Tastes

I was let down a bit with this one. Age: NAS Nose: light...vanilla and apple cake...little caramel. Palate: this is the best thing about this whisky. Thick, fairly oily. Drinks at 46%. Almost refreshing for the proof. Get just enough of the apple and vanilla..little pear. Finish: solid. Doesn't wow you, but solid. As aforementioned, drinks like a lower proof, however also has the flavor of a lower proofer. Eh...just a solid finish. This one was frustrating. Great mouthfeel, but to be honest, just halfway there on the flavor. Had a glencadam 10 side by side,and I would pick that everytime over this.

This stuff is devine. Age: 9-11 years Nose: cherry cough drops, caramel, vanilla, baking spices. Palate: SO viscous and syrupy. The cherry menthol tickles the front of the tongue, and is washed away by the spice creating an amazing hug. Clings to every part of the mouth. Glorious. Finish: perhaps the best finish I've ever had on a rye. It goes and goes...still going. Lingers as long as an islay, but it's sweet and spicy instead of ash. In the end, this is a banger imo. I've enjoyed 4 pours of it since I bought it a few months ago. Some folks say that they can't tell it's a WT product...I think if you're into Turkey, you can tell...the cherry spice gives it away. Great stuff. Ready for RB rye!

Let me start off by saying that this whisky is extremely underrated and underappreciated. The review posted here is...bullocks! The only thing that I can think of, is that this place was mothballed for a while. Maybe it's different stuff? Age:10 Nose:apple, vanilla, banana Palate:fairly viscous at 46%. You're taken on this amazing flavor journey that starts off as bright and citrusy grapefruit, and then transforms into apple vanilla cake, and then finishes with unripened banana. Finish:That fruitiness is what stays with you. So incredibly pleasant. I can thank a local lq manager for suggesting this. It shows you that a great whisky doesn't have to be something that everyone is chasing down. This is a diamond in the rough. If you love Irish whiskey, you will also love this. In fact, you might freak out for this.

So...as many of you are probably already aware of...store picks of RR can be dare I say...game changers. This particular pick is from Argonaut in Denver. We've had few RR store picks drop this past year in Colorado, and this one is my favorite. Age: 9 years, 11 months Nose: oh sweet nectar of the gods...nutmeg, allspice, caramel, vanilla Palate: Syrupy...the spice blends in perfectly with a cherry cordial cola thing. Oily af, and mouthcoating. Tingles the front of the tongue and gives way to the perfect hug. Goes on for a minute or two. Finish: just alluded to that...the perfect finish. All of the flavors come together like the second side of Abbey Road. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love"...the Russells make.

Age:9 years, 3 months. ABV: 58.7 My dad picked this up for me on a trip to Wisconsin last summer. Dipped neat (Well, of course). Nose: floral, vanilla, caramel..a bit of granny Smith green apple. Palate: follows the nose. Really floral. Not as viscous as I had hoped. Finish: medium length. Nothing surprising. In the end, this was pretty solid. I still have not had a 4R that's blown me away. Am I just a Turkey freak who prefers that flavor profile? Perhaps. I enjoy these store picks, but the 4R picks don't even come close to good RRpicks imo.

The best 80 proofer I've ever had. Somehow, the flavors are still popping. It's still oily. It's a medley of dark fruit from the nose to the finish. If it was 46%, it would be an all time great.

So...I didn't really know what to expect here...would it be fractured and all over the place, like a few reviews that I'd seen, or would it be the whiskey of the year? My thoughts are, closer to the later. Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, vanilla...can tell it's thick. Palate: yea...banana nut bread for days. Viscous...oily, mouth coating. Finish: goes for a good while. The mouth is left with that magical numbing effect given off in an eloquent manner. Definitely closer to whiskey of the year material. I was ready to dislike this. I hadn't purchased one for two years, because so many people had given it meh reviews. Imo, it's a home run. Drank it side by side with stagg jr. batch 12...I preferred this one. All comes back to the bananas foster/banana bread thing.

Excellent stuff. Nuanced and refined throughout. Amazing mouthfeel and finish. Spice, cherry, cola...and just a hint of minerality.

This stuff is amazing. You are not missing anything with jr on this batch. Cherry coke...crazy mouthfeel. Had it at 4.75, and then I did a side by side with 1792 full proof. It's still excellent! That full proof was better imo. Which do you prefer, cherry coke, or banana nut bread? I prefer the latter.