Tastes

On the nose, sour apple, apple cider vinegar, raisin, sulfur, ethanol, and a little funky in an intriguing way. The palate hits with somewhat similar slightly discordant notes. There's the apple and ethanol, then some rich malty and sherry notes in the middle, then transitions to a somewhat harsh finish. I think this is likely to be friendly with a little water, but it may take some experimentation to dial in the right amount. I added a little to see. The nose stayed interesting, and the palate certainly improved with less harshness and more of the sherry richness showing. Comes across now somewhat more like a prototypical sherry bomb. This is an interesting dram, and one I'm a little on the fence about. It's interesting and has some really nice flavors, mixed in with a little bit of harshness and funk. Overall, it's one I wouldn't be opposed to picking up a bottle to explore more, particularly at the right price. Thanks go out to @ContemplativeFox for the sample!

Noses with creamy green apple, pear, red apple peel (apparently lots of apple), raisin, vanilla, maybe a slight note of smoking fireplace off in the distance, but definitely in the background. The palate continues with some of the same fruity notes, more of the slightly bitter apple peel, dried fruit, and now laced with a little bittersweet chocolate, nuts, and some oakiness on the finish. The empty glass has a nice aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon apples with cream, resting in a walnut bowl - it makes me want another taste to see if I can pick up those flavors. I like this a lot, but there's not quite love - I suspect that I would need more time with this one to appreciate it more fully. It may also betray the youth of my palate. I do like this enough - and the empty glass intrigues me enough - that I could definitely see purchasing a bottle to see how it strikes me over several sittings. Thank you so much to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for the generous sample!

Thanks to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for the sample. The nose is full of cherry. The palate continues the cherry, along with rich caramel and vanilla, and rolls into a somewhat leathery finish. The sherry cask works a lot better than I expected, as I don't recall having much finished bourbon that I've been crazy about. I don't know that this is around anymore, and I've never seen it around here, so I don't know that this review serves any other purpose than as a souvenir that I tried and enjoyed. Thanks again, BOL!

On the nose, apple, light smoke. On the palate apple, barley, a little peat shows up mid-palate. A little vanilla. Easy to drink - the sample went down a little quicker than I was able to take many notes. I think this is a good entry for an American Single Malt, although it seems like I've seen this priced in the $70 dollar range, which seems too high. I think this would be good at the $40-50 range. Many thanks to @ContemplativeFox for the opportunity to try this one.

Nose grapefruit, something floral, and light peat. The nose reminds me a bit of Springbank 15. On the palate citrus fruit, vanilla, light peat. I'd like to spend more time with this one, although I don't believe I've ever seen this release around here. Thank you @ContemplativeFox for opportunity to try this one!

The nose is fruit, raisin, fresh roasted coffee beans, buttered dinner roll. The sherry fruit shows up on the palate, along with toffee, leathery oak. I don't know if there's peat in here, but there's something slightly smoky. The rum notes blend in well, but it seems like I'm picking it up in the mix. Mouth-coating and full-flavored. Really enjoyable pour for me. Thanks to @ContemplativeFox for this sample!

Old style bottle. 63 bucks. In a word, this is delightful. A fruit bomb of a whisky. Pear, citrus fruit, mango, pineapple, coconut honey (is that a thing? It should be a thing), sweet white wine on the nose. The fruit carries over beautifully to the palate. A little bit of malt and honey, a smidge of salt with a dash of wood and barrel spice to round out the finish. It's what Glenmo Nectar d'Or wishes it could be. So far I've only tried the 10 year and this one from Arran, but they're batting 1.000 so far.

On the nose vanilla, pear, a little lemon, and a bit of ethanol, more than I'd expect for 43%. The palate is actually quite pleasant with vanilla, pear, slight citrus note, a little barrel spice on the finish. Strikes me as like an Irish whiskey, light and easy. Not especially complex, but good enough to sip on and enjoy. I wouldn't buy a bottle at the price this seems to fetch of over a Benji, but I'm grateful to @ContemplativeFox to be able to try this one.

Somehow this is simultaneously schizophrenic, and easy to drink. It comes across a bit like someone mixed a little of each of my bourbon, rye, and malt infinity bottles, but then it somehow worked. I can pick out elements of corn, rye, malt, even peat. The nose shows orange peel, caramel, cinnamon, slightly smoky wood. The palate seems to hit first with the bourbony caramel and vanilla, but then morphs into scotch flavors with malty, apple, honey, nuts and then a little spice. There's a little tobacco, oak, and the finish shows a hint of peat smoke. This is a really interesting whisky with some twists and turns, but it's also super easy to sip without trying to pick it apart. It's a winner for me.

The first thing that should be said about this whiskey is that the lid smells awful. It's a plastic twist-off with a little foam seal on the inside. I'm not sure where the smell is coming from, but I don't know how it doesn't affect the whiskey. Also, I don't understand how anyone else hasn't commented on it. Once you get the whiskey out of the bottle, it's a really interesting dram. Butterscotch, molasses, maple syrup, banana, something tropical, cedar, with a slight touch of rye on the back end. Drinks much lower than its proof. It's very sweet and comes across much more like a rum than a bourbon. Despite the stinky lid, it's quite enjoyable whiskey, although it's also nearly liqueur level sweetness.