Tastes

Nose - Dark heavily dried stone fruits, sweet tobacco, leather, dark chocolate mocha, icewine like sweetness. Taste - Dark plums stewed with cinnamon/nutmeg in a sweet moscato/riesling, cocoa nibs, cinnamon spice, lightly fruity/bitter like a cider pressed with skins/cores, white pepper heat, a bit thin on the mouthfeel. Finish - Lingering dark stone fruit sweetness, fruity bitter cider, lingering cinnamon spice, long lasting, mouth drying finish. Score - 91/100 Final Thoughts - This one had a wonderful nose, you could immediately tell that it was a heavily sherried malt. Once it hit the tongue, it felt like a lower proof dram, but the flavors were definitely not dialed down at all. Full flavored just like the nose. No off putting notes. The bitterness plays nicely with the sweet to balance it out so it's not cloyingly sweet. Finish is where I wish this held up a bit better in that it is long lasting, but the sweetness fades a lot faster than the bitterness so you're left with this somewhat fruity bitter apple/grape seed bitterness.

Nose - Zero ethanol burn, sweet dark dried stone fruits, orange custard, faint brine, hint of sweet nutty marzipan, hint of dark cocoa and freshly oiled leather. Taste - Sweet black peppery spice, dark raisins, plums, and berries stewed in a sweet red wine, lightly drying, sweet tobacco, leather, white pepper heat, dark chocolate bitterness, very faint wisp of smoke. Finish - Long lingering spicy fruity sweet, light fruity bitterness like that of grape seeds or apple peels, dark stone fruit sweets turns into golden raisin sweet, light smoky sea salt. Score - 93/100 Final Thoughts - This is a truly remarkable dram on all fronts. Amazing nose, fantastic on the palate, and no off putting flavors on the long long finish. This is what happens when a whisky has had 25 years to patiently age in a barrel and marry together beautifully. I have a feeling there's at least a portion of some peated malt in this one but it has been tamed beautifully by 25 years in oak. It's very subtle and adds a nice hidden dimension to the dram that plays a supporting role and doesn't distract from the overall experience. Very well balanced and something I will be enjoying to the last drop of the bottle.

55.4% ABV | Nose - Sweet fruity vanilla, sweet minty/cherry candies, berry gummies, sweet herbs, candied ginger, cherry Twizzlers. Taste - Sweet herbal vanilla, ginger/cinnamon spice, sweet melon, sweet orange zest, sweet mint/herbal syrup. Finish - Lingering sweet herbal/fruity/vanilla, light bitterness, cinnamon/ginger spice lingers. Score - 78/100 Final Thoughts - This is a very interesting rye in that the nose seems all over the place, but the dominating feature is sweet. It's like a strange sweet herbal/fruit/spice on the nose that's very difficult to pinpoint the components. The mouth is similar although it's dominated by a "general" sweetness although a berry/herbal sweet dominates. The finish is also a bit strange as I get this slightly sweet, mildly medicinal finish that doesn't really scream "rye" to me. Interesting enough, but I think this might be delegated to "try to identify this" pours or cocktails.

Nose - Sweet vanilla caramels, light sweet mint, faint milk chocolate powdered cocoa mix, hint of sweet artificial cherry. Taste - Thin but drying, sweet oaky vanilla simple, hint of sweet mint, cherry candies, cinnamon heat, light oaky bitterness. Finish - Sweet oaky simple lingers, cinnamon heat, long light slightly medicinal cherry sweet. Score - 84/100 Final Thoughts - This was a tiny bit disappointing to me as it had a very pleasant nose, not overly complex but showed a lot of promise. Once it hit the tongue, it fell a bit flat from expectations in that it had more of a medicinal artificial cherry flavor than cherry candies and it had this slightly off putting wood/apple stem bitterness to it. Overall not too bad, but maybe single barrel variance made me have a slightly off barrel? It's good but not great and for the price, makes me want to reach for WT 101 Rye.

Nose - Dark honey, sea salt, dark amber pear cider, strawberry jam. Taste - Initially thin & drying mouthfeel, oaky aged riesling sweet, lightly fruity tannic, red berries, hint of saline, light oaky drying bitterness, hint of dark chocolate, black pepper spice. Finish - Lingering oaky riesling sweet, red wine tannic dryness, white pepper tingle, amber honey sweet. Score - 90/100 Final Thoughts - I really like this one. Nice nose with a balance of fruity and chocolate. A tiny bit thin on the mouthfeel initially but that's not a huge problem as the flavors are very present. Nice balance of what leads me to believe that there was also some sweeter white wine influence here as I get something either riesling/moscato/gewurztraminer sweet mixed with some red wine fruity tannic. Nice amber honey sweet and a tiny bit of white pepper spice. All the flavors right in my alley.

Nose - Dark dried pitted fruits, hint of saline, hint of barrel aged pear cider, muscat grapes, toasted oak. Taste - Dried prunes/cherry sweet, dark oiled leather, sweet spicy tobacco, sea salt, white pepper heat, black pepper spice, dark fruitcake, sweet muscato or riesling sweetness. Finish - Lingering sweet spicky dark stone fruit sweetness, white pepper heat lingers with black pepper spice, barrel aged dark apple/pear cider, toasted apple peels. Score - 91/100 Final Thoughts - This is quite a tasty dram. Very complex on the nose, nothing offensive, smells and tastes very "dark" and "bold." It's a very nice balance between dark stone fruit sweet and what I get in the background as a moscato or late harvest riesling sweet. A very nice balance with a great finish and great mouthfeel. My guess is that there's a mixture of some toasted french oak casks, port casks, and maybe some moscato or sweeter wine casks in the mixture. Compared to the BA4.1, this one is a bit darker in sweet profile as I get more fresh berry sweet in that one. I'm really glad I had a chance to try this one as it's a delicious dram throughout.

Nose - Sweet vanilla caramels, fairly oaky, brief hints of cherry/strawberries. Taste - Spicy fruity vanilla sweet simple syrup, cherry/strawberry soda, light oak bitterness that's kind of weird, light cinnamon/white pepper heat. Finish - Lingering sweet, white pepper heat, fruity vanilla simple, lingering oak bitterness. Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - This is a pretty tasty bourbon. Nice nose for sure but it definitely needs a bit of air time to fully bloom, and it does deliver mostly on the palate with classical wheated bourbon notes. Nice fruity vanilla but then there's this extra spice component along with this odd bitterness that kind of throws it off balance. Closest thing I can use to describe it is an oaky bitterness, but that doesn't really do it justice. Regardless, not too bad of a wheated bourbon, but at least here in WA state, the price is a bit of a turn off since I can get OWA for less.

Nose - Fruity dark honey, tanned oiled leather, toasted brioche, dark dried stone fruits, grilled pineapple, hint of toasted coconut, grilled peaches. Taste - Fruity/floral dark honey, spiced honey drizzled grilled pineapple/peaches, sweet tobacco, leather, subtle hint of dark stone fruits. Finish - Long lingering sweet leathery/oaky spice, light fruity medicinal sweet, like that of goji berries and longan, lightly drying. Score - 96/100 Final Thoughts - I really really hate to add to the hype of Japanese whisky but this is a very well put together and balanced like their other offerings. This is a very excellent blend of malt & grain whiskies put together in a beautiful bottle and is a fantastic mix of dark and light flavors all in one package. The age shows in this with the darker color, but the heavy oak influence is subdued a bit and the flavors just work together. A nice balance of dark flavors (leather/tobacco/dark fruits) balanced out by light flavors (honey/grilled peaches/pineapple). I'd say this is definitely something best sipped neat without the addition of any water since it's already at a respectable 43% and very well balanced as is.

2017 Release Reviewed Nose - Very sweet/fruity nose, strawberry hard candies, hint of Werther's, butterscotch, milk chocolate. Taste - Sweet and lightly drying mouthfeel, strawberry hard candies, hint of sweet cinnamon red hot heat, butterscotch, vanilla caramels, lightly bitter oak tail. Finish - Lingering cinnamon sweet heat, fruity strawberry/cherry candies, lingering lightly fruity bitterness, oaky fruity/floral vanilla. Score - 92/100 Final Thoughts - I absolutely loved the nose on this one as it was almost zero alcohol burn and was just pure vanilla fruity sweet. Once it hits the palate, it delivers most of what you get in the nose but also introduces a cinnamon spice component. Sadly I don't get as much chocolate on the palate as I would've liked but you can't win them all. The finish is medium long in that the sweet cinnamon fruitiness lingers a bit and fades to this kind of weird bitter/green/sapling oak. Overall this has been better than most of the "Weller" line that I've had to date and I guess I can see why as this is one of the "cherry picked" barrels, but didn't quite make the cut to be Pappy. Overall very tasty and if it can be found at or around retail, I'd say go for it.

Nose - Brown sugar simple, barrel aged vanilla, hint of sweet cherry vanilla coke. Taste - Fairly thin but drying, oaky vanilla brown simple, oaky charred cinnamon spice, lightly oaky/char bitterness. Finish - Dry oak, cinnamon spice, barrel aged simple. Score - 82/100 Final Thoughts - As much as I wanted to like this one there didn't seem to be much going on. It had a very simple, but pleasant nose, but sadly I didn't get much of the cherry vanilla coke on the taste as I did on the nose. Oak was present but I don't think it was very overpowering like many people have stated, but maybe that's because I tend to like more bitter things. It's not a bad bourbon by any means, but there's not really anything that really distinguishes itself from others. If tasted blind, I don't think I'd be able to pick this one out as maybe this particular barrel wasn't the best? To me, it tasted like a slightly oakier "generic" bourbon.