Tastes

5th and last dram. I don't see how this one got a 92 rating on distiller. 5 average drams this time round unfortunately. Still you have to take the good with the bad. The 5 dram run which included Hazelburn 13 Olo, Kilchoman Red blew me away (I now have both bottles 😊). Runs like this makes you appreciate the good stuff I guess. Acetonee nose, not hot at all for 54% but then not much going on. Water doesn't help. Zero out of 5 this time round. Oh well...two weeks and Dramfest...40 distilleries...250 whiskies in 10 hours over 2 days...so I'll no doubt find some great stuff I haven't tried!

Dram number 5. Sadly distiller only has 3 of them to review but all good as I keep my own notes list so I don't forget 😊. This was an almost empty bottle so it maybe faded but not getting a lot off this...orange comes through as someone noted. Unfortunately that and lemon aren't flavors which rock my boat. Oak, rye and sweetness follow. Definitely prefer Noahs Mill, Blantons and a fair number of others to this one. I think there seems to be a fair bit of variation with KGB offerings. 2 have blown me away...2 haven't. I think they buy stuff from all over and rebrand so that's prob why or this is some of the stuff they started brewing over the last couple of years themselves. I really feel like a NM or Blantons right now :-). 3.5 I'll give it... the highest for the night so far.

Back in ChCh for work and thought it would be rude not to pop into my favourite whiskey bar. It's very dangerous being in here...I came for 1 or 2 and ended up with 5 drams I hadn't tried before. You know when you are visiting a bar to often when they start remembering what you have and haven't tried before! New stuff in all the time...starting with the newly branded 20 year Benriach. 43% but not getting much out it, dropped a couple of drops of water and it fell apart. Haven't been impressed with their standard range to be honest. Came back too it later and it opened up a bit. 3.25 I reckon.

A step up from the Revival but not in the same League as the Tofa. It definitely needs water to open this one up. DW is on the money here with descriptors: brown butter, pear custard. Comes across young and mildly astringent though. As cascode noted not really for someone who likes sherry bombs and powerful flavours....i.e. me :-). 3.5 placeholder rating but will be interesting to see how it evolves.

The Torfa I liked. This...This has very little going on. The Deanston Virgin, Inchgower 14 and others I tried whilst not memorable still were more interesting. Weirdly its got almost a sour note to it, gruelish almost and very little else. The refills that have been used here seem well past their prime and in the case of the sherry casks used for a micro second finish. Down the sink it goes...

Very mild drop this one. As JC notes green apple comes through, bit of honey / mapple. Hint of citrus and brine. Not a bad drop but nothing special...good palate cleanser after the sweet rum I had prior. Solid 3.25

Until I read the comments here I thought it was fully matured in virgin oak and was surprised at how mild the influence was compared to say the 14 year glendronach virgin oak which I loved. The Deanston is a pale shadow of the GD. It's not bad but nothing special..vanilla, honey yadah yadah...all muted and overpowered a bit by slightly astringent alcohol. 3.25. It's very cheap at $40USD here in NZ but definitely wouldn't buy a bottle.

The nose on this one was weird. Quite artificial and mildly acetone. The palate was better, intense smoke and mild port. Still the aftertaste also had an artificial bent to it. 3.25 I'll rate it. It's around the usd $60 mark here.

Brinny very brinny. I can see why they named it storm, tastes how I'd imagine a briny salty sea to taste like...with added smoke. I like it but I probably couldn't drink a lot of it. Out of the 5 taliskers I've tried 2nd from the bottom I reckon. Still it's at least a 3.5 and at just over $50 USD a bottle gvfm.