Tastes

I spotted this for $50 at my local Safeway and decided to give it a try because I enjoy Knob Creek 12 so much, and because I had a really outstanding Bookers recently - the Tagalong. $50 for what is arguably an older single barrel Bookers store pick? I mean, it seems too good to be true. Well, it is true! This is fantastic stuff for my palate. I don't get any of the intense Beam peanut. This thing is a cherry bomb through and through and in a blind I'd guess it was a Stagg Jr. Nose is very fruit forward, with shadings of wood spice. Palate is a surge of cherry - Luden's cherry - with spice that may just be from the heat. The finish is more of the same, a lingering cherry with tingling heat that slowly fades. I love cherry notes in bourbon, so this is a dream come true for me. I compared it to a Bookers Tagalong I have that I also think is fantastic. They're very different. The nose on the Tagalong is pretty muted, but leans towards oak and spice notes. Palate on the Bookers is more layered and complex, with the same oak and spice plus a tiny hint of cherry and that alcoholic tingle. Choosing between the two is tough. I love cherry so I think the KB wins out and the nose on the KB is much more assertive. But the Bookers' layers and complexity would possibly elevate it in the eyes of reviewers who aren't cherry fiends like me. No losers here, they're both excellent. Really glad I took a shot at this. For $50, the QPR is spectacular and I understand that these are relatively common. This will not be the last one I get. Note - this is a Safeway Northern California store pick, Warehouse Q, 9 Years and 7 months.

I found a bottle of this hanging out at MSRP at a small local shop. I've tried the entire wood finishing series including 46 cask strength. They're all quite good, so I was really excited to see this in the wild a couple of years after it was released. I can keep this short and sweet since the notes on this are so clear. It is caramel apple with an oak spice finish. Boozy apple on the nose, a burst of apple with sweet caramel trailing on the palate, and burst of oak spice on the finish. Excellent. This is really good, and may even be my favorite of the wood finishing series. I honestly can't say that for sure, though, because here is something I've noticed on this series. The first pour is usually out of this world, but I find that the notes start to dull on these really quickly in the ensuing weeks and months. But for tonight - wow. Really good!

Possibly the best high proof bruiser I've tasted. Nose has tons of caramel, wood and spice notes. Palate is similar, but some very welcome cherry starts to emerge. It coats the palate with some heat but no fire and leaves wonderful tingling spice, oak and cherry. Really good!

I love the Cairdeas bottlings and line up every single year for them. I also love peat and sweet and think Laphroaig pairs particularly well with sherry and port. This is triple matured like Triple Wood (bourbon cask/quarter cask/sherry cask). The color is astonishingly dark but just like the sherry oak I fear it is fake. The nose has a super strong BBQ sauce note with some rubber/tar and some dark fruit. It's awesome. Palate is more of the same, possibly more red fruit and less BBQ sauce, good smoky mustiness throughout. A couple of drops of water brings out some menthol which I almost always notice in a cask strength Laphroaig with water. Finish is long, sweet turning to bitter with some menthol. As usual, delicious and super high quality. These are a favorite every single year and this is no disappointment. It doesn't need any water at all even at nearly 60%. And it's worth your money.

This is certainly an interesting one. A cask strength American/Canadian rye finished in rum, apricot brandy and madeira? It sounds like an absolute mess, honestly, but the reviews are really strong for this one so I picked it up. The eclectic nature of this really shines through. It is a full on tropical fruit bowl on the nose and on the palate. Powerfully sweet. You can certainly pick out apricot, rye and rum notes but the combination really goes straight to tropical fruit, so sweet and powerful it is almost like chewing gum, but it doesn't quite flip over into cloying. The cask strength rye asserts itself on the finish, reminding you that you are drinking strong whisky with a hot, spicy finish that may or may not be appreciated by the drinker. This is a real oddball, but it is undeniably fun and different. A real breath of fresh air unlike anything I've had. Honestly it is so unusual it a bit hard to rate other than to say it is good and something you really should seek out to try, but your mileage could easily vary.

Another good one from Makers. Their cask strength finished offerings are routinely good. This one isn't on the level of an FAE-01 but it is good all the same. Nose is maple, caramel and floral - really quite good. Palate is very sweet, with cherry and the same maple and caramel. On the finish, the oak staves really show up and there is a ton of spice, almost to the point of bitterness. It is the only blemish in this, but I actually like the presence of the spice as a differentiator. If you stick with it, the spice dies down a little as you continue on with the drink. I'm a fan. The special releases are better than this, but it's awfully good. The only question is if there is any reason to get this instead of the normal 46 for $30. I think this offers a punchier experience and is probably worthwhile, but I haven't tried them side by side quite yet. I'm a big fan of the 46 as a daily drinker and don't think the added expense and difficulty charts out, but I won't know for sure until I compare. Until then, I'll enjoy this in any event.

I'm sorry - I want to love this, but I can't. I actually prefer the single barrel select at 47%. This is simply too hot for me. No other issue. The flavors are all here and ramped up, but it's just too much for my palate. I top out at about 110-115 and that's it - anything more and the flavors, while strong, just overwhelm my taste buds. I can handle a Maker's Mark special release, a Russell's Reserve single barrel, a Willett cask strength rye, but this one is just too much, kind of like the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof I tried a while back. It's good to know your limits. Maybe in a few years I'll love this, but for now it's going to be a chore to get through this bottle.

I remember buying a bottle of Laphroaig Triple Wood, not liking it at first, and then figuring out halfway through that with a few drops of water it was strangely compelling. Well fast forward a few years after I've had a string of cask-finished Laphroaigs I've come to love (Brodir, 2020 Cairdeas, PX Casks, Sherry Oak), and I was pretty excited to see this 2019 Cairdeas at my local store. This is basically a cask strength Quarter Cask with a light sherry finish. This is a big boy, and it's delicious. Nose has smoke of course, and a tiny bit of dried fruit, plus walnut and definitely menthol. Palate has some red fruit immediately, good viscosity, and a finish of smoke, pepper and menthol. Finish hangs around with smoke and menthol. Really enjoying this one. I've really come around on Laphroaig. I'm irrationally excited about the PX Cask Cask Strength Cairdeas release. Getting a couple of those bad boys if I can.

I've had my eye on this one since it was announced, as I have really enjoyed all of the Laphroaig cask finishes I've tried, including Brodir, PX and Port & Wine Cairdeas. This is also bottled at 48% which is helpful, and has a 10 year age statement unlike Brodir, PX and most Cairdeas finishes which usually run about $85. This is a hair more expensive than Cairdeas which is okay when you take the age statement into account - and not so okay when you consider that the standard 10 is nearly half the price and this is basically the 10 with a year of finishing. So I was really hoping I didn't get ripped off here. I was relieved when I tried it. The color on this is amazing and I sure hope it's real. A deep, beautiful rusty color. Nose is simple and very nice, with campfire smoke, not so much medicinal, prunes, figs and some restrained maritime notes. Palate is terrific - just the right amount of sweet notes for me with the smoke and some pepper. Finish is tingly pepper and more sweet and smoke. A couple drops of water improve this dram quite a bit, smoothing out any tannin from the wine and amplifying the smoke and sherry notes to my taste. I'm no expert, but I think the sherry cask must be of high quality here as the sherry notes integrate very well with the smoke unlike a recent Caol Ila IB I had recently. Very happy with this purchase and for me it is better than the other cask finish special releases I've tried (not that many that I didn't list) and just below Lore. Phew - very thankful I didn't incinerate $90 on barely-touched Lap 10. This one is really enjoyable. This is supposedly going in the core range, which would be great - but please get that price down to a range similar to the Lag or Talisker Distiller Editions. I think a 30% premium is fine, but 100%? I'd have been livid if this wasn't good at that kind of a markup.

I tried this bad boy in an epic long birthday session with Elmer T. Lee, George Stagg, Weller CYBP, EH Taylor Single Barrel, Glendronach 21 and Macallan 18 Triple Cask. Wild Turkey Decades was the winner, just edging out the Weller CYPB. This is so balanced and delicious. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Gorgeous cherry on the nose, with lots of cherry, honey, spice, caramel and toffee. The cherry is so clean, powerful and most importantly fresh and not cloying. Everything here is in perfect balance with super clear layers that are easy to pick out. The strength is perfect at 104 proof. I only had a single pour or else I'd have more developed notes, but it was enough to make me want to purchase a bottle if at all possible for special occasions. One of the best things I've tried.