Tastes

Purchased on 2/23/18. Opened on 2/?/18. Finished on 1/7/19. Distillery: Heaven Hill Brand: John E. Fitzgerald Larceny NAS 46% Price: 22 USD I used this whiskey for cooking mostly. The only redeeming feature is that it makes my steaks taste better. The basic Jack Daniels that chain restaurants like to boast about using gives steaks too much sweetness. I don’t like the traditional American taste profile of sweet and savory. This Larceny adds a more corn and molasses note to steak, which can be balanced with some butter, lime, and herbs. It makes for a more natural steak. I’m talking about cooking meat because I truly hate this whiskey when sipped. It is way too nutty, and it’s nuts that have gone bad. The mouthfeel makes you want to scrape your tongue. The finish is long and atrocious. It will ruin your entire evening. Shouldn’t have expected much after taking into account the branding, which boasts about theft. This is a stolen ring made of fake gold. No thank you. I think I’ll end up using Buffalo Trace for my cooking bourbon; similarly priced, but it doesn’t have to all go into the fire. Rating (price not a factor): 45 / 100 Purchase satisfaction (price factored): 0 / 5

Bottle purchased, and opened, on 3/?/2018. Killed on 12/23/2018. Kilchoman OB Single Cask Release Cask 510 (sherry) 5 years old Distilled 11/26/2009 Bottled on 7/15/2015 61% ABV Price: 130 USD Without water, sharp notes of a young desert wine do not play well with an ashtray that needs to be dumped. The alcohol is too present, and the dram is too dense. Generous water releases a more typical Oloroso nose, which gives way to a sweet BBQ palate, and an ashtray finish. Water definitely smooths out this beast, but also reveals some acrylic notes that were previously masked by the high ABV. The liquid plastic is something that spoils sherried peated whiskies that are too young. Laphroaig NAS’s such as the PX cask and the Triple Wood are the biggest offenders. This Kilchoman gets kudos for being single cask with a very clear age. But the kudos gets retracted for being quite over $100. Young peated whiskies should be bourbon matured. Rating (price not a factor): 85 / 100 Purchase satisfaction (Price factored): 2 / 5

Bottle purchased on ?/?/2018 and killed on 12/17/18. Irish Distillers Redbreast OB Cask Strength Batch B1/16 12 years old Bottled in 2016 57.2% ABV Price $73. Got a bottle of Batch B1/17 for same price. Redbreast is my preferred sherry profile dram now. Their entire range is insanely good. RB 21 year is my favorite, but the 12 year cask strength wins value for money hands down. Exclusively sherry-aged scotches, even well-aged expressions, have become less interesting. For the price of a Mac 18, I’ve found that I can get a 50+ year old port, madeira, or sherry; and the wine is way more decadent (although the bottle only lasts a few weeks after being opened). But this Redbreast is just the definition of decadence for me right now. Sherry sweetness is at the forefront. But the use of unmalted barley and bourbon aging gives you so much more texture. There’s the dark rummy fruits with the freshly baked vanilla cookie, and Christmas spices. If you want freshness or salinity, this has none. The relatively young age and cask strength gives you some maltiness and alcohol bite. Pretty irresistible. I could not stretch this bottle out to Christmas. Rating (price not a factor): 91 / 100 Purchase satisfaction (Price factored): 5 / 5

Bottle purchased on ?/?/17, and killed on 12/16/18 Diageo Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 years old 40% ABV Bottled in 2017 Price: 36 USD It took well over a year to finish this bottle after opening it. Initially, the syrupy grain filler bothered me. Recently, I changed my mind and think the grain adds a nice sweet caramel chocolate note to the nose and palate. The finish is still short and bad. Which is better than long and bad, I suppose. This is a fairly complex and superbly balanced blend. It’s most notably sherry influenced with raisins, but also contains citrus, apples, a little brine, and a little soot. I am surprised by how much I ended up liking this mass-produced blend, given how unimpressive it was when I first opened the bottle. But I don’t believe my newfound respect for JW Black is because this blend became so much better with oxidation. It’s because so many recent single malts have been disappointing. I am so sick of NAS cask finishing trickery; give me an age-statement blend any day. Rubbish casks, given enough time, will at least smooth out the unpleasant notes of even cheap grain filler. When you finish too-young whisky in sherry-seasoned or fino-fucked casks; charred, scraped, and re-assembled to shit, you end up with a bad product. And when you use marketing gimmicks and jack up the price, you end up with a disgraceful product. It’s like trying to fix a friend with terrible body odor. Would you rather him take a good shower or just spray PX sherry all over himself? Anyway. Rant over. I’m coming full circle. JW Black and other blends were the first Scotches I’ve had. Then I became a single malt snob. The single malt ship is starting to sink, and now I’m starting to move back to blends. Rating (price not factored): 81 / 100 Purchase satisfaction (price factored): 4 / 5

The whole tasting notes thing has ultimately become silly to me. I cannot get other people's notes. I cannot even get my own notes from earlier. Ultimately, whisky notes are prisoners to the moment in time; once past, cannot be recreated, even from the exact same bottle. They are like a personal journal; useless things, unless you are a stalker. Going forward, if you care, I'm only going to put up reviews, without much in the way of notes, of bottles that I purchase and finish. The main goal will be to offer an opinion on whether or not you should buy the bottle, and also to remind myself on whether or not to restock the bottle. Of course, the first bottle I finished with this new approach is not on Distiller. Bottle purchased on ?/?/17, and killed on 12/10/18 Springbank OB Longrow Red Fresh Pinot Noir Casks 12 years old 52.9% ABV Bottled in 2015 Limited release of 9000 bottles Price: 90 USD. I purchased a second bottle for $110. There is a definite sharp pinot noir influence, especially on a freshly opened bottle. The wine is not completely integrated with the whisky, which is not necessarily a flaw, as it adds to the excitement. The ashy smoke adds to the complexity. Tart and sweet fruit jams battle with the dank, earthy peat of Longrow. Creamy mouthfeel. Medium and complex linger with tobacco and fruits. This is not a traditional single malt; not the smoothest, or most balanced; but it's delicious, and memorable. Rating (price not factored): 92 / 100 Purchase satisfaction (price factored): 4 / 5

2oz pour at The Whiskey House in San Diego Only Springbank can make garbage delicious. I get this note like your neighbor fucks abandoned cheap furniture by the trash compactor and it’s been raining all week. There’s that dank musty rotting composite leather balanced beautifully with barley and charcoal. This quite reminds me of Bruichladdich Islay barley in that the beautiful malt is really highlighted. It’s got a powerful brown sugar sweetness with yellow-orange fruits like lemons and peaches and mangoes. The Springbank rot somehow adds balance and beauty. I don’t understand it! This just reaches levels of complexity that Bruichladdich can’t match. It’s a shame I can’t get a bottle. I’ve had this at bars twice and I’m sure I can’t discover everything this whisky has to offer even if I had my own bottle. I would literally drop a few hundred for this. MARK: 95/100

2oz at The Whiskey House in San Diego Their joke spoiled this for me just a bit. My palate this year has been destroyed by dipping into budget bourbons. I picked up this awful rotten oily nutty note from Larceny that I just can’t escape in poorly matured whiskies now. This is less than 1% 3 year old Clynelish, but I can taste it. The irony here is that the youngest whisky actually does make the biggest impression. There is no reason I should be getting that young nutty whisky on the nose and palate in something that costs so much. The expensive stuff is still quite delicious in this blend. Big wafts of ginger, caramel, crystallized fruits, and leather. Quite like 1980s Brora. The 3 year old whisky is there like a crying infant at the movies. Fuck infants. Fortunately, the finish is pure and the linger is gorgeous beeswax and dark spices. I thought about buying a bottle. Now I won’t. MARK: 89/100

Motherfucker. I promised i would not like this. But it’s lovely. Burnt matchsticks with butter and apples and pears. Burnt matchsticks as always. It all comes down to if you like that sulphur. I love this shit. PRELIMINARY MARK: 95.5/100

Paid $59 (on sale) for this bottle. This is a bottle kill review. I will try to summarize what this bottle offered. Nose: Nice changes with oxidation in the bottle. This started off with green apples, vanilla, honey, and too much oak. Then, it became juicier and fruitier. Towards the end, the apples are joined by wintermelons and cantaloupes. This bottle lasted some 7-8 months. Maybe I should have left it out longer? Palate: Very green, and fitting for summer. Limes, cumumbers, wormwood, held up by the balance of sweetness from typical Balvenie honey in the mid-palate, before becoming grassy and bitter. Finish: This is a great whisky until the finish. It’s malty, woody, and minty. Meh. The complexity on the nose is more like a 15-18 year. The finish is just par for a 12 year old. To compare Balvenie to a car brand: it’s Infiniti. I mean, c’mon, is it really luxury? I’m not buying it. But, this is a pleasant surprise in the line-up, as a fairly priced whisky that demands patience, and will not appeal to the masses. Pros: Great summer whisky. Gets better after being opened. 12 years in first fill strikes a great balance between wood and spirit. Cons: This was playing way above its age statement, until the forgettable finish. Mark: 86/100 (range 84-88. N = 6)