Tastes

N: Hint of orange citrus, then a blast of cherry cough syrup, cinnamon, wood spice, oak, char, shaving cream (with a vanilla fragrance), some earth, some leaves, some pine. More time in the glass tames the cough syrup and brings in a sweet creamed corn. P: Sweet and spicy with corn, caramel, dash of vanilla cream, big cinnamon note, pine, citrus, oak, bit of a cough drop note with air drawn across it. F: Big oak and cinnamon spice, Vicks VapoRub, lingering chili pepper heat, earth, and long lingering wood, dried leaves, and more earth. With notes of cough syrup, cough drops, and Vicks, I think this is what you need to cure what ails you. I suppose that's really all just ethanol with slightly softened edges. That's not to say this doesn't have some edges - it can be harsh at times. It is not a beginner's bourbon. But I do think it's a bourbon that rewards patience and even experience. There's something elevated in this over others in this price range. It is by no means the best in this range, nor the easiest to drink, but it is different - it's like Basil Hayden himself just rolled up his shirtsleeves and is about to clock you in the jaw. There's an old man strength thing going on here. And I like it. I want to watch... hell, take a punch even. Maybe that just means I'm getting older myself. Or maybe I've just barely got enough experience with bourbon now. Nope. Just getting older. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Caramel deeply colored by sage, tarragon, green grass, and rosemary, some lemon and vanilla, mint, medicinal herbs, splash of ethanol. P: Sweet caramel, vanilla, bread, dash of wood, menthol, green grain, butterscotch, nicely rounded but anonymous sweet flavors, touch of salt, touch of char, seaweed(?), dried leaves, tree bark, hint of petrichor. F: Menthol - almost like a Vick's VapoRub, but not that strong - char, spice, cinnamon, oak, earth, grass, caramel, and vanilla. I feel like there are two types of rye out there: 1) the Christmas spiced rye (like Old Overholt BIB and the Knob Creek ryes), which I tend to really like, and 2) the green grain, herbal, minty, menthol, eucalyptus type of rye, which I tend to at least kinda dislike if not openly hate. The nose on this feels like the epitome of the herbal rye whiskey. And I dig it. It's balanced - showcases the herbal notes without going too far down that rabbit hole. The palate is a bit more of a mix with the caramel and sweet notes up front and the herbs and grass in the back. I can live with that. There's no doubt this is a well-crafted whiskey, as really all RRs are. If I were ever in the mood for drinking a grassy whiskey, this would be my choice. I can't imagine being in that mood though. If you, however, like that grassy, green, earthy, herbal rye, this will be your jam. I have no doubt. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Super rich caramel-butterscotch-apple, dried leaves - in fact, this really just smells like a lovely fall afternoon - fresh cut vegetables, wet earth, wet grass (fresh cut), pineapple, coconut, floral notes, sugar-coated toasted nuts, fresh cut lumber, pinch of sawdust. It keeps going. This is one of the endless ones. P: Butterscotch, sweet earth and dried heather (peat), salted caramel frappuccino, malted grain reminiscent of a sweet porter beer, hints of tobacco and cigar smoke, dash of milk chocolate. Not as deep as the nose, but what's here is really nice. F: Butterscotch for days, earth, smoke, mint, rye grain, dark chocolate (with a hint of bitterness), toasted oak, smoked peanut butter (which really sounds amazing - please tell me someone makes this), char, mineral water, copper penny, very subtle hints of cinnamon and other baking spice. This is just damn lovely. Freaking delicious. It stands on its own - it's not a Scotch-style single malt and it's not really like other American single malts I've had. It is its own thing. The peat influence is very subtle, but noticeable - enough that I'm curious to try the exact same mash bill but without the peat to see the difference, if such a bottle were offered (I don't know). Long story short: this is a perfectly executed single malt that's crazy good and suggests the future of whiskey is (at least in large part) American single malt. I'm pretty excited about that. Seriously, go to Copperworks' website now and order something. I've enjoyed all three bottles I ordered and expect I'll order more. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Agave tinted vanilla and caramel, cooked vegetables, wet herbs, hint of oak, bit of tequila ethanol. P: Sweet corn, vanilla, caramel, oak, dash of cinnamon, some heat, subtle agave. F: Tequila, fresh veggies, oak, hot cinnamon candy, salted caramel. The tequila hits big on the nose, but soft on the palate, which leans more towards bourbon. That feels right to me. The finish has a good balance between the two. On the whole, this feels a little closer to a gimmick than a killer bottle for me (subjectively), but the craft and quality are there and this certainly deserves to be taken seriously as a whisky. And that's doubly true if you happen to love both bourbon and tequila. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: A woodwork shop - just lumber and sawdust and raw oak everywhere - sweet corn, candy corn, peach candy, cinnamon candy, walnuts, soap, pencils, and a good dose of ethanol, but maybe less than expected for proof and price. P: Caramel, butterscotch, Werther's Original, butterscotch pudding, white bread, creamy caramel swirled coffee, cherry/caramel cough drop (if such a thing does not exist, maybe it should), peanut shells, shaved almond and walnut, dried brown herbs, dash of citrus. F: Oak, cinnamon, caramel, sweet corn, dash of herbs, mild heat, plenty sweet. Surprisingly good. Overall effect that I think gets a bit lost in what I wrote above is that it does drink hot, but that's not surprising at 125 proof. What is surprising is that you can drink it straight - it's not so hot as to make that impossible. In fact, it's quite nice so long as you take it real slow. Of the Benchmark line I've tried now, I think this takes a close second to the Single Barrel - that one is just easier to sip with a touch more complexity - but this rings the bell if you want the higher proof. I wouldn't hesitate to grab another or recommend. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Cinnamon, oak, cooked corn, shaving soap, more wood, faint peanuts, hint of pencil shavings, dried leaves, possibly some overripe orchard fruit in the background. But really this is mostly wood. Bit more ethanol than is probably called for too. Herbal mint and menthol notes show up after some time in the glass. P: Cinnamon, cherry, caramel, cooked corn, dried firewood, oak, mineral notes, mild oak tannin, gingersnap cookies (but lacking cookie-level sweetness), bitter dark chocolate, dash of roast coffee. F: Sweet corn, cinnamon, oak, earthy mineral notes, dark chocolate, tannins, mild heat. Best I can tell, this essentially just EC Small Batch with the wood notes turned up to 11. If that sounds like it appeals to you, at double the price (at least), by all means have at it. Personally, I like the softer, sweeter, better rounded notes of the regular Small Batch and can't see myself picking this up again - and especially not at any sort of secondary mark up. If I want something this woodsy at this price, I think Knob Creek 12 hits those notes with a little more style and substance. But I'm sure I know people who would feel differently. To each their own. Happy New Year to the Distiller community! ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Citrus, red fruit, earthy peat, heather, grass, fresh flowers, orchard notes. Surprisingly lacking is the expected Laphroaig medicinal notes. The softest Laphroaig nose I can recall having. P: Red fruit, caramel, vanilla, toffee, rich bread, orange citrus, pear, vanilla custard bread pudding made with dark rye bread and dusted with cinnamon, butterscotch, some faint coffee notes and bitterness, smoked nuts and veggies come in after a while in the glass. Rich and decadent mouthfeel. F: Bread, some mineral notes, oak, cinnamon, dash of heat (feels oaky), faint hint of that medicinal note you expect (finally), more cinnamon mixed with other baking spices (cardamom, coriander, anise), some tannins on the side of the tongue, a gentle and fragrant peat smoke coming in far later. This doesn't exactly adhere to what you expect from Laphroaig, but it is damn lovely. Rich, decadent, and delicious. Possibly the best NAS single malt I've tried. I would certainly repeat this and am already thinking it would make a lovely gift for other peated scotch lovers. I do wish this traded a little closer to $100, but I'm not upset that I paid a little more than that either. If you find a good price, totally worth grabbing a bottle or two. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired (it shouldn't be), please post a comment and I will gladly provide a new one.)

N: Copper penny, corn, ethanol, wood spice. P: Sweet corn, caramel, vanilla, hint of dried red fruit, hint of coffee. F: Dried red fruit, dash of oak, a scintilla of spice. About the weakest bourbon finish I can think of, aside from turning actively bad. Just not much here. Wanted to try a bourbon name I hadn't tried before. I've flirted with Jefferson a few times - who hasn't - but never took the old bastard home before now. This is about as basic of a bourbon profile as you can get. There's nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly right about it either. Plays everything safe. And is completely forgettable as a result. The smoothness and approachability would play better at about a $10 lower price tag. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord (now one whole year old!): https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)

Mission Wine and Spirits barrel pick; named the "Fifth Floor," because, I assume, the barrel was stored on the fifth floor. If I recall, that's sort of in the middle, but maybe that's wrong. Bottled at 115 proof, 57.5%. N: Caramel, vanilla, mint, menthol, dried herbs, green grain, cereal. P: Mid-level sweetness, earthy, herbal tea, caramel, vanilla, mint. F: More dried herbs, mint, oak, some caramel, some chili pepper heat. Solid single barrel. Not good enough to make me feel I needed to run out and grab another before they were gone, which is really what I hope for from a store pick, but that's pretty rare. But I wouldn't hesitate to grab another store pick single barrel rye. There's a nice roundness to this that most ryes don't quite have. I'd be up for trying another one. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord: https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)

N: Huge orchard and stone fruit notes, peach, pear, red and green apple, touch of dried earth and pine, mint, dried herbs, herbal tea leaves. P: Sweet honey, vanilla, dash of caramel, floral notes, an herbal bitterness, white tea, pine and earth again, spice building in over time, the fruit notes come back with air drawn across it, subtle red wine sweetness. F: Oak bitterness, honey, cinnamon, dried herbs, dried flowers, bitter green tea, notable residual heat that feels very oaky, long lasting tannic pucker. Feels like a bit of an oddball as unpeated Scotch goes. This one throws some elbows. A lot of what I imagine gets smoothed out of other Scotches remains here, and it comes in multiple different forms of bitterness, a bit of a dirt taste, and a bunch of dried plant stuff. I don't hate it. I also don't see myself seeking it out again. I should add that, while I use the word bitter many times above, none of them are particularly intense and so it never felt overly bitter. I suppose that's for the best, but maybe leaning even more toward a West Coast IPA would be interesting too. ____________ Please come join an unofficial Distiller community on Discord: https://discord.gg/VSmCvzAQfH. We chat spirits (and other things) in real time while being a great resource to each other for recommendations, finding deals, and generally enjoying the journey together. (If the link is expired, please post a comment and I will provide a new one.)