Tastes

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, cinnamon, pepper. It's very sweet and comes across almost more like a rum than a bourbon. Despite the stinky lid, it's quite enjoyable whiskey, although it's nearing liqueur-level sweetness. Update: not quite finished with the bottle, but am really enjoying this. It's a sweet treat, and a great value. Bumping the score up to a 4.

Bottle picked up for a weekend at the lake. This is surprisingly good, especially at the price of $30. The nose is apple, banana, dark cherry, bubble gum, caramel, toffee, vanilla, charred oak. The nose has a little heat. The palate follows pretty close. More cherry than banana on the palate. There’s some oak and a nice tinge of bitter that gives some balance to all the sweetness. While the nose was a little hot, there’s not as much heat on the palate. I think it’s better than OF100, Early Times BiB, Buffalo Trace, WT101, but also a few bucks more than those. I’d say it’s fairly competitive with EHTSB, Woodford DO, OF 1910. It’s no world-beater, it’s pretty straight forward, but it’s a solid bourbon for $30. Update: the banana note is much more noticeable when doing a side-by-side with something else, so buyer beware if not a fan of the banana note.

The nose is vaguely reminiscent of Trapper Keeper cardboard and plastic, along with faint chlorine, like the smell of hair recently out of a public pool. Underneath, there’s some caramel and wheat flour. The palate is more pleasant, but similarly interesting. Some familiar bourbony flavors, but also the strange notes above. Some chocolate, reminds of whiskeys that use chocolate malted rye. The finish leaves more of the caramel and ends on a positive note, but overall this is a strange whiskey. I don’t actively dislike it, but my experience of it is more one of curiosity than enjoyment. I was actually excited to see this on a local shelf today, knowing I had a sample at home to try. But after sampling, I don’t think I’ll be returning to purchase. I am really grateful to @ContemplativeFox for the sample. And I think this is a good example of how palates differ. Fox, who has a palate much more refined than mine (and whose opinions on whiskey I respect greatly), seemed to really enjoy this, but my experience seemed quite different. It may be that more time with this one is needed to appreciate, or just that my palate is different enough that this one didn’t hit for me.