Cardhu Gold Reserve (Game of Thrones-House Targaryen)

Vanilla Dr Pepper that some oranges soaked in it. A slight too sweet with a quick finish. Shouldn’t have made this my first Cardhu.

Sweet and light spirit, pretty similar to the NAS Cardhu you will pick up in Tesco cheap. Ignore the nice packaging and marketing and spend Your money on something better or if light sweet uninteresting whisky is your thing then why not and like i say at least the bottle looks cool on the shelf! 👍

Sweet, creamy, rich (buttery on the tongue)

Molasses, sweet cream, and a mossy but not peaty aroma. Hints of cereal grain and a light spice. The first sip has a bit of a funkiness, with light caramel and honey notes. Subsequent tastes bring some more bready notes, with a slight cinnamon finish. Overall a tasty but slightly underwhelming dram.

N: Super fruity first hit with juicy fresh orchard fruit, tinged with tropical notes (mango, kiwi) and some ripe strawberry, which then quickly shifts to overripe sour fruit - could be stone or orchard by now. Honey, white tea, hint of cracked rainbow pepper. Kind of just dies off after that - leaves you with a feeling that there should be a little more here. P: Biscuit, peach, honey, something floral. Bit of red fruit on the sides of the tongue. Dash of dark chocolate mid-palate. Finish starts by reminding me of one of Shiner's holiday beers - peach and roasted pecan. That's short lived though. Bulk of the finish is wood: hot and bitter. But also not quite enough of either to stand out. And neither lasts terribly long either. Final note is a lingering white tea that sticks out just a bit past the heat and the tannins. Nose is a bit thin and too delicate, but otherwise really nice. Palate is about the same - has its moments, but never really gets flying. On the whole, it drinks young. Quality seems to be there, so maybe stepping up to an age statement Cardhu could be interesting. This is generally forgettable/passable though. Edit: After finishing the review, I see there's much Cardhu in Johnnie Walker. Now that I know that, I can't really un-taste it. There is something decidedly Johnnie Walker about this. Or, really, there is something decidedly Cardhu about JW. There's an underlying malt sweet with a tiny bite of minerality that's very familiar. Makes the bottle a tad more interesting, but really just makes the age statement Cardhus something I may look for, out of curiosity, and because it satisfies that part of my brain that likes to break things to component parts, that needs to taste every ingredient in a recipe alone before tasting the recipe as a whole. Can't wait.

Amusing Cardhu reserve. Rosy nose (get it?) with enjoyable palette. Short finish. Would drink again.