Tastes

Youthful, but good malt notes throughout. Nose is soft, and lightly fruity. Palate digs deep into malt sugar, a bit of lemon, and vanilla. The finish is far to quick and really needs more oak. Still, the flavours are good, and it is a great value .

This is a young dram which puts the alcohol and water up front. When I spend a little more time, I get and I teresting chocolate in the nose. Otherwise, it is light caramel on the nose, cerel sweet with a herbal note and mild spice in the palate, wax, and some light oak on the finish. Sadly it moved to bitterness fairly quickly too. The nose has promise. Maybe with more time.

The nose is a little sharp, but full of sweet fruit, honey and cereal sugar. Maybe a little lemon and then a wisp of smoke and a fair amount of salty peat. The palate is youthful, spicy with vanilla, honey, and light apple or sweet apple. The palate has more peat for me than the nose but also carries a little salt and some bitterness. It coats very nicely and has me trying smaller tastes to just enjoy that feeling. The finish is smoke, peat, char, and then some sweet sugar. This is a solid scotch, but it did not live up to my expectations. With age to take off the sharpness in the nose and the bitterness in the finish, this would be exceptional.

This dram continues to delight and surprises me. I would suggest it is one of the best, available blended malts out there. The nose has the best of Speyside with light sweet fruits and maybe a hint of smoke. The palate celebrates a deep malt, with spice and now a little island peat or earthiness. The finish can be a little bitter but brings out char, oak, and smoke. This is one of the best releases from Johnnie Walker and I think everyone should try it at least once on their journey.

Deepen or cook the fruits from Glenfiddich 12 in butter with a little cinnamon. I find this bottle excellent on the nose, but just very good on the palate. Still, I enjoy it and can often find it for a price that lets me just sip and not worry.

Going through another bottle of this two years later. This time around I pick up significantly more spice, oak, and butter or caramel in the palate. Combine this with the orchard fruit on the nose, and I enjoy the expression. Certainly more than a few years ago, which speaks more to my palate change, then the liquid here!

Took me a long time to warm up to this. First time I tried it I thought it was sweet and light. However, take a few months with a bottle and it starts to come alive. Upfront, lots of butter, toffee, and a light fruit. With time some spice and oak. What stands out with time is how incredibly balanced this bottle is. An amazing deal if you can still find it!

It's been a couple of years. I picked up a bottle and spent a few months with it. This time I find this whisky very sweet. Cane sugar or artificial vanilla sweet. Maybe it's just this bottle, but for me, it's just too influenced by rum.

I love this dram. The nose brings gentle smoke, a little earthy peat and strong berry or red jam notes. The palate takes a quick turn into peat, malt, and a bit of brine, only to relax into cooked brown sugar, older oak, and deeper fruit like fig or date. The finish continues into the evening with mostly smouldering peat. Not for the faint of heart, but if you enjoy peat and stronger Scotch, this should be on your list.

This is far more gentle and less oaky than I expected for a 20 year old bourbon. Classic notes of caramel, vanilla, honey and a bit of nuttiness to it. Like Walnut husks. This is an excellent dram and easy to sip on the deck