Tastes

Sweet, freshly cut apple right off the bat. Apple pie/streusel. Buttery, crusty, perhaps a hint of cinnamon. Taste follows in similar fashion. Sweet, malty, fruity; is that the faintest hint of sherry cask? Finish fades somewhat quickly. All told, the standard by which single malt scotches should be judged (for better or worse). Sweeter than Glenfiddich, fruitier than Glenmorangie, it is a consistently above average single malt, and for that should be praised.

Mild nose; bright, peppy, ripe pears; mild highland floral character. Taste is plain honeyed malt, cereal grains; a touch waxy; beer-like; saison? Blonde ale? Lingering floral sweetness and a touch of overused cask bitterness. From a 50ml sample with a questionable cap, so can’t be too harsh, but this is striking average malt whisky. I’ve heard the 12 is great, and the one other Glengoyne I had was great, so I am keeping an open mind.

Aroma: Sweet grain; malt, hay, vanilla butter toffee; ripe pear, quince. Taste: tart, ripe pear arrival; tartness turns to malty, grainy, straw, honey, vanilla and malt sugar. Finishes with vanilla, light spice, oak, and a little alcohol and bitterness. Finish was not awesome; light dry spice, tannins, perhaps some stale casks. It sure lasted though. Overall, you could do a whole lot worse, but this is bland Speyside whisky overpriced by about $12 ($42 USD) in my market.

Vanilla and vague citrus nose; hint of butterscotch. Malty, vanilla, custard, creamy, ginger, orange peel shavings on the palate. Spicy, oak, vanilla finish. Decent, inoffensive, flawless.

Not nearly as good as Black Grouse was. Really quite similar to JW Red, but less sweet. When I want a blend, I want it to mix well with club soda, and this doesn’t. Worth buying at $20; not so much at $30.

Not nearly as good as Black Grouse was. Really quite similar to JW Red, but less sweet. When I want a blend, I want it to mix well with club soda, and this doesn’t. Worth buying at $20; not so much at $30.

Pleasant enough highland heather/honey without even a trace of smoke or peat; a little floral, vanilla, bourbon cask maturation shining through. Reminds me of McClelland’s highland, Auchentoshan Classic, and a little of Oban, but less complex and no smoke at all. WAY overpriced, but the state de-listed it so I don’t feel ripped off at $40.

I don’t care for the coppery, unmalted barley Irish pot still taste. That said, this isn’t awful. Aroma is Irish copperyness, vanilla, and sweet grain. Taste arrives very sweet, with a mild, inoffensive white sugar with vanilla pods note, more of that light pot still character, a nod in the general direction of a sherry cask, alcohol, and then a light and crisp close that lingers, but not too long. Decent for drinking neat at the sub-$25 price point; not as cloying as comparably priced scotches. But I just don’t like that Irish taste. I won’t turn it down, but you won’t see me buying this.

I am not a fan of Original Jameson; just don’t care for that pot still unmalted barley taste, but I figured I’d give this a try because I like IPAs, especially the more floral English style. Alas, this whiskey was a higher disappointment. Not only did it have that coppery Irish pot still taste, but it was also bitter, alcoholic, and tasted of overused casks and underage grain whiskey. The aroma started off with promise; less pot still smell; more depth, more sweetness, even a hint of esters. But the palate began with a pretty dry and very Irish tasting arrival, some sugar, some vanilla, but obvious alcohol and youth. The end of the swallow got sweeter, and the finish had some lingering vanilla and Irish pot still flavor, but it was mild, tainted with alcohol and oak tannins, and mercifully short. I don’t like regular Jameson, but I’m doing this as a side by side and the regular is so much better. Sweeter, peppier, and even though I don’t like the Irish taste, it is more distinctive and comes through on the original. Blech. Wish I had left this on the shelf.

Moderately sweet. On the nose, some sherry influence, sweet, a touch of ripe banana. On the palate, arrives a little tight and tannic, but opens up to a sweet, lightly sherried, ripe banana, velvety, brown sugar middle, and more lingering sherry oak on the end. Worth a closer look, my sample was a little off.