N: Liquid smoke, mint, menthol, ethanol, burning charcoal, ash, pine tar, leather, salted caramel, minty toothpaste, mint flavored waxed floss, earth and pine needles, a pineapple that's been stuffed with mint leaves and is roasting (probably burning) over hot charcoal. There are also less distinct tropical fruit scents - hard to place what exactly. And then there's the birthday cake with vanilla icing. Dead ringer for it every time I nose it - sometimes up front, sometimes behind everything else, but always there. Needless to say, this is not going to be for everyone.
P: Sweet corn, caramel, vanilla, cornbread with honey. Some floral, herbal, and even white tea notes. A sort of dry, mesquite smokiness lingers over everything - it reminds me of dry rub Texas barbecue. And, of course, there's the birthday cake and vanilla icing. High bitterness mid-palate. That's then mostly displaced by a burning chili pepper heat for the finish. There's also cumin, coriander, allspice, maybe some ginger, dried tomato - basically, it is a dry rub barbecue mixture, which was thrown in a smoker for half a day, obviously. (What I don't get, unfortunately, is that savory meat you put the rub on. It's all rub and no meat for me.)
This is a fascination, but I don't really think it's a great whisky. It's an interesting idea and fine execution (far as I can tell). But the end result is a dram that has to really hit your personal, subjective flavor preferences just right. It will do that for some people, but it doesn't quite get there for me. You see a lot people say they have to be "in the mood" for this. I might actually be in the mood for this sometimes too, I think, but I'm likely to hit an Islay single malt instead. This is unrefined, barely restrained power where an Ardbeg or Lagavulin or Laphroaig (etc.) has similar power, but also offers subtlety, refinement, grace, balance - in short, they scratch the same itch and are more interesting (to me, at least). That is where I am more likely to spend my whisky time and money.
That said, this is undeniably unique. If you like smoky whiskies, it's worth trying this to see if it hits a special place or not. It doesn't for me, but YMMV.
42.0
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I completely agree: I like it, but narrow profile. After writing the review, I've started thinking of keeping this on hand as just a nice, occasional curveball. IDK. Wish it was like $25 - that would make it an easier decision.
Dont get me wrong I like the Brimstone its just such a narrow profile
Yes , there's that. I guess I didn't mention the Peated because I'm not sure I'll be able to find it whenever I want.
Yeah its smoky corn whiskey. Its good for what it is but if you want smoky Balcones just get the peated single malt and bask in the glory