dhsilv2
Andalusia Stryker Smoked Single Malt
American Single Malt — Texas, USA
Reviewed
August 10, 2020 (edited January 20, 2021)
Nose - dare I say smoked bbq chips? Not enough salt or savory for meats but chips...yeah. Then a young and kinda funky oak is just barely there, you gotta look for it.
Taste - So the big take away is a bit of a strang and kinda odd bitterness. I almost get a weird tap water element here. Now the big show stoppers of course are BBQ, mesquite for sure, some smoked meat notes (not salted or savory still), a huge brown sugar element, and the finish is oak and smokey funk. I have to agree with another tasting note, this is not a sipping whisky. This is a whisky to pair with smoked meats and frankly, I rarely have whisky that I think "I need food with this". I need for with this one.
I'm starting to have a theme with a lot of texas whisky. It's not GREAT and some isn't even "good" (better than average), but it's unique and it has a time and place where it's the whisky to drink. This is just that. I don't really love this. Alcohol punch is over the top for me. The profile and flavors are intense but not complex. But with some bacon or BBQ or even some kind of smoked really anything, I think I'd be in heaven with a glass of this.
I'm doing a 1.75 as there's no way I'd ever want this by itself as it's just not for me and I doubt it's what any whisky drinker wants just for a night cap. But if I had some smoked meats, I'd be on it and frankly I want a bottle for just that. I'm not sure I should score this higher due to that, but for me and for right now, yeah I gotta stick with this score. Very cool profile and I'm going to be bubbly and possessive for these unique younger but flavorful drams. I'm 100% into what they're doing. I'd much rather have a sub optimal whisky like this than 99.9% of the others out there that I'd score the same.
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@WhiskeyLonghorn I feel like this happens all of the time: some whiskey isn't that good for the money, but there's a finished version that's a lot better, but it's also way more expensive, so not a good deal either.
@ContemplativeFox pretty sure the PX version was either a distillery or Central Texas exclusive. Didn’t feel like paying $100 for a bottle. It wasn’t that good.
@WhiskeyLonghorn Thanks for the comparison with Del Bac. Sounds like a probabaly don't need to try this one then (unless I stumble upon the PX version).
Great notes. I agree that Texas distillers don't seem to give a rat's ass what the norms are, so there's all sorts of unique and brash stuff coming out of there.
@WhiskeyLonghorn This was a CS single barrel, don't think it was px finished however.
Agree with you that it’s not an everyday sipper, but I can confirm that it goes exceptionally well with smoked meats, however, it still doesn’t hold a candle compared to Colkegan or Del Bac Dorado. Also, when I visited their distillery, they had a cask strength version of this finished in PX casks that was to die for. Leagues above the standard 50% release.