At first, the nose is earthy and roasty, with dried chile, cocoa powder, toasted oak, curing tobacco, and dried clay, but a few drops of water reveal dried jasmine, honeysuckle, and rose petals: a delightful surprise. The palate is savory and earthy with plenty of mole sauce, cocoa powder, charred nuts, and pepper. It’s lengthy on the finish, unfurling into cigar, espresso, and unsweetened cocoa flavors.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

The nose is redolent of tea leaves, peach skin, herbal honey throat lozenges, blueberries, brown sugar, licorice, and toasted grain. More herbaceousness hits on the palate, cooling some of the cinnamon spice of the high proof with spearmint and licorice notes; add water, and nuttiness emerges. Continued herbal flavors into the finish, which also has citrus oil and peppery spice. Strong barrel character throughout. (5,500 bottles)

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

Clean fresh malt character manifests as a whole host of banana products: chips, bread, and pudding with Nilla wafers; there are also coconut shavings, sliced almonds, confectioners’ sugar, and lemon and lime peels. Though youth peeks through with heat on the palate, the bright flavors of lemon, banana, coconut, and a whole bouquet of violets and roses provide balance and lead into a clean short finish. A little more time and this whisky won’t just bloom—it’ll flourish. (1,560 bottles)

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

The first peated expression from Glnglassaugh after reopening in 2008, Torfa is made from barley malted to 20 ppm and matured in bourbon barrels. Bonfire smoke, ozone, orchard fruits, malt, and black pepper are present on the nose. Slightly savory on the smooth palate, with sweet peat smoke, honey, dark chocolate, and a very mild maritime note. Ginger, apricot, and more sweet peat in the finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2020)

The barrel dominates here, by design, and it manifests on the nose with fresh-cut oak, cinnamon, black tea leaves, cashews, blackcurrant, dark chocolate, and a sprinkling of spices. Savory and oak-forward on the chewy palate, which has roasted nuts, grilled corn, dark chocolate, peppermint stick, dried chile, black pepper, espresso bean, and tobacco leaf, all sweeping into a lengthy, chocolaty finish.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

Grainy on the nose, with butterscotch haystacks, strawberry lollipop, sugared pineapple, mango, dried kiwi, and grape soda. Without water, the palate is crowded with oak, peppery heat, and cocoa; add a bit, however, and there’s room for sweet plums and cherries, grape jelly, butterscotch, and chai spices, finishing with dry oak, peanuts, licorice, and tobacco. Made with the distillery’s signature “Tennessee high malt” mashbill, which includes corn, malted rye, and two types of malted barley.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

Cinnamon babka, powdered donuts, pecan-studded coffee cake: Call this breakfast whiskey. The nose is sweet, light, and nutty—a beignet with sugary chicory coffee. Sturdy and spiced on the palate, it has flavors of cinnamon, allspice, pepper, stone fruit, cherry pie, roasted pecans, and bracing oak, along with garden herbs. The finish is medium-length, with milk chocolate, black pepper, and roasted nuts.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

Unlike the Jane Walker package for Johnnie Walker Black Label released in 2018, this is a new whisky altogether, a blend of various malts aged at least 10 years, including Cardhu and Clynelish. The nose is floral and gently nutty, with rose water, salted almonds, green apple, nougat, and caramel chews. Light-bodied and silky in the mouth, it has bright flavors of lime, lemon, vanilla, and coconut, before edging into nutty milk chocolate and finishing with good length, and a final savory note. Best Value

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

This latest release comprises the contents of nine first-fill European sherry-seasoned oak hogsheads, eight bourbon barrels, and nine refill casks, all laid down in 1998. Hints of warm machine oil and herbs on the nose, with pineapple, barley sugar, and white pepper, plus a touch of heather and faint smokiness. Slightly bitter on the palate, with wood spices, while fruitiness lurks in the background. Peppery oak char and coal in the finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2020)

Aromas of honey, vanilla extract, dried banana, and clove, with green herbal notes of parsley stems and kale. Dark sugar sweetness, vanilla, baked citrus, clove, and peppercorn flavors, though the spices don’t overwhelm the mellow mouthfeel, and it rounds off with vanilla toffee, sliced banana, herbal grain notes, and lingering spice. Worth getting to know this whiskey well to appreciate its full potential.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)

Dark berries, cola, iced tea, dark chocolate, toasted oak, white pepper, and lime on the nose, permeated by an earthy character. Strong oak on the palate is kept in check by spice—ginger, cinnamon, pepper—and dark fruit, with notes of black tea and roasted peanuts as well. The finish is nutty and quite spiced, with lingering blackberries and a touch of bitter oak.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

A bit reticent on the nose, with light aromas of jasmine, freesia, coconut, vanilla, and hints of kiwi, pineapple, and strawberry. The palate is oily and highlights more coconut, pineapple, vanilla, and strawberry, plus lemon, sandalwood, and mingled spices. On the finish, crushed nuts top a chocolate and vanilla malted milkshake, and lengthy oak caps things off. (156 bottles; U.S. exclusive)

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

One of anCnoc’s peated expressions, Rascan’s barley was peated to 11.1 ppm, and aged in bourbon barrels for what the distiller describes as “nearly a decade.” The nose gives sweet smoke, with ripe peaches and a hint of barbecue. Vanilla emerges, and the aroma becomes floral. Apples, vanilla fudge, and peat smoke on the palate. The smoke dries slowly, with citrus fruit giving way to oak and chile.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2020)

This is the second edition of Evolution, first released in 2013, and the ABV has been reduced from 57.2% to 50%. Like the first, it was matured in first-fill Tennessee whiskey barrels. The nose gives vanilla, ginger, honey, tropical fruits, and milk chocolate, plus a floral note. More vanilla, milky coffee, oak, honey, toffee, and pineapple on the oily palate. Spicy caramel in the finish.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2020)

Sweet peat on the early nose, with pineapple, toffee apples, and coconut. Slightly savory, with wood fire ashes. Somewhat oily on the palate, where sweet peat begins to dry, along with oranges, apricots, and marshmallows. The finish is relatively long, with vanilla and fresh oak dipped in hot tar.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Summer 2020)

One of two single barrel bourbons distilled in 2015, this one selected by Firestone & Robertson co-founder Leonard Firestone. The nose is light and airy, with notes of confectioners’ sugar, orange peel, peanuts, coffee beans, and semi-sweet chocolate. The palate offers rich chocolate, bitter orange, light tobacco, and oak. The finish is barrel-forward, with chocolate, peanuts, orange, and spice. Too much barrel influence at times, but the balance improves with water.

Reviewed by: David Fleming (Summer 2020)

The nose is dark and roasty: clay, dried leaves, walnut and pecan shells, cacao nibs, dried chiles, tobacco leaf, and darjeeling tea, as well as hints of tropical fruit. Full-bodied and oak-driven on the palate, with spiced tea-leaf complexity highlighted by tobacco leaf, cinnamon, clove, allspice, black pepper, mint oil, chocolate, and roasted corn. Continued chocolate, oak, and spice into the finish, interwoven with cigar wrapper and pops of licorice and mint.

Reviewed by: Susannah Skiver Barton (Summer 2020)

This blend is made in Fuefuki, west of Tokyo, and seems custom-built for great Highballs. The nose presents fresh pear, baked pastry, straw, and slightly smoky roasted spices: coriander seed, peppercorn, and aniseed ball. It lacks body initially, with sweet orange, fruit syrups, and ginger root spiciness, but then it restores your faith with flavors of tropical fruits, vanilla, and orange cake, and a hot ‘n’ spicy peppery finish.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Summer 2020)