Tastes

Not available in my area (Missouri), but a birthday gift from a daughter who lives near the distillery. While it is a bourbon, it has neither of the typical flavoring grains rye or wheat. It is 82% corn, 9% chocolate malt, and 9% malted barley. It is bottled at 92 proof and my bottle was aged 29 months. This tastes like a good quality corn whiskey (corn sweetness and wood spice and vanilla) and a heavy dose of malt exhibiting a little chocolate/coffee note to the mix. I am enjoying this as a tasty variation on bourbon. It will not become my daily dram----I am too old a dog to give up my rye spice in my bourbon.

My bottle says it is a single barrel. While not the "very best rye" I have ever had, this is most certainly ranking in the the upper echelons. It is a 100% rye, organic, and copper pot distilled. The nose is yeasty bread-dough. The mouthfeel is silky, bordering on oily. My first sip seemed a little hot, but that has not continued on the next dram. There is a sweetness to this rye, and the mint/licorice of a high to 100% rye is there, but, muted. I suspect the silky mouth and the muted rye notes can be attributed to the pot still distillation. Overall this is a very good and enjoyable dram.

If you are a fan of the fruity style of Glenmo 10, you will like this. It is straight forward light, fruity malt with notes of orange and apricot. Not complex or multi-layered, but delicious for what it is. A great summer time flavor. It seems to be a little sweeter than the 10. I have not "mixed" it yet, but think it would work well in fruit based drinks. So far I have been enjoying it neat.

Super smooth 15 yo blend. There are notes of malt, pie crust, honey, a small bit of smoke, and a bit of vanilla. I am sure this is designed to be a "middle of the road" blend; and, it succeeds very well at that. If you are a single malt drinker with strong preferences in your taste profile, this probably is not for you. However, it is smooth, well-balanced, and very tasty in the middle path of Scotch. This tends to run around $40-45 in my area. Honestly there are 10-12 yo single malts in that price range I prefer. However, I was able to get my current bottles from Florida (I live in MO) and with shipping it was $30 per bottle. At that price this is indeed a very pleasant dram. By the way, I have drunk Pinch off and on since my college days in the early 70's.

Old Pulteney 12 is one of my favorite 12 year old malts. Doing a side-by-side tasting of the 12 and The navigator it is quite obvious that they have the same parentage. Both exhibit rich malt apple pie crust flavor, a little fruitiness, and a touch of seaside salinity. The Navigator is a NAS, though clearly not young, is a higher proof than the 12 and also has some sherry finish barrels in the mix. This is NOT a sherry bomb, but the sherry fruitiness is clearly there. The finish is medium long shows off fruit and a little peppery astringency. This is another delicious malt from Old Pulteney. If I had to choose only one, it would be the 12. For my taste it is the more balanced of the two---but I would miss The Navigator for it is both delicious and just enough different from the 12.

One of the smoothest sipping straight rye whiskies I have ever had the pleasure to sip, and sip, and sip. (I have nearly finished my first bottle without taking the time to make a mixed drink.) Being 51% rye this could pass to many tastes as a high rye bourbon. In other words, the rye mint and licorice are there---but not in a "in your face" manner. "Extra-aged" but NAS; but, no matter, it is super smooth and its 94 proof could easily pass for 80 proof. To my taste there is a nearly perfect balance of rye spice, corn sweetness, and the vanilla and spice from the oak. I caught this on sale for $25---I am very happy.

HIJACK ALERT! My review is for an independent bottling of a Glengoyne 18 by First Edition. This is aged in a bourbon cask only--no sherry. This was distilled in 1996, bottled in 2014. Bottle 73 of 264. I have seen this in the past in the $2-300 range. I stumbled across it in a medium size shop for $90. They said they had gotten a "deal" from the distributor. Well, this is just fantastic at that price. It is not complex with seaside iodine or heavy peat, or sherry ripe fruit notes. It is straight forward delicious Scotch malt that tastes like sweet honey on every sip. This is 50.7 ABV, but tastes like 40. This is lovely and simple at the same time. I am going back to that shop tomorrow to purchase the remaining bottles if I am not too late.

My first review of JD #7. I have made comments in the past, but not a real review. If you like the JD flavor profile of some corn sweetness, barrel char, and a touch of sweetness, you are rewarded with a very consistent dram year in and year out. JD has to be one of the most consistent and dependable drams out there. I do not DISLIKE JD, I simply prefer bourbons and whiskeys with more varied flavor profiles where the fatty acids have not been filtered out by charcoal. Yes, I still at times buy JD when the price is right. My local Walmart was recently selling JD Christmas package (750 plus a JD glass for $10.) My son-in-law will be gifted one of his favorite whiskies soon, and I also will be enjoying some of it at this price.

After seeing many favorable reviews I decided to give this a try. I have never been a big fan of the standard Maker's Mark--not that it is bad, I simply prefer Weller's version of a wheater. My bottle is from batch 15-01, 111.3 proof. The nose surprisingly shows little ethanol and displays raw dough and sweet spice---oops!, looks like Ct got the same thing a year ago as "cinnamon rolls." In the mouth this is easily as smooth as a 80 proof dram, There is corn sweetness and the taste of raw dough with a touch of oak spice. It is all very mellow and easy to drink---perhaps too easy. This is a good dram, but I still prefer the stronger flavor profile of Wellers.