Kilbeggan Blended Irish Whiskey

Sweet, oily, covers the tongue

The nose very sweet, banana or sweet pear. There is some alcohol, even on the nose. The flavor is round and smooth and fruity and quite sweet, with a moderate alcohol burn for the finish, the fruits are apricots, pears, and again banana. I would compare this with Canadian Club 12 year small batch, rye whisky.

Rating: 5/23 N: Not much of a nose on this one. There's some fruit (apple, apricot, and lemon) along with a bit of grain and woody must. It doesn't smell bad and does smell decently aged, but it's muddled. P: The palate is sweeter than I expected with fruit (the same apple, apricot, and lemon) and sugar water hitting first. Then the burn sets in without a particular pepper flavor and the alcohol starts coming out. The alcohol brings out a bitterness and a bit of a savory note that I don't really like and it really stands out in here. This isn't a complex palate, but it does have some nice fruit flavor. Aside from that, it's mild and the alcohol is way too strong with a big harshness. There's a hint of bubblegum in here as well. F: The bitter alcohol is far and away the dominant flavor on the finish. There's also an occasional waft of the sweet fruit, but it pales in comparison to the alcohol. There's promise here for an older version of this, but as it is, this is deeply flawed. It would be easy enough to drown in a cocktail, but the harshness is particularly brutal. The obvious thing to compare this with is Pure Scot, which is more viscous and balanced with more sweetness and less alcohol, but which is also quite harsh. Still, between the two, I think that this is noticeably harsher. I can feel the tastebuds being ripped off of my tongue. Despite some oddities to its flavor, Pure Scot is a fair bit better than this, though this is in turn a substantial step up from Glen Logie. That puts this in the 5 to 6 range. I think that I might have overrated Glen Logie in giving it a 4, so I think that 5 seems about right here. I didn't have high expectations for this, but it failed to meet those that I had by a wide margin.

Petey Irish whiskey.

Super sweet with ice.