Tastes

The nose is yeasty bread dough, lemon squeeze, burnt tennis ball, vanilla cream, briny peat bog. The palate is big on vanilla. Iodine candy. Saltwater. Lemon pound cake. Some spice, cinnamon, clove? Spearmint. Salty smoke and vanilla with a spritz of lemon carry into the finish. The empty glass smells like mesquite smoked brisket drizzled in brown sugar barbecue sauce. Despite 60+% I haven’t yet tried this with water, as it doesn’t appear to need it. Will update if it changes significantly with water. This is a big bruiser of a whisky - it’s rich, pungent, and glorious. I had another batch several years ago, but don’t recall being blown away. I suspect my young whisky palate wasn’t quite prepared for the onslaught of peaty deliciousness of this whisky. I don’t think it’s quite on the level as the 2021 Cairdeas PX, and I might place Ardbeg Corryvreckan (2016 bottling) slightly ahead of this, but I think this deserves every bit of four and a quarter stars.

The nose is cherry orange marmalade, licorice, raisin, vanilla, cinnamon. Could almost pass as a finished bourbon on the nose. The palate shows malt and honey, covered in berry orange raisin vanilla. Overall, the fruit is pretty prominent. Some dark chocolate and spice comes on toward the finish. A little bitter, but I don’t think overly so - provides a nice balance to the fruit-forward flavors. I think this is a worthy competitor to Glendronach 12, and in fact I think I prefer this one. It’s got a slightly higher proof, and the fresh fruitiness is more to my liking.

The nose is floral, orange blossom, licorice, honey, orange cream, chocolate. I know this supposedly has a higher percentage of peated malt than their normal offerings, but the peat is quite mild. I imagine my preference for peated whisky recently has probably dulled my peaty senses some. On the palate, the peat shows up in a much bigger way, especially with a few drops of water added. There’s the orange, but more like a smoked orange. Almost burnt. Apricot. Honey. Toffee. A little bit of soot. Slight generic herbal note. Cinnamon. The spice carries into the finish with the sweet toffee orange smoke. At $50 I feel good about this purchase, but I struggle a bit to see the value at SRP, which appears to be about 80. It’s got decent complexity and it’s better than the 12 year - at least the current iteration of the 12, but the cask strength is much more enjoyable, and for only about $90 locally.

At first the nose is a little shy outside of ethanol. After airing out for a bit, lemon, Nilla Wafers, banana, salty, chocolate, black licorice, floral, slight berry. Smoke, but it doesn’t strike me as “heavily peated.” The nose suggests more mild to maybe moderate peat. There’s also a hint of the industrial funk that I usually associate with Campbeltown. Springbankishness. The palate is better than the nose. Full flavor, I’m sure owing to the high proof. The peat stands out more, and now this seems well into the moderately peated realm. Smoke and brine. Maybe a very slight iodine note, which as an Islay fan is very welcome. Lemon hard candy. The casks come across as mostly ex-bourbon, with plenty of vanilla. Malty. There’s also a little bit of dark fruit and chocolate, making me think a few Oloroso casks were included in the batch. This appreciates some time and a little water. Too hot for me at full strength, but I also found that I liked it more the longer I sat with it. It comes across as young, but enjoyable and reminds me of Ardnamurchan’s young whiskies. I’m giving it the same rating I gave the 12 year, but I’d have the 12 year as slightly better. I like the heavier peat and the higher proof of this one, but the 12 is so well balanced with a little bit of everything.

It says aged 401 days. From a distillery in Branson, Missouri. Oh boy, here we go… The nose is a mix of new make sourness, damp cardboard, old Tootsie Roll, and something vaguely citrus. The palate follows with much of the same. The palate is better insofar as the nose is fairly offensive, but the palate is mostly bland and unenjoyable. The damp carboard note is balanced by some generic sweetness. Thankfully, the finish is mercifully short. The Tootsie Roll note is kind of interesting, but overall not good. It’s mind-boggling that they put a $65 price tag on this. Maybe I’m missing something about the terroir of Redneck Vegas.

The nose is lemony vanilla. Banana. The peat is there as you approach the glass, but remains somewhat on the periphery. The palate brings the tropical fruits Arran seems to be known for. Banana, pineapple, coconut. Big vanilla sweetness - must be all ex-bourbon casks. Peat is more prominent on the palate than the nose. I’m not getting any of the medicinal notes as in Islay peat, but it’s more smoky and salty/briny. The finish is fairly short for a peated dram, but does show some oak and spice, lingering vanilla smokiness. I quite enjoy this, but wish it had been an entire bottle. Unfortunately, it arrived from Fine Drams with a leak of about 20% of the bottle, and also unfortunately, Fine Drams apparently has no customer support. They haven’t responded to emails or social media messages, even though I can see that they’ve read the messages. For a moderately peated whiskey, it’s an easy drinker. It’s fine neat, but I think does better with a little water. It’s not complex - it seems like it’s missing a savory element to balance the sweet and peat. But overall I’d say it’s a winner (of course, I think white dog from Arran would probably be a winner). Credit to Finedrams, as they did end up sending a replacement bottle, which arrived safely. Also, additional tastings have me bumping this up a quarter point. Clean fruity peat and it's just an easy drinker.

2021 bottling. The nose is orange, milk chocolate, honey, pear, pepper. The peat is in there, but it's subdued more than i remember from my last tasting of this, which was from the 2019 edition. The nose is somewhat reminiscent of a Highland Park, more so than what I'd expect from Talisker. The palate shows more peat, but also shows a good bit of lactic funk. Wet cardboard. Ham, orange, light to medium peat. Prickly heat. The funkiness reminds me of the unpleasant experience i had with the Balvenie Toast of American Oak, which makes me think this bottle was somehow spoiled like i think that one was. Not to the same level, but this still is not great. After some googling, I'm convinced this bottle has experienced what's informally known as cork taint, or TCA spoilage. What convinced me is the recommendation to try soaking the whiskey with a bit of saran wrap, as TCA is said to bind to polyethylene. Sure enough, the whiskey seemed to improve after swirling it with a piece of cling wrap. However, as that's unrealistic to expect to do that with every dram, I'm considering trying to return this bottle to the store. Anyone else had any experience with corked whisky, or ever tried returning a bottle before?

I haven’t been blown away by previous Kilchoman tastings, but i was intrigued by the 100% Islay using all local barley that was floor malted in house. According to the box (which actually made it home this time), the peat is local to Islay also. The nose is lemony-vanilla, banana, and a hint of permanent marker (credit to someone else for that note, but it’s spot-on). Slight earthy note. The peat isn’t really hitting me strongly in the nose. Some ethanol shows up, it noses all of 50% ABV, if not a bit higher. The palate is more rewarding than the nose. The lemon vanilla comes through. Also the banana. Peat smoke is more prevalent here and through the finish. The peat is more smoky than earthy, as in the Loch Gorm. Also salty, seawater. Minerals. The finish is fairly short for an Islay, but pleasant. I like this. It’s probably my favorite of the 3 Kilchomans I’ve tried. It’s an enjoyable whisky. However, I haven’t tried the Machir Bay, and I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t significantly better. I do appreciate what the distillery is doing, and I don’t mind paying more for the extra work they’ve put in here, but I kind of expected a little more. It’s good, but if you’re not into paying more for the story, your money can go further with other Islay malts.

This bottle came home with me from a trip to Santa Fe. Didn’t make it to the distillery, but tasted 5 different bottles at their downtown tasting room. My favorites were this one and the apple brandy finished single malt. I understand that the single malt is a blend of 30% mesquite smoked malted barley and 70% unsmoked. Compared to the Del Bac Dorado, the mesquite flavor can be difficult to find. In fact, on the nose I don’t notice mesquite or smoke at all. It’s mostly apple, bubblegum, and something slightly herbal. The palate and finish seem to be where the mesquite shows up, but I’m not sure that I’d identify it if I wasn’t looking for it. It’s fairly subtle. It’s drinkable neat, but I prefer it with a little water. On the palate more apple and now caramel and cinnamon. A little smoke shows up on the back end going into the finish. It’s not immediately recognizable as mesquite smoke as it is with Del Bac, but some smoke is there nonetheless. Something mildly herbal shows up again, which someone else identified as sage, and I could go along with that. Overall, I enjoy this. It’s perhaps less interesting than Del Bac Dorado, but it’s more drinkable with the mesquite dialed way back to almost unnoticeable. It still retains some interest with the slight smoke and herbal note. Not on the level of some of the better Balcones single malts, but I think worth checking out, especially at the reasonable prices at the distillery. The regular priced at 49, apple brandy finished at 59, and cask strength $69.

The nose is winey, floral, citrus, and something about it reminds me of removing old wallpaper from walls. Not sure if it's the glue or the damp mustiness of the wallpaper. It's not an entirely unpleasant note, but definitely interesting. The palate carries over much of the same, with a continuation of the odd/interesting flavor experience from the nose. It's quite full-flavored for the proof. Floral, herbal, strawberry taffy sweetness. The finish shows some wood tannins, but it's a nice balance to the floral fruit funk. I believe I've had a Westward before, but the experience here doesn't feel familiar. I can definitely say I've never tried anything with these flavors, so score a point for uniqueness. I'm not sure that it would be something I'd want on the regular, but I enjoyed the sample and am pleased to be able to try. Thank you @PBMichiganWolverine