Tastes

Ok I've given RB a decent run. Peated Portwood - disjointed and disappointing, Glendronach Forgue 10 year - Average, nothing whiskey, and now this effort. I sadly wept into my glass as I realised the Glendronach I know and love is gone. Yes single casks will still be great and maybe original efforts from BW which are copied should be ok but anything newly blended is a disappointment. Now to be fair it's a small sample and no 5 in duty free and he said others really liked it so maybe I'm not doing it justice. It's not bad but it's no 15 year Revival, no 18 year Allardice etc. It's a shadow of the great masters efforts. Drop everything you are doing, working, feeding your kids, changing a spare tire and run out the door or jump online and stock up on the 18 year and 21 year stock NOW. In a few years time you'll either be thanking me or kicking yourself.

Ah Glendronach. When Billy Walker was in charge you wouldn't be pumping out garbage like this. It's not terrible but it is disjointed, bland etc. Avoid.

No 3. On DF tasting list. Not a stand out on the day. By this stage I was well into chatting to the guy about dramfest, a Glendronach single cask tasting he did earlier in the week and so I was just registering a score. Middle of the road. Preferred less than the Tayne.

Number 2. On the DF airport tasting. Yeah this is definitely marketing over substance. Young whiskey with not a lot going on. Not bad but not great and waaaay over priced. Avoid.

In holiday mode passing through duty free I got chatting to a Columbian in charge of handing out samples. This was number 1 and the only one I bought a bottle of out of several. It's not complex but it's got balance and flavour, nice aftertaste. Almonds and more as the other reviewers pointed out. Worth buying at $50 USD. Not sure how well it'll hold up after the bottle has been opened a while. Will have to do an updated review when I crack the bottle open.

Lovely dram, very subtle on the smoke. Peach, orange and more going on. Doesn't need any water to open up. I had to strain a bit to get what was in there out but was worth it. Nice blending effort.

The great thing about sampling is it saves you loads on buying a bottle and giving the vast majority away. These days unless I really like it it gets donated pretty quick. I've been trying to work through my collection before I die or retire whatever comes first so it's been a year before I last bought a bottle. The dam finally broke last month with Benriach 17 yr Solstice, then soon after Redbreast 21, Port Charlotte 10 (excellent duty free deals) and now I'm on a 4 pronged mission. Stock up on Glendronach 18 b4 its extinct, add the Caol Ila 18 to my collection (also suddenly expensive and harder to get in NZ) try the latest potstill chestnut whiskey (here's looking at you Method and Madness) and add a bourbon to my collection. It came down to this or Noah's Mill. I would have to say it's not even close. NM smokes this one out of the park IMHO. This goes down very easy for abv but find very sweet and not a lot going on. Nothing offensive (I can tolerate the spearmint) but that's the problem...just quite inoffensive. NM it is....

Hmm.. I'm not too sure if it's because prior tippling makes me more generous or I'm on the more highly rated drams but I've had a good run tonight. I've been all over the globe tonight, NZ/USA, USA/NZ, back to USA over to Islay and now to..Sweden. Ok going in blind. Light smoke, sweet vanilla (newish ex- bourbon casks), light body (younger spirit).. did I guess it right..Hmm ok 6 years old, peated..tick, limited run of 25 casks.. random side fact, casking..1/3rd correct American, Spanish and French.. interesting! To be fair to the distillery I did select a highly rated bottling so it may not be representative of all their work but still nice effort. Aftertaste is light, spirit is balanced but after the Widow Jane bourbon not as fulfilling. Still decent job.

When I saw this bourbon won GQ magazine top bourbon I thought uh oh window dressing / lip stick on a IBC (externally sourced bourbon) pig. But hey this pig is Smoooth.. with a capital S for those who are reading this after a few to many. Yes it has that Dr Pepper 'I want to scrape off my taste bud thing', but cracked open and from the customary first sip before time and water I was like hey this doesn't need any of that. Call it manufactured (which I guess of course it is) but they do it well..and it is from a single cask so new make, cask and time influenced only. Limestone water apparently is the difference... one of those now I read it it's in my head moments as I'm like yeah that comes through. Sweet mellow oak, lime, cherry etc. Definitely on the dessertish side.... and did I mention smooooth. Ok maybe the litre of craft beer (a USA NZ brewer combination which was very good) prior is impacting my judgement, as complexity... think about the poor little missing complexities but hey the balance is perrrrfect, taste is great and right now it's ticking all the boxes.

I read an article recently about how distilleries were seeking inspiration from breweries in the malts and yeast types and how American was leading the way. I thought I'd really like to try something like that (done better than the 2nd Edition Glenmorangie Signet I had) and then promptly forgot about it. Next day having randomly selected a dram I tasted it and thought eh this is interesting, read the bio and low and behold a mixture of different malts and belgian yeast. You really do get the cocoa, chocolate coming through from the dark malts and that's after drinking a cocoa milk stout beer (and Bunnahabhain 18 in between). Would have loved to pair the beer with this whiskey. It's a young whiskey with a slightly thin body and aftertaste but that's to be expected.. you don't want the cask to overpower the spirit. I'd love to see what a decade more would do.