Tastes

The nose is honey, orange peel, pear, lightly smoked seashell (don’t ask me why you’d smoke a seashell). The palate is vanilla pear custard, honey, faint peat, pepper. I think this is very good, but it also doesn’t seem like a great deal. It tastes like Johnnie Walker Green with a little more peat. I almost think I could get a similar profile by adding a splash of Talisker 10 to JW Green. I also prefer the younger cask strength Diageo special releases, which is what I’ll stick to when buying Talisker. Update: 2nd half of the bottle I'm enjoying more than the first. Bumping up a quarter point.

The nose is orange chocolate, raspberry Whoppers. Slight herbal note more in the background. The palate follows the flavors on the nose, but starts to develop some spice mid palate. Cinnamon, clove, ginger. Very slightly herbal again going into the finish. I’ve only had a few offerings from New Riff, but they’ve all been good. Great pour - chocolate, fruit, spice.

Many thanks to @PBMichiganWolverine for the sample. The nose has some rubbery peat, lime custard, apple orchard, and soft floral notes. The palate is fruity sweet on arrival, ripe plum, toffee, vanilla, transitioning to a sweeter peat, slightly savory, followed by some ginger and pepper. I’ve been curious about Chichibu, but haven’t felt the urge to splurge because I understand it’s quite young and very expensive. Now having tried, I can start to understand why these command such a high price. A remarkable pour that I am thrilled to have been able to try. Thanks again, Pranay! I’ll join the chorus of 4.5s on this one.

Picked this up for $30 from someone unloading some unwanted bottles. Private Barrel pick from Thru the Cellar Door, which appears to be in Broken Arrow, OK. The math on the proof/ABV doesn’t add up - the bottle says 62.75% and 133.5 proof, so it’s unclear if this is 62.75% or 66.75%. I’m guessing the latter. 8 years old, so several years older than their regular cask strength bottling. This absolutely needs a little water, both because it drinks very hot, but also because it unlocks some nice fruit flavor. On the nose peach cobbler with a cinnamon brown sugar crumble. Pleasant oak and a slight plastic note that reminds me of Maker’s Mark. The palate is sweet bready vanilla pastry, apricot, coconut, orange peel, transitioning to some drying oak tannin. Lingering brown sugar sweetness, but a fairly short finish considering the proof (whatever it may be). All in all, a great buy at $30, but I have no idea what this sold for originally.

Bourbon flight of this, Rabbit Hole Heigold, and Peerless Double Oak. This was my favorite of the 3. Lots of oak on the nose. I don’t get any banana, although a very slight hint of it does show up towards the finish. Spicy sweet, comes across as higher proof than it is with the spice. Woody caramel, some cherry, and the hint of banana. Really nice bourbon, although I’m not sure the value is there even at SRP to be worth chasing.

Bourbon flight of this, Rabbit Hole Heigold, and Old Forester 1924. Caramel apricot fruit leather nose. The palate is thick dense sweet, with some wood tannins, but stops just short of being too much oak for me. Quite an enjoyable pour, one I wouldn’t mind revisiting.

Had a bourbon flight of this, Peerless Double Oak, and Old Forester 1924. This was corny sweet butterscotch with a pleasant rye spice. Decently good bourbon, but I wouldn’t want to spend more than $40 for. I think I recall seeing that it sells for a good bit more than that.

The nose is orange cinnamon caramel glazed dill pickle. The palate has all of the same notes, but the dill is sandwiched in the mid-palate by caramel and cinnamon on the front end and finish. A little more of the caramel on the front and a little more cinnamon on the finish. It’s a nice example of the MGP style rye if you like the dill note.

Small sample, tasted blind. My notes were apple on the nose, and on the palate caramel and wood. I enjoyed the pour, but it certainly didn't leave a strong impression. I thought it probably had a decent age and was flavorful, but fairly thin. I was surprised when it was revealed as EC18. I think what holds this back from being memorable is its low proof, although I could also imagine that it might come across as too woody at a much higher proof. Glad to try, but don't feel compelled to buy.

Fruity nose. On the palate light malt notes, cereal grains, honey, vanilla. Comes across like an easy drinking Irish whiskey. At the price you could do a lot worse.