Tastes

You know that scene in Ratatouille when Ego first bites into the dish Remy prepares? Like that.

This is the lazy Sunday brunch of bourbon. A soft, bread and butter nose with pecans and jam. The flavor is oak forward, with cake and peanut on the tail end. Surpisingly strong spice on the finish for a wheated bourbons, still very rounded and easy drinking. If you're trying to convert someone to bourbon, this would be a good place to start.

Knob Creek might be one of those bottles that fades to the background a bit in the very crowded field of mid-tier bourbons. But finding a 100 proof whiskey with a 9 year age statement around $30 is solid. And the actually tasting doesn't disappoint. This doesn't present as sweet on the nose as some bourbon, with more char and oak barrel up front then vanilla and pastries following. The palate is straightforward cake, dark fruit, timber and pepper all playing a role. Medium burn and drier, woodier finish than most bourbon. This is a very a respectable everyday pour, and one you could find in most bars. EDIT - it was pointed out this no longer carries a age statement. Subsequent tastings have me lowering my grade a bit. I may have been a bit generous or it just caught me at the right moment. It's a good but not exceptional bourbon.

Holy smokes, batman. Everything you like in the 10 year, you'll love in this expression. Of Ardbeg's higher end sub-$100 pours, I'd probably give the edge to Uigeadail for the added complexity from the sherry influence. But this is still a high octane peat thrill ride.

Some familiar notes of rubber, smoke, and fish are there on the nose, but in addition I also found honey and apples. This is certainly a more subtle peated dram. On the palate more of the same, though I also got some surprising grassy and vegetal notes. The finish, as the distiller review mentioned, is fairly dry like a dry white wine. There is a subtle yet prolonged smoky burn. It's absolutely a worthy peated whiskey, though one that takes a different tack than most others.

Certainly an inoffensive bourbon, and one that would be fine as the base in a whiskey cocktail. But nothing stands out. Corn and molasses on the nose, pretty neutral sweetness and little burn on the way down. This is for guests that aren't picky or to spike a christmas punch, not much else.

First impression on the nose is a tire fire...but in a good way! That certainly dominates but after the initial peat hit, there's a definite lemon and herbal quality. The palate has much more of the same, with a salted pretzel edge. The peat presence in this dram is more rubbery and medicinal rather than the campfire and bacon fat you get with other Islays. More of the oak barrel comes through on the back end, and the finish is fairly quick. I enjoyed it, though I prefer more of the barbecue and wood smoke qualities in peated scotch. This would be a challenging beginner peated scotch, but absolutely worth your time to try if you prefer that medicinal, petroleum quality to peat.

All the classic peated presence is there you'd expect: the smoke, pepper and tire rubber. But this is a sweeter dram than other peated single malts. Licorice, orange zest, and a bit of bitter fruit...cranberry? A different take on peated drams than others I've tried but very good.

This was my first rye that wasn't in a cocktail, so I may have been thrown off by some of the notes I experienced that differ from bourbon. My major impression was a pumpernickel bread funkiness that dominated the nose and palate. Beyond that, tart and tangy fruits like apricots and green apple, a sharp peppery finish with medium sweetness and burn. Overall an interesting dram but I think rye is not in my wheelhouse flavor-wise so my take on this might be unhelpful to rye enthusiasts.