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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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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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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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Kornog Peated Single Malt Whisky
Distiller Score 83
A creamy and smoky nose reveals notes of toffee, chocolate-covered toasted marshmallows and buttered vanilla while the palate offers richer flavours with hot spices and a more present smokiness. The finish is fruity, smoky and peppery. A French whisky with attitude!
Reviewed by Anne-Sophie Bigot
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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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Hibiki 17 Year
Distiller Score 92
On the nose: honey, brown sugar, caramel, juicy pear and flowers. The taste is surprising and complex. Somehow light and rich, very warm with herbal notes, cocoa, and hazelnut. There is also an earthy, salty character, like a blue cheese or a Highland single malt. A bit of water brings out some chocolate. Finish is exceptionally warm and soothing.
Reviewed by Keith Allison
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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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Amrut Intermediate Sherry
Distiller Score 91
A layered nose of spiced Christmas fruit cake and toffee with figs and jam. The bourbon casks detonate to contain what could have been a sherry bomb. Loads of vanilla and arid oak offer a counterpoint to the juicy sherry. The finish is stretched allowing the spicy hit to dwindle into the natural caramels compliments of the ex-bourbon casks. An impressive single malt.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Lock Stock & Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey 13 Year
Distiller Score 94
Pecan shells, wood spices, vanilla, and leather are found on the nose along with a touch of dill. A caramel aroma is present, but don't be fooled; this is not a sweet whiskey. The palate is full, but not creamy and sticky. There is a peppery aspect to the whiskey and the 100% rye content provides a robust and dry finish to the whiskey.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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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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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