Lismore Single Malt

Smooth and easy. Honey and lemon peel on the nose with a smoky, peaty taste up front. The thing is the lemon is so subtle as to bring to mind lemon blossoms rather than lemon peel. Or perhaps both. Either way it’s nice. The smoky, peaty taste gives way soon enough returning to honey and lemon, leaving a deliciously subtle, delicate scotch for sipping, or for pairing with tobaccos. This is a great scotch for non-scotch drinkers, or for paring with a fine tobacco when you do not want bold scotch flavors to over power your tobaccos.

Rating: 9/23 N: This is a lighter and grassier nose than Lismore The Legend and it has a bit of honey too. It shares the core funky herbal character and there's some complexity in here for sure. There's something a dash oily even. There's some sulphur, but oddly not as much as in The Legend. It seems like a solid enough nose, but nothing too exciting. It does smell on the young side. P: This is light with some burnt grass, harsh spice, mint, some other herbal flavors, green apple, zesty lemon, a little oiliness (though not enough to fill out the body), and a little bit of some floral grain flavor or something. The bitter alcohol flavor really does come through along with the harshness. F: Herbal, bitter, a bit minty. There isn't a lot of body here. Harshness. Maybe a hint of soap. I prefer the body. - Conclusion - This isn't the worst cheap scotch I've had by any means, but it is actively unpleasant, unlike Lismore The Legend, which is seriously flawed, but still very enjoyable. Getting into some -side-by-siding, Glen Logie is far worse than this. I can't say I really enjoyed this, but the Glen Logie was far more sulphuric and also harsher. I can drink this fine enough, but I felt compelled to spit the Glen Logie. Grant's is more sulphuric and muddled. While I can't say that Grant's is as bad as Glen Logie, it's still pretty bad. This is definitely better than it though. I guess it's time to move up to Sir Edward's 12 then. The rich oiliness and smoothness of Sir Edward's put it above this for sure. I think I probably stand by the 7 I gave Grant's, but the 9 I gave Sir Edward's seems too low (possibly because of the several months of aeration). If I'd had to pick a number for it right now, it would have been more in the 10 to 12 range. Highland Queen Majesty Sauternes has more sulfur and less complexity, but also less harshness and a nice sweet, rich sauternes flavor. I'd take this over that, but I think I overrated the Highland Queen previously when I gave it a 10. Originally, I thought that this Lismore was certainly not as high as a 10, landing more in the 8 to 9 range. I'm now liking it more and I think it might actually be a 10. The harshness is a problem, but the sulfur is less apparent and the flavors are kind of interesting. I'm going with a 9, but there's a chance it could be a 10. for $18, this isn't a bad buy.

Tastes good. For the price, tastes great