Tastes

Finally getting around to this absolute classic. It’s one of my first go-to bourbons, and has always been an incredibly well-priced option. It’s worth noting that this bottle is from the old packaging style, so it was bottled at least a couple years ago. Without further ado, let’s dive into the famous Wild Turkey 101. Nose: Toffee, vanilla, and caramel. Cocoa. Black tea. Sawdust. Caramel used apple and dried apricot. Ginger, peppercorn, pipe smoke, and orange rind. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, rye, and oak spice. Nice nose, and an extremely spicy one at that. Palate: Gala apple, vanilla, toffee, caramel, and brown sugar. Fudge. I’m greeted with a surprising sweetness as compared to the nose. Dried and regular apricot. Cocoa. Peppercorn. Leather. Almond and pistachio. Orange citrus. Ginger, wood, sawdust. Cinnamon, black pepper, rye, clove, nutmeg, and oak spice. Finish: Cocoa. Peppercorn. Pipe tobacco. Black tea. Almond. Vanilla, brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. Ginger and rye spice. Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Long.Beast of a finish. Just when you think it’s done, another spice wave comes crashing down. Awesome. VFM matters. And this is a strong whiskey whether you consider VFM or not. Especially the finish. It’s powerfully spicy and trades the refined notes that define the Russell’s line, and presents as an incredibly brash beast of bourbon. I paid $27 for this bottle, and I’ve seen it for less. I was going to give this a 4.0, but as I said, VFM is important. 4.5/5 for this. There is simply no better whiskey at this price or lower. It’s tangy, and it’s spicy. If that description doesn’t appeal to your palate, this may not be for you. But if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, do not let the name dissuade you. Your money is well spent here.

The Redbreast Kentucky Oak got kind of lost in the sauce when Redbreast started their wine barrel Finishing Series. I’m not sure if this is a fixture or just a one-off, but they’ve done so well with the limited releases I figured this couldn’t fail. Nose: Sandalwood. Shortbread cookie, vanilla, and honey. Apple, pear, and white grape. White chocolate. Toasted almond, pecan, macadamia, and walnut. Cocoa butter. Cinnamon, white pepper, peppermint, and heavy oak. Palate: Vanilla custard, toffee, shortbread cookie, and honey. Caramel and fudge. Sandalwood. Toasted almond, macadamia, and walnut. Pistachio. Cocoa and tobacco smoke. Black pepper and a faint hint of orange rind. Ginger. Apple. Dried apricot and cranberry. Peppermint. Finish: Toasted almond, macadamia, and walnut. Golden raisin. Cocoa, tobacco smoke, and orange rind. Ginger. Clove, nutmeg, black pepper/white pepper, cinnamon, and oak spice. Long finish.Awesome stuff. Yet another great NAS one-off from Redbreast. This profile actually reminds me more of Mizunura Oak than Bourbon Oak. Doesn’t change the fact that this is really good, in fact, it just make it that much more unique. My only critique is the price. It’s not unreasonable based on the quality, but it’s also not getting any awards for VFM at $120. Otherwise, I like the product here. I feel like Irish whiskies can go one or two ways. They are either bottled at cask strength, or have relatively low proofs. 101 proof seems like a nod to Kentucky, and it’s nice to see a non-CS expression that punches with the power that this does. 4.5/5.

Mortlach 12 was solid. They earned my business going forward, and the next logical step was to move up to their 16-year. I had no expectations when I tried the 12, but now that I’ve had it, I’m very much looking forward to this 16-year. Nose: Macadamia and toasted almond. Orange and tangerine citrus. Vanilla, shortbread cookie, and toffee. Graham cracker and honey. Peanut butter. Stella D’oro. Raspberry, apple, blackberry, raisin, and plum. Pomegranate and cranberry. Cinnamon and black pepper. Plenty of baking spice and oak. Rich nose. Palate: Honey, vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, and toffee. Milk chocolate. Stella D’oro. Almond butter and toasted almond. Walnut. Orange and tangerine citrus. Apple, pear, apricot, plum, and golden raisin. Honeydew. Raspberry and blackberry. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Finish: Pomegranate juice. Apple, pear, apricot, golden raisin. Plum, raspberry, and blackberry. Vanilla, caramel, toffee, Stella D’oro. Almond butter and toasted almond. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. Oak. Moderate length. This is awesome. Allegedly a sherry bomb. The packaging tells me it’s exclusively aged in sherry casks. It drinks like a bourbon-sherry hybrid. I’d guess more bourbon than sherry influence. And I can appreciate this. Sometimes a sherry-aged malt is too plush—the casks completely overpower the spirit. The Mortlach profile takes center stage with this one—to the benefit of the whisky. A 16-year old single malt for $95? Steal. As if it wasn’t good enough on its face, the VFM is exceptional. 4.25/5. Looking forward to trying the 20 year to complete the core lineup. As for this, it’s a great, unique, and well-priced Speysider.

Interesting concept here. Pulling the whiskey that soaks into bourbon barrels to make a new whiskey. I can get behind that. Not a lot else to say here—besides that this was responsible for the worst drinking experience of my entire life roughly ten years ago to the day and that I haven’t had it since. But I can’t blame that on Jim Beam, or the Devil for that matter, so I’ll try not to let the past play a role in my rating. Nose: Peanut brittle and oak. Almond and woody notes. Vanilla and toffee. Banana and vitamin notes. Heavy barrel char and tobacco smoke. Cocoa. Lord of spice. Black pepper, clove, nutmeg, allspice, and oak. Palate: Caramel, almond, wood, and cocoa. Pistachio, macadamia, and a big-time walnut note. Peppermint. Dusty corn note indicates youth. Sawdust. Orange citrus. Ginger. Heavy spice. Cinnamon, black and white pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Finish: Cocoa. Dusty corn. Caramel and vanilla. Sawdust. Tobacco smoke and orange citrus. Black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak spice. No bad experiences this time. It’s what I’d consider to be perfectly decent whiskey. A tad on the boring side even—at least for something boasting the name Devil’s Cut. It’s young-ish. It isn’t particularly complex. But it’s a perfectly fine drink. I’m going with a 2.75/5 here. It only ran me $28, and where I live, it’s tough to find a drinkable whiskey for under $30 these. This clears the bar for “drinkable” and then some. It may be better served as a mixer, but I don’t mind it as a sipper. Without considering cost, this would have been 3 stars or lower, but factoring the absurd price hikes over recent years, and VFM is an incredibly important component when it comes to my scoring process. Decent stuff here.

This seems to be a standalone NAS, not part of the order NAS line or the current one. If it sounds like a random purchase, that’s because it was. I vaguely remember trying it a whiskey tasting and putting it on my list when this came out several years ago. Well, here it is. Nose: Classic Macallan. Milk chocolate and orange citrus. Vanilla, toffee, and butterscotch. There’s almost a molasses sweetness here. Pencil shaving and tangerine come in light I’m going in pretty much blind in terms of backstory with this one, but I’m getting plum, raisin, fig, date, and red grape that indicates sherry. That’s expect of Macallan, but I know they’ve gotten away from their standard formula in recent years. Apple, pear, and apricot in the background, along with some oak. Palate: Milk chocolate, orange and tangerine citrus, and vanilla once again. It’s like fruit and cake for dessert. The apple, pear, and apricot are more at the forefront of the palate. Honey, toffee, and malt. More plum, fig, date, raisin, and plum. A touch of honeydew. Finish: Milk chocolate, orange and tangerine citrus, and vanilla once again. Toffee, malt, and honey. Golden raisin, fig, date, and plum. Ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, and oak. Moderate-long finish. This is a nice, easy-going whisky. It is a good representative of the Macallan profile during the “Edition series.” It drinks cleaner than any of them, and while it doesn’t pop in any one direction, is probably the most balanced Macallan I’ve ever had. Now, I have to consider VFM. Judged purely on quality, this is an undeniably solid malt. But when I consider I can get three bottles of some top-notch Scotch for what this one ran me, I’ve got to take that into account. At $275, this is perfectly pleasant, but doesn’t stand out in any way. 3.75/5. It’s a 4.0 star whisky if I didn’t know the cost. It really is very good. Something you’d like to pour into a decanter to impress people that are—worth impressing—if you do that sort of thing. And for the most part, it delivered. Cost hurts this. Yet, it is undoubtedly a fine representation of the Macallan flavor profile. I wouldn’t buy it again, but it’s certainly worth a go if you can snag yourself a pour. Cheers.

This is the inaugural release of Redbreast Iberian Series. Scotch and bourbon brands o’plenty have been using the annual NAS release gimmick, so it’s nice to see Redbreast start this trend for Ireland. I believe this PX line has been re-released, but this is the from the first batch. Let’s check it out. Nose: Gala apple, toffee, caramel, and vanilla. Shortbread cookie. Plum, raisin, date, fig, and cranberry are suggestive of the PX influence. Orange citrus and milk chocolate. Blackberry and raspberry add an interesting twist. Black pepper, cinnamon, baking spice, and oak. Palate: Orange citrus and milk chocolate are the dominant notes. Vanilla pecan ice cream. Nougat and toffee. Butterscotch. Some apricot and gala apple in the background. Shortbread cookie. Golden raisin, date, and fig. Cranberry, blackberry, raspberry. Some tart plum in the mid-palate. Peach as well. Orange sherbert even. Cinnamon and oak. Finish: Plum, date, fig, raisin, cranberry. Orange citrus, milk chocolate, vanilla, and toffee. Shortbread cookie, honey, and butterscotch. Black pepper, cinnamon, baking spice, and oak. Moderate-to-long finish, leaning toward the latter. The nose was initially a bit faint. Thought it did open up over and was plenty good once that happened. For a 46%’er, the finish was solid. And the palate—exceptional. The cask selection had to have been fantastic to make this flavor profile pop the way it did. Sure, all the classic Irish notes were there, but they played second fiddle to the PX notes—which validates my expensive NAS purchase. It certainly lives up to its name. Speaking of this being expensive, I paid $110 for this one. Definitely a heavy price to pay for an NAS in a brand new line of cask experimentation. And yet, I can say with confidence that my money was well spent with this one. All in all, 4.5/5 for this one. Maybe my nose is a little compromised from the pollen that’s filling the Jersey air right now. I’ve got enough for one more pour, so I’ll be sure to review my notes for the nose when my face is a bit less swollen. That aside, there is absolutely no doubt that this a superb whiskey. I’m very much looking forward to trying the Tawny Port next. Awesome stuff here from Redbreast.

I finished reviewing Talisker’s core range last week, so it’s fitting that I’d start working my way through a new island distillery now. This is my first Arran review, so no expectations. This bottle is from before they changed the packaging; it’s the narrower bottle as opposed to the newer, squat bottles, meaning that this can be treated as an “older vintage.” Nose: Heavy on the orchard fruit. Macintosh apple, pear, and apricot. Vanilla, honey, toffee, and malt add more sweetness. There is just a touch of plum, grape, and raisin adding a bit of richness to the aroma. Floral notes. Lemon drop and orange citrus. There’s a note that is extremely reminiscent of Sprite. Mild spice and oak. Palate: Macintosh apple, pear, apricot, and orange citrus once again, along with the floral notes. White grape and golden raisin. The Sprite again. Light custard with some vanilla, toffee, and honey. Sugar cookie. Banana. Medium-roast coffee. Light spice and oak. Finish: Macintosh apple, pear, and apricot. Plum, raisin, and grape. Caramel, vanilla, and toffee. Cinnamon, baking spice, and oak. Moderate length finish. Compared to its peated counterparts, this makes for a fairly mild drinking experience. Yet, at 46%, it’s actually stronger than most of the entry level malts in this category. The flavor comes across like a Highland, which threw me off just a bit. But that’s just a product of my expectations. Every Island distillery needs to be judged on its own merits. I’m looking forward to getting a grasp on Arran. As for the 10 year, 3.75. A bit pricy at $64, but a solid whisky. I’m locked in to try the rest of the range based on the quality of this flagship malt.

I’m moving through the Old Forester collection slowly but surely. I loved the rye and the Original Batch was solid. This is widely considered the crown jewel of their core range, so I’d be lying if I didn’t have high expectations. It’s worth noting that this bottle has the old label—the one with diagonal print—so while these batches aren’t labeled, it’s possible that this was bottled considerably earlier than the one you have. Nose: Classic OF vitamin notes. Toasted almond, macadamia, and walnut. Sawdust and wood. Brown sugar, nougat, and caramel. Vanilla and banana as you get past the heat into the background. Speaking of the heat, cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak notes come through in impressive force, as expected of 60%’er. Palate: More toasted almond, macadamia, and walnut. Tobacco smoke, sawdust, and wood. Banana, toffee, and vanilla custard. Apple cider. Caramel, cocoa, and brown sugar. Dried apricot and raisin. Plain glazed doughnut. Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Finish: Vanilla and banana. Toasted almond, macadamia, and walnut. Tobacco smoke, cocoa, and black tea. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black and white pepper, ginger, and oak. Heavy barrel char. Long as they make ‘em. This is probably the best bourbon on the market that hasn’t become a victim of scarcity or inflated price. The only other mainstay bourbons that exist in this stratosphere are Henry McKenna 10 and Russell’s 10. This comes out ahead of the three. The Prohibition is a behemoth of a whiskey. 5/5. Truly something to behold at what is essentially barrel proof, yet incredibly tasty even without water. It’s complex, balanced, and is the best representation of the Old Forester flavor profile I could imagine. And it’s an absolute steal at $60. It makes some of the price hikes we see with other brands seem all the more unwarranted when something is on the market. Expectations exceeded. Well done.

It’s been at least 5, maybe even 6 years since I reviewed the Lagavulin 9, which I believe was the Lannister bottle. That was solid, but I had a fair comparison with the mainstay Lagavulin 8. I hadn’t seen the show then, but I watched the whole thing a year ago. This is just an NAS Dalwhinnie, so I’m not expecting much here. Choosing a Highland malt is a fair choice to represent the Starks, though. Nose: Floral notes, with some orchard fruit. Granny Smith apple, pear, and apricot. Toffee, vanilla, malt. Caramel. Unripe banana. Graham cracker. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Palate: Vanilla, honey, caramel, and toffee. Milk chocolate. Sugar cookie. Apple, pear, apricot, and golden raisin. Plum. Custard. Clove, numteg, cinnamon, and oak. Finish:Vanilla, honey, caramel, and toffee. Apple, pear, apricot, and golden raisin. Clove, nutmeg, white pepper, and oak. Moderate length. Pleasant enough whisky. Definitely could’ve used more time in the barrel, but it’s fine for what it is. $60 is too much even considering the gimmick, so I docked a quarter star for VFM. 3/5 even. This may not have done the Starks justice, but drinking it was certainly a better experience than watching the show beyond the at which the writer’s ran out of George’s source material.

Many of us have had their share of this stuff in various Johnnie Walker blends, but this is a single malt that should not overlooked. Respectable age statement, reasonable price, not much else really to say. Let’s check it out. Nose: Light peat smoke, and brine. Smells like a morning on the beach. Honeydew, gala apple, pear, and apricot add a nice layer beneath the coastal notes. Pineapple and maybe even some peach add a bit more sweetness. Heavy butterscotch. Toffee, vanilla, and malt. Honey and caramel. Sugar cookie. Toasted almond. Some obscure freshly-baked pastry. Light cinnamon and oak. Fruity, juicy, and sweet. Nice start. Palate: The honeydew, pineapple, and peach are out in full force. Very sweet. Apple, pear, and apricot. Raspberry. Orange citrus. Honey, toffee, vanilla, butterscotch. Caramel and milk chocolate. White pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, and oak. Finish: Malt, toffee, butterscotch, and vanilla. Apple, pear, apricot, and golden raisin. Orange citrus. Milk chocolate. Black and white pepper, cinnamon, and oak. Moderate length. Diamond in the rough. With a single malt this good, it’s a shame that Clynelish doesn’t have a more robust portfolio. This reminds me of Oban on the nose, but resembles a more traditional Highland malt on the tongue. It’s unique, and more importantly, it’s excellent. My rating for this was a 4/5. That’s before factoring VFM. If I feel that a whisky hits the mark in terms of value, I generally boost by a quarter star. But for a $64 14-year at 46%, I’m bucking that trend giving this an extra half star. They took no shortcuts in ensuring this would be a quality malt. I highly recommend it. 4.5/5.