Tastes

N: Mostly vanilla, caramel, and ethanol. So basically it smells like a sweet, cheap bourbon. If you work for it, there's some red apple and eventually you can separate the rye from the ethanol (maybe). P: The same standard vanilla, caramel, and booze combo rules. Really nice, spicy finish though. It's a very bready rye spice first, then a bit of alcohol burn, and a lingering cinnamon that feels like a little of both. Finish is the high point here. It lasts too. I think this is the third bottle of this I've picked up in the last year or so. Easily my least favorite, or I wouldn't have kept buying it. I remember it being softer and fruitier. Maybe my palate has shifted some since the last bottle. Regardless, there's not enough happening here to try it again. Not undrinkable, but mediocre at best.

This is a strange chameleon for me. Writing this with the last ounce of the bottle in my glass. Some nights it seems to offer more than others. Tonight is a good night for this bottle. N: Peach and pear orchard fruits. Some floral, cola, and wood scents. Not terribly fragrant. Some ethanol, but not more than expected at the price point. P: The label proclaims "vanilla, honey, and toasted oak." I'll give it that. It is oddly rich and watery at the same time - thin at the tip of the tongue, almost syrupy on the sides. There are also some cereal and bread pudding like notes. Milk chocolate builds in the finish. The finish is all wood. It has that pungent tannic feeling of a cheap bourbon - more tannic even with just a hint of the black licorice that usually dominates the finish of those drams. Here, the finish is balanced, but meek: primarily a woodsy bitterness, then some almost sour black licorice, and finally a cinnamon spice that dies quickly, returning you to the bitterness of the beginning. On bad nights, this is has no nose and is only bitter with a touch of black licorice. On good nights, it reminds me of Jameson (well duh since that's the goal: a better Jameson). Tonight, I got quite a bit more, probably the best it's been. I had this elaborate allegory about how drinking this is like getting in the ring with McGregor, he winds up to deliver a roundhouse to your face, time slows (as it would), and you catch a whiff of "vanilla, honey, and toasted oak" as his foot harmlessly passes your face. He missed, you realize. That's this whiskey. You expect an awful kick to the head, but instead it's a mildly pleasant miss. Don't think I'm gonna use it, but I guess that's also most of the allegory. You get it.

N: Sweet fruit, then floral and medicinal notes. Fruit is peach first, then leaning orchard with pear and apple. Faintly bready and nutty as well. Very pleasant, but also a bit nondescript. Too hard of a swirl brings out way more ethanol than expected - casual drinking and nosing doesn't get there, but a hard swirl in search of more scents is rewarded with booze and numbness. M: Interestingly different from the nose. Dark cherries, milk chocolate powder, then apples with faint sourness. Very mild smoke with faraway leather and cigar like flavors. Heavy, coating mouthfeel, almost chewy - and quite nice in that way. Finish is light, but persistent, cinnamon and clove. Chocolate flavors also build over time and mingle pleasantly with the spice. Nothing really pops and wows in this bottle, but the overall experience is, as I said, quite nice. Feels about right for the price. Definite step up from the 12 year. I would buy this again, but wouldn't go out of my way for it either.

N: Orchard fruit and dark berries - raspberry and blackberry. Something salty there too - not exactly sea spray, but similar idea that's hard to describe. Hint of some sour fruit too. Bit of cherry cough syrup, which is actually pleasant. Pretty solid. P: Rich at first, but fades in the middle. Same flavors as above, plus maybe a cornbread sweetness like you'd expect from a bourbon - a bit odd in a single malt. Vanilla builds over time. Finish is clove and cinnamon spice, but watered down a bit by the wimpy middle mouthfeel. Despite generally poor reviews, it's not bad. I wish it hung on in the middle a little longer as it's tough to call a scotch both watery and good, but this comes dang close. Hard to tell if "watery" is meant as a feature or a bug here, given the trout sigil on the bottle. (I have seen GOT, but definitely do not know enough to grasp the meaning of the family this bottle represents - some intended inside joke might be lacking a punchline in my brain.) I picked this up because it seemed like the only bottle not horribly overpriced in the shop I was at, and that seems about as good of a reason to try this as any other. Your mileage may vary.

N: The rum influence is immediately noticeable. Banana, molasses, caramelized brown sugar. More traditional Irish whiskey orchard fruits are there too - peach, pear, apple. There's a sticky bread scent, maybe with a hint of cinnamon. Quite the menagerie of flavors. Very interesting and engaging. P: Soft and supple mouthfeel, borders on oily. Less rum influence, maybe. You get the orchard fruits first, but they're baked into a bread pudding now. Finish is cinnamon and fits nicely with the bread pudding flavor. The rum influence is there, but more in the background on the tongue, which is honestly a nice complication. Makes this kinda smell like a rum, but taste like an Irish whiskey. I like that. A lot. This is unique and fantastic. I will probably grab a few bottles to keep and impress friends with. It's undeniably an Irish whiskey, but the rum influence is perfectly executed and the end result is fascinating and immensely enjoyable.

N: Grape jelly and almond butter. Medicinal spices. Woodsy spice. There's some other nut there too, maybe pecan or walnut. Fairly substantial ethanol scent, but it kinda comes and goes. Overall, the grape scent dominates, but runs from red wine to grape candy. Interesting to showcase such a wide range of basically the same core note. P: Sweet corn, but with a distinct grape flavor to it. Less varied than the scent. Starts with a quick sweet hit on the edges of the tongue - it's like a Mike and Ike candy, but only for about a second. Tiny bit of lemon sour on the tip of the tongue too. Then moves spicy and very tannic - really puckers the sides of your mouth. Spice is a cinnamon heat and it seems to last forever - never ending finish. This just isn't as interesting or good as BiB #1. There's a lot happening here, and it's good, but it's nowhere near as nuanced as the 13 year. This is heavier, more aggressive, more boozy, and just generally less surprising. Maybe it's a victim of prior success and would be a stunner without the recent history, but I think it's too tannic and boozy, where #1 was exceptionally well balanced, to really stand out as a sipper. Still looking forward to #3 though. Keep 'em comin, George!

N: Floral, herbal, lightly medicinal. Also sweet smelling and a little fruity. Under that there's more typical ethanol, vanilla, caramel. P: Honey with a bit of a tea-like taste and bitterness. Bit of dry chocolate as it warms. More typical corn and vanilla flavors linger after a few sips. Finish is pretty meek - touch of hot spice you start to notice after several sips. So many of the entry level bourbons hammer you with the hard and hot wood flavors (spicy licorice or cinnamon). This feels far less wood-forward than most of the crowd, and is instead a bit more juice-forward. It's not necessarily better, but it's a nice contrast against expectations for entry level straight bourbon. That, plus 86 proof and what's not to like?

N: Caramel, vanilla, oak. Basically, it smells like a straight bourbon. Little touch of honey maybe, but maybe I think that because I read the first sentence or two of the pro review before writing this (rookie mistake!). Faint, hard to define fruit, cereal grain, black licorice. P: Tastes like a straight bourbon too. Caramel, vanilla, and black licorice spice are most noticeable first. But there's also a sharp sweetness in it that almost hits fresh cut strawberry. Sometimes there's a hint of peach in it. Pretty soft and smooth going down. Finish is that black licorice/anise spicy bite with some hot cinnamon thrown in for good measure. The cinnamon has staying power and builds over time in a nice way. For the price, this is pretty good. Worth an occasional repeat as a simple sipper when the straight bourbon bug bites.

N: Buttered biscuits, red wine, sea spray. Red fruit. Something medicinal in it too. Maybe a cereal grain scent as it warms. Some ethanol. It's an odd combo. Not really appealing or unappealing, but occasionally while I had this bottle I kinda found myself craving it. P: More traditional. Caramel, vanilla, bread pudding. Tiniest bit of smoke. Good, rich, coating mouthfeel. Generic spice on the finish. Some bitterness builds with each sip. It's not unwelcome. Decent for about twenty bucks. It's rich and flavorful, drinkable. And it's kinda its own thing, not really trying to knock off Johnnie Walker or Dewars, which I like. It's a step above those competitor's lowest levels. But not by much.

N: Honey, dark red fruit, and smoke. Little tea, spice, and bread too. Nothing pops too strong, good or bad. I get a pretty strong ethanol smell when nosing that doesn't seem noticeable on a casual sip. I guess don't try too hard with this one. P: Bounces between rich honey and a hot, watery and spicy tea flavor. There's some caramel and vanilla, of course. It softens into a vanilla sugar cookie flavor. Finish has a tongue coating light spiciness that's sort of an unusually hot cinnamon (which is still not that hot really). Doesn't last long. I get no smoke on the palate. Kinda odd for the smoky line extension. Meh, it's okay. I don't have strong feelings about it, good or bad. That's probably the goal here.