Tastes

Ah Kentucky Bourban Distillers. You came into my life with Johnny Drum 15 year which was a beautiful experience. Then you slyly and duplicitously took the small 15 year age statement off reduced it to 7 -8 years (NAS) but kept the rest of the bottle exactly the same...and the quality plummeted. Time is a healer however so I took a chance on another label of theirs - Noahs mill. Redemption...at 57.1% this baby is dangerously smooth. Compared to the much hotter 46% Tomatin 14 year I tried just before it's impressive how this one goes down. Lovely caramel, vanilla and candied orange. Very nice drop. 4 - 20 year blend. Sadly I read this too was a 15 year statement which given how good this one is I would have loved to try 4.5 at least as after the last drop has gone I'm still craving another...and I'm in the xmas mood....dangerous stuff! In my top few Bourbans ever I reckon.

This is a hard one. Definitely good port casking there but unfortunately it really isn't balanced with the alcohol which overpowers the cask with it's strength and slight harshness. It's only 46% but comes across several % higher at least and definitely cleared out and sanitised my nasal passages when I took a wiff. Towards the end I started getting into it more so maybe if i worked my way through a bottle it might gell a bit more. Definitely a 3.5 as its only $60USD but unfortunately I had the 1977 portwood shortly after and in comparing to that it was hard to round up to a 4.

Damn this whiskey bar is good. All the fresh off the press brand new stuff up for the tasting. I'd heard great things about the 16 year, did the 11 live up to the family hype? Unfortunately I paired it with the Hazelburn Olorosso and Kilchoman Red wine which took out joint first. This was good and a few drops of water opened it up but it wasn't as good as the other two. I can't remember exact flavour profiles as I was on my third whiskey and chatting to a mate so my memory fails me. It's a fair bit more expensive nearly 50%) than the Hazelburn 13 at $115USD. A respectable 4 I'll give it.

Ah yet another great drop. This one beautifully blends smokey charcoal and olorosso sherry flavour with a perfectly balanced oilyness. Good value at $75 USD here. Definitely another mid 4's. 4.49 to be precise.

Ah the great Kilchoman run at my favourite whiskey bar continues. For just over $20USD I got to try this, Hazelbank 13 yr Olorosso, Springbank local barley 11 year and a 2004 Connoisseurs choice. Outstanding as none disappointed. What I like about this place is you can keep a list of what you want to try pop in and ask them. This one they had just got in, it wasn't even on the bar floor and the staff themselves hadn't tried...after they got it out of storage and I got stuck in a few more joined me :-). It was a tough choice between the Hazelburn and the Kilchoman. Both were great, I got a faint ashy hint, red wine berries from this one. Goes for $90USD here which is fair. Not sure if I prefer this or the sanaig. Call it a tie. 4.5 I'll give it. Update: After procuring a bottle soon after my initial review 3 years later as part of clearing out my whisky collection to friends and auction I kept this as my last bottle. As i headed in a brief period of abstinence I reluctantly parted with the bottle to remove temptation. Amazingly at auction it didn't sell with people chasing the big names Macallan, Ardbeg etc. The auctioneer offered to buy it for cost but I thought na its fate. I had by that time resumed drinking so took it back, sent the auctioneer a couple of samples and finished the entire bottle in 2 weeks. Long story short it was just as good as i remembered and very happy i consumed vs sold!

With a lower score on distiller but a few recent positive reviews I was hoping for the best. The 18 was still fresh in my mind, sadly departed though so I launched myself into this one. Faint wiff of the bowmore flavour profile, hint of honey but that was it for me. No bad notes or anything but not much else either. Charitable 3 I'll give it.

Wow barbecue ribs on the nose and then straight on the palate. It's like someone poured liquid barbecue smoke mixture into the batch. Never really had a flavour like that. I wouldn't say its a complex dram as that's as far as it goes really and slightly on the artificial side like the rest of the balcones range. The more I get into it the more I realise its a one trick pony and I couldn't consume to much of this at all. It's a hard one to pick I'd say 3 for overall appeal but 4 for novelty value. 3.5 it is.

Nose is really weird on this one. I get honey but also a smell i can't place my finger on. A waxy plasticy ethanol. Not a bad drop. Honey, spice green apple on the palate. Even at 48% seems better without water. Aftertaste is slightly astringent. 3.4

Cracking open the sample on this one and giving it a nose definitely reminded me of lagavullin 16 which i haven't had in a while. The similarities translate to the palate, a cross between the laga and a bowmore 18 in some ways in terms of flavour profile but thinner and younger. No harshness though. I'm really impressed with this drop given its only 5ish years old. My favourite Kilchoman so far. The distillery founders Anthony and Kathy wills will be attending the NZ dramfest in March next year so I'll make sure to pop along to the special session they are running and sample all their top notch stuff :-). 4.25 at least for this one.