Grade: B
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Lowland
Age: 23 Yrs
ABV: 54.00%
Price: $155
Availability: Limited Run
The nose on this is dark chocolate and port. The palate is rich, lots of port flavors, syrup, cream sherry, nice ballance here and a lot of complexity. The finish lingers for a long time, the richness coats the entire mouth. This tastes almost like a big vintage port. A lot of complexity here, I would say that this expression would make for a great dessert malt.
Grade: C+
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Speyside
Age: 17 Yrs
ABV: 54.20%
Price: $135
Availability: Limited Run
The nose is floral with some honey and oak. The palate is malty and bitter with some white wine and a light spice. In the finish I pick up some semi sweet lemon pie, medium finish, finishes lighter than the ABV suggests. This expression is not very complex, it just doesn’t have much to it, in which case I would say pass at this price.
Grade: B
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Islay
Age: 19 Yrs
ABV: 50.80%
Price: $210
Availability: Limited Run
The nose is soft on this with some dried fruit and honey melon. The palate is much of the same, soft and a bit grassy with some oranges. The finish has a bit of spice/pepper and is a medium finish. This is another solid expression put together by Duncan Taylor. If you are looking for peat, look elsewhere as this bottle from Islay has no real peatiness to it.
Grade: B+
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Island
ABV: 56.60%
Age: 9 Yrs
Price: $90
Availability: Limited Run/Semi Rare
Cask Number 69, Bottle 316/592, Distilled 03/02/98 Bottled 28/08/07…….. The nose on this is sherry, sweetened raisins, spiced rum cake. On the palate there is a massive amount of sherry, spicy sweet syrup, pancakes. The finish is medium and goes down like a high end dessert wine. If you have not ever tried one of these single cask expressions by Arran, I highly suggest that you give one a taste. Esp. the sherry expressions
Grade: C+
Type: American, Bourbon, Tennessee
Age: N/A
ABV: 43.00%
Price: $60
Availability: Better Whiskey Stores
The chocolote on the nose is pretty dominate over any other typical bourbon smells. On the palate there is a decent amount of chocolate, though not overly sweet, slight hints of vanilla and chocolate make this taste like a black and white cookie. the finish is medium and easy to swallow. There is nothing that is offensive here, I just can’t get into the chocolate taste as there isn’t much else to it.
Grade: B-
Type: American, Bourbon, Kentucky
Age: 8-9 Yrs
ABV: 67.20%
Price: $50
Availability: Better Whiskey Stores
Buffalo Trace has said that this will be a regular expression. However, so far it has been a bit hard to find for customers. The nose on this is wood, spice and lots of oak. The palate is rye, oak, nice candied caramel taste here. The finish is hot, plastic, finger nail polish remover. I think this expression by Stagg is worth trying and owning but it does fall a bit short if you have expectations based on the original Stagg expressions. B-/B
Grade: B-
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Highland
Age: 12 Yrs
ABV: 43.00%
Price: $50
Availability: Better Whiskey Stores
The nose has some earth to it, reminds me of some wine from Burgundy, big terroir on this one and a bit floral. The palate is like a mixture of spiced fruitcake and candies. The finish really lingers for a while with more candied notes, quite sweet with some molasses and ginger. I really liked this expression B-/B
Grade: C
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Highland
Age: 12 Yrs
ABV: 40.00
Price: $35
Availability: Wide
The nose on this is caramel and simple syrup. The palate is dry and bitter for me. I really can’t pick up on to many notes here because it’s just so bitter. The finish comes and goes extremely fast. I started out thinking this tasted like a cheap blend and was just uninspiring but not offensive. However, the more I got into the bottle the more I became offended with that bitterness. I will pass on this next time.
Grade: C+
Type: Scotland, Single Malt, Speyside
Age: 12 Yrs
ABV: 43.00%
Price: $43
Availability: Better Whiskey Stores
The nose on this has a serious amount of big fruit and some white wine. The palate is light, a little malty and very much like a mid range blend. The finish….I’m still looking for it. Nothing offensive here, but nothing to rave about either. There really isn’t much to say about this expression, if you are looking for an easy summer sipper, then this might qualify.
Grade: B-
Type: Scotland, Blended
Age: 18 Yrs
ABV: 40.00%
Price: $65
Availability: Wide
The nose of this is nuts, vanilla and butter. The palate has some orange spice, and some nice malt to it, dried fruits. The finish is nicely ballanced and is actually pretty long, nice oak here. This expression is a solid blend that is smooth and easy to drink. However, if you’re looking for complexity….it isn’t here
Bay Area Whiskey Reviews 