Tastes

N: First impression: this goes deep. Rich, ripe stone fruit soaking in caramel and sweet coffee (with milk even?). Peach and plum stand out. Vanilla cream mixing with caramel and chocolate. Hard swirl brings out tons more chocolate - milk chocolate, hot chocolate (again, with milk?). Then it goes back to the fruit, sour this time. Then a creamy hard candy note that's both vanilla (more) and fruity (less). Tiny bit of earth and maybe petrichor. Feels like there's some generic wood, but it's not totally distinguishable. It keeps going: chocolate covered orange; flashes of honey, almond, and cherry; maybe a hint of smoke, but it's hidden behind the chocolate; chocolate covered flowers (that's a thing, right?). Like I said, deep. P: Peach, pear, cherry. Hot early, but not in an unpleasant way - cinnamon, toasted oak, bit of mint. Ethanol, I suppose - really just enough to remind you it's there. Vanilla, chocolate, light roast coffee, toffee, caramel. Earthy, woody, even a dash of pine. Over time, the fruit at the front end begins to feel stewed, heavy, sugary (although not terribly sweet). The cinnamon, oak, and mint from early on continue long into the finish. The mint develops and becomes more noticeable. There's also dark chocolate, less hot baking spices, different shadings of wood (pine, little bit of sawdust, some funk and moss, etc.), more coffee - getting darker now - and very mild and subtle bbq smoke note. Some tannic bitterness starts to develop about halfway through a second pour, and it merges with the fruit to land at a bitter fruit note that reminds (a little) of a hoppy beer (although far more subtle). The heat of the spice never gets crazy, but also never goes away - one of the longest finishes I've experienced. This is fantastic. It's rich, strong, well-developed, has no obvious weaknesses, and never quits - there's something new in it every time you take a sip. At a subjective level, this is not my personal favorite flavor profile - I've had other drams I "liked" more - but it's easily the best execution of a classic blended Scotch I've ever had, and maybe the best on the market.* VFM is fine, although I wish a full bottle was available. If I could get a 750 of this at $80, I would probably never not have it. The half bottle format is cute for a one-time purchase, but annoying if you really just want to have this dram around. Anyway, minor complaint. This is a phenomenal dram, worthy of its awards and reputation. * Example: I think some of the Compass Box blends are a little more interesting, but also more experimental (i.e. not "classic") and so not quite an apples-to-apples comparison.

N: Black licorice, burnt brown sugar, caramel, ethanol. Dash of spiced fruit (citrus?) in the background. Possibly some lemon develops over time. Ethanol starts to numb after a bit. P: Vanilla, baking spice, caramel, brown sugar, cooked orange. More baking spice, moving toward a more defined cinnamon. A grainy, cereal rye note settles in as a baseline, but then everything else just drops off: flat and thin in the middle with no development or transition to the finish. There is a finish - cinnamon, some heat, and a little bit of wood - but this dram disappears in the middle of the palate. This was a gift, so I can't be too hard on it. It's got moments of promise, but ultimately lands a bit wimpy. Would be interesting to try a barrel proof or even a BIB version of this. As it stands, feels like the reputation outstrips the juice. It's not undrinkable by any stretch, but there are many better bourbons out there.

N: Huge red fruit scent: dried, fresh, and red wine. Behind that, it's a lot of what I remember from the base Copper Pot whiskey: lemon and bread that comes across as lemon cake or cookies, plenty of vanilla, hints of toffee and caramel. Maybe a flash of chocolate powder. Dashes of mint. Not too complicated, but really nice. P: Red wine, caramel, vanilla, chocolate. It all combines into a nice bread pudding sort of feeling - rich, heady, heavy, sweet (but not too sweet). Little bit of tangy wood tannin on the sides of the tongue leads to a light/medium spicy finish. Finish is mostly baking spice, but a little bit of wood. Again, not too complicated, but nothing wrong with it. Spotted a lone bottle of this hanging on a shelf at one of my haunts and thought a Marsala finish on anything Writer's Tears sounded really nice. And this is really nice. Lots of flavor, easy to drink, very enjoyable. I've been going to it night after night because it just feels right at the moment. But the Marsala wood isn't worth double the price over the regular WT Copper Pot. This is a $50 bottle, not $80. At $50, I would repeat this regularly (if I could find it). At $80, there's too many better drams out there (and readily available). That said, this is lovely and I'm on the edge of polishing off the bottle in about three weeks, quite a bit faster than normal.

N: Peach, pear, sour fruit. Red apple, caramel, toffee, vanilla. Light chocolate and coffee. Pretty standard so far. Then we turn to an herbal note, almost basil, but less pungent. Maybe some fresh cut carrots and bell pepper too. Maybe some dried thyme, or something in that range. All of the herbal/vegetal notes are quite soft and fit nicely under the fruit. An interesting and actually quite pleasant nose. P: Sweet caramel and vanilla up front. Rounded red and orchard fruit in the middle. Late middle squeezes in just a dash of herb and bell pepper note from the nose, but the finish burns that away in short order. Finish is quite nice and hot - mostly cinnamon, but it borders on capsaicin (without the vegetable note of a pepper, despite what's come before). There is also some noticeable wood tannin and ensuing bitterness in the finish. This is a solid, well-built, well-rounded blended (all malt) Scotch. It's pretty straightforward with maybe one surprise in the intensity of the heat in the finish.* The dram's fault, really, is that it lacks some depth and layering. But that's probably expected for the price range. I would pick this up again. * It feels like more of a raw American oak finish than a virgin Oloroso Sherry finish, but then maybe/probably I've never had a whisky finished in virgin Oloroso before and the sherry doesn't suck out much heat where the whisky does - IDK.

N: It's like walking through an orchard in the fall - very ripe apples, peaches, pears. (I'm sure those don't all ripen and harvest at the same time/place, but just imagine...) There's dried fruit too - apricot, red fruit, raisin, fig. Faintest whiff of citrus. Very light smoke in the background - again, really reminds me of a midwestern fall, it's like someone a mile away is burning their leaf pile. Speaking of leaves, there's definitely a subtle note of tree bark and/or dried leaves. Maybe a little bit of dark bread and spice (anise, cardamom), but maybe now I'm just lost in memories of the fresh picked apples and leaf piles from autumn days in my childhood in the Twin Cities - I might be only imagining the bread. Still, a whisky that gets you lost in memories is a damn fine whisky in my book, regardless of how it tastes or smells. P: The fruit hits first, but it has an odd flatness to it - like all those flavors that pop in the nose are mashed down and combined into one sort of big anonymous fruit note in the palate. That fruit is sweet in the first half second, but a sharp tannic and also herbal tea-like bitterness comes in, washes that away, and then sticks around through the finish. The bitterness seems to bring out the citrus a bit more - it's a grapefruit citrus (although the bitter is not quite that intense). There's a veggie-like peat quality that hovers over everything and also lingers long into the finish. Dash of liquid smoke. Finish is all wood and blazing hot - like hot wing hot. LL really doesn't have to say on the bottle that this was finished in American bourbon barrels - it's quite obvious. Char, oak, oak tannin, red hot cinnamon candy, little bit of black licorice - all the hallmarks are there. It's an aggressive finish. Nose here is great - well rounded, well developed. The palate lacks some of that development. Flavors get sort of compounded and mashed together. It's unpolished. And that finish is a monster - the kind that makes you wonder if it was intentional or not. All in all, interesting bottle at a pretty fair price. It makes me curious to step up to the older LL single malts and see if they can maintain that quality nose and bring some more polish to the palate. Could be a killer in the lineup. Thanks to @soonershrink for the recommendation, although it was so long ago that maybe you don't remember. I don't really remember the context, but I'm fairly certain you suggested this in a comment some months back. Anyway, thanks!

N: Intense, Lag campfire. But there is subtlety in it with lots of fruit drying in the smoke: lemon, pear, green apple, and maybe some pineapple slices. A swirl tosses off caramel and vanilla. And the peat - it's gentler than the 16 with an herbal tea character with a side of wet moss. The notes don't really break down beyond that though - there's no panoply of industrial chemical smells here - just smoke and peat. It also feels less perfume-y than the 16. P: Sweet lemon cake, custard, vanilla frosting, and then fire at the back of the throat - this one moves fast. Salty. Cinnamon that starts out lacking any heat and then brings the heat as it moves into the finish. I'm getting ahead of myself - there's a tannic bitterness and some accompanying charred wood early to mid palate. Vanilla, caramel, and toffee weave in and out. Little bit of coffee, a bitter dark roast, floats in and out. Finish is fast and hard - hot cinnamon pushing toward overwhelming with a subtle dusting of powdered chocolate adding just enough contrast. And it all ends pretty quick. Smoke is in the background from start to finish. Don't get much on the peat side. This reminds me a bit of the Laphroaig 10, but without the medicinal or chemical notes. There's something about the profiles of each, excluding the Laph medicine cabinet, that just feels the same to me. And I think that's a compliment - especially for a dram that's basically a TV show marketing tool, even if made by Lagavulin. I guess the point is Lag took it seriously and has released a fine whisky here that slots nicely into the 8-10 year old Islay range. Don't go crazy looking for this, or pay crazy upcharges (I often see it locally at $100+ - don't do that), but if you spot a bottle at roughly $50-60, it's a solid buy.

N: Dripping sticky red fruit - the word luscious comes to mind. Caramelized brown sugar, pineapple upside down cake (but light on the pineapple), lemon and other citrus, cherry, oak, some bread, some spice. Diverse nose with a monsoon of fruit notes - feels like anything you can think of is there. The French oak seems to show up in a smooth and fluid rainy forest, wet wood, and sawdust kind of note. Really just lovely. P: Sweet, spicy, and slightly bitter. Fruit hits early with a nondescript bitter citrus. Splash of cinnamon heat, and then the red fruit and brown sugar. Dusting of chocolate follows that. Then a tannin bitterness comes in somewhere between the middle and the finish. (I guess that's late-middle?) Finish is a softer version of that earlier cinnamon spice - not very hot this time. Then a little more tannin and a lot more oak. It's not a great finish. This dram really has its moments. The nose is phenomenal for fruity whisky lovers. Even as someone whose tastes generally lean more toward smoky Islay and spicy, pungent bourbons, it's easy to appreciate the variety of fruit with a touch of oak in the nose here. But the palate is a bit of a letdown in comparison. It's nice, easy to drink, but not particularly deep. And the finish is odd, wimpy, and kind of made worse by the nice punch of cinnamon at the front end - you expect that to return, but it never really does. Still, all in all, a solid dram.

N: Gentle, rich, earthy, and mineral peat smoke. It's oddly reminiscent of Johnnie Walker peat. Vanilla, caramel, salt, and something like brined olives. Sherry red fruit, candied and fresh citrus (occasionally quite pungent with the lemon). Dark and sweet bread swirls in and out. Noticeable ethanol - more than would be expected at this price point. (To be fair, this is the end of the bottle and I don't recall that feeling before, so might just be me tonight.) P: Heavy on the tongue. Caramel, vanilla, red fruit. Very salty mid-palate. That morphs slowly to a salt cured fish - something small, like an anchovy. Finish returns to sweetness with the caramel coming back - and it's a melted, gooey caramel now - with a dusting of chocolate and a little bit of chili pepper heat mixed in that seems to burn out that short-lived cured fish note. This is an interesting bottle - some of the flavors that emerge are interesting and interesting for working with what else is there. But many of the flavors are quite muted, almost too subtle, even bordering on bland. A little more chocolate in that finish wouldn't hurt. The red fruit could really pop more and give color and depth to it without overpowering the more unusual salt and fish notes. The salt and fish notes actually work btw - it's fish, but not fishy and nothing potentially unpleasant from it lingers. All in all, this is a little overhyped and overpriced - poor VFM. It also might be one of those whiskies that some nights it just hits the spot and others it falls flat. I've had this bottle since February and remember it being better at times than I think it is tonight. But, alas, I did not write reviews those nights and writing whisky reviews is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately (like in the last ten minutes) kind of business.

N: Sharp pineapple, fresh red apple, fresh picked cherries, Maraschino cherries, cherry cough syrup. Vanilla, fresh baked white bread, hint of cinnamon. Maybe just a bit of coconut to go with the pineapple, which stays sharp, pungent, and right on top of everything else. Just a faint hint of that smooth Mizunara - sawdust and marshmallow cream. Also faint smoke that comes across tinged with sour fruit and a pickled vegetable. P: Silky smooth vanilla cream and caramel with bready undertones. Tons of sherry red fruit. More variations on cherries from the nose. Dusting of bitter dark chocolate. Oaky, almost reminding of bourbon at times. The pineapple from the nose occasionally lingers gently on the edges of the tongue. Palate has a bit of that sour fruit/pickled vegetable character too - makes an interesting contrast to the sweetness of everything else. Finishes with baking spices, mild cinnamon-like heat, little bit of coffee bitterness. Aggressive nose that approaches being too sharp and pungent in some parts, lacking in subtlety. That seems out of character for a Japanese whisky, but this is the "new" formula, so maybe also a new direction. Aggressive as it is, it never crosses to unpleasant and, honestly, it's stupendous in some ways. On the whole, nothing wrong with the palate, but it does feel a bit pedestrian in comparison. But it is damn smooth, easy to drink. I've had this open since February, but haven't touched it probably since March or early April. I think it's oxidized some - I have earlier notes that said the nose was tame compared to the Yoichi (which I bought at the same time and have also had open but unvisited since March/April). I find that hard to believe right now. Guess I'll find out when I open the Yo again sometime in the next few days. Bigger question: would I buy this again? At $70 or so, I could see myself pulling this off the shelf again. Not more than that though. Back in March I reviewed the discontinued black label version of this. I said I thought the new white label was a bit better. I'm not sure about that now, but I do think this is less smoky, more pineapple-y, more oaky, and generally just more finished. I can't say what's better - I can see each profile being desirable under different circumstances. Regardless, as the black label disappears (I still see it around) and this replaces it, I think this will more or less scratch the same itch in the same way. Nothing is really lost. But YMMV, of course.

N: Smoke, salty sea spray, and sour fruit. Lemon and other citrus. There's some kind of funky exotic fruit in it that I can't place (or remember the name of right now) - it's vaguely tropical, but also very earthy and mineral, while remaining somehow within the fruit family of scents. The smoke elements are also mineral and chalky, so maybe I'm getting some crossover - I'm not complaining. The smoke feels like something all HP's own - it's not Islay and it's not Campbelltown. It's like fresh cut peat bog (I imagine) that was only lightly smoked - the smoke is there, but it's mingled with wet earth, dried leaves and grass, hay, maybe some herbs, etc. Under those layers you find dried peach and pear, fresh apricot, and a fresh cut vegetable sort of scent. There's an ethanol that doesn't smell like much, but has a noticeable numbing effect. P: Rich and heavy, oily and coating. Sweet with vanilla and brown sugar leading the way. An earthy and vegetal peat flavor hits the sides of the tongue. Running a quick breath over it while on the tongue occasionally releases a short but intense blast of peat smoke that (now) reminds of Islay whiskies. Sweet, sweet, sweet. And yet, not unbalanced - it somehow works. Caramel drenched dark bread with vanilla icing. Milk chocolate and roast coffee. There's definitely some fresh cut vegetables in there, which seems like it shouldn't work with the sweet, but it does. The smoke and peat somehow feel like a bridge between the flavors. Finish flashes some spice, but is otherwise kind of unremarkable. Spice is baking spice with moderate heat - noticeable, but nothing memorable. It's cut with sweet honey and also that vegetable bitterness - like brussels sprouts or something along those lines. And then there's a lingering saltiness that just hangs in there. And hangs in there. And hangs... This is great and also kind of weird. It's like pouring (smoked) maple syrup on a plate that's 70% vegetables and the rest is fruit. It's sweet, vegetal, fruity, smoky. It's really a flavor combination that probably only exists in whisky, and maybe only this whisky. And yet, it works. I guess that's what it takes to make a classic - it's good and you can't get this taste anywhere else. I do think it's a touch overpriced - would be killer at $40-45, but $55 has more competition. Still, looking forward to the 18 year, whenever I get to it.