Tastes

Nose: Brown sugar, rye bread, pepper, maple. Rich and dense nose. Surprising. Palate: Not much happening, disappointing after the nose, surprisingly tame for a 2 yo, some rye spice, not much sweetness. Interesting, but ultimately forgettable. With a few more years it could be something quite nice I bet.

You get your typical bourbon flavors but with a healthy serving of Rye spice and everything nice. Not very sweet. Great change of pace bourbon. Tons of flavor. Fantastic on a cold night. The spice and oak make it seem hotter than it is. Lingers and lingers.

Overall this malt is lacking. Rather thin and missing in the flavor department. They must be using really old barrels for the 12 year. Respectable level of peat but there’s no depth and it’s rather two noted between muted sweetness and the peat. This could be so good at 46% or even 43% but c’est la vie.

46% ABV 3.5 year old American single malt Orchard fruit, caramel, butterscotch, fig, a slight nuttiness and baking spice on the palate. Some dark fruit is there, but it sits in the background and lingers through the finish. Very smooth and well rounded. Incredible depth for the age. The Virginia climate allows for depth in several years that would take a decade to more in Scotland or Ireland. I thoroughly enjoyed this dram. From the VA Distillery Company website: "Prelude: Courage & Conviction showcases early stocks of the distillery’s American Single Malt whisky, with distillation beginning in 2015. This offering is aged one season less than the inaugural Flagship release of Courage & Conviction, where the target profile is four years. This whisky is a marriage of three barrel types which showcase the primary aging casks for Courage & Conviction: Bourbon, Sherry and Cuvée casks. The Cuvée cask is present in Prelude: Courage & Conviction and will be amplified to highlight this key component in the inaugural Flagship offering of Courage & Conviction, arriving in the Spring of 2020."