Deanston Virgin Oak ~$40
Lets kick this off with a Scotch review, because why not?
Deanston Virgin Oak. Lets see, light, not terribly complex, malt, vanilla and wood on the palate. Reasonably pleasant nose of the same. Short pleasant aftertaste… of the same. This one doesn’t really try to be something its not. Lets also be honest, it’s the only $40 Single Malt bottle at the before-mentioned liquor store next to the office. Good, cheap, single malt, easy drinker. Sold!
Bonus Wife Comment: Sweet, vanilla/oak, wood. Exactly as described.
Score: N/A
Glenfarclas 12 ~$50 (Thanks Allan!)
Going off of memory here. More interesting budget scotch with somewhat similar flavor profile to Deanston above, plus a bit of nuttiness and light sherry influence on the palate (or more of a ex-bourbon thing). Very good, plenty of folks preferred this first, again likely due to slightly punchier/nuttier flavor profile, a tiny whiff of smokiness. General crowd-pleaser overall.
Score: N/A
Dickel Bottled-in-Bond ~$35
Wife note: Fancy men’s perfume. American version.
Exceptionally good american fare. Nose is some sorts of dark roasted nuts. Tiny bit of cherry sourness coming in through. Bottled in Bond works its own thing here, on the palate it packs quite a punch though balanced and quite drinkable. Exceptional in a mixed drink, especially if its a Manhattan. New whiskey of the year by Spirits Advocate for 2019. For the price, yeah I agree.
Personal note: Don’t try to taste things at the tail end of sinuses. This currently tastes like soap to me. I’ve opened it up a bit ago and other than being really punchy in your face kinda situation its really nice. Dickel makes some solid american whiskeys.
Score: N/A
Corsair Triple Smoke ~$40
So… I’m a little split on this one. We’ve bought and consumed at least 6 bottles (okay yeah we’re kinda insane I guess) of Cask-exclusive full strength (65%?) version of this general release… and well you can tell from number of repeats that its really really good. One of my favorite American bottles at the time.
The general version, coming in at exact 40 abv… comparably is… weak and simply doesn’t have the same punch as the cask strength version does… that is if you’re expecting cask strength flavors out of it… But it happens to be general production model release, not a supercharged drag racing version of that civic, but civic in itself is still good if compared to other cars in its class. So certainly expect that american malt caramel flavors, and 3 types of smoke certainly are to the front vs taking a backseat in the memory of the other bottles. Is it good by itself? Not at 40 abv. I wouldn’t chase it to the end of the earth to buy another bottle. Cask strength is a very different, smoked caramel experience that could be an interesting exploration in smoked bourbons.
Update: The newly rebranded and bottled at 50% abv single casks are… somewhere in-between the two opinions above. Not quite 40% flavored water, not quite concentrated experience of a 60+ percent abv. Makes for a fantastic manhattan just by adding couple of cherries to it. Multilayered smoke (think BBQ smokehouse) and reasonably okay amount of sweet american malt makes for a passable experience for such young malt.
Score: N/A