Tastes

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.

I didn't give Makers 46 Cask Strength a fair assessment prior and now with both this limited bottling quickly heading to extinction AND the old formula 46 being phased out, how could I refuse the opportunity to buy a bottle of Maker's 46 Cask Strength for a good, thorough taste? Likely stemming from the potent 110 proof bottling, gone is the overly sweet nose of standard 46 and with it comes a pretty noticeable wallop of ethanol. However, if you smell past the proof you still get familiar vanilla and maple. There's a bit of herbaceous spice on the nose, too that isn't present in 46. The beginning of the taste is decadent and sweet, absolutely bringing back the sweetness of 46. Caramel swirls with milk chocolate on the front of the taste and then out of left field, some spicy cinnamon prickles you mid tongue. Weird... is this from the increased proof? The finish is dry and oddly reminds me of a high rye bourbon. A warm, familiar mustiness finishes us off, like an old leather jacket. More complex and hotter than 46, but between this, the new bottling and the old bottling of 46... I think I'd rather the old bottling 46. BUT if your goal is to get trashed with as few sips as possible, the 110 proof potency of this bottling will surely get you there.

Man this is a potent whiskey. Bottled at 63.9% ABV, this selection oddly tastes hotter than some slightly higher proof offerings I've tried from Highland Park. ( Westray, for example is bottled at 65.1% ABV ) The front of the taste is very sweet. Its hard to tell that this was aged in sherry seasoned casks because I don't taste the powerful influence of berries or red fruits like I normally would in a sherry cask whiskey. At this proof, the whiskey creates an interesting tingling sensation on my tongue. Not unpleasant but unexpected indeed. Toward mid mouth and all the way through, the sweetness gives way to a sensational hit of peat smoke. This whiskey finishes hot, with a stinging bite and high proof warmth. I get that cask strength selections are intended to be sampled with varying amounts of water drops. However, much to my downfall I cannot bring myself to introduce water or ice to any whiskey in the Highland Park catalogue. Still, for such a high proof offering; this whiskey still sings with the complexity I did not expect to find at this ABV. Even though this might be one of my least favorite Highland Park offerings, it is still significantly better than a lot of competing cask strength whiskies in this price point.

I love Glenmorangie selections and typically find them fruit heavy and delicate. This Cadboll Estate batch 2 is a surprising and interesting departure. Throughout the majority of the taste there is a bit of spicy heat. Not an herbaceous or alcohol type heat but the type of heat that makes your mouth and inside of your cheeks tingle a bit. It isn't unpleasant. The initial taste is very sweet, as you'd expect from ex-bourbon casks. It tastes of creamy vanilla going down and leaves a lasting aftertaste that reminds me a bit of a Werther's original. It's not bad. Given how limited these Caboll releases are, its well worth it to buy a bottle yourself to try.

This is one hot Maker's Mark! Neat on a fresh pour, it tastes like a fiery shield of alcohol heat with that familiar standard Maker's sweetness toward the end of the taste. Not the best but certainly not the worst. Its rather interesting though: I have found that I prefer Makers and Makers 46 on an ice ball while their more limited selections ( any Wood Finishing series or Select series ) I much preferred neat, high proof and all. And some of those limited selections are certainly higher proof than this 101 proof. Yet here we are: a relatively tame proof ( vs other cask strength offerings from Maker's ) that seems like it needs a bit of ice to cool down. After adding an ice ball, this bourbon all seems to come together. Sweet, with a lot of corn on the mash bill. There seems to be an almost syrupy quality about it as it coats your tongue. There is a bit of spice that I have found lacking from standard Maker's or 46..perhaps it's been too long since I've had a taste? Look: for the price of this bottle vs standard Maker's or 46; it is worth a try. But really, if its pure smoothness you're after: 46 won't disappoint. If I'm after Maker's served up high proof, any of the Private Select or Wood Finishing Series is light years better than this... but then again they are double the price or more.

Initially the nose is telling of the fruitiness of this whiskey. On initial taste this whiskey leans almost too far into the direction of Cognac, with just a hint of familiar mellow Glenlivet hanging in the background. Can't say that this is a favorite of mine. Although the price point of Glenlivet 15 Year French Oak is almost double that of this Cognac Cask, I prefer that French Oak many times over.

What an incredibly soft, almost undetectable nose. Just wisps of vanilla swirled into bread, a vanilla sweet bread if you will. The taste does an interesting dance with your tongue, cascading to the corners of your mouth and coating the taste buds like a warm pat of butter. With it, it carries some almond and brown sugar. The finish is relatively long as your taste buds ride out the sweetness and it ends with a barely detectable fragrant bread like character, like the inner portion of warm French Bread. Balvenie, you never disappoint. Except maybe in the price tags of your bottles but for a dram this tasty, I can ignore my pragmatism for one night.