Johnnie Walker Select Casks Rye Cask Finish

Not bad. Solid for Johnny Walker. The rye helps.

Fruit, dates, long on palate, full and rich flavor, spicy ending

I thought this was a great mid point between scotch and bourbon. Not bad on price and pretty widely available.

My first thought that this was just a silly gimmick. And don't get me wrong: it *is* certainly a silly gimmick (I suspect JW has long been using ex-rye barrels; they've just been treated as indistinguishable from ex-bourbon barrels--until now, when American whiskey has become huge business worth cashing in on). But it's also not a bad little blend, and (despite my doubts) a bit of the spicy, herbal, "green" American rye character actually *does* come through. Smell is vanilla, toffee, some interesting funk (reminiscent of something I've encountered in Nikka whiskeys before), bubblegum, caramel, clove, light baking spice, mint. Taste is pretty soft, with vanilla, clove, some generic fruitiness, and herbacious bite. A bit of dry wood that lingers on into the finish, along with some burnt caramels. We're not talking a world-class whisky here, but the novelty, the semi-craft presentation (46% ABV, though chill-filtered), semi-reasonable price ($45 USD), and otherwise limited selection at a lot of airport duty-free shops makes it a fairly attractive option for home-consumption or gifting alike. Splits the difference between the American and Scotch whisk(e)y categories--the sweetness and herbaciousness of a bourbon/rye, the delicacy of a scotch blend.