Tastes

Not a bad way to wind down on a Friday night. Lovely honeyed viscosity, nothing complex and in of itself it's no more than a 3.5 but its cheap for an 18 year old. $70 a pop here in nz. Rounding up for value.

Hmm this is an interesting one. I was expecting the heavens to open and angels start singing with all the reviews I've seen so far but neither did. To be fair I had the '77 Benriach Portwood, Arbelour and Talisker 18, Martell Xo then this so maybe the higher level benchmark didn't help but I struggled to be dazzled. Water definately bought it to life a bit, biscuity velvety honey came through but nothing more spectacular than the 16yr Glen Moray I had earlier in the week. The reviews all refer to it as a sherry monster but I get none of that..maybe MoM mixed up the samples? :-). I note for the 10 year there seemed quite a bit of variation in reviews so maybe its that? 3.5 for now.

This one is a hard one to rate. Nothing stands out about it, all the usual bourbon cask culprits - honey etc. It's not particularly complex or interesting but everything is in harmony. I'd say 3.5. It's very cheap here $60USD. Now the rounding part VFM says 4 but it's just not that level so sadly down to 3 it goes.

I do love my pot stills. Redbreast range, yellow spot and Powers 12. This however doesn't meet the bar of those. Quite alcohol forward. The PX finishing is quite light. It's not a bad dram but nothing special...a bit like the Powers but lacking the body and viscosity. One of my least favourite pot stills so far. Solid 3.

The first bottle Macallan I had the 12 didn't impress me that much. It looked the part but just seemed to be lacking a bit of soul.... no complex flavour that made me want to roll it round and round my mouth..and then there was the price point. I sacrificed that to a whisky session. The Estate is my second crack. I had a sip and thought not bad, doesn't blow me away but I think it's one of the cheaper offerings and then saw the price. Whaaat $220USD! The good, niceish mildly oily sherry wooded flavour but fainter than I like and the alcohol just seems a tiny bit astringent and bitter and after a while artificial. Negligible aftertaste. I had the Aberlour 18 earlier which I'm now a bit so so on and I preferred that at a 3rd of the price. I had to triple check that I am actually reviewing the same whiskey as most others rave about it. Maybe a dud sample as I'm not getting much of what cascode and others are describing, maybe the mild curry drumstick I ate prior messed my taste buds or maybe I've just had too many stunning whiskies at a 3rd to a quarter of the price of this one recently to put it in the 4 category. So far Macallan sits along side Dalmore with me, marketing, hype and dissapointment. It's a 3.5 for at best and with the price point no more than a 3.

My third tasting of this distilleries offering and I wouldn't say I'm a big fan. Mild, blandish, inoffensive, pleasant are words that come to mind. The descriptors rich, complex, interesting aren't. Solid 3 and in the words of the famous FG....'and that's all I have to say about that'.

Sweet mild peat, hint of barbecue apple and ginger as GP and LeeE noted. The alcohol / spirit integrates well....I thought maybe a point or two down would let more flavour come through but a drop or two of water didn't do anything. Not as complicated new make as Craiagellachie 13 but like that drop it's very well balanced. Reminds me of the 22 year peated Connemara I had last week (which I preferred although it's 3 times the price) without the mild buttery oiliness. $60USD here in NZ and a solid 4 for me.

They say the cask makes up to 2/3rds of the whiskey flavour and for me for non peated whiskies usually the cask quality and type are centre stage and the new make is second fiddle. There are exceptions of course and this is one of them. I'm pretty sure the cask type was chosen not to get in the way of the new makes profile as I don't get a lot past sweet vanilla, spice, pepper etc but man the underlying spirit is sure interesting. I love this type of dram. It's not as meaty as say a Mortlach but everything is perfectly balanced. I'd love to see what another type of casking could do for this one. $60USD here and 4.25 at least. As an update / aside I found a sample of Mortlach Special Strength and cracked it open to compare. Similar profile but the Mortlach is heavier more sulfuric slightly harsher aftertaste. I like both for different reasons but the Craig 13 takes it for me even before you add in the 40% cheaper price....better balance. The Craig 13 I could drink endlessly the Mortlach not so much.

The 18 year really was a below average drop. The 21....a mild improvement. The usual culprits for a refill bourban cask....mild honey, vanilla, bit of pepper and some citrus a buttery mouth feel and balanced with the oak almost feels like a chardonnay type whiskey in a way. Alcohol is much better balanced than the 18. Good but not great. It's around $180USD here in NZ which is definately not worth it. 3.4 I'll give it.