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Yamazaki 18 Year
Distiller Score 97
There is a rich and milky feel to the whisky. The flavors found here sound like they would make a fabulous dessert: dates, figs, honey, walnuts, and cinnamon. Despite these sweet descriptors, the whisky finishes dry with those tastes pleasantly remaining on your palate.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Seagrass (2022 Release)
Distiller Score 92
The nose offers creamy vanilla, rice pudding, and banana bread flecked with cinnamon. The palate has a multitude of sugary fruits, including watermelon Jolly Ranchers, canned peaches in syrup, and macerated grapes. The lengthy finish is rich and flavorful, with dried apricots, spearmint, baking spices, and vanilla bean ice cream. Almost startling how little heat there is given the proof.
Reviewed by Jake Emen
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Hibiki 30 Year
Distiller Score 97
Orange marmalade, rich dark chocolate, and apricots come first. Then, aromas of coffee, pepper, and tangerines. The nose is complex, to say the least. Oak and spice lead the palate. Nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper blend in with rich oak, thick caramel, roasted marshmallows, and sweet malt. The long finish brings a touch of spearmint through the dark oak.
Reviewed by George Koutsakis
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Sullivans Cove American Oak Bourbon Cask
Distiller Score 89
Knowing that it uses new American Oak casks and that the whisky tasted for review was aged exactly 13 years to the day, you might expect that this whisky would be a little more full-bodied. It has a pretty high vanilla character all the way through, with Asian pear and Gala apples reigning throughout the first sip. Soon after, the character develops and takes an almost 180 degree turn to Tellicherry black peppercorns with the whisky finishing on the slightly smoky side.
Reviewed by Brock Schulte
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WhistlePig The Boss Hog Straight Rye Whiskey
Distiller Score 92
Please do try both without water and with to see how each drop of water opens up the rye. Vanilla and cherry wood, cinnamon butterscotch, spiced & charred wood, peppercorns, the flavors go on and on. The whiskey warms you from the inside and has an everlasting gobstopper of a spicy finish.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Sullivans Cove French Oak Port Cask
Distiller Score 93
Caramelized barley lends to a peaty backbone that barely gives the smoke any legs at all. The proof is subtle and lends to a vegetal green pepper/purple radish flavor before the peat picks up again. It ends with a molasses and smoked banana fruitiness similar to 15-20 year aged rums, no doubt due to the French ex-port barrel.
Reviewed by Brock Schulte
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Hakushu 18 Year
Distiller Score 90
Nose: Melon, Linen and Cinnamon. Tongue: Peat, Ink, lush Grass, Dark Chocolate, Honey. Notes: Exquisite, like a beautiful lover.
Reviewed by Pedro Shanahan
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J.P. Wiser's 35 Year
Distiller Score 96
This whisky captures everything that could go right in an oak barrel. Creamy, rich and soft with a spicy frame. Beautiful caramel apple tones unite with the antique wood. Yet the years in oak don’t overpower like the business end of a Louisville Slugger. Rather it hugs you. The entire experience from nose to finish glows like a bright star. It may even signal the Three Wise Men to show up with gifts.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Canadian Club Chronicles 41 Year
Distiller Score 96
The history of Canadian Club is steeped into this elegantly layered whisky. Its close-knit flavor profile develops from a nose of buttery vanilla, almond and brown sugar through creamy sweet maple tones and rich stone fruits. These flavors and textures transition onto the palate with a crisp dry oak supporting the sweetness with grace. Rye spices and ginger develop on the roof of the mouth through the classiest of finishes.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Kavalan Solist Fino Single Cask Strength
Distiller Score 87
A rich and winey opening on the nose, dark sugars atop a bed of fruits in the hot summer sun. On the tongue, it is full and rich with dark plums, cherries, cinnamon, toffee and cinnamon-raisin toast coming through and surprisingly the palate with their vigor. The finish is long and well spiced, tingling the tongue with Muscat-soaked nuts and cream that rests perfectly on the tongue.
Reviewed by Marcus Parmenter
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Canadian Club 40 Year
Distiller Score 96
This striking whisky balances old dusty oak with fresh lumber without being overwhelming. Instead, the oak gives the whisky a beautiful wood structure that allows big fruit flavors to sparkle. Dark plums, cloves, caramel, and cherry pipe tobacco slam the palate while a grapefruit pith quenches and curls in the mouth. A creamy spicy-sweet finish ends with a touch of straw. The Big Bad Wolf can huff and puff all he wants--this whisky’s full-bodied house is going nowhere.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Ichiro's Malt Chichibu The Floor Malted
Distiller Score 90
The whisky brings a flurry of honey, apples, vanilla, and juicy peaches. Powerful cereal and malt on the palate join the fruit while bitter chocolate makes an appearance. The finish is long for a three year-old whisky, with malt and vanilla notes lasting the longest.
Reviewed by George Koutsakis