Tastes

Nose: burnt malt, lemon pound cake. Vanilla and apple. Caramel and burnt toffee. Heavy honey. Caster sugar and raspberry. Peat is not really present at all. Very sweet nose. Taste: sea salt and caramel with vanilla and light banana. Peat shows up immediately on the taste then transitions to a bananas foster and then ends strongly with peat and oak. Peat transforms after a while into bacon grease and burnt cheese then into burnt rubber. Leaving a few minutes after the sip really lets the peat evolve. Water brings some sweet and sharp malt notes to the front. Taste really brings out all the sherry along with some pepper but buries the malt. Finish transform into cherry chocolate covered almonds with a strong pepper finish with a heavy burnt peat taste. Letting this one sit in the bottle for a few months definitely improved it as did taking a few minutes between sips.

Nose: cherry, chocolate, sea salt, a smooth bacony peat. Charcoal, burning hay, orange / lemon zest. Taste: chocolate and cherry followed by burnt bacon / burnt tips. Sea salt and ctirus followed by a light cooling note. Midpalate shifts to reveal some sweet vanilla and powdered sugar. Been two years since I last had this. The 43% doesn't do it any favors but its still a solid offering.

Nose: funnel cake, corn, peach, pear, caramel. light vanilla Taste: Cream corn, caramel, vanilla, guava, peaches. Very very light peat. graham cracker. Water brings citrus notes and a sharp oak flavor Better than something like Toki but nothing I'd really seek out. Its almost like a hybrid of a single malt and bourbon with the flavors so it should be fairly appealing to most people at least

Nose: cherry, banana, caramel and a bit of rye spice jumps out of the glass. Taste: heavy dense oak and cherry followed by rye spice and licorice with very heavy banana. Also a bit of light honey and citrus as well. Water destroys the taste except for caramel and peach. Definitely up there with the better bourbons. Still doesn’t beat out eagle rare or wild turkey.

Nose: light malt. Peach, pear,apricot. Light vanilla. Caramel, toffee. Taste: pear, dark honey, light floral, basil, thyme. Heavy peach. Pancake malt. Water brings out dense caramel and coconut vanilla. Also brings out kiwi and intensifies the peach. Second round of water also brings out nectarine and other light fruit notes. Brings up also the herbal notes of basil thyme and sage and cardamom. Also notes of orange and maple syrup. Third round of water also brings out some apple notes. Tbh this tastes a bit rushed on the still but CS 23 years at this price is hard to find. It has the layers but it really needs to be broken down.

Nose: banana. Orange, pear, pancake malt. Maple syrup. Very heavy almond sherry funk. Herbal, bay leaf, sage, vanilla whipped cream. Taste: pear and honey. Heavy malt. Salty and raisin finish with maybe a very light hint of peat. Gets sweeter as you drink to reveal a thin layer of caramel and vanilla and butterscotch. Water makes it all sweet with almost no complexity, bringing a lot of the sherry funk influence to the top. As a malt that’s used in blends it has a lot of flavor but nothing too exciting or strong. Very home plate balanced malt that’s not boring or loud (or expensive). Definitely good for beginners especially if you like the heavy malt and fruit notes.

Nose: caramel, marshmallow, light herbal dusting. Christmas cake with baking spices malt and candied fruits. taste: soy sauce, salt, lemon, light floral, heavy malt, bright honeydew melon, sweet cream, cinnamon. Cardamom. Burnt wood. Mild tobacco, caramel and pear. Finish is surprisingly light and smooth almost wintergreen mint feeling. Water brings up a bright almost bourbony sweetness of corn and cherry. Almost cotton candy but it erases most of the other flavors other than the baking spices Second round of water brought out more oak and all of the herbal umami notes and malt notes as well as light honey, ginger, lemon, and gingerbread. I only had a single 2 oz pour at a bar, and in all honestly this feels like an exploration whiskey. Lots of flavors but they are mostly hiding in each other. Have to really dilute it to pick it apart.