Tastes

A travel retail exclusive from my good new friend Paul. Awesome sauce! I can smell an abundant amount of oily fruit in there. Nice, there is even a slight amount of peat on the nose too, with a beach campfire (S'mores with milk chocolate.. oh yes). Ride with me here down to the palate. At 43%, we are going to Neatland. It has a surprisingly thick medium mouth coat, along with a blast of peaches and cream, smoke, iodine, nectarines, and sulfur. The finish brings the sulfur into a rhubarb pie with a bitter fruity coda. Wow, not what I was expecting from such a low ABV. All I can think of are "taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnngerines", so the theme of this dram is, without a doubt, "She Don't Use Jelly" by The Flaming Lips. Oh yes, it exceeded my expectations with a 4.25, my friends.

Outstanding!! The nose brings a nice combination of tea, honey, vanilla, mocha, and slight peat. The palate is absolutely sublime with a huge amount of toffee, caramel, salted pretzels, milk chocolate, and pralines. A long finish is welcomed with a sweet smoky blonde brownie. This core offering proves that this distillery is one of the best of the best. Sheesh. This dram definitely proves you don’t need a ton of peat to shine like a diamond in the land of Islay. Therefore, the theme of this dram is “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd. 4.5!

Cheers to my good friend Lee for this sample. On the nose, sweetness takes shape with vanilla, caramel, cherries/sherry, and sweet tobacco. For the palate, darker fruits like blueberries, cigars, toffee, salted peanuts, and cashews. The finish is nice and long with some sulfuric notes on the back end. This is not the older original release which gets slightly higher marks I hear, and I'd love to try it. I'll give this a 4.0. The theme of this dram should be "Smokin'" by Boston.

Everything with this dram is subtle, but it is good. I know the haters out there will knock it for E150, chill filtering, and price. Well, the nose has light cherries, strawberries, dark chocolate, and rice cereal. The palate brings the same with the addition of light maple syrup, faint sherry notes, honey, butterscotch, and vanilla. The finish is short with bitters, a smidgen of tobacco, and smoke. Not a lot more to it, but enjoyable. The theme of the glass should be a nice three chord simple song. Perhaps “A Horse With No Name” from America. Thanks so much for the sample Scott! 3.5

Not as timid as I thought it was going to be, based off other reviews. Now, it's technically not the flavor bomb I typically enjoy from peat or sherry, but it's got some nice sweet full bodied pear, vanilla, honey, and heather. The palate has some white pepper, more light fruits like white grapes, peaches, and cream. The medium finish has a slight alcohol burn to it, but the richness from the pears really stand out. It's a really pleasant dram that would be perfect for an introduction to scotch who likes lighter fruit and floral flavors. Hmm, a 3.5, rounding up. This one screams summer to me, so the theme of this dram will be "Southern Cross" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. A big thanks to Scott for the sample!

This is a smart blend. SCIENCE! Reminds me of “Blinded by Science” from Thomas Dolby. Anyway, the peat from the Ardbeg, smoke from Caol Ila are big on the nose, along with light citrus notes. The Clynelish most likely helps the mouth coat here on the palate. Great baby back rib flavor, with a squeeze of lemon. The finish is nice and long with more smoke, ash, and bbq. I will say that I wish there was just a touch more sherry or sweetness of sugar somewhere in here, but that’s a major first world issue. I am giving a 4.25 leaning toward a 4.5 though. Heck of a dram! Big thanks to Mr. Pranay for a sample!

This one is extremely similar to the Auchentoshan Three Wood to me. A ton of molasses, caramel, sherry notes, dark brown sugar, and some other dark spices on the nose. The palate is tasty with the same notes, plus some nice burn from the 46% ABV. The finish is medium length, and carries in a vanilla/espresso flavor. You do have to be in the mood for a sweet dram, but I might have to disagree with Pranay on this one a little bit. Thanks so much for the sample, my friend. It's too bad it's not normally available in the U.S. A nice 3.5 from me. A theme to this dram should be a sweet song like "There She Goes" by The Las.

I need a dedicated pipeline of this offering to my mouth. The nose is complex with apricots/oranges, leather, brine, tobacco, and mint. For the palate, I get a huge juicy plum, sea salt, more tobacco, mocha, espresso, more fruit like a raspberry compote. Flaky crust and then into a nice medium finish with more mint and chocolate chip ice cream, with smoke on the back end. Overall, a great balanced dram and it’s too bad there are only 252 bottles. A song for this dram should be a rare b-side as well. Let’s say “Acquiesce” by Oasis.

This is a fantastic example of what a NAS should be, but is it REALLY a NAS?? Now the caveat here is that it’s a blend of 67 - one refill sherry hogshead, 76 - oloroso sherry butt, 84 - refill sherry hogshead, 90 - first fill bourbon barrels, and 05 - first fill bourbon barrels. The nose is extremely complex with cherry cordial, both light and dark fruit, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, Rice Krispie treats, it’s all in there. The palate is just as complex with butterscotch, toffee, dark chocolate, black cherries, peach cobbler, and cream. The finish is medium length, bright, with hints of tobacco and basil. I am not sure how rare this is, but I put it on the same pedestal as the Bruichladdich Black Arts 4 1990. It was a dusty box on the top shelf of a local store. A theme for this dram is “Close to the Edge” by Yes. Long, elaborate, and well worth the experience.

Ooooooh. The nose has red delicious apples that have been candied mixed with the biggest oranges you can imagine. Nice bright spices and pineapple too. The palate brings more awesome fruit cocktail, and no, not the canned crap. Orange gumdrops and whoppers mixed with some cinnamon sticks. Really damn nice. The finish is medium to long and reminds me of a stick of Juicy Fruit gum. What a nice dram! You may laugh at me, but this is “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys. 4.5. I love it! RIP Carl Wilson.