingHard pointed out in his review. Sadly it did not work, maybe someone out there with all the infinity bottles can open their collection, pour them into a blend, take a sip and try it for me.

In a recent blind taste, I was able to taste Bookers Boston Batch, Country Ham, Granny’s Batch, New Riff Single Barrel and Balcones Lineage to see what I liked most. My favorite turned out to be Balcones Lineage, followed by Booker’s Boston, Country Ham, Granny’s Batch and last New Riff Single Barrel. At first I wasn’t a fan of the nose, it has this mix of wood, black tea, baked apples and orange zest, but after I was able to identify the notes and put them together, I started really loving the smell of it. Then the taste was just incredible with pumpernickel bread, chocolate, figs, toasted marshmallows, and rich caramel that then has one of my favorite finishes I’ve ever tasted with toasted marshmallow, cinnamon, orange zest and apple pie lingering for minutes after my taste. I honestly feel like I would be cutting this one short if I hurried for another taste because it’s telling me a story on the finish for minutes. This is by far the best value bottle for the money out there. I may need to buy a case of this.

Wow this is something incredible! I got carried away on this one and am just now getting to reviewing this on my second bottle. This is a perfect balance of wine and young peated whiskey. The nose is so complex with sweet peat, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, vanilla, cinnamon, caramel, nutmeg and pie crust. The taste is equally complex with a viscous mouthfeel that starts with all the raspberry, blackberry, cherry fruits from the wine exploding on your tongue, then a slow transition to the those sweet peat smoke notes that finishes with ease and lasts for minutes. For a 7 year old whiskey, this really delivers a lot. I tried it blind against an Ardbeg Blaaack Committee edition and this was my favorite. Considering the Blaaack cost me 30 dollars more, this is the better bottle for the money.

First off, let’s get to the elephant in the room of why the hell anyone would pay thousands of dollars for a bottle of whiskey. Well, my brother and I were caught up in the idea of whiskey as an investment seeing bottles blow up in value and decided we could get into it, and where better to go than the good brand of Macallan. We bought this bottle together for the hefty price of 4500, 2250 split evenly, in hopes it would rocket up like the rest of the Macallan series we’ve seen, but alas our hopes were not rewarded here, with Macallan deciding after the first release to make this an ongoing release every year. So what does any good investor do when things go bad and the investment is worth the same as you initially paid for it many years later, but crack the thing open, shed your tears, and drink up the liquid. Before we get to the liquid inside, this whiskey comes in a giant magician’s box with mirrors all around it to apparently show off the liquid inside and there is even a handy little drawer under the bottle that will unveil the decanter’s actual crystal stopper for when you do open the bottle, after you remove the silver-topped cork with which it was bottled. The bottle itself is a Lalique crystal decanter with six facets to reflect the Macallan’s six pillars that weighs a lot and will be perfect to club over any burglars head if necessary. Now to the liquid: on the nose you are greeted with very old oak, think stepping into a fancy wood furniture store with polished oak, leather, ginger, cinnamon, slight hint of peat, dark chocolate and rich ripe dark fruits of fig, cherry and plum. The taste is extremely viscous and similar to a tawny port wine, but not as sweet. It feels almost like a dark maple syrup on the tongue with loads of cherries, plums, raisins, dark chocolate, and cinnamon, light peat and wraps around your tongue with that old oak coming close to an over-steeped black tea that sometimes overpowers really old whiskey, but in this case fades away right before the finish leaves you with a dark cherry, figgy pudding, dark chocolate, and old polished oak finish that lingers for minutes. Is this a bottle that I would recommend to anyone, no. This thing is probably meant to be a trophy or for the very rich. This is an unbelievable whiskey, but that price is also unbelievably insane. As for the trophy decanter and magic box, my brother has those at his place and keeps the decanter filled with something more fitting in our price range of Wild Turkey 101.

So this is a tough one to review. My first taste of this whiskey was at Justin’s House of Bourbon in Louisville and I was blown away with the balance of sweetness and rye mixture. I immediately needed to get a bottle and my friend surprised me with one. So now I have a whiskey that was amazing and cost me nothing, could you ask for more? Unfortunately when I opened the bottle it’s still very good but not the epic version I had in Kentucky. It’s got this nice toasted marshmallow, pumpernickel bread, canned peaches, caramel and cinnamon on the nose with a creamy mouthfeel that has tastes of caramel flan with very light rye. The finish is very short that hits quick with alcohol burn, then comes with rye, licorice, charred oak and vanilla. I was in awe with the bottle in Kentucky, but this one I kept hoping some oxidation would bring it to the legendary one I had before. Sadly it never achieved that level and I have finished the bottle. I guess that’s what happens with single barrel releases and has me loving and hating them at the same time. So how to rate this with one being a 3.5 and the other a 4.5, guess I’ll just hit the middle ground with a 4.

So I’ve had two cask strength Bunnahabhains aged 27 and 30 years before this one. Those were something epic and made my brother and me start to think this is the best whiskey on Islay. The 27 year Boutique-y bottle even laid waste to my cask strength single barrel Ardbeg 15. So came into this 25 from the distillery with high hopes. The nose on this is golden raisins, white peach, some earthy notes, oak, cinnamon and layers of caramel. The taste has a high viscosity with candied orange, apricot, golden raisin, light oak spices, caramel and a finish that lingers for a few minutes with the same notes as the taste. This is a very good whiskey but I don’t think it deserves the high price point. I was able to find the independent bottles that are older and far more complex than this for half as much. Glad I was able to get a small taster.

Glenrothes used to be a go to for me and I would usually open a bottle of it to celebrate special events like my wedding and it was always a crowd pleaser, but something changed around 2010 with their releases and I haven't found myself liking their results as much. I tried a few of their new core range at a whiskey fest a few years ago, but didn't seem to care for any of them. I was lucky to get a sample of their 25 year for 50 dollars hoping for a surprise. On the nose, I get apple custard with anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and lychee fruit. Tasting unveils notes of burnt cinnamon stick, toffee apples, custard creaminess and anise spices that finishes off with lots of wood spice, a slight burn and orchard fruit. Overall it's a nice whiskey, I certainly wouldn't pass on being offered a pour of it, but in terms of price, this is a hard pass.

Rye and oak spices full throttle on the nose with orange peel , cherry, chocolate and caramel. Mouth has more of a bite than I was expecting with same flavors as the nose finishing with long rye flavors on a medium finish.