and now for something completely different: a blended French whisky from the Limousin region (which is mostly known for fine crafted Cognac). Bastille 1789. Like I said, it's blended and comes in at the minimum standard 80 proof. Oddly enough, I found it while visiting family in the mountains of West Virginia. I paid a very affordable $28 for a 750ml bottle. The color is a deep, shiny-new copper and giving it a swirl produces very long, silky legs in the tasting glass. On the nose there's a nice orange and apricot marmalade that will fade into a spicy, ginger burn if you inhale too quickly. On the tongue, it opens again rather softly with a fruit marmalade that turns a little too quickly into a ginger/pepper burn from the oak casks. The finish is insanely quick and short and all I really get is a blast of the advertised Limousin oak used to finish this whisky. There's no info on how long it was aged overall or finished, but it's a warm and quick blast of oak that is gone too quickly IMO. I'm not disappointed at all with the price point and a very respectable flavor profile for a blend. If it only stuck around a bit longer after swallowing it I would put this in another category of blends close to Compass Box. As it is, it's got an interesting flavor profile, but the quick finish somehow makes it rather forgettable- and that's a real shame. It could be so much more. Cheers, my friends.