Tastes

N: Grape, honey, vinaigrette. P: Honey, fruit salad, wheat toast. F: quick finish with barrel notes, orange.

N: An interesting fatty quality on the nose is what I first notice, like butter or wax. Beyond that are rich toffee notes, roasted nuts and charcoal. The bourbon barrel influence is evident. P: Very malty, tangy marmalade, raisins, buttered toast. F: Sweet raisiny finish, mint, bready, lingering. A good, and less fruit forward, Highland malt that has a bit more to offer than it's Macallan compatriot.

N: Coffee, apples, nuttiness, a wisp of cigar smoke. P: Green apples, berries, toffee, melon, mild black pepper. F: Tart frutiness, a little bitter almond. Very tasty, but not quite on par with Irishman 12 and nearly twice the cost.

Bruichladdich luxury tasting, Part I. The short version is that this stuff really is that good. N: Figs, chocolate, plums, faint hints of salt spray. P: Massive, multi-layered flavors that I wish I could try again to explore them all. Stollen cake, salt, strawberries, creaminess, maybe just a hint of mild green chilies? F: Rich rumble of thunder from the sherry influence. Deep red wine tannin, raspberry tartness, chutney.

Barrel #1066, 8 yrs 6 mos This is one of the easiest sipping whiskies I've had. The notes that jump out on the nose and palate are butter and maple syrup covered waffles, licorice, spice, grape, and a little vanilla. The app rating of 96 seems a little overexcited to put this in the rare company of some of the most prestigious whiskies made. But it's not exaggeration to call it incredibly good and a mind boggling bargain to find it at $29 like I did.

N: Wood shavings, toffee, peanuts. P: soft and sweet entry, maple, bread and butter, a little cherry tartness, caramel. Finish is medium short, with the woody tannin and toffee being the most noticeable. This is good bourbon, and reasonable cost for the novelty. I can't say I'd want this over the 12 year, and certainly not over anything in the antique collection.

N: Rounded aromas of cocoa, maple, a bit of dark fruit and barrel char. P: Peaches and cream. Later there is mint, pepper, and some astringent fruit notes like honeydew melon. Like a bright vibrant summer salad but not overly sweet. Medium finish. The peach and pepper linger. This is the best Irish whisky I've had. One that belies Irish whisky's little brother status to Scotland's single malts. This will have permanent residence on my shelf now.

This has a 13% rye content but for me the peppery funky rye presence burns a lot hotter than that percentage would indicate. N: Boozy, black pepper, cinnamon and clove, brown sugar, pumpernickel. P: Burns hot. Pepper, sugar glaze, chocolate. The initial christmas cake sweetness is taken over by the spicy, woody backbone. Long finish. This is a sticky sweet fruit cake with the spice cranked up. It is not a subtle whiskey but you'd be hard pressed to find a better bargain. $31 in Massachusetts for a bottle.

We're finally here. The Classic. The Archetypal Malt. That which is virtually synonymous with whisky even for non-drinkers. N: All kinds of fruit, though the most prominent is apples and berries. Some syrupy sweetness, and rounded buttery notes. P: More apples, and the sherry cask is evident from white grape and raisin flavor. Not as cloyingly sweet as you might guess from the nose, and there's a subtle sharpness like carbonated mineral water. Maybe a bit of middle eastern spice too like cinnamin and chili. Medium short finish, no one aspect stands out. It's probably the weaker component of this dram. Is this overpriced?...Not necessarily, though the core lineup as a whole from Macallan probably is. This distillery has elevated their reputation through really careful marketing that you'd expect from a cologne. I certainly have other 10-12 year malts that have a lot more regard for than this. But it's still good, and hype aside it's worth getting a bottle at least once.

Really, really intriguing but maybe not QUITE on par with 2017. Nose: big and sweet with raspberry jam, peanuts and pecans, molasses, balsamic glaze. Palate: nutty, buttered toast, bright cherry tartness, salted pretzel, wood spice. Medium finish for the proof. The peanut oil, tart fruit, barrel spice and red pepper is what hangs on. In very subjective terms, if whiskey were music then this would have all the treble and the bass notes you want but missing some of the subtle, layered mid range that I got with 2017. Still very good, but not a profoundly great bourbon.