Tastes

A friend of mine gave me a small sampler bottle of this bourbon to try. Initially, you get a hit of alcohol heat. 100 proof? It certainly tastes it. But as the lingering, tongue tingling heat dissipates, a bit of nutty sweetness peeks through. Almost like a caramel pecan cluster. Not overwhelming and most certainly not overpowering, so that alcohol burn is still there to the end. This is an interesting, but not very complex; bourbon. Pleasant but slightly forgettable. Would I be mad about receiving a bottle as a gift? No, certainly not. But I don't know that I would spend my hard earned bucks on it.

The nose smells of sweet chocolate with a faint hit of ethanol. Smells slightly alcoholic. The palate sings at full chat immediately upon the taste. Malted chocolate reminiscent of Whoppers ( the candy, not the hamburger ) with a little bit of pipe tobacco explode on the taste. As the taste crescendos, some spice pulls up, taking front and center as the taste fades into the finish. Its a sweet spice, like Red Hots and fades off. This bourbon is full of surprises. Another complex one to add to the "must try" list. Guilty as I may feel about saying this though: as good as E.H Taylor Small Batch is: Blanton's is still better. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

Man, you can taste every bit of the 120 proof of this bottle. Not sure if EC Barrel Proof is different year after year but for a bottle I picked up just last week ( May 2nd 2022 ), I can't really see what all the hype is about. This bourbon is potent, with alcohol burn dominating the taste. On bigger drinks, it can leave the mouth stinging a bit. However, there is an underlying, quite pleasant nutty sweetness swirled with a bit of herbaceous spice from Rye. Not my favorite. Given the relative rarity of this bottle, I expected more. For the price point I think I'd take two bottles of Four Roses Single Barrel over this one.

Spicy. Very spicy. And smokey. But it isn't the familiar pungent hit of peat smoke that single malt drinkers are used to. Oh no. This smoke is more like a charred smokey flavor. Reminds me of smoking ashes still barely lit by embers. The spice is interesting. It isn't herbaceous like Rye whiskies. Its genuinely spicy and tongue tingling. Like Szechuan peppercorns? I don't know how to feel about this one. Apparently its in high demand and short supply so many retailers are gouging but why? Its different, yeah; but is different enough to warrant the price tags?

Man. This Bourbon is a hot one. This tastes like you're drinking something slightly naughty. I suppose that's what the Prohibition Style is. Unapologetically high proof and rough around the edges. Yet, behind the wall of burn, lies the familiar sweetness that is classic Forester. Get a bottle for yourself and make the judgement call. For me, this hits just a little too hard to truly be enjoyable but your tastes may differ.

This is going to be a serious Maker's 46 review and comparison between the new style bottle ( square, similar to standard Maker's Mark bottles ) and the old style bottle ( round, similar to Maker's Mark special bottlings ) because I previously swore up and down that the old style bottling was better. I live in a part of the country where retailers are starting to phase out the older style bottles for the newer style. So places like Total Wine, Bevmo and Liquor stores who cycle through inventory quickly are all carrying the new style, while retailers like Amazon Fresh, Target and generally any place that does NOT come to mind when you think the word "bourbon" still have limited stock of the old style bottles. Why am I being so serious and thorough about Maker's 46? Well, this one is core for me. No matter what I have on my shelf, there's always a bottle of 46. It's one of the bottles I consider my daily drink and has been a long time favorite of mine. It's one of the bourbons that initially got me into drinking bourbon and whiskey. So, I take my Maker's 46 fairly seriously. Both bottles were purchased on the same date, both have been opened and enjoyed with about half the bottle remaining, both were poured into identical Glencairn glasses and are being tasted by myself at the same time. Nose: There is a surprising difference on the nose. The old bottling is soft, sweet and smells of milk chocolates and creamy vanilla. Its almost too sweet of a nose, swimming with sugary delight. The new bottling takes on a harder edge. The chocolate is still there for sure but oddly enough I now smell some faint fruitiness and tartness, like chocolate drizzled raspberries. The new bottling does hit the nose with a bit more strength. Taste The old bottling starts with sugary sweet coconut macaroons. Vanilla dances around the mouth with a little milk chocolate mid taste. The finish comes on quickly, a tad astringent and a little bit tart, raspberries dusted with dark cocoa powder. The finish is quick. The new bottling starts also with sugary sweet cookies but more a molasses spice cookie. Gone was the hint of coconut from the old bottling. Mid taste starts to sing with a little bit of vanilla but then is quickly cut by the rather strong finish. That finish begins with a fairly heavy astringent punch to the mouth, it's a little jarring at first. Tart raspberries quickly pull the edge off the finish before it spirals out of control and that tartness carries the astringency toward a drier finish than the old bottling. Man... I'm going to miss the old bottling. I may just head to my local Target and hoard a bunch. On its own, the new bottling 46 isn't terrible. I'd probably give it a 3.75 on its own and I certainly prefer it over the standard Maker's Mark. But the old bottling 46 still has my heart and on its own it would be a solid 4.25 for me. So combined, I will leave this rating at a nice, round 4.0.

Having tried and been a fan of 12 year Aberfeldy for some time as one of the best bargain single malts on the market, I got a gift pack for a friend for Christmas of 12, 16 and 21. We only recently got into the 16 year and its just fine. Tastes are subjective but I thought this was a little too fruit heavy for my taste. Credit where its due, it is smooth through and through and goes down with no burn. Toward the end of the taste do I detect some dark chocolate sweetness? It's almost chalky. No.. for me, I would save the green and get 12 year or go a little fancier with the 21. But really this whole lineup tastes much pricier than the price point suggests and are actually readily available anywhere. A plus in these crazy times.

What an absolute treat this one was. I'm a sucker for whiskies and bourbons that taste much more expensive than they cost and this one hits right up there with the best of them. For 100 proof you expect burn, but you don't really get it. Yeah, it tastes a little bit hot but overwhelmingly you get that satisfying, sweet and chocolatey Four Roses taste with a hint of spiciness from the proof and a whisp of underlying smokey sweet oak. Honestly, if I didn't look at the bottle and did a blind taste test, I would never guess this is 100 proof. I would be a fool not to keep a bottle of this stuff in my regular rotation.

Reminds me of a higher proof Glenlivet Founders Reserve. Not my favorite, but not awful either. I can't speak for other parts of the country but at a sub-$40 price point out here in CA, this is a bit of a bargain. Comes in just under 100 proof but it tastes of its proof as well. Underlying alcohol hotness throughout the taste, with a hint of chocolatey sweetness. I found there to be a slightly medicinal bitterness about the aftertaste. This tastes rough around the edges but perhaps that was the idea, given the illicit nature of the original whiskey of which this is named after? I don't know about this one. If French Oak wasn't so damned hard to find out here, I'd happily pay the $30-$40 price bump for a bottle of that over this.

What a supremely delicious single malt indeed. Aberfeldy is, in my humble opinion, the often overlooked but value for money stand out. When I tasted their 21 year, I would swear it was a much more expensive bottle than its actual price point. This whiskey tastes of sweet, tongue coating honey. A little bit of herbaceous spice kicks the middle of the taste, reminds me of peppercorns. It finishes with a slight hit of peat smoke but that underlying honey sweetness stays through the whole taste. Their 12 year is a delightful and smooth selection. This 21 year is a complex, robust and supremely rich and sweet whiskey. I have an unopened bottle of 16 and cannot wait to try it. I think Aberfeldy has earned a permanent home in my rotation.