There is a nice array of pleasant flavors and aromas, although just because this is a wheated recipe does not mean it bears much resemblance to Pappy Van Winkle 15. There just isn’t that much depth in the W.L. Weller. Still, for the money this is an easy-going sipper – an uncomplicated glass of bourbon, both with and without an ice cube.
This may indeed be “The Gentle Dram”, but even at 10 years of age it leaves a lot to be desired. The usual suspects for a Highland malt aged in middling ex-bourbon casks are present – the typical caramel, yeasty bread, brown sugar, and nuts – but nothing serves to elevate this dram above any other similarly-aged malt.
An excellent example of how high-quality a whisky can be made outside of the traditional whiskymaking countries. Penderyn is focused, superbly balanced, eminently flavorsome, and crystal clean.
This is a clean, crisp, and borderline bland example of what skillful hands can do with young or inexpensive whisky blending components. However, I can’t think of any reason to buy Asyla when Great King Street: Artist’s Blend is on the shelf.
This is my first Glen Garioch (usually pronounced ‘Glen Gee-ree’, which is probably not quite right). The ‘Founder’s Reserve’ is the baseline malt for this distillery, and is bottled at the unusual choice of 48% ABV, without chill-filtration, after maturation in ex-bourbon casks. There is no age statement, but it’s probably around 8 years of age.
This is totally unlike the ‘Darkest’ 15-year, and in fact tastes much older and more concentrated. Instead of the wild, fungal brashness of Darkest, the flavors here are muted but sinewy, slow-moving but powerful.
When you think about sherry and peat, you generally think about Highland Park, with its light tickle of citrusy Orkney peat and gently sweet, fruity sherry. This is the opposite of both of those aspects. The sherry is resinous and funky, the peat muddy and vegetative.
While Old Fitz doesn’t bring anything exciting or original to the table, it has a good amount of heft (100 proof), some reasonably well-balanced flavors, an unobjectionable finish, and is light enough to mix a cocktail without dominating it.
Auchentoshan 18 is a clean, light, elegant malt. That said, it doesn’t show a great deal of improvement over younger Auchentoshan, and seems to be aged in a way that picks up minimal wood.
The Original is aged for 10 years in only ex-bourbon casks, both first- and second-fill… Although this is not stated outright, it’s likely that this is the same whisky, aged further, that ends up in Glenmorangie’s cask-finished expressions.