2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 20

Friday! Things are getting busy around here, so I am going to enjoy this Whisk(e)y tasting for sure. Final 5 days... and while I do not know the exact order of what is left, there are only so many options, so the chances of me knowing what I am drinking is getting quite high, and tonight was a night that I was pretty sure I knew what I was drinking after the first sip. 

Compass Box releases a line of blended Scotch Whiskies. They are quite transparent about what they do, with a handy blending wheel on the website for each blend. They are also quite good, even the cheaper ones like this one that cost me $36. Glasgow Blend, Blended Scotch Whisky, 43% ABV, no color added, non-chill filtered. 

On the nose, I get the malt, a fruit that at first I have a hard time pinpointing, but I'm going to go with a somewhat generic 'red berry', vanilla, and then I get a nose of dessert berry fluff. In the back I get a touch of smoke and a little bit of iodine too. Some flowery perfume as well. The nose is quite light but very pleasant. 

The taste is a bit of a let down after the nose, but still nice. I get honey, vanilla, some floral, a little bit of baking spice, and the same whiff of smoke and iodine. It's a bit thin, but that is likely the 43% ABV. The finish hits with ash and smoke initially, turning sweet, then back to a dry ash that hangs around nicely. It also has a nice warmth that builds. I find myself wanting to go back to this over and over. 

A dash of water seems to bring out the ash on the nose, and it's more floral as well. The taste is more sweet and vanilla, and the finish is less enjoyable overall, but still lingers.This one is quite enjoyable, and I do think I enjoy it more than their similar blend "Great King Street Artist's Blend". Glasgow Blend does throw in some Laphroaig... which could be the reason I like it better (:

I'll rate this 3.75/5.0 ... very good, especially for the price. I might have to buy a back up. My biggest complaint is it's too easy to drink - you could put a hurt on a bottle pretty easily in an evening, but that's not much of a complaint, Cheers!

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 19

Thursday! Hey, it's almost the weekend, right? Nearing the end of the line, from the looks of things, we have 1 Peaty Scotch, 3 Non-Peated Scotch, 1 Bourbon, and 1 American Single Malt. What did the dice roll give us for tonight?

On the nose, I'm nearly certain it was the last Peaty Scotch, and it was...

We were drinking Smokehead High Voltage Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Ian Macleod Distillers, 58% ABV, costing $91. I was curious about this one, and I tend to enjoy higher proof Scotch Whiskies.

On the nose, my first initial smell I got black pepper, but then that faded, and I got a touch of rubber, malt, a sweet bbq, and then mesquite and ash. A touch of iodine too, along with a bit of brine. I had a hard time trying to figure out *what* type of smoke I was getting. I am probably due for a palate reset, which I plan on doing in January.

The taste has an initial burst of sweet syrup, followed by hot cinnamon, then to the ash. The finish follows with the sweet and hot cinnamon and then lingers a long time with the char and ash. It's very clingy.

With water, the nose seems a little more smokey, but I still can't quite put a name to it. The taste has a bit more smoke as well, with the finish being more hot cinnamon and black pepper, and it just lingers for a very long time.

I do enjoy this. I'd say both the Taliskers and the Laphroaig from earlier were better balanced, but on some nights, I would likely prefer this one over those. The internet seems to think this is sourced from Ardbeg, or at least used to be. It does have *some* Ardbeg notes, but it's certainly fairly young if it is from Ardbeg. I'll rate it 4.25/5.0

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 18

24 Days of Whisk(e)y... day 18!. What do we have?

On the nose, I get butterscotch, some toffee, Butterscotch, some orange, Butterscotch, a little minty, butterscotch, and some brown sugar. Did I mention the BUTTERSCOTCH!?! 

The taste, yes, butterscotch, but I also get some dark chocolate cherry, some hot pepper, this is really quite interesting, and I can't quite figure it out. It tastes Irish-ish... but because we've had all 4 Irish Whiskies this year, I know it's not Irish. My second guess was Scotch - because that can sometimes be interesting. What was it?

Turns out, American Single Malt - the chameleon, it can be whatever you feel like. And today... it feels like butterscotch (:This comes from Wanderback Whiskey, located in Hood River, OR. This was in partnership with Balcones in Texas. 100% Malted Barley, 52% ABV, aged a minimum of 3 Years.

I did try this with some water, and it was more sweet on the nose, less pepper on the finish - maybe a little more enjoyable. The more I drank this, the more I enjoyed it. By the end, I thought it was pretty darn good - 3.75/5.0 - cheers!!!

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 17

Day 17 of the 24 Days of Whisk(e)y ... tonight, bourbon! We're drinking Baker's "7 Year" Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Single Barrel. These always come in at 53.5% ABV, mine was distilled on 03-2015 and came in at 8 Years, 0 Months. This comes from James B. Beam distilling. I've had this before in the past, and it's a good high-ish proof bourbon without going to Cask Strength. 

On the nose, I get some apricot, vanilla... it's a bit light at first. After a bit it opens up some and I also get brown sugar, a bit of granola bar and a touch of peanut - but not as much peanut as expected from a Beam product. The taste is much more sweet with the brown sugar and vanilla, I get some hot cinnamon as well, a hint of licorice and a hint of peanut. I can tell it's not low proof, but it doesn't come across as too high proof either.

The finish is brown sugar, a nice delayed proof warming, wood bite and a hit of licorice. With water, the nose is similar, but the taste and finish has more wood. This is a nice solid bourbon. I picked this up for $62, and I will say there are several bottles around that price I do like better, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, for example. I might buy this one for some variety, and I probably like it better than the Maker's Mark from earlier... I'm going to go ahead and rate this one a 3.75/5.0. Cheers!

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 16

Happy... Monday? Yes, Monday! Now that I'm retired the day of the week is meaningless, except for the fact that a lot of my friends are still working, and they're more happy on the weekend, so I kinda know what day of the week it is (: Anyway...

Tonight ... Trit! Trit? Yes, Trit... as in Triticale, a rye-wheat hybrid developed in Scotland in the late 1800s (and apparently Germany too). There are Bouryes that blend bourbon and rye... but what happens when you blend a rye grain with a bourbon grain and then distill that? Time to find out.

I went into this blind. On the nose I get a hodgepodge of whiskies - this one is all over the place. Malt at first, a touch of cereal grains, honey, fruit, sweet apple (possibly pear), orange peel, vanilla. Initial taste I get the orange, the vanilla, a simple sugar sweetness, some wood, some pepper spice. The mouthfeel is thin, I'm guessing this is young. Going back to the nose after some tastes and letting it sit - the nose has a distinctive malt funk that if I would have noticed it earlier, I would have known this was from the Pacific Northwest. Really - once you spot it, it pushes out everything else. 

The finish has the pepper, the malt, the wood and orange. Overall, this is really quite nice. Adding water, the nose is similar, the taste is more peppery, and the finish brings in more wood notes. It's pretty good both ways, but probably better neat. 

Drinking this blind, and not catching the funky malt notes, my guess on this would have been Irish. But we have already had all 4 Irish Whiskies for the 2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y ... so I my guess was non-peated Scotch. And again ... I was wrong. Tonight we were drinking Branch Point Trit Straight Whiskey, 46% ABV. This one cost $55 - and I lumped it into the Rye category as it was Rye adjacent. For the 4 "Ryes", I probably liked this one the best. It's NAS, and if I was going to guess it's likely 2 or 3 years old. Mash bill of locally grown triticale, rye malt, and distillers malt, pot distilled. Everything done in Dayton, Oregon. I'll give it a 3.5/5.0 ... at least for today, it's not quite good enough to bump up to a 3.75... but it's quite good, cheers!

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 15

Sunday funday? Day 15 of the 24 Days of Whisk(e)y ... tonight ... something I knew I would enjoy on the first sniff. While I had this one blind, I am to the point where there are only 10 bottles left, and the last one I know what it is, so this was likely 1 of 2 bottles (possibly a 3rd because I have no idea what that one is going to be like). Turned out I was wrong, which has happened *many* times this year (:

Tonight we were drinking Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 10 Year, Original Cask Strength, 58.5% ABV. The regular Laphroaig 10 Year is one of the OGs of Peated Scotch Whiskey. I recall the first time I had it, I got goose bumps from the peat and the iodine and the band-aid and the ... well, you get the idea. I was curious how the Cask Strength would do.

On the nose, this one is just delightful. It makes me question why I just don't drink peaty Scotch Whisky anytime I drink Whisk(e)y. I find smoke, charcoal, a touch of meaty bbq sweetness, ash, a bit of strike anywhere match sulfur, a smoldering campfire, and even some dirt and earth. While some of those do not sound "delightful" - all together it was quite enjoyable. 

The taste is similar, but without the dirt and earth, heh. Along with the charcoal, ash, bbq meat sweetness, and the touch of sulfur, I get a hot pepper... reminds me of a Capsaicin extract where it's just *hot* in a way you want to keep going back to it. The finish is similar, with the match sulfur, the hot pepper Capsaicin, and then at the tail end a heat that lingers for a long time. My face got flushed while drinking this. 

With water, the nose isn't as good. It seems to release the alcohol a bit more which covers up the interesting things I was finding. The taste is probably better - at first it is even more peppery, but then it gets bbq meat sweet and nice and smokey before going back to hot, then the finish does the same for me, going back and forth between spicy and sweet and smokey. Really quite enjoyable.

This one is really good. But doesn't quite make it into the fantastic range. It beats you up some, so it likely isn't for everyone, and not something I would go to often, but when I did want something "interesting" ... this one wouldn't let me down. I'm not really a fan of the standard Laphroaig 10 Year - of the 'big' big Islay Peated Scotch Whiskies, it's probably my least favorite. But this one is quite different and better. I'm rating this 4.25/5.0... cheers!

2024 24 Days of Whisk(e)y - Day 14

Day 14 ... Saturday, wee! After today, 10 days to go, and there are still a lot of great whiskies yet to come. Tonight we're drinking Coopers' Craft Bourbon, 50% ABV... I thought this might be Bottled In Bond - but my memory must be incorrect. After pouring the samples, I tucked away the bottles until I tried them during this tasting... except for this one. I kept this out as it is a bit of a daily drinker and I had had it before. So the bottle is gone... below is a stock photo from the company website (:

I wanted to see how a budget-ish Whisk(e)y would stand up to the rest of the selections blind. On the nose this seemed a bit proofy up front but then faded. There is some sweetness, some burnt sugar, a touch of floral and I seem to get a little bit of light dill too. 

Drinking this - I find cinnamon, brown sugar, some wood and again I think I get a little dill. Not enough to make me think this might be a rye (several ryes I get dill on), pretty faint. The finish has the sweetness turning to wood and a nice warmth too.

Water softens the nose, the taste is more cinnamon hot and woody, while the finish is still sweet and woody. I was pretty sure it was bourbon - it was fine, nothing wrong with it, but nothing overly special either. I tried it side by side with Wild Turkey 101 and I seem to prefer the Wild Turkey a little more, so I'll rate this one 3.0/5.0. This one cost $32 when I picked it up, but it looks like currently it is hard to find in Oregon.