Glenfiddich 12

Method: Neat
Color: Russet
Nose: Pear, Fresh Wood, Flour
Taste: Pear Flesh, Honey, Vanilla, Coconut
Finish: Medium-Short finish. Delayed burst of sweet cake and frosting followed by a coconut suntan flavor.

Notes: Very straightforward light nose. Not pungent. Strong pear and a slight new wood smell. Balanced taste. Green apple taste, but not overpowering. Boldly in the middle of oak vs sherry. Zero peat. Intentionally inoffensive.
74/100

Lagavulin 16

This one we got lucky on. Aaron gets a gift card from his work on his birthday and hire anniversary. He cashed them out for costco giftcards last year. We used them to get Lagavulin when it was on sale. It only cost us about 20 bucks, but it's normally about 90 bucks if you get it from Bevmo.

Color: 1990s sunglasses. Light reddish brown, like a beer bottle.
Alcohol Content: 43%
Nose:  Apple, cold fruit, parmesan? Something else is there, but I can't pin it. Not a great smell. The apple and cold fruit are nice but something fuckey is present.
Taste: Almost like a white grape. This is not strong at all on the tongue. Light burn but more on the mild side than other things I've tasted. Far on the fruit side, not tasting a lot of peat.
Finish: Finish is much better. Smokey, fruity, refreshing. Like a mouth full of water at a bbq. Quite nice.
Notes: This was pretty nice. If it wasn't 90 bucks I would have it in my house all the time. I will probably get it whenever it goes on sale. Unlike most of the things I've tried, I'm happy I got to taste it.

95/100.

Not a scotch - Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine

Scotch is proving too expensive to buy on a regular basis, as well as taking up too much room in my kitchen. Last check we had 6 bottles of scotch from various tastings left over that we need to finish before we can bring in.

Which brings us to today's review - Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine
Price: 19.99, but on sale from 27.99, at Bevmo
Method: neat
Alcohol content: 50%
Color: clear
Nose: Not much, but you can smell the alcohol content
Taste: no
Finish: no

Notes: This was so bad that I gagged on the first swallow. My body immediately felt we were being poisoned. It tasted like if you had sucked on a corn pop for an hour, not much flavor but corn undertones. But there was nothing good about this. No after flavor, no nothing. There is not much merit to this compared to other things you can get today. I mean, I guess if you're an alcoholic with the shakes right after prohibition was enacted, and all you have is a can of creamed corn and a yeast infection, that you would have to make do. But there is just so much out there today. You don't have to settle for this.

I will be getting a flavored moonshine to see if it's just this I don't like but my hopes are not high.

,
Score: 30/100, only because it was better than that Dewar's honey monstrosity.

Ardbeg 10 year

The second tasting of tonight is one Aaron picked out. I want to preface this review by saying that I really do not like peated whiskeys. There is something about that peat flavor that reminds me of bog mummies. It doesn't help that peat has a bandage flavor and reminds me of regular mummies. I have a hard time getting past it.

Their box claimed to be perfection on the palate and the best whiskey in the world. High expectation should have a higher than expected delivery.

Color: Pale gold
Price: 54 @ Bevmo
Alcohol Content:  46%
Nose: Disappointment, hesitation. The medicinal flavor hits you right at the start. It also has a very strong smoke scent. I imagine it's what fire logs wrapped in gauze smell like.
Taste: Salt water, burnt things, as if a hospital in Hawaii burnt their medical waste.
Finish: My mouth went numb.
Notes: No. Not for me. If you want to camp next to a bog and eat dirt than this is for you. But this is not for me at all.

60/100

Pocket Shot Whiskey.

Boom. Time for a new update. I had a few reviews that I wanted to put up but my dog ate my papers. For reals. Evolution has not been kind to Charlie Barns.

So I have two new reviews I'll pop up today. The first one is for a really cheep shot from the Pocket Shot brand.

Pocket Shot - 4 year Whiskey
Cost: 1.99 @ bevmo for one shot.
Alcohol Content: 40%
Color: Deep Oak, like hardwood floor.
Nose: Wood, strong alcohol scent, very sugary smelling.
Taste: Light alcohol flavor. Very sweet and mellow.
Finish: Very nice finish. Toned down from everything that hit the nose. Fruity, but no strong pull in any one direction.

notes: Very nice whiskey. Where most whiskey would leave me reaching for some pepto this didn't feel like fire on the way down. Would buy this in a normal sized bottle.

90/100

Crown Royal Maple Finished Whisky

I wanted to try a couple of scotches and whiskys that were finished to see if that honey monstrosity was par for the course, or alone in it's level of vileness. So when I saw Crown Royal maple finished whisky I thought I would give it a go.

Method: Neat
Price: $22.00 at Bevmo
Alcohol Content: 40%
Nose: Strong Maple. Not quite like huffing a bottle of Aunt Jemima, but still quite strong. Sugary, Sweet, nothing else is really coming through.
Taste: Light wood, sugar, slight burn. Not very strong on the maple, but it's there.
Finish: This is where the maple really takes off. What's left in your mouth after you've swallowed is what's left in your mouth 10 minutes after eating pancakes. It's not overpowering but there is no denying that maple is the only thing that really comes through.
Notes: I really like this. It wouldn't be my go to drink, but I would definitely buy this again. This is not something that I would mix with soda, it probably won't make good cocktails. But if you were trying to turn someone onto scotch or whisky, this is the route to take. 90/100

Stephanie's Review of Chivas Regal 12

Method: Neat
Alcohol Content: 40%
Cost: $3.99 for a mini.
Color: Amber
Nose: Wood, dust, old books, vanilla, light pear.
Taste: Mild spices, cinnamon. Not watery but no strong flavors. I would describe the flavor as warmth.
Finish: Vanilla, light wood. Not too strong of an after burn but not the lightest I've had.

This is a nice entry level scotch. It doesn't have a medicinal flavor and it's not a sherry monster. I would buy this again.

Edit: Oops, forgot to rate it! 90/100. Very nice.

Stephanie's Review of Dewar's Highlander Honey

Method: Neat
Alcohol Content: 40%
Cost: Mini from Bevmo $3.99
Color: Pale Gold
Nose: Salt water, musk, very light nose.
Taste: Overly sweet, crusty burnt sugar, armpit, fake honey from McDonald's, bad bad bad.
Finish: "Honey", butt, black licorice, dirty clothes. Reminded me of the last of the Halloween candy- all the bits that no one wanted. Overly sweet and without any distinctive flavor. Horrible. Difficult to finish what I had poured.

Notes: This is like spraying some kind of tropical perfume on a homeless man and calling him clean. The honey tries to cover up something that can only be described as body odor. Like when you pass someone in an aisle at the grocery store who obviously hasn't bathed in a looooong time. And so you hold your breath to get through because you don't want to be rude. But imagine if you were eating honey when that happened. This is horrible.

If you got sick on this you wouldn't be able to eat honey for the rest of your life.

Had it tasted the way it smelled it would have been a 90/100. But the nose on this is deceptive. It doesn't smell sweet at all. It's a trap. 20/100.

Stephanie's Review of Cutty Sark

Since my birthday is coming up next week, Aaron and I decided to get a bunch of samples from Bevmo so we could try out a lot of scotches without having to spend hundreds on the full size deal. So there should be 6 or so new reviews popping up soon!

We're going from what we assumed would be the worst to the best. We were wrong. Cutty Sark wasn't the worst one.

Cost: Mini bottle - $2.99
Method: Neat
Alcohol Content: 40%
Color: Ripe Corn
Nose: Light citrus, watered down perfume, very floral.
Taste: Strong alcohol taste, watery fruit.
Finish: Burning. You can really taste the alcohol in this one. Perfume aftertaste that lingers for a while. Not wholly unpleasant, but not something I'm looking for.

Notes: This had a really overpowering alcohol taste. Like someone poured cheap vodka into leftover whiskey glass after the ice had melted. The first few sips weren't too bad, but the more I drank the less I liked. 48/100.

Stephanie's review of laphroaig

Cost: $49 from Bevmo 

Alcohol Content: 40%

Method: Neat  

Color: Russet/muscat  

Nose: Packing gauze 

Taste: Plastic, grass, smoke. 

Finish: Bark chip, smoke, plastic. 

Notes: Strong hospital/bandage nose, but very little in the taste. Bark is worse than it's bite. Had it tasted the way it smelled this would be a 40/100, but it sat in the mouth much more pleasantly than I was expecting. 70/100

Stephanie's Review of Highland Park 12

Cost: $42 from Bevmo
Alcohol Content: 43%

Method: Neat 

Color: Russet/muscat 

Nose: Light, sweet, cooked pear 

Taste: Peat, sweet, slight medicine flavor. 

Finish: Light smoke, coastline, beach fire. 

Notes: This scotch has a very light nose but definitely comes across as sweet. The initial taste is slightly medicine oriented, but that only lasts a little bit. It does have a small burning feeling in the mouth and throat after swallowing, but nothing too bad. The finish reminds me of a campfire at the beach. Not salty, but that fresh ocean air and smoke taste. The finish is much better than the taste.

I enjoy this more than other scotches I've tried, but would not call it my favorite. Too much of a medicine flavor to drink it often. I would rate this at 80/100.