Westland Garryana 2019 Edition 4.1

Buttery, briny, black pepper

A stupid treat for myself after dinner at a trade show in Las Vegas. Tasted neat from a rock's glass. Right out of the gate the nose is not very impressive. Is this expensive? It sure is hell is here in Vegas! On the nose there is just the lightest whiff of coffee, honey and a bit of a floral note. It's a very subdued. I am immediately thinking about Japanese whiskeys. On the palate there's a lot of subtlety here. There's almost a coffee bean note. A white bit of cacao. Very light sweetness in the background. Maybe a bit grassy. Traces of honey. There is an ethereal quality to this. It's actually a pretty interesting drink, the more you poke around the more you get out of it. The finish is a bit disappointing. It's kind of watery and just dies at the end. It opens with this wonderful super-light promise at subtle complexity and then it just fails to deliver. I'm told this is $150 bottle. It's $50 for a glass. It's not worth it. Hard pass based on value for money alone. It's actually quite a nice whiskey, and I think it might be competitive if it were like $50 a bottle! My scale is very simple. A 1 = drain pour horrid stuff and 5 = a perfect example of the expression. This is a good whiskey but it is way overpriced. They're thoroughly proud of what they've done when instead they should probably be working a little harder to do it better. At least if they want to charge this kind of money. I have to take a half a point off just for the bullshit pricing. No there won't be a bottle of this on my bar.

Another shitty westland expression. One dimensional faint px note. Way too dry finish. Would be overpriced at $30. Its like an amateur clone of rabbit hole px cask. Just go buy that.

A big, strong flavor-packed expression. Was expecting a bit less cohesion based on some reviews. Nose full of dark fruits, malt and light wood. On palette I got loads of plums, apricot, cherry and prunes with bits of anise and fennel. Finish is log and strong.

Enjoyed this a lot. Rich and oily with vanilla and smooth finish.