Tastes

Smells surprisingly of citrus, like pineapple almost. Once you get past that, the more typical cherry, brown sugar notes that you expect make themselves known. The taste starts with a strong tannin punch, along with those same cherry caramel-y wheated bourbon notes from the nose, with enough acidic tang to keep it from being too dark. The finish though turns very dark, into dark chocolate and black cherry, before lifting off your palate with a strange chalky sensation. A wild ride all the way through, but also totally enjoyable. I’d argue that the Stagg is a wee bit better, but this is probably the second best bourbon I’ve had.

Last pour out of the bottle I found at a bar. There’s a battle going on between the banana/vanilla aspect of the whiskey and the strong excess alcohol. Unfortunately instead of being one fantastic punch of vanilla, the alcohol fractures the flavor, and it ends up smelling musty and weird. The rest of the whiskey is fine at least. Nice notes of candied orange and rye spice, with generic sweetness. And the flavors are not oppressively strong like some high proof bourbons. But unfortunately the vanilla affair just kills it for me.

I found a pre-viking bottle at a bar. Very complex, high quality I assume, but not incredibly tasty. A chin stroker for sure. Of course, I’ve done it a disservice by having it with food. But either way it wasn’t really jumping out at me.

I can’t believe how much I like this. Found a bottle for a not-insane price and temptation got the better of me. This whiskey gives you a ton of dark fruits, with strong notes of caramel and cinnamon backing it up. As you let it sit for a while, some dark chocolate and nutty flavors start to make themselves known. Pretty hefty mouthfeel too. Similar to a dark Belgian ale, if you’re a fan of those. The booziness from the overly young malt (my big fear when buying this) is mostly tamed. Overall, it acts much more like a bourbon than a scotch, despite the whole “pot distilled, single malt” terminology on the bottle. I have no complaints about this one. Lots of good flavors, and lots of strong flavors. But I am curious to see how my friend likes it, who normally hates scotch. We shall see. *Update: He said it tasted like fig newtons.