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Displaying 55 through 72
Single Malt Scotch | $67
This expression has been matured entirely in bourbon casks and offers a fresh nose of ozone and lemon, becoming quite fragrant in time. More mouth-coating than might be expected, yet easy drinking, with milk chocolate, malt, tropical fruits, and an edge of sea salt. The finish is medium in length, with wood spices. £40/liter
Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Spring 2014)
American Whiskey | $40
Here’s something interesting: all-malt, but not all barley malt, there’s some rye and wheat malt as well. The rye pokes through as fresh grassy notes, struggling with the young barrel character. Detonates on the palate: spice, fudge, vanilla, grain, and oak. This is brash, loud stuff, broad-shouldered, insistent, and cocky. Could find favor with the hophead clan of craft beer drinkers. You’d think it could use some taming, but given a chance, its boldness is appealing.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
Canadian | $33
In the 1980s, when white spirits elbowed whisky aside in the marketplace, unneeded barrels of Canadian Club continued aging. Japanese whisky lovers delighted by the resulting flavor boost demanded a new Japan-only CC. Sweet and hot, the classic pruney, figgy fruitiness of Canadian Club interweaves with new cedar fence posts. Vaguely pulling tannins lend a bitter edge that first amplifies blistering hot pepper, then muffles it into the soothing, glowing warmth of bubbly ginger ale. (Japan only) ¥ 3,375
Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)
Single Malt Scotch | $3,000
This is a venerable Lagavulin which immediately shows its age with a nose that mixes the savory (hoisin sauce) with the mature notes of dunnage warehouse, sandalwood, and a minty lift. In time, there’s bog myrtle, old attics, rain-moistened wool, and a smokiness akin to a dead briar pipe. Slightly dull to start, it perks up in the mid-palate with lanolin and black olive brine, and a Darjeeling-like grippiness. Interesting for sure, but past its best. (1,868 bottles).
Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)
Bourbon/Tennessee | $250
A thick, heavyweight bourbon. Older doesn’t always taste older, and this 30 year old Jefferson’s tastes younger than its sibling 25 year old. The influence of 30 years in oak is evident with its polished leather, tobacco, and charred oak. However, there’s a surprising sweetness that props up the oak with maple syrup, blackberry jam, cinnamon roll, and vanilla cream. Very even-keeled. Yes, it tastes old, but with redeeming qualities. Dark and mysterious in personality.
Reviewed by: John Hansell (Spring 2014)
Blended Scotch Whisky | $159
I had to double check that price. My feelings are well recorded on premium whiskies bottled at 40% and if you were to ask me whether the whisky's worth the price tag, the answer's no. That doesn't make it a bad whisky, though; far from it. It has a light, dusty, and fruity nose reminiscent of raspberry sherbet, and on the palate there is trademark smoke, and pleasant toffee and treacle. Good, but in stellar company here. (Travel Retail only) Price is per liter.
Reviewed by: Dominic Roskrow (Spring 2014)
Single Malt Scotch | $100
This is quite a saline Bowmore, but there is sufficient sliced apple, cut flowers, and fragrant smoke to give some degree of complexity to the nose. With water you get crisp oak, roasted barley, a hint of nectarine, bison grass, and wet reeds. Starting lean in the mouth, it darkens slightly into brambles and a dusty smokiness before picking up a citric tang on the finish. Slightly muted, but well balanced. £60/500 ml
Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)
Single Malt American Whiskey | $48
Another American single malt, from Colorado. A meaty, savory aroma, with molasses cookie and herbal cough drop underneath. Roughly sweet in the mouth, with hints of smoke and bitter chocolate, sweet orange and stewed apples, with a strong back note of anise. For all the strange name and really strange logo (antlers on a barrel?), this is not bad at all.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
Bourbon/Tennessee | $45
Local Montana grains in an impressively brown all-Montana bourbon. Has a small-barrel smell to it—a dry wood and hard candy note I’m starting to recognize—and a snap of rye. Interesting: light but not weak in the mouth. I found their moonshine not that clean, but the wood’s done a good job on it. Rye grass and sweet corn mingle with pepper and anise. Clean finish. (Montana only)
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
Rye Whiskey | $45
A young (“minimum of 6 months”) rye, finished in California vermouth barrels. The results are polarizing; I’m in the “intriguingly tasty” camp. The nose: rye spice with herbal depth and fruit wreathing. The whiskey hits first, but herbal vermouth is right behind, putting more body on the spirit and cranking the finish in an unexpectedly dry, almost bitter direction. An aperitif whiskey, begging to play with cocktails, or even ice, but good neat. Craft whiskey continues to experiment.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
American Whiskey | $43
Off-market for two years. Nose of caramel, sugar wafers, and a touch of just-ripe nectarine. Sweet/smooth in the mouth, with sweet mint, rock candy, and gliding King syrup flavors slipping all over the tongue, while oak notes provide high spiciness. Finishes with a lingering light sweetness, like a dissolving sugar flake. With all the sweetness, though, it doesn’t cloy. Nice, if not complex.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
White Whiskey | $22
“Mellow as moonlight” on the label; the old Cascade slogan, from the pre-Dickel branding days at Dickel. This is a throwback too; from before the barrel. The nose is full of sweet and fresh corn “cream” and cornbread, a nod to Dickel’s 84% corn mashbill. Some peppery notes join it on the palate, but that corn sweetness follows all the way to the end. One of the best white whiskeys I’ve tasted, and not overpriced.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
Single Malt Scotch | $150
There’s something rather round peg in a square hole about Tormore, that grand urban palace of a distillery in wildest Speyside. The whisky, sadly, is often the same. Here, though, things look promising to start with: rice crackers, and a spicy, rye-like hardness on top of a vanilla-accented, sweet trail mix of a nose with some earthiness behind. The palate, for me, is still too rigid. For all its efforts to relax, this Tormore remains tense. £90
Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)
Single Malt English Whisky | $73
Adnams brewery is known for two things in particular: a fearless approach to bold flavors and its investment in quality. Its other spirits are award winners, but it's going to have to wait a little longer to repeat the trick with its single malt. This is just 3 years old and while it’s extremely well made and the maturation in virgin French oak ensures tastiness, spice, and sweet soft vanilla, it hasn't fully realized its potential. £44
Reviewed by: Dominic Roskrow (Spring 2014)
Canadian | $45
Distiller Colin Schmidt is earning his blending chops honestly, using sourced whiskies to keep the cash flow positive while his own distillate matures. Sweet burned wood underpins rich dried fruit, hints of crisp oak, butterscotch pudding, and sour gooseberries. Hot pepper and cinnamon enliven a syrupy mouthfeel as the palate broadens into warm, clean earth and dry, weathered barn board. A long, lingering burn finishes in tingling ginger ale and candied citrus peel. (Distillery only) C$50
Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)
Blended Scotch Whisky | $25
In terms of bang for your buck this has always been one of the very best blends, punching well above its weight. Whether you feel the same about this revamped version depends on how much you want a peat punch. Previously rough and gutsy, this is softer, with more licorice and treacle but also more younger sappiness. Smoke has the last say but it's like an aging sportsman, replacing energy and attitude with guile and subtlety.
Reviewed by: Dominic Roskrow (Spring 2014)
Canadian | $22
After Crown Royal is bottled the barrels are refilled with new whisky spirit, to spend three more years in silent slumber. “Crown washes out the woodiness and leaves the velvet behind,” one distillery worker enthuses. “We probably drink more of this in Gimli than the rest of the country combined.” The steely dusty rye, charcoal tinges, blistering white pepper, creamy butterscotch pudding, and candied ginger of Canadian 83 are the restrained, confident declaration of hard-bit whisky makers. C$24
Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)
Bourbon/Tennessee | $17
Nose of sweet cinnamon candy, wintergreen, and wet wood. Wintergreen and hot/sweet cinnamon carry through on the palate, with light vanilla and some pleasant oak around the edges. Happy shiny whiskey, but you realize what’s missing when you get to the finish…and there isn’t one. Incredibly quick on the finish, and pretty simple throughout. It’s like summer love: fun, but shallow and over quickly. Sourced whiskey.
Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)
