Tastes

A fairly sweet and grainy blend. Thankfully it has a significant amount of Ardmore, peated single malt to help it out. It is a little sour and vegetable for me and comes up short. Thankfully adding water really helps this one. Brings up some smoke, oak and a little spicing. That helps me.

An excellent Canadian. The fruit notes and spice are definitely stronger than the 40 year old, but I feel a bit of the buttery richness has been lost too. Still fantastic.

This is fantastic. Rich, enveloping nose. It is a little sweet but held in check with some early oak and a bit of spice. Not overpowering though. The palate needs to be considered. Butter, similar to butter tarts with baking spices and cooked apple. The structure is fantastic and a sip provides such a full experience. The finish is slightly sour, but a good sour with dryness and oak.

Vanilla, light toffee, and some rye spice on the nose. Peppery on the palate with lots of wood. The finish continues the oak and spice. A lot of wood on this release.

A great release from the JP Wiser's NHL Alumni series. Dark spices mix nicely on the nose with vanilla. The palate is gentle, balanced between caramel and spice with some grain notes and soft apple. The finish is relatively short but enjoyable.

Sweet, cooked brown sugars, vanilla and bit of light red fruit on the nose. Sometimes I get wine-gum candies on the nose. The palate brings in some rye, oak, and a little youth burn to the caramel and toffee mix. Red wine influence comes back on the palate for me too. The flavours are strong, but it is youthful and costs more than I want to spend on a young NAS release. Thankfully less sweet than some Canadians.

I get a fair amount of sherry on the nose, complete with chocolate and dried fruits. It also gives buckwheat honey and some light malt sugars. Palate is a little creamy, malty, and more dried fruits. A little roasted note or nut and a medium finish with more oak and sometimes light chocolate and fig. A wonderful 12 year old!

Lots of pepper, this one is young and a bit fresh. In my market, it is priced above what it delivers, but if you are looking for spicy, sweet rye with some citrus notes this might be it. I also get a little sweet cola in the dram.

My bottle has the older rye from Barton in it. I enjoy it. The nose has some interesting spice in it, with sweet caramel and only a gentle herbal note. Palate comes alive with spicing that is cooked into brown sugar with a bit of cinnamon bun. Some cut grass note does come up with a few drams. Strong and tasty!

This is a different whiskey. The nose is rich, thick fruits. Plum, cherry, fig with a bit of something cooked and dark. The palate starts thick and spicy but quickly dries right out. Rye spice. The finish is even more drying. Oak, but sun-bleached driftwood oak. Then, as I'm thinking, chocolate and roast malt come back. Try as I might, I can't find them in the palate but they are strong in the long finish. A very different dram. I think it will be a love/hate bottle.