Nose: Green apple skins, pears and grapefruit. A light grassy cereal note with a waft of flinty ethanol in the background.
Palate: The thin arrival is built around crisp malty cereal flavours - it makes me imagine alcoholic corn flakes. There is not much development but a little sweetness does emerge, however more obvious is the ethanol presence which again pushes through, just as it does on the nose. The texture is very light.
Finish: Short. Crisp cereal fading to a ginger and white pepper finale with that ethanol note still hanging around.
Maybe this has changed since the official Distiller notes were posted but there is absolutely no hint of smoke in this at all and the contemporary bottling seems much lighter then the reviewer’s notes would indicate. This is a very young grain-heavy blend.
It’s sippable, but no more so than any lower-middle shelf Irish or Scotch blend and the official rating seems overly generous. This is highball whisky, pure and simple, and it should be consumed that way, in which case it makes an enjoyable long drink that occupies the same niche as an Aperol spritz or a gin & tonic.
The nose is light, unassuming but refreshing, and reminiscent of some of the lighter bodied Scottish blends like J&B or Cutty Sark. The palate is similar and offers just enough to make a tasty long drink with soda water over heaps of ice.
I bought this on special for AUD$65, which was $10 off, and even at that price I would not call it great value.
“Average” : 78/100 (2.75 stars)
65.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@angstrom …I’ve had that pizza. It has its place, but you shouldn’t admit to anyone that you spent money for it.
That sounds like terrible value TBH. I assume a lot of that is liter tax, but if I'm paying per liter, I'm definitely going for something better than this.
I think your notes should be pasted over the original Distiller notes - seem much more accurate by my memory. This seems suitable for the Toki highball and little else outside of easing people into inoffensive distilled spirits.
@bigwhitemike - I thought this one was pretty terrible…except it tasted great as the last drink of the night. Kind of like the that brand of frozen pizza that only tastes good when you are drunk.
@cascode I agree that either the current product is either quite the evolution from the sample sent in for official review, or there was a lot of conjecture searching for the flavors that should theoretically be present based on the stated component whiskies in the description (I.e. oh, hakushu, hmmm - must be a puff of smoke in there) rather than actually finding that note. To me this is so light and simple it’s hard to get much more than semi-malted cereal grain and vanilla, which is a pretty boring way to tax your liver. Agree, it is highballs or bust, which to be fair is the purpose in the first place.