Tastes

A pleasant marriage of peaty smoke and Pedro Ximinez sherry. The Sherry really comes through here, sweet and raisiny, with smoke all around. This is a "barbecue" scotch in the best possible way!

Dark chocolate and wood. Added a little water and the chocolate gives way to char and spice. Full bodied and bold. Actually kind of smokey, which I don't usually find in bourbon. Really tasty stuff!

Grassy, hay, heather. Herbal, spicy, slightly bitter- light flavors, fairly oily palate. Definitely a different experience- pleasant and drinkable. I got it because I loved the name, I'm not going to lie, but it's a pleasant drink as well. The heather is very pronounced- it's actually exciting to see it so front and center. If someone were to ask me what heather tasted like, I'd give them a taste of this.

Sweet, malty, nutty. Salty, obvious maritime influence. This is by far the saltiest malt I can think of - it's soooooooo salty, in the best possible way!!! Oily/creamy, pleasant caramel notes. A little bit of smoke, but it goes a long way combined with the rest of the flavorw. I have about 30 whiskeys in my collection- several rare/hard to find. I want to drink this over most of them, not just because it's affordable, it's genuinely good, really good! Easily top 5, maybe even top 3. Dare I say... maybe even #1... Can Highland Park and Laphroaig ever forgive me??? I've polished off half the bottle now, and I will be picking up another before this one us empty.

Peat smoke from start to finish. Right when you think that you've got all the smoke, you get hit with more smoke, and then more, and more. Dry, smokey, very salty finish. I was expecting this to be good, but it blew past my expectations. This is virtually perfect.

I like this less and less the more that I drink. It reminds me of a tootsie roll, and that's not a good thing. I'll be sticking to the 12 year...

Oily, creamy, peaty malt. Smoke, smoke, and more smoke. 8 different kinds of smoke. Smoke for days and days. Do you want smoke? Because this is how you get smoke!! If you don't like smoke, what the hell's wrong with you? Also, you might want to pass on this one... or, you know, buy it and give it to me once you figure out that you hate it. It hurts to say this... it pains me as much as this whiskey is smokey. I might actually like this more than Laphroaig and Highland Park. There, I said it. I am ashamed of myself.

Raisiny nose, the sherry influence is obvious. Sherry, lots and lots of sherry. Raisins and spice. Oily texture, rich spicy flavor. Nuts - almost chewy. There is some tannic influence from the wood and aging - a bit herbal. I found a bit of vanilla as I worked my way through the glass. Dry wood in the finish, some smoke. I bought this for $250 back in 2002. It goes for well over $1,000 these days. It's good. Maybe it's worth $250, but definitely not $1,000+ good ;). I could buy 15-20 solid, delightful bottles for what I'd pay for just this one. It is delicious, but there are things that I'd rather drink, and things I'd feel less guilty drinking.

Very pleasant. A little bit of smoke. The rum influences are much more mellow and sophisticated than I expected or have experienced in Rum seasoned or Rum finished whiskeys. This has a banana flavor with cream and tropical fruit- maybe a hint of papaya? Not at all what I expected in a whiskey. The malt is definitely there in the forefront, the tropical flavors are more scenery to the scotch, which is as it should be. There is a hint of brown sugar, but it's not strong. This is a rich, oily, creamy dram with a lot of unusual stuff going on, but it really works - the balance between the whiskey and the finish is near perfect!

This is an interesting experience- there is smoke right from the start, but it isn't intense. The rum character is present, but not overwhelming. It does, somewhat overpower the gentler malty notes, but you can find them if you look. There is a bit of molasses with a slight alcohol burn at the end. Definitely drinkable and it's different. Good, but not great - 3.6, current distiller score is pretty reasonable. I'll need to drink more to determine if I want to keep this on hand or not once this bottle is empty.