Tastes
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OuuNovember 20 2021 A sentimental favorite from my squandered youth. And so a whole 50 years gone by, naturally I can’t resist revisiting this old girl. A one ounce pour into a Glencairn glass. Wow, it’s sweet! Yet there is a very slight burn in the back of the throat, indicating some cheap scotch whiskey underlying, aha! The sweetness strongly suggests honey, yes? Oh, I think so. It’s nah so bad, but even this half bottle gonna last me quite the while, methinks.
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November 20 2021 A bottle my son gave me for my birthday several years ago, and now down to about half a bottle. An ounce & a half at room temperature in a Glencairn glass, big flavor, big burn in the throat, so an hour or so later, having no squeeze dropper or pipette, I add a very small drizzle of tap water, and in the mystical lingo of whiskey tasters, it “opens up” the precious dram. Shazzam! Well, yeh, it really does help get it down without the distraction of the burn. Oh, yeh! Great stuff, though I’m not doing side by each comparisons here. I do have a liking for cask strength whiskies, but I’m not gonna pretend this’s my ultimate whiskey. That’d be a peated scotch, say Lagavulin 16, or one of the Bruichladdich Octomore series.
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November 5 2021 Not my first rodeo for Lagavulin 16. A 1 ounce pour in a small snifter at the Tangent Café on The Drive in Vancouver. As usual for me, the nose is more complex than the palate, the latter being almost an afterthought. My opinion? It still deserves its place as a benchmark for peated scotch whiskey.
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A bottle purchased from ye old BC government liquor store on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. The cheapest of the lot, about $50 and tax, CDN. One ounce in a Glencairn glass, no refrigeration or other nonsense. Smoky and vegetal-herbal on the nose. Take the nose impression, add some citrus, and there you have it. Haven’t had a mezcal in at least a decade, so I’m fine with it. I noticed some barrel-aged mezcal in a cabinet in the store, but similar to tequila, I think I’d prefer the blanco product. I love barrel-aged whiskey and some styles of beer, but I’m also a fan of the herbal character of agave spirits, and I think the barrel aging obscures that. Anyway, this bottle gonna last me a while. I’m not planning to be a mezcal connoisseur. I just wanna have a bit of variety in my liquor cupboard. Totally unrelated to the product, let me tell you how fucking awful the browser version of Distiller.com is for editing! 😆
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Gordon's London Dry Gin (40%)
London Dry Gin — Canada
Reviewed October 4, 2021 (edited March 26, 2022)October 4, 2021 I’m a recent convert to gin, though I still love good whiskey and all that. I’ve been trying some premium gins, and they were all very acceptable, but some, such as Monkey 47, are steep in price, and this bottom shelf, workhorse bar staple, is about a quarter the price, eh? Besides being perfectly acceptable in a gin & tonic, it’s far from wretched as an everyday neat sipper, besides which there’re all manner of handy additives and tinctures, starting with Angostura bitters, that one may add to jazz up the flavor profile a notch er two, eh? Actually, I liked this brand from the very moment I read Stephenie Moreno’s review, giving it a/score of 89/100. Cheers, gin fans! -
My second favorable comment and review on this one, and just finishing off the last ounce ‘n a harf of a half bottle. My first bottle and certainly not my last. This stuff just gets better, iow, it grows on yuh. The nose is magnificent, and the extra 4 percentage points of alcohol sharpen the nose and flavor. Yum!
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October 1st 2021 A 30 ml pour into a small snifter at room temperature. Several swirls around the inside of the glass, then poking my beak in. Yeh, man, heavenly! Mostly citrus, herbal and floral notes. Juniper is present, natch, but subdued - a good thing. There’re in fact many of the same flavor notes one might expect to find in a complex whiskey - minus the oak barreling notes. After the huge and complex nose the taste is almost a letdown, but an easily fulfilled obligation, all the same. Wonderful stuff! Never’d have thought the Germans would be the experts on gin!
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A 375 ml bottle from a BC government liquor store on Robson St in Vancouver. Widely available in government stores. Noted the strength is 44% ABV, a factor to consider when comparing prices between brands. Gordon’s is my value-for-dollar favorite, but is 40%. Also in the 375 ml size, it comes in a plastic bottle, not everyone’s favorite, but for immediate use, who gives a hang, eh? Sorry, reader, I digress. Back to Hendrick’s. Wonderful, and not heavy on juniper, more to citrus and other subtle herbal notes. If you like lots of the berry of the juniper bush, stay away. Worth the money for those of us who enjoy our gin neat, and savor the nose as much as over the gums! Dunno as I’d bother if my taste ran to gin & tonic. I do like a well made gin & tonic in warm weather only, but I’d be loathe to use a premium gin for that.
Results 11-20 of 72 Reviews