Tastes

On the nose, white peppery, green apple, pear and a little un-ripe banana, with a charcoal grill the next yard over grilling 8 Hebrew Nationals. Pretty malty upfront on the taste; a little surprising from the nose. The pear and charcoal take center stage as it travels to the finish. This was a Christmas gift from my wife...took the bottle she gave me, back, and got this one - I know I'm a horrible person. This is very good bottle but not happy with the price and ABV. I'm glad I have it as a collector, but wouldn't stretch this far in my pocket if I wasn't a nerd. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

This is a great example of cask strength peat. A different species than the Laphroig 10...more close to a Coal Ila. There is a nice tinge of red wine on the palate to make sure you know the marketing is accurate; but everything else leans, points, falls down into cask strength peat. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Ballpark franks cooked over a wet campfire surrounded by ten women cleaning with lemon pledge. There is also a faint chlorinated note on the nose. When tasting there is a rush of red berries and vanilla and lemon that quickly makes its way to ash when hitting the sides of the tongue. Black pepper on the finish for about whatever length of time is still happening right now. This would bump up if it wasn't so sadistic - but then it wouldn't be the "bad boy" of the core range. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

My first ASW bottle, as a Georgia transplant for 11 years now... a lot ridding on this. Westside Beverage barrel pick - pick 57.7% - a "wheater" Very faint on the nose, until you dive in then it "stings the nostrils" but a creamy cheese cake (w/ graham cracker crust!!!) and a mandarin orange compote, secondary notes are cinnamon / nutmeg. The note that stands out on the taste is cashews; not overwhelming but definitely unique. "Fluffy whip marshmallow that rapidly morphs into spice spice spice. The sides of my mouth become quenched with the almost sour / citrus fruit note; tying in the compote nose. Medium finish is all boozy-chocolate milk - not milk chocolate ;) Overall, very unique experience at a reasonable price. The high proof helps stretch this dollar to (almost) be a must buy. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

You DO NOT need this bottle...but its very good. The nose is vanilla and clove for miles with yards of pickle and spearmint. The tastes has that boutique chili powder infused milk chocolate vibe. There is also a cinnamon cake foundation to the "spicy chocolate" ... This 57% rye is not the "Wise Mans Rye" at this price, but it will most likely compete if not blow away other rye's you blind with it... Bought this for a celebratory reason - which is a wife aimed excuse...but it is not worth a domestic dispute 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Tasting this as a sample from a co-worker. On the nose: a bourbon with coconut and bananas sweetness attached to the rounded oaky vanilla. The flavor is a 2 part maple syrup and 1 part cinnamon...3 parts love and 4 parts sin. The kicker for this is a faint cinnamon toast crunch note; which will be hard to convince my wife that I'm eating breakfast for dinner. The finish drops off faster than the small batch because I believe it fades away , rather that transforming into a unique second act. I'm in the minority when preferring the small batch to this particular uncut version...attributed to transformative finish in the small batch. However, this is great, and I am glad that it proves great whiskey is available at good prices. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

So this is pretty great. Especially, when this beats other expensive bottles, especially those bottles probably sourced from Barton and priced at a special number over $100. The specs are high rye and 100 proof, and the "ials" are suffixes. The nose is cherry, vanilla coke in an ice cold glass sitting on freshly laid polyester-based carpet. The taste is mint chocolate -- leathery Red Hots --- coconut char ---- with a wonderful caramel popcorn tinged finish. Very high rye bringing the petite pine notes behind all the individual previous notes. The finish TRANSFORMS!!!, into French toast (not overstating), is medium long and intensely stands apart from other whiskeys. Really impressed...in case its not obvious. Underpriced and wonderful IMO 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Immediately impressed with the marketing...fancy looking bottle, which will definitely stand apart from the crowd...perhaps a Pappy look-a-like is helping with this aspect. Boozy, cherry forward nose, which translates into a taste that's as if you cracked a dried peanut-shell and found a drier / shriveled cherry is inside; and you eat both of them...(its becoming hard to dress up typical bourbon notes)... this undergoes a metamorphosis into a vanilla oak finish. This tastes higher proof than it actually is, which is a nice positive, but unfortunately this does not punch at the price point. If this bottle were to drop in $20 increments the score would improve in 1/4 star increments. It is good, and possibly better than most bourbons I've had, but we are pretty far past the inflection point on the diminished return curve. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Before we start, I'm upset I didn't name my son Grant McCracken...the head distiller at Chattanooga, and the eponym of all my future online alias's. At $40 price for a "craft" spirit, showing up, for me is 1/2 the battle. I have become more acquainted with rye in the last few months, and this is the bottle that I've blasted through the quickest. There is a malted forward nose. You wont mistake this for a scotch, but it is a bastard cousin of a nose. I definitely enjoy the chocolate covered black-berry / blueberry / dark-berry note, which is an undercurrent from nose to finish, but the overwhelming taste is cereal-like, rye spice; go figure. The bottle looks cool, the label is pretty, embossed and shiny, and at a respectable 99 proof, with tasty, addictive characteristics,,, go get you one. Not the end of the world if you don't, we can still be friends. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.

Batch GA-2 Simplistically, this smells like a Jack and coke...Pretentiously, floral with a muted cherry candy (insert jolly rancher or Twizzlers; I'm more of a Red Vine man myself, makes a good straw.) On the palate it starts out heavy oak with little else, but then a crescendo of Cherry vanilla coke, with a remarkably long, mint-like / cooling finish. Hiding in the under-current / woven throughout, is a spiced plum that pops its head up intermittently, and looks around at the oaky, cherry-vanilla coke experience. 5 minutes after the last sip: still hints at a once enjoyed cherry cough-drop. Overall, glad I tried it, but I have to compare it with the value of other awesome, more “non-allocated” bourbons - I definitely prefer it to ECBP, but not 1920... ECBP is usually almost as good, and half the price. 1920 is equal IMO, and half the price... Will probably not purchase another SH14. Moral of the story, please give it a sip if you have a chance, but don't have FOMO when skipping this bottle at the liquor store. If this were $80 then it would bump up 1/2 a star. 5.0 - go out and buy all of the stock you can find. 4.0 - must buy at least one bottle before you die. 3.0 - solid, must try at a bar, or mooch from a friend. 2.0 - didn't like it, you may. 1.0 - you may have the palate of my dog, and he licks his own ass.