Tastes

Despite the Brown name, the label is owned by Heaven Hill, fully exposed by the characteristic Heaven Hill peanut brittle nose. Riding along is vanilla custard, butterscotch, caramel, faint tobacco leaf, maple syrup, and sweet oak. Palate thins a bit, with caramel corn, cinnamon candy, and a bit of spiced apples. Finish is impeccably smooth for any bourbon, let alone the bottom shelf, with more caramel syrup, cinnamon, and a bit of brown raisins late to the finish. Sweet throughout and, although a ryed bourbon, one of the least rye presences around. Highly recommended for discerning palates who don’t want to spend much, particularly those who like the butterscotch-caramel syrupy sweet juice

Nose contains several of the traditional Ardbeg notes: smoldering campfire, burning tires, brine, with a bit of mild fruit bouquet and funk notes--particularly bandages, mushrooms, and cottage cheese. Subdued relative to other Ardbeg offerings are the nutty and oily characteristics. The peat, while strident for any single malt scotch, is a notch down from most Ardbegs. Palate is dry, with far more brine than typical Islays with a taste like salted caramel with black pepper, salted pork, and mild vanilla. Here this dram is extraordinarily sharp: an effect only enhanced by the brevity of the finish. For a distillery with offerings whose finishes seem to last for days, this Ardbeg cuts off almost immediately, causing the punchy salt and pepper note to be the last impression...akin to what would happen if you took applewood smoked bacon and then suffocated it in table seasonings. There are some mocha and bitter dark chocolate notes if you look for them, but they are getting pushed around by the strident pepper.

Lavender, petroleum jelly, heather, white pepper, cereal malt, fish oil, aloe, and marshmallow entice the drinker with promises of a depth of character that is at once distinctly Islay yet entirely new. In fact, I could sniff on this for ages! However, the nose's soaring promises fail to deliver in the palate and finish: a bit of white pepper, a bit of black pepper, some apple rind, and a descent into a medium saline finish which is equally monotonous and that’s it!

Nose is rich fruits from its Oloroso and Pedro Ximinez cask finish, including fig, apricot, orange rind, candied ginger, and pear cider with honey, sugar cookies, and milk cocoa. The palate has more of the same, but with cinnamon, clove, fresh herbs, and nutmeg joining. The finish is marked by a drying pepper character and more of the spice. Finish is long and eventually trends back towards the blood orange and crystallized ginger notes. Compared to the GlenDronach 15 Revival (the 2013 and 2015 releases) this has less of the milk cocoa and nutty characters (the 15 tastes almost like a cherry cordial). This is not far off, however, and certainly makes for a great daily sipper. Not as sherry forward as say, Aberlour A'Bunadh, but having none of the tannic, solventy character of Macallan 12 and yet more sherry than a number of scotches touting their cask finishes. Balanced, overall, and a good spot on the sherry spectrum for unpeated single malts.

A bit of maple and pecans on the nose, some honey, butterscotch, and vanilla in the palate, and a bit of peanut brittle and a slight spice on the finish. Really monotonous

This is the third batch I've had and, I must say, it never disappoints. Nose screams maple syrup, as if vaporized with all its sweetness by the heat of your morning pancakes. Coming along are demerara sugar, molasses, cinnamon, cardamon, plantains, guava, and faint vanilla beans. Palate is syrupy sweet--this is unashamedly a digestif. More of the same maple and cinnamon notes, caramel, cake batter, and baking spices. The finish pivots markedly, showcasing its MGP sourcing with clove and fennel. The dill is there, too, if you look for it, but either barrel selection was driven by a need to avoid this note or the rum casks particularly steamrolled it during the secondary barreling as it is no where near the potency of other MGP-sourced ryes. There are more tropical fruit notes, decadent rum raisins, and a velvety, fully coating mouthfeel. It's always been a bit polarizing due to the sweetness, but I keep finding it to be one of the best ryes available each time I return to it.

Nose is an acrostic lemongrass note not unlike a household cleaner with a bit of pie crust, yeast extract, blackboard chalk, and herbs. The palate burns with acetone, cleaner, sharp pepper, and cumin. It's exceedingly green and makes you pay for it with each sip. Dill and additional herbs are in the finish. Finish is quite long but I want it to end.

The nose on it is fantastic: barnyard funk, oysters, white grapes, and band-aids, giving way to a palate of one of the most brine-laden Laphroaigs ever released with rich notes of fish oil, white pepper, and cream. Peat smoke and greasy peanuts on the finish, with a lingering vegetable flavor I can't quite place...except it reminds me of the smell of a Chia pet, and all throughout the dram is fruity and RANK. It's like my beloved funky Belgian gueuzes found a way to rub off on my Laphroaigs. This surpassed the 2013 Laphroaig Cairdeas Portwood Edition as my favorite Laphroaig Cairdeas ever.

Nose is much less peat-forward than other Laphroaig offerings with sea salt and damp wood backing it up. There is melted butter and lemony citrus, tapioca, and vanilla; however, it is widely constrained for its distillery. Gone are the notes of burning hospital, smoked fish, dirty socks following a stroll through a bog, briny cottage cheese, pharmacological wildness of typical Laphroaig. It's supposed to be a blend of the Quarter Cask, PX, and Triple Wood Laphroaigs (hence the "Select") but there is no discernible secondary casking on this dram. Palate is semi-sweet, with mild peat marrying orchard fruit, soot, Confectioner's sugar, and light oak. Finish is medium-long, imbued with the dying embers of an overly moist campfire, sardines, some medicinal notes with a lingering black pepper. It's much less oily than other Laphroaig offerings and, though the finish is the highlight of the dram, it is also feels much too thin compared to its cousins. Overall, it's objectively a good whisky and distinctively Laphroaig. However, like many of the NAS bottles coming out nowadays, it doesn't have the value proposition of other staples. For the money, Quarter Cask trounces this, as does Triple Wood for a few bucks more.