Tastes

As I was pouring a dram of Juveniles, I kept hearing an odd dinging noise. At first I thought someone was walking their dog outside but then realized it was coming from the bottom of the bottle. In the bottle is a built in recess with a little jingle bell in there. How fun! Now on to the whisky: Immediately I am getting bright notes on the nose. Honey, green apples and pears dominate, bringing sweet and tart to the party. The tail of the finish turns drier, with a bit of tannic oak and grass. On the taste, the wine cask is immediately noticeable but not in the form of tart red fruits. No, this is a bright and acidic mix of green apples and pears. If you swirl the whisky in your mouth, you will make out sweet vanilla and honey on the inside of your lips. The tail end of the taste brings in some tannic charred oak. The finish pushes the whisky fully into the "dry" category, again bringing tannic charred oak with black pepper and tongue tingling baking spices. Remember those apples and pears from the front of the taste? If you wait right until the tail end of the finish, you can catch a glimpse of them as this whisky makes its exit. Although not my favorite, if nothing else; Compass Box is never boring, especially their limited selections. If you can still find a bottle of Juveniles, give it a try!

Let the Compass Box train roll! I'm quickly becoming a full fledged Compass Box fanboy and recently had the chance to pick up Experimental Grain and Juveniles for a great price. The nose is so gentle on this whisky that it is almost undetectable. Honey and toffee set the nose into motion with a wave of creamy sweetness. Deeper in, some apples and pears mix it up and at the end just the tiniest wisp of peat smoke. If this whisky tastes anything like it smells, its going to be stunning. This tastes unlike any whisky I have ever tried. Sweet and tart apple takes center stage but then mixes with milk chocolate. There's an odd, earthy grassy mix to the flavor that I've never detected in any other whisky. The taste ends with the faintest kiss of peat smoke. Through the puff of peat smoke, the finish turns spicy which is not what I was expecting. It is moderately long and drier than the taste but not brimming with complexity. This is the first whisky I ever had a taste of and was left scratching my head as to what I actually thought about it. I'm now on my 5th taste and I still can't decide if I like it. It fits into a rare category of Whiskies that taste unlike any whisky that came before it, breathing rarified air with the likes of Compass Box Hedonism and Green Spot to name a couple. This whisky is light, whimsical and sweet. You know something? I think I DO like it, just not quite as much as Hedonism. But I can very much tell that this would be an extremely polarizing whisky.

Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series selections have long been some of my favorites. Yes there were some misses ( 2020's SE4 PR5 for example ) but even the misses in this series were still pretty damn good. And so we come to the final installment of Maker's Mark Wood Finishing series: 2023's BEP. I am so sad to see this line go by the way side. Every year I get so excited as spring starts to blossom to summer and the days get warmer. The anticipation of getting my hands on that year's Wood Finishing Series always creates excitement for me around April / May. The nose of BEP is significantly less hot than previous entries, as expected of the slightly lower proof. It smells like its going to be delicious with all of the right, classic smells. Caramel, vanilla and chocolate all make an appearance with just a hint of tannic charred oak. BEP is almost syrupy on the tongue and singing with vanilla, toffee and brown sugar. That oak on the nose makes its return with just a gentle kiss of baking spices. The finish feels its proof, warming on the way down. Makes me think that this would be an excellent dram for the winter. The sweetness fades away in favor of that tannic oak, cloves and baking spices. The finish lingers and along with it, a bit of tongue tingle right in the center of your tongue. This is up there with the best in this series. My sweet tooth tends to lean toward RC6 and FAE01 as the two best in the Wood Finishing Lineup but man, this isn't far behind. Go get a bottle and bid farewell to the Wood Finishing Series with one of the very best.

A good friend and business partner swears by this stuff. Every time I see him he keeps asking if I've tried it. Finally, while out of town on business, I caved in and bought a small miniature taster from their local Total Wine. The nose on this one smells like sweetened corn syrup mixed with bubble gum and green apple lollipops. Insanely over sweetened and smells like it was made in a lab somewhere. The front of the taste mirrors that super sweet corn syrup that was on the nose. Candy corn mixes with tongue prickling astringency... tastes like someone tried to flavor bad moonshine with a bunch of everything sugary and artificial. The sweetened corn syrup theme carries to the finish but this time goes way too far in the direction of artificial fruit. Gummy apple rings come to mind. Out of left field comes a perfume-like floral quality in the finish. Man... this one is rough. Not really sure what I expected. I mean, I did finish my pour. It isn't the most disgusting thing I ever tried but if you really only have $25 to spend on a bottle of hooch maybe just go with Maker's Mark.

I tried my first Blood Oath bourbon while out with business partners at a nice steak house this past week. Granted, it was served neat in a whiskey glass... for something in this league I would have preferred a Glencairn. Spicy cinnamon and vanilla make their appearance very known on the nose, with a slightly fruity edge. But not so much tart red fruit... more like sweet and soft peaches and pears. The taste follows the nose with tongue prickling cinnamon and a hint of canned peaches with quite a "full" mouthfeel. The finish on this one is loud. Spice and bitterness pull the taste off the sweet train. You get hits of dark cocoa powder that flourish into rye spice at the very end. This was a halfway decent bourbon but, perhaps because I'm scoring it against the hype and prices that Blood Oath bourbons command, I actually wasn't all that impressed. I haven't ruled out Blood Oath though, perhaps I just started with the wrong one?

This one was just a tad fruity for my taste. But take that with a grain of salt, I generally don't enjoy sherry, port or really any wine cask finishes. The nose packs a punch of bright, red fruits. Raspberries, cherries and the like. That smell then carries into the realm of vanilla with just a dash of honey roasted nuts. But the fruit is by far the dominant trait on the nose. Tart berries open up the taste but soon give way to some wood spice with a bit of astringent wood char. I may have caught a wisp of citrus, which adds to the tart quality. The tartness from the citrus / berries carries to the finish but with it some interesting cedar wood at the end. It has a medium length, fairly full bodied finish. This one just hits middle of the road for me. You could do better but, you could do much worse, too. Try a dram if you're into fruit forward whiskies.

After falling head over heels for Week of Peat 14 year, I've become enamored by this line from Balvenie. When I saw that there was a 17 year bottling available at my favorite local spot, I shelled out the money for it, no questions asked. The nose is decidedly less smoky than 14 year. In fact, the nose on this whisky is decided less smoky than most peated whiskies I have tried, blended or single malt. It is still there, hanging like a low fog around sweet honey and a little kiss of briny ocean water. The tail end of the nose sweetens up with those Danish butter cookies but just for a fleeting moment. The front of the taste starts with vanilla and a little bit of baking spices. As the taste moves along, that baking spice tingle softens up but does linger in the background. Yes, the peat smoke is there but it is so faint that one could almost mistake this for a non peated whisky. A buttery sweetness returns from the nose but this time, in the form of butterscotch and cream then departs quickly as the baking spice boomerangs back into full force, ushering in the finish. The finish on this whiskey is big on tannic oak and sweet. With the peat smoke almost undetectable at this point, the finish gets a flash of tart and sweet raspberries before being carried off by a rolling wave of tannins, bringing with it a slightly powdery mouth feel. Think: dark cocoa powder. That harmonic dance of sweet and bitter fades off into the sunset along with that familiar baking spice from earlier. Wow. What a stunning whisky this is. But be forewarned - if you are looking for gobs of peat smoke... the kind that makes your eyes sting and your nose burn... this is not the whiskey for you. In fact, I would venture to say that this could be the peated whisky of choice for those who aren't quite on board with peated whisky. It is so gentle that it eases you into the category and at the same time offers up beautiful complexity with palate pleasing sweetness. Its too bad the cost of admission is rather high.

What a blast from the past. Many years ago, when I was between jobs and money was tight I had to indulge my whiskey appetite on more affordable bottles like Cedar Ridge. Although the old bottling was at a paltry 80 proof, it actually made for a very easy sipping and inoffensive drink. And then sadly, they killed it off. Fast forward 6 years later and I see a familiar name in a not-so-familiar bottle. Cedar Ridge is back? Well, you know I just had to try it and take a stroll down memory lane. The nose is interesting on this one. Not what I remember, but that was many years and dozens of whiskies later. Smells a bit like saw dust and cherries. The taste is absolutely different than I remember. Gone are the lashings of sweet corn and with that comes a little vanilla and brown sugar riding on a plank of cedar which is a unique aspect for sure. Interesting... I think this whiskey actually does Cedar wood better than Kamiki who make a whiskey specifically aged in Cedar casks. The finish is where this whiskey shines. As the taste goes down that finish blooms beautifully and takes over your mouth. Its sweet and fruity with a bit of corn. Reminds me of a bowl of Apple Jacks, mixed with vanilla soy milk and a dusting of sugar. Its actually quite pleasant, albeit very short. But hey, in this price category did you expect a long oily finish? In the $40 something category this newer Cedar Ridge Straight Bourbon can really hold its own. Quite good and interesting indeed... but I do still miss the old 80 proof stuff I used to get from Grocery Outlet for $28 a bottle.

Short of Artist and Glasgow Blends, Hedonism is one of the final core offerings from Compass Box I've yet to give a thorough, honest taste of. Granted, I once tasted this Whisky years ago, as I was just starting to appreciate good whisky but far before I had the ability to TRULY appreciate good whiskey. The nose certainly conjures up images of sweet, creamy indulgence. Vanilla and Coconut are blended with thick, sweet cream. A bit of baking spice mixes up the aroma as well as slightly bittersweet cacao right at the end. What a deliciously sweet taste! Warm, gooey caramel gets this dessert-like party started. The mouth feel is incredibly creamy as the sweetness pours on, albeit just a hair away from being cloying. ( Heavy peat fans might find this blend way too sweet. ). Vanilla cream with coconut fills your mouth and nose as the taste goes down, absolutely sensational. The finish is medium in length and keeps that creaminess that makes the taste so unique. Coconut macaroons and vanilla ride that creaminess off into the sunset. My God this one is stunning. I hope Compass Box keeps Hedonism in that core lineup for decades to come because it is far and away their best, standard offering.

Spice Tree was one of my first forays into the Compass Box line many years ago. As time went on, my palate became a bit more mature and so, I decided to give Spice Tree another go. On the nose, cloves and candied ginger mix with some citrus and chocolate and reminds me of the holidays for some reason. Maybe it reminds me of spiced orange cider? Cinnamon spice, cocoa and honey blossom from the taste. I rather like when whiskies do that, rather than a jarring and abrupt taste up front. As the taste opens up, sweet and fizzy orange cider takes center stage, pulling in the cinnamon from earlier. The finish is relatively short and spicy. The sweet tongue prickling sensation of cinnamon kicks off the finish. A familiar and slightly musty old leather jacket peaks its head through the spice for a quick moment before being buried in something tannic and sweet all at once. For the price and being a core selection that is readily available anywhere, this is certainly worth a try. Its complex, sweet and spicy and really hits the spot. This would make an excellent bottle for sipping over the holidays.