Folklore tells of the Silkies, whose siren voices and beckoning, limpid eyes were irresistible to any man. From the team planning to build Sliabh Liag Distillery in County Donegal comes a palate of vanilla fudge, wood spices, and some vegetal notes following a nose of cold toffee brittle, fresh-cut herbs, and white pepper. A conspicuous grain character penetrates through, but this adds to a mature profile, making this blend stand out from the crowd of bourbon cask sweeties. €47

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Spicy and savory with dark soy sauce, the blackened bark of a hunk of roasted meat, peppercorn, fennel, and faint lemon zest. Lemon meringue pie and tangerine flavors; quite sweet, with lovely flowing spices throughout, and a few green notes, but when the creamy fudge comes in, the ride is over. Compared with the standard blend, this has greater balance, benefiting from the absence of the more abrasive spices and herbal aromas. Abrupt finish, leaving a hollow spiciness behind. £35

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

America, Walker wants your cocktails. Emma Walker that is, the blender whose signature adorns the first of these experimental expressions. Toffee Speyside nose, digestive biscuits, cinnamon, cool mint, and a pronounced grain note from Port Dundas. Orange, lime peel, lovely caramel richness, and creamy toffee through dilution. The brand’s second consecutive rye cask finish: you noticed too? Up against its sibling, JW Select Rye Cask, there are certain similarities, but this is fruitier, less intricate, and less rich and spicy.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Soft and warm on the nose, with peaches in syrup, heather, hazelnut, and mild ginger. Quite full and richly fruity on the palate: apricots and more peaches, plus stronger ginger and a hint of spicy oak. Lingering in the sweet finish, with gentle spices.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2016)

The first legal rye from Delaware since Prohibition includes 65% rye and also 5% rye malt. Although showing some spirituous aromas of youth, this is one of the more precocious small barrel projects (10 gallon), with its sweet cinnamon candy and rye bread notes turning still spicier on the palate. Not terribly complex, but enjoyable.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Winter 2016)

Lemon lozenges and chewy warm cookies, with muscular, brutish smoke characteristics; like standing too close to the open doors of a peat kiln. The palate begins with gooseberries; very sharp, sour, and acidic, the blistering alcohol rolling through like a steamroller, while ginger and pepper fly about like sparks off a grindstone. It is enjoyably mollified through dilution to suggest sponge cake, citrus, chocolate, and tobacco notes. The consummate Kornog can be divine, but this is hard core. €100

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Surprisingly the most reticent nose of the three Inchmurrins. Mild orchard fruit, apple blossom, cocoa powder, and a hint of nutmeg. Initially, red grapes and almonds on the palate, with the fruit then darkening to raisins and developing oak. The finish is long, spicy, dry, and oaky, with persistent background fruitiness trying to break through.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2016)

Like a trip to the stalls of an old spice market, the traders beckoning you closer with their colorful wares. Nutmeg, fennel seed, and caraway on the nose, then papery dried oak leaves, toast crumbs, and slightly pungent notes of chive and shucked pea pods. This is a fatter, more glutinous whisky than the single malt. Lemon glaze, fudge, honey, nectarine, and kumquat balance an undercurrent of pepper, cinnamon, and mustard seed. A slightly sour swallow, then the spices reign supreme.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

You can smell the time that has elapsed on this dark, chestnut dram. Glimpses of vanilla essence, mushroom gills, blueberries, aged balsamic vinegar, and beef stock. Flavors swirl around charred meat juices, walnut oil, chewed leather, rancio, tobacco leaf, tree bark, black toffee, and licorice root. A slight creamy salvation tugs it from its oaky and savory comfort zone. The moderate finish is awash with Brazil nut and bitter coffee grounds. Forget about adding water. An ancient, fragile grain whisky. (K&L Wines exclusive)

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Wood. From the lumberyard to the charred barrels, wood powers over grain, caramel, vanilla, and earth. A nuttiness comes through, turning the wood into almond, pine nut, and pecan, but a resounding bitterness stays in the form of nut shells. It lacks balance and complementary flavors to the oak, but caramel finds itself on a short finish. Decent first release, but I wanted to find more nuance from the second barrel.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Winter 2016)

Rich on the nose, with damp tweed, malt, and a suggestion of earthiness. Finally, salted butter. The palate offers muted tropical fruits, soft gingery oak, and more earthiness. In the finish, the oak becomes more overt without dominating.

Reviewed by: Gavin Smith (Winter 2016)

Take just a moment to admire the color; it’s nearly red after 24 years. Then admire the fragrance, with florals, fruit, caramel, and vanilla bargaining for their time over prominent oak. Complexity of earth, caramel, cinnamon, vanilla, bitter chocolate, light cinnamon, sautéed mushrooms, watermelon Jolly Rancher, and a hint of tobacco. Eventually, woodiness and bitterness set in and dominate the palate. Too much wood.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Winter 2016)

Explore the grain side of Jameson’s personality in this first specimen from the Deconstructed series. Expect floral aromatics and a mixed crate of fresh citrus fruit, so it smells closer to the airport’s perfume counter than the whiskey store. Strands of honey, squeezed citrus, and vanilla blossom amid a thickening mouthfeel after a feather-light beginning. It’s tooth-achingly sweet, but daubed with lime and sweet clementine, leading to a dry, warm finish with chalky candy. (Travel Retail exclusive) €36

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Meaning “son of the sea,” this MacNaMara has a lilting sweetness that lifts from the glass, the characteristic orange-peel oil note is present, but less assertive. Nectarine, Murray mints, and antique shop mustiness, but a lot less aromatic than many of its contemporaries. Flavors of sweet melon, golden honey, and tangy orange take off in the mouth, with tastes of white pepper, fennel, and ground ginger in hot pursuit. Pepperiness penetrates an otherwise juicy finish.

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

Non-chill filtered plus a lot of age equals oak meeting caramel, vanilla, earth, nuttiness, and mildew. Slight hints of anise, rose petals, tree bark, and overcooked rice, before over-oaked flavor dominates with medicinal notes and soap. Bitterness, earth, and a saving grace of herbs follow for a decent, albeit woody finish. This is simply over-oaked. I’d love to have tasted this bottled three to seven years ago.

Reviewed by: Fred Minnick (Winter 2016)

Age statements are disappearing from Japanese whiskies, but this 80% grain content blended whisky from Sasanokawa Shuzo is evidence that age is no substitute for flavor. A tight nose of lychee, white pepper, allspice, and toasted oats is bettered by a sweet, light profile, yielding American oak characteristics of vanilla and creamed coconut. It’s quickly dominated by intensely spicy seasoning overcoming late notes of burnt orange, fresh fig, and sour grapefruit peel before a finish of peppered mackerel. (1,992 bottles, Europe only) €130

Reviewed by: Jonny McCormick (Winter 2016)

There is a certain rusticity here, with a nose rooted in rhum agricole, sweet malt, honeycomb, butterscotch, and molasses, tinged with furniture polish and varnish notes. The palate is sweet and candied, with Bit-O-Honey, circus peanuts, and nougat, turning a touch chocolatey on the finish.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Winter 2016)

Aged in a combination of 25-gallon and 53-gallon barrels, Florida’s first bourbon since Prohibition is 16 to 28 months of age. The honor of being first comes with compromises—a youthful, spirited profile, with clear distillate lurking just beneath the heavy surface oak, dried fruit, and cocoa notes. Slightly hot, earthy, and leathery, with Robusta coffee and oak astringency on the finish.

Reviewed by: Jeffery Lindenmuth (Winter 2016)