Tastes

Plums, dates, leather, vanilla, oak, baking spice… Incredible Sherry nose & influence. Long finish of dark fruits, oak, burnt molasses. Wow. Amazing American Single Malt.

What a great dram! Nose of peat, brine, honey, dried flowers, pear. Great oily and ashen pallet with a bitter chocolate and ash finish.

The sherry casks add a whole level to one of absolute favorite scotches. Brine and nuts and ham with dark fruit. Some spice on the finish. I actually prefer the 10, particularly the finish on the ten, but this is a wonderful alternative.

The High West Campfire gets me. It’s just so unique and interesting. The nose is stone fruits, some honey, dried flowers, and rye notes with the peat and smoke swirling through it all. The palette starts out like scotch with pest and dry smoke but suddenly turns a corner to rye with some grass and cinnamon and pepper. There is an instant of sweetness in there before a dry finish of dried fruit and - well - campfire smoke.

When I poured my first dram of the Loch Gorm, there was an unfortunate dribble which I collected on my hands and rubbed them together before taking a deep sniff. Now I was excited. Heavy campfire smoke with BBQ grill the morning after putting a good crust on a pork roast was dominating. It was time to get my nose in the glass after contemplating the smell of the oils on my hands a few minutes. Surprise! The smoke and peat were there on the nose, but subdued and layered with dark fruit, sultanas, oak, pepper, some earthiness. The sherry cask influence is beautiful, fruity, and giving this peated scotch unexpected depth. I’ve read that this years release contains barrels from 2006 - 2011. The 13 and 12 year-old barrels are adding some depth and dark fruit that can only come with age, while I’m getting some of the sharper, younger smoke and peat as well. This is well integrated and to my taste. The palette does not disappoint. Rich, oily mouthfeel confirms that this is not chill-filtered. Dark fruit, earthy peat, smoked meat, ash, brandied sultanas, brine, oak spice. The finish is oak and some astringent quality. I put off buying this because, despite liking the Sauternes Finish release from 2018, I’d read some fairly negative reviews (and some good ones) of the 2019 Loch Gorm. Whiskey is a subjective thing. I spoke to a coworker today who loves Dewars. Seriously? So I decided to give the family distillery the benefit of the doubt and picked up a bottle. I’m glad I did. I’ll savor these drams.

Eagle Rare 10 is very easy to sip. The nose is all brown sugar, citrus, honey, oak spiciness. It’s sweet and that carries into a simple but very balanced and well integrated palette. Oak, honey, some caramel, some vanilla... all round and approachable. The finish is still sweet, with some oak and the strangest note of double bubble.

First impressions... Nose: Butterscotch all day long. Some pear, honey, brown sugar, caramel, a little char, some dusty antique furniture, hints of the sweet rum. The port and Cabernet influences aren’t jumping at me in the nose. There’s definitely a little pepper and if you dive too far into the glass the ethanol will tingle the nose. Palette: butterscotch, stone fruit, brown sugar, toffee, and the barrel influence shows here. Oak spice, dark fruits, a little mustiness. You’ll definitely notice the ethanol up front. The rum and port notes came through for me. Nice mouthfeel, although thinner than I expected from this. Finish: medium length finish with prominent oak and brown sugar notes. I’d add some review notes with water added... but I’m enjoying it neat and don’t want to get up. I’m very impressed and like this very much. It’s a shining example of how scotch has an upper hand over bourbon because they have wide latitude in barrel selection, whereas bourbon is very constrained. This isn’t, therefore, bourbon per se but “Whiskey Finished in Rum, Port Wine, and Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Barrels”. My understanding is that this is a blend of MGP and George Dickel, all of it 10 - 11 years, finished in the three barrel types before being married up and eventually bottled. This bottle is from the fourth bottling and 62.62% ABV.

The nose jumps at you with dense wheat bread, some honey drizzle, caramel, toffee, some vanilla notes, and malt with hints of pear or apple. Very easy sipper, sweet and bready.

I love this expression. Beautiful Campbelltown funk. Iodine and band aid with fruit and light smoke on the nose, some leather, then iodine and disinfectant and vanilla and rubber and mechanics shop on the palette on top of sweet fruit and smoke. So well balanced, just amazing, top notch scotch. Polarizing, I’m sure. Somehow, Springbank manages to make drinking a burning hospital being put out by firehoses spraying pear and citric fruit juice taste wonderful.

Unmistakably Wild Turkey heritage. Vanilla, oak, boiled peanuts, spice on the nose gives way to toffee, vanilla, oak char, more spice, some cherry. Finish is warm with cherry vanilla and oak. This non-chill filtered bourbon is full of flavor.