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Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Pure Malt
Distiller Score 92
A lovely sweet spice hits your nose that is very inviting. There's a smoky aroma, but it has more of a sweet char rather than a vegetal peat quality to it. Gentle peat comes through on the palate, but is intermixed with creamy vanilla and pear fruit. Though the finish could be longer, it is pleasurable.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Nikka Yoichi 15 Year
Distiller Score 96
White fleshed fruits and maple syrup pay a visit along with a fair amount of peat smoke. A lovely richness coats the inside of your mouth while you detect some sherry notes on your palate. Almonds and gentle dark baking spices along with caramel apples put the finishing touches on the whisky.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Lark Single Malt Single Cask
Distiller Score 95
Of the three standard offerings from Lark, this is by far the most fruit forward of the bunch. Think school-lunch fruit salad from the can. Barrel spices and smoke are minor characters in this play. Oak comes through on the back end and is just a touch on the bitter side. The price is a bit steep so this may not be your everyday dram, but the quality and taste will not make you regret your purchase.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Hakushu Heavily Peated (2013 Release)
Distiller Score 94
Nose: Rubber and Iodine, Peat and Pepper, Hay. Tongue: Peat, Ham and Pepper, Grass, Plum and Honeycomb, Cedar and Cinnamon Cream, Bell Pepper. Notes: Wow. These guys know what they’re doing. Reminding me of Bruichladdich, in the best possible way.
Reviewed by Pedro Shanahan
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Dobson's Belle Époque Cask Strength Single Malt
Distiller Score 88
At first, there is a tingling feeling of prickly spiced vanilla with heat rising off the whisky before moving into nutty, orange peat. Cinnamon and hazelnuts dance in the background, with citrus rind and slight toasty malts finishing the nose. On the tongue, it is wonderfully rich in the peat, with the vanilla and orange zest coming through as forward strengths that drive the whisky’s core identity, with dark, sweet malts. The finish is long, intense and peat-lined; prickly with a mouth burn, yet soothing in the slight saltiness and is entirely enjoyable.
Reviewed by Marcus Parmenter
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Two Brewers Yukon Single Malt (Release 3)
Distiller Score 87
Ripe banana and a healthy dose of peat appear on the nose with the smoke settling into a crispiness that is packed with orchard fruits seasoned with grassy grains. A slight vegetal note adds further character and complexity. The whisky hits the mouth with a crunchy nuttiness, clove and mild oak tannins that tug at the peated malt. The grassiness puts on the breaks in the finish replaced by citrus slamming down the gas and smoking the tires.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Bakery Hill Peated Malt
Distiller Score 93
A damp morning after a bushfire delicately rises from the whisky, the tobacco-softened earth a wonderful afterthought on the first intake of breath. The few remaining embers glow softly and highlight small hints of vanilla, fudge, and caramel that are welcome bystanders. At the end there is another hint of fresh grass, although this whisky’s true strength is that smoldering fire. On the tongue, seaside salt is sprayed through atop burnt toast and vanilla beans; the rich smoke, earth and tobacco now joined by a slight hint of nutmeg. The finish is medium and beautifully soft, with prickly salt and cooling smoke running through it all.
Reviewed by Marcus Parmenter
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J.P. Wiser's Red Letter Canadian Whisky (2015 Edition)
Distiller Score 92
This tightly woven whisky is dressed in lots of woody oak with the familiar blended candied-vanilla smells of a fall carnival. In the mouth, rye-like-spices and oak rumble like an earthquake unified with every whisky flavor under the sun. Red Letter is complex where individual flavors are blended into an oak laced delicacy. The finish is long with aftershocks of spicy pepper jumping like a seismograph needle. Wiser’s signature citrus pith drifts in setting up the next sip. If this whisky is anything like the original, it explains why J.P. Wiser made it his special stock.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Lot No. 40 11 Year Cask Strength
Distiller Score 94
This rye doesn’t waste anytime establishing whopping rye spices that are leathery and a little smoky. Maple, oak, ripe fruit, rye bread and some vanilla are swept up by a spicy current with a petite floral touch. Yes, this rye brute will give you roses. The rye spice finish rises from a purr to a roar with plum jam notes waiting at the finish line.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Amrut Single Cask Peated Barley Port Pipe
Distiller Score 87
Waxy aroma with spearmint, big fruit, and loads of peat smoke. Pepsin chewing gum comes to mind. Vague hints of chocolate and clean grain in the background and there's a beautiful balance of peat and fruit over wonderfully brisk hot pepper. Water sweetens it while emphasizing the heat and the peat. It has peaty flavors, but not Islay peat and is less “Porty” than expected.
Reviewed by Davin de Kergommeaux
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Zuidam Millstone 12 Year Sherry Cask
Distiller Score 87
Thick and musty on the nose, the whisky evokes images of old dark furniture kept in the dark undisturbed for years gathering dust. Heavy red fruits glint in morning dew, hanging low on the trees and vines, ready to be picked. On the palate, we are greeted with a Christmas cake made of dark fruits, plums and cherries, lovingly soaked in sherry for days and served with hot treacle. Old dark chocolate appears on the tongue with a wood smoke and light spices. This turns to marmalade and thick red fruits hung to dry. The finish is long and heavy, full of spices and wood.
Reviewed by Marcus Parmenter
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Stauning Peated Whisky 5th Edition (Bottled 2015)
Distiller Score 94
The smell of a forest after a rain, wet leaves, and brine take precedence in the first impression of this whisky followed with a wisp of smoke. The smoke comes to the forefront--gently--with a curiously herbal quality, almost as though the smoke were from burning sage. As it sits, vanilla and dark chocolate come out; water brings up the salt and peat.
Reviewed by Nicole Gilbert