Nose: Lovely sweetness on the nose, juicy fruit, pot de creme, nutmeg and cloves.
Palate: Rye bread with sweet butter, juicy fruit, green tea, red vines
Rating: 8 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – absolutely delicious
Nose: Dates
Palate: Dark chocolate, cherry cola, leather, super subtle bbq notes, menthol, phenols
Rating: 8 / 10 – this is such an exceptional brimstone. I usually struggle with this spirit, but this cask is just amazeballs.
Nose: Butterscotch/werther’s original, little bit of barnyard/wet oats, root beer candy
Palate: Sweet smokey balanced. Beautiful.
Rating: 8 / 10
Nose: This is one of the best spirits I had all year. It deserves a paragraph in each section. But it won’t get one, but I just want to enjoy it tonight. But it’s so damn good I’m going to post this anyways
Palate: Big fruity, meaty, chocolate greatness
Rating: 8 / 10 – I wish wish wish wish I could find a whole bottle. A huge thanks to Vlad for sharing.
Nose: Peanut brittle, acetone, elegant pineapple, stargazer lilly, muscovado brown sugar.
Palate: Well balanced woody elegant estery goodness, pineapple, papaya, leather, cedar, anti-freeze, with a dollop of water this opens up beautifully.
Rating: 8 / 10 – ST🖤CE’s mom got it going on
Nose: This is stunning on first sniff. And second. And two days later when I poured it again. A massive spice and apple hit. Cloves and birch bark. Warm seaside tarmac towards the end of a hot day. Toasted chestnuts.
Palate: What a big big hit of apple. The concentration of flavors is impressive. The oak builds a real foundation with all kinds of spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom), layered by a light ashyness, sea salt, and then a full frontal fruit funk. The style takes me almost to caribbean rum. The peat is so well integrated, it’s part of the harmony rather than a soloist. This just shows how amazing calvados can be if you time everything just right.
Rating: 8 / 10 – Could I have called out springbank, nope, but having had this side by side with the 18 year @ 46%, it adds such depth of character, this will be one to hunt for once it hits the shelves in a couple months. I asked Drouin for more info and they shared that it was finished for 5 months in a Springbank bourbon cask 2014. The calvados was wild fermented for months before being double distilled in the same 2500L pot still. Aged for 19+ years in 200 (ish) L 2nd/3rd fill french oak. They don’t like to keep the casks full as they like additional oxygen interaction, so this is probably a particularly concentrated and bold set of casks to marry well. Keep an eye peeled for the release.
Nose: Fresh raspberry sorbet, australian style raspberry fruit ropes, oakaliciousness, passionfruit flowers.
Palate: It’s so fruity and fabulous and lovely and gentle, and the finish goes on forever. Berries and red fruit.
Rating: 8 / 10 – I loved the nose so much I was scared to taste it for fear of being disappointed. This is just wonderful.
Nose: Black forest chocolate cake, luxardo cherries, coffee cake, stone fruit, warm leather, walking through an orchard. Touch of the herb garden. Super harmonious.
Palate: Dark chocolate malt balls, plum butter, cherries, cassis.
Rating: 8 / 10 – luxurious and impressive on the first moment
Nose: Pink lemonade with a large helping of pulp and fresh crushed mint. Brown sugar simple syrup. Seriously, sounds like a cocktail recipe. Hint of maracino cherry. Or cranberry sauce (with orange and cinnamon and nutmeg) on white meat turkey. Watermelon jolly rancher. This just smells like those pate de fruit candies I used to get in french patisserie.
Palate: Such an explosion of citrus sweets. Damn I loved getting a box of Lemonheads at the movie theater as a kid. Orange peels and rose water. I still remember 10 years later a pink peppercorn grapefruit lollypop from a street vendor at the santa cruz boardwalk. I looked for that vendor for years afterwards and never saw them again, but can’t shake the memory. Touch of cabinet spices, but not oak, just the brightness and warmth.
Rating: 8 / 10 – it’s the slightest hint hot, but it’s so, so good. I would consider this perhaps one of the most approachable, cocktail in a glass brandy I’ve ever had. I’ve gone back and forth between 8 and 9 multiple times, but frankly I’m already scheming how to get a 6 pack, so there you have it. That said, I’ve tried it with friends and my take is far from universal. Sascha thinks I’m nuts. But then Vellier went and bottled some, so I’m not alone in my opinion. Take that Sascha. =p
Nose: Leeks and potato soup, flash fried pimiento de padrón, portobello and hint of mole spices (cumin, cocoa, red chile powder, and cinnamon), mustiness
Palate: Big thick fruity wine notes, balsamic, stewed prunes, cherry concentrate, leather, coffee grounds, big tannin punch on the finish like chewing on a cinnamon stick
Rating: 8 / 10 – What a freaking wallop. This is shockingly good.
Nose: Apple turnover with a nice helping of cinnamon sugar and a touch of cloves. Apple cider vinegar. They serve toasted pineapple cakes in every French restaurant. Which is both delicious, and tragic as Sascha is allergic. Cedar closet. Man this smells pretty great.
Palate: Fruity, funky, and even a bit estery. Pencil shavings and diesel. Canned mango and yellow peaches in syrup. Clove hard candies. Allspice. Guava jelly. Some of that edge makes me think of Marc without going all the way.
Rating: 8 / 10 – Definitely going to appeal to the rum crowd. Reminds me the slightest bit of a calmer appleton hearts 2002. Hands down a great pour. I’m a yes.
Nose: Pencil shavings, coconut water, beach driftwood cement glue, tahini, sf bay water, touch of tropical fruit punch notes, mango and tajin.
Palate: Juicy fruit bubblegum, cinnamon, mango, yellow peach, fun citrus notes deep in the yuzu vibe, just lovely tropical notes, super pronounced cedar element, aniseseed in the indian restaurants, touch of funk, all super well balanced
Rating: 8 / 10 – what a fabulous palate. Mad mad props to Joy and her skills. This drinks like a super elegant and refined Caroni, minus some of the dirt. The nose isn’t quite up to the palate.
Nose: Dried dates, coffee beans, plums maraschino cherries.
Palate: Leather and oak hit, espresso coffee bean, luxardo cherries.
Rating: 8 / 10 – this is just exactly what I love from whisky.
Nose: Lemon pledge dusting spray. Homemade charcoal before lighting the grill. Baking clay. Limestone. Took the kids to a goat farm last week to lean about making cheese and ended up petting an albino donkey for almost an hour. Such a friendly beast. Really lowers the heart rate. He had a warm hay smell.
Palate: So well aligned with the nose. Deep lemoney mineral profile. The fabric bandaids which actually stayed on when surfing. The salty aftertaste of a good session., Sweetness, hints of vanilla and barley candy. Fennel bulb. The smoke is surprisingly gentle.
Rating: 8 / 10 – Incredibly well rounded palate. Elegant, interesting. yummy.
Nose: I pushed my bike down pacific coast highway one for months. Was moping in my parents house post “breakup”, although I guess that is the wrong term as I am the only one who truly considered it any form of relationship. Dad ever so gently suggested I needed to get out of the house, and agreed to go halvsies on my muscle powered steed. So, in the spirit of Forrest Gump, I just started pedaling. Camping each night, worn out. First night I slept in months was in a field of chamomile. Sweet fresh smell mixed with cut grass. Small curls of wet firewood, it was northern Washington after all, and that part of the olympic peninsula rarely dried out. Everything carries the weight of water out past Forks. Pond water with lily pads and wet straw. Marsh grasses bent in the winds. And yet as the heart lightened, subtle orange peel, and the warmth of oak spices. Melted gouda with thin slices of jamon cocido. With a flirt of fig vinegar.
Palate: Oh dang what a lovely palate. Big smokey sweetness. Wild honey. Cinnamon tea brewing on the first morning campfire when it’s still cold out. Part of me wants to get going, but I’m stiff. But waiting for the tent to dry a touch before strapping it to my bike. I pack an orange (this was before I knew I was allergic), and freeze dried raspberries and apples. Need the fructose sugar shot. And picked up the afternoon before, a tonic, which I waited to drink until morning because, warm tonic, no bueno. I’ve always loved that tart kick and this pour brings me right there without going into the dark side. I like how sherry and peat dance.
Rating: 8 / 10 – oh damn this is good. Singularly good and weird. I tried it at the end of a 6 pour blind tasting and instantly clicked, but needed to come back on a fresh palate. Second time pouring it, and mad respect. adjusted the rating upwards again. This is such a good match for my palate.
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