Unaged, triple distilled spirit, produced and bottled at Piedmont Distillers in North Carolina. Clean nose with hints of unripe honeydew, bond paper, and wet crushed chalk. Very soft on the palate, clean, with no burn at all. Slippery-smooth, a tiny bit sweet. Tastes like good vodka, really; not much grain here at all. Easy to drink, but…where’s the excitement?

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

There is something very bedtime drink about this Glenallachie, without it being a dram to have before retiring for the night. It’s to do with the aromatic sensation of powdered malted milk and cocoa powder. The palate is simple, with some fresh apple, pear juice, and a lightly sour edge. The draff/malted milk re-emerges in the middle of the tongue. With water, pears come through, making it similar to a tequila blanco. All rather delicate. £63

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

Sweet creamy toffee, with hot and spicy undertones, builds gradually to a peak then fades into classic bitter pith. Caramels mute the hardness of rye grain as it, too fades in advancing waves of gingery pepper. Definitely a mixing whisky now, Lord Calvert tells one and all that their cocktail was made with wood-aged whisky. Hints of grassiness and dry white wine add breadth to a whisky that in days long past was intended to be sipped neat.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)

Bottled as one of last year’s Diageo Special Releases, this is very minty to start: mint chocolate to be precise, before Brazil nut and toasted bran appear, given balance by creamy oak. This mix of nuts and sweetness continues on the tongue alongside an early burst of strawberry, but the center and back palate are foosty (as we say in Scotland), or dusty, as you probably do.

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

Craigellachie is one of Scotland’s most interesting distilleries: its worm tubs providing a deliberately sulfury new make whose aromas flash off after maturation to reveal a deeply floral, pineapple-accented palate. Here, sadly, an inactive cask has meant that cabbagey sulfur has not been fully worked out. The fleshiness of the mature spirit is emerging, but this should have been kept in cask for another five years or so. Lacks balance and maturity. £60

Reviewed by: Dave Broom (Spring 2014)

Canadian Mist with flavor and sweetener. Boozy but fresh peach, vanilla, and sugar nose; smells like a fresh, juicy peach cobbler; where's the whisky? Very much dessert-like in the mouth, sweet, full, but not cloying; points for that. Finish is peach candies, vanilla, and finally some whisky notes. Even at 35%, I'd like a lot more whisky character here; otherwise, what's the point? Still, head and shoulders above Southern Comfort's flavor experiments.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

Lakes distillery will become the fifth English whisky producer when it starts distilling this year. That puts England on the whisky map. Before then, though, this is its first bottling: a blend of British whiskies, though I'm not sure what that means exactly. The nose is fine, but on the palate it's like skiing on end-of-season snow: you get to ski, but it's a thin, wet, and not totally comfortable ride. England expects…better. £30

Reviewed by: Dominic Roskrow (Spring 2014)

Sweet, heavy vanilla, powdered sugar, and dog-toothed spring violets, it smells very light with soft hints of sweet floral perfume. What begins as viscous and creamy on the tongue suddenly becomes refreshingly bitter and loaded with hot, singeing spices. Pepper and dried candied orange peel linger while the sweetness dims. A pleasing bitter finish fades into a warm glow. Although the whisky struggles at first, it breaks through in the middle with its spices and heat. (Canada only) C$31

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)

An odd roaring noseful of spices: vanilla, pepper, ginger, teaberry. Tastes perfumey first, then resolves to sweet vanilla, hot oak, and more teaberry. Can’t decide if it wants to be bourbon—it’s hot, and flexing oak—or candy, and does a poor job at both; it’s like a linebacker in a French maid’s outfit, just wrong. There are much better sweet, spicy whiskey mixes out there; the original Spicebox comes to mind.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

Root beer (wintergreen, sugar, a bit of cinnamon) and oak on the nose; whiskey/oak predominates. There’s actually a lot of whiskey flavor here, too, though it’s not great whiskey, the finish gets sweet and clingy, and the mix seems forced. Still…root beer-flavored whiskey? In an aluminum bottle? Why not just buy some whiskey and put it in your root beer? Then when you come to your senses, you can drink the whiskey like a civilized human.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

Warm maple, caramel, and salt in the nose, like caramels being melted for making cookies (something my wife does every Christmas). Thin, boozy maple in the mouth. Disappointing, though I suppose it would be good in desserts, or on desserts. But I really expect more whisky, even in a flavored whisky under 40%.

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

It certainly is cinnamon: got a nose full of it, and not Red Hots, either, this is real cinnamon, just missing the depth of Vietnamese and with, yes, a bit of whisky there. There's next to no whisky in the mouth, though; this is like a cup of sweet cinnamon tea, something I'd add whisky to. Too sweet, too cinnamon. Where's the whisky?

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Spring 2014)

Its age certainly shows, with a good dose of leather, tobacco, and barrel char. Sweet notes of caramel, toffee, and candied fruit try to rescue it, but ultimately fails toward the finish, leaving my mouth parched, leathery, and craving a glass of water (or a beer!). A bourbon with individuality, but it pains me to think what this could have been (or once was).

Reviewed by: John Hansell (Spring 2014)

Cinnamon hearts. Very sweet and crazy hot with cinnamon. The cinnamon so dominates this liqueur-like drink that very little whisky manages to peek through until the very end of a long, murderously hot finish. Even then, cinnamon overrides the whiskyness, leaving a drink rather than a dram. Fun, yes, great fun, and almost certainly a bracing shooter, but it may be difficult to convince the whisky aficionado to think of this as whisky.

Reviewed by: Davin de Kergommeaux (Spring 2014)