Tastes

Owing to its low ABV, I've never given this malt much thought, but ended up with a bottle by way of a whiskey pull at a benefit event. I get a candlewax vibe from the nose. It's slightly floral, honey, citrus. I don't get something possibly peat adjacent, somewhat reminiscent of Clynelish. This carries into the palate, but again very faint. The palate is mostly honey pear citrus musty wood, drying finish. Slight saltiness. Waft of smoke. Nice mouthfeel, particularly for the 40% ABV. This is better than I expected, although I don't know that it's a stellar value.

Obtained this from a whiskey pull at a benefit event. It tastes like Laphroaig, all the expected notes are there, but it's only a shadow of itself at 40%. The flavors are actually more dialed back than I expected for being only 3% less ABV than the 10 year. It's fine, but I struggle to understand why anyone would buy this.

Plenty of apple and vanilla with a dry woody finish. Maybe a little hotter than it should be for 46%, but can't complain too much for $25.

Nose: berry, mango, soft peat, light brine, hint of mint. The peat is more vegetal with a little smoke. Palate: nice syrupy texture. The berry on the nose takes a backseat to the vegetal peat and briny flavors. The berry mixes with orange and vanilla sweetness up front, then gets carried away by the peat. There's a flash of mint chocolate in the mix. In the end, vegetal, briny with a little ash to round out the finish. The empty glass has iodine and bandaid. Overall pretty good, with the standout features to me being the nose and texture. This is enjoyable whisky, but as with what seems like most of the special releases in recent years, this seems inferior to the core lineup. It sells at a discount to Corryvreckan's current price, but the Corry is a much better whisky. Uigeadail can be found locally for a little less, and again it's a much better whisky. I don't have the 10 on hand, but I'm not sure it's not better, and it goes for much less around here. 3.5 - 3.75 range for me.

Orchard fruit bonfire. Apple peel, orange peel. Sticky monkey bread. The palate starts with the fruit, apples, oranges, toffee, then ashy smoke. Adding water makes orange peel more waxy. I really enjoy the nose with, but I prefer the palate without water. Comes across like a moderately peated Clynelish. Quite good. Seems like it was a great buy on clearance for 100.

Green apple barbecue. Spicy, salty, savory, smoky, herbal, semisweet. There's also a dirty, grungy industrial note. Tasted blind, I think there's a chance I could be talked into thinking this is a mezcal. There's no agave flavor per se, but the prominent smoky savory herbal notes are somewhat more reminiscent of mezcal than scotch. Going deeper there's a little berry, raspberry, maybe blueberry. Oatmeal crumble on a cobbler. Overall, this definitely fits in among other island single malts, especially Ledaig and Kilkerran. Funky and interesting. I enjoy it.

My last experience with Balvenie was not a good one, but this one somehow pulled me in with another discounted price. Thankfully, this one's very good. Stewed honey apricots and smoke on the nose. Ashy smoke envelops the palate. It's quite surprising how much peat came through, just from not cleaning the stills after peat week. The honeyed fruit pokes through the cloud of smoke, and it all works together really well. Not a ton of complexity, but this is just really enjoyable whisky.

Nose: salted caramel, berries, cinnamon, ginger, and a mineral note in the manner of Talisker. Palate: toffee, blueberry pie filling, light peat, ginger, pepper. The first few drams of this were quite peppery. Too peppery. But having been opened for a couple months and adding a little water makes this whisky shine. It's fairly straightforward - what you smell is largely what you get on the palate. But it's really well-made whisky. As a fan of Madeira-aged whisky, I expected to like this more than the Midgie, but my enjoyment of this one is roughly the same. So the same score this one gets.

Picked this up on clearance for 50. 6ish years old. Proof is 113.6. Nose is peanut shell and oaky vanilla sugar-crusted caraway seed. The palate has lots of vanilla and oak. Cinnamon candy and very slightly herbal spice going into the finish. Peanutty finish. Drinks more like a high rye bourbon to me than a MGP 95 rye, but that seems true to form for a Kentucky rye. I tend to like more rye in a rye mashbill, but this is good and a great deal at $50. I think you can do better for the normal price of 100ish though.

I struggle to feel like I’m rating this fairly, as lately I’ve preferred drinking more lightly peated whiskies. I loved the 2021 Cairdeas PX cask strength release, and this is the most similar release since. In some ways this seems more refined and balanced. But for whatever reasons this doesn’t wow me like that one did. I’ve had a few drams from this bottle and it just comes across as very good, but not great. All the expected flavors are there from the medicinal peat, the PX sherry. The proof is good, no water needed. I keep getting the feeling that I would’ve rated this higher 3 years ago, but tastes are subjective. 4 stars on this day in 2025.