Nose: Caramel, jamon fat, french onion dip (? haha), movie theater popcorn–extra butter, rhubarb
Palate: Tangerine, tarragon, mmm you get that nice flavor/mouth feel of pear skin, camphor, n.
Rating: 7 / 10 – sweet and fatty and delicious.
Nose: This smells more like “plum” than the first. Very perfumey. Honey blossom and carnations. Almost more of a green house vibe here, get some tomato vine.
Palate: Same for mouthfeel here as above. That intense level of perfume comes through here too. Maybe tobacco, bergamot, black tea?
Rating: 7 / 10 – I like the fruit that pops, and the glycerine eases at this abv.
Nose: A single epic note. Like that moment Michael Jackson grabs his woohoo and wails. Baking sugars and peach cobbler with a French country pie crust. There is a fairy dusting of nutmeg and allspice, a la salt bae. A subtle hint of turbinado and walnuts. Pine nuts, olive tapenade, herbal and gooey creamy cheese funk round this out with more time on the back half.
Palate: I thought I’d need to listen for the whispers given my propensity for no-holds-barred MMA cask strength whisky. Nope, plenty of character here. Each of the nose nuggets are neatly present. But really, we are talking about peaches and apricots. And then we head to herbal town, a rounded ricola herbal rinse. The late landed funk is hard to find on the palate. The finish stays herbal for a long time and got less interesting the more it rested. I’m going to give this another shot in a few nights.
Rating: 7 / 10. It’s super good and the herbal fans might rate this even higher than I do.
Nose: Oh I like this one! Extremely sweet and enticing. Stewed peaches, huge sweet oak and forest floor.
Palate: dark coffee, sweet caramelized raisins, Iberico ham, pepper jelly, tobacco, burnt toast, and dank earthy mushrooms. As always, it gets smoother and sweeter with time in the glass and warmth. But the funky mushroom flavors and burnt flavors come out more too.
Rating: 7 / 10 – 2/3 of the finish is black coffee, with 1/3 being apricot and fig jams.
For the most part, this is pretty fantastic. Reminds me of my favorite Darroze offerings from domaine Bouillon. But with a little less complexity and funk.
Nose: sour gummy colas, freeze dried pineapple rings, black licorice, browned butter to the point of nuttyness, chinese 5 spice or maybe just cumin, canned pears with cloves, dark brown slowly caramelized onions topped with gruyere shavings. Next morning the glass smells like balsamic reduction. It just keeps transforming.
Palate: Starts with powerful cola. A bright burst of sweet dark warmth of panela (a dark sugar and molasses combo) and the nuttyness of De La Rosa Marzipan. Then a tiptoe across fruit funk .. prune juice, and a brush of sour reminiscent of a high end tonic. Sour but not too bitter, so I love it. Raw almonds. The mouthfeel is quite thin (as per the ABV), but leaves so much space for a rainbow of flavors. Makes my mouth water. Literally. But this can’t be a second or third dram. It has to come first. A delicate le Freche, go figure.
Rating: 7 / 10 – I’m buying another. The thin mouthfeel will annoy some folks, but I decided to embrace it.
Nose: Birch bark, chocolate covered espresso beans, black forest cake, dark molasses, figs brûlée with a dollop of blue cheese, tart plum butter with hints of clove and allspice, wintergreen lifesavers
Palate: How odd. I was expecting glendronach and got glen-tonic. Far more herbal and less fruit forward. The palate isn’t all full bodied as the ABV implied. Lemon zest, fresh muddled mint leaves, grape skin, gentle touch clove, a light spiciness reminiscent of radish sprouts, cola on the finish then a bitterness like crushed aspirin. and a feathering of oak.
Rating: 7 / 10 – Not sad I have a few bottles but I love tonic, so if that isn’t your thing, might want to pick a different release.
Nose: Peanut brittle & panela. Model glue, red spanish peanuts, boston baked beans, popcorn. Sweet tooth.
Palate: Coconut sugar and light brown sugar. Grapefruit peel, hint of tobacco, and the kick of white pepper.
Rating: 7 / 10 – This is an armagnac masquerading as a rum. Quite simple in its notes, but since I like all three of them :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing: , I’m quite happy.
Nose: A glorious Cadbury egg. Nothing more needs saying as this is in my opinion he penultimate expression of a chocolate treat. Sea salt dark chocolate and honeycomb / bit-o-honey. The zing of sweet tarts… or more elegantly orange blossom water. Fleeting hints of anise. Brown sugar and butter oatmeal, lemon poppyseed. A tomato plant in bloom.
Palate: Milk chocolate, hazelnut, dried cranberry, sea salt, touch of caramel. Old leather my dad kept is tools in. I’d often be assigned the task of sandblasting old metal to remove any corrosion before we worked on new projects. It was hands down the most fun with tools I ever had as a kid. The grit and metal never quite escaped the saftey box my dad built until you opened the door, at which point you could taste it on the air.
Rating: 6 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – Ryan and I have been trying to nail down the Hazelburn DNA for a while. There is a unique smell that ties all their spirits that we have been unable to name. But its a pseudo-industrial vibe. Need more hazelburn.
Nose: Tart cherries, Meyers lemon, those tiny cornichon, edamame, street dust, car wax, old wood cabinet.
Palate: Lemon grass and ginger chews which bring that lovely szechuan pepper heat. A potent green garden patch; zucchini, pine needles and green tomato.
Rating: 4 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – I like the garden patch vibe paired with the earth sherry notes. Ryan not so much.
Nose: Camping should smell this good. A gentle haze of smoke from a sage brush and old oak fire from a few miles upwind. My parents used to drive us from Los Angeles, through Death Valley and up into the mountains where we would camp by a river. This was back in the days before you had to stay in an assigned spot. It was usually searing hot and we’d spend days building dams, fishing and drifting in the water. I can still smell the hot stones on sandy soil. Roasted trout with sea salt. Wild flower honey.
Palate: Holy shitballs, that is delicious. We had dinner with business partners last night and my favorite dish, which everyone else hated, was a grilled and smoked head of lettuce with candied strawberries, tiny crisped anchovies and a drizzle of sweet cream. The sweet, the salt and the creaminess pair sublimely. Salted toffee. While the peat is the star, and the under study, I like the granny smith apple peel vibe.
Rating: 7 / 10 – As Port Charlotte gets older, I keep expecting the peat to mellow, but it just seems to integrate better over time. I love the way it dances with the bourbon sweetness. I do wish it had an extra note or character to bring deeper complexity, as in some ways for my palate, it is almost too pretty. I know, it’s weird complaining because the pour has nailed a perfect note. I can’t wait to try its sister cask.
Nose: Classic sherry nose with layers of sweetness. Maple syrup and fancy christmas panettone with dark cherries and dried prunes. Sherry poached pears. Prune vibe is potent when I return to the glass.
Palate: You ever stare at your own notes and think, that isn’t a description, its just a rehash of every decent wood forward sherry bomb out there? Yeah yeah, dark chocolate, leather, coffee, and oak. Plump raisins and dates. =)
Rating: 6 (Ryan) 7 (Shane) / 10 – This is everything you want in a classic sherry bomb. A bit too woody for Ryan, but right up Shane’s oaky alley.
Nose: Apricot yogurt, peach turnover, baked apple with lime zest, vanilla, waxy, Catholic saint candles that were stacked next to the mexican food isle in safeway when I was a kid. I always wondered why they did that but not a fat smiling buddha or the maneki-neko cat statue in the asian food isle. Would you like a side of catholicism with that horchata? And we are talking barrel age horchata here. Wish you could brew that without it going rancid.
Palate: My poor daughter is really struggling with braces. I’m a bit scared from that myself and still remember the taste of the wax I used to try to protect my poor gums from the sharp edges. Sweet and lightly vegetal: spaghetti squash and zucchini blossom. A mild green bell pepper. Herbaceous paired with lime. With slices of crisp pear.
Rating: 5 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – A bright and potent nose, paired with a subtle and grassy palate.
Nose: A big sniff and almost no burn. Strawberries galore. mount rainier cherries, lingonberry. Candy shop: a handful of jellybellies, laffy taffy, blue raspberry jolly ranchers, peach ring gummies. As my wife was a girlscout leader, I was obliged to buy and eat large quantities of lemonade girl scout cookies. A dad’s job is never done. Kind of wish they had done a lemonade hibiscus mashup special release.
Palate: An umami explosion of grape pop rocks and a burst of chocolate. Tomatoes, sweet hot peppers salsa made from habanero and tamarindo. Windowsill basil, mint, cilantro, cedar and sandalwood. Rosehip and an overwhelming lavender hammer. Lemonheads candy.
Rating: 7 / 10 – I love the intense uniqueness. It’s super sweet, but damn it, this couldn’t be a daily drinker. A quick google showed this is Agave Maximiliana.
Nose: Mangos. Manure and wet straw, earthy fermented bordering on rotten strawberries. My hiking boots post trail. Artichoke, conecuh sausage y rubber cement glue.
Palate: Peppery tomato juice with a dash of liquid smoke. Smoked artichoke hearts, zucchini, arugula, and the weird off-sweetness of papaya. What a delightful journey.
Rating: 7 / 10 – Agave Angustifolia (same family as Espadin). This would elevate ANYONE’s bloody mary.
Nose: Mashed turnips and white pepper. Fragrant tomato vines. Wet potting clay on the wheel, vero mango chili lollipop. Kumquat and reminiscent of Rochelt Quince. Roasted poblano peppers, jalapeños, jamon serrano and gumbo file.
Palate: Lightly dancing on the palate. Sweet hothouse cherry tomatoes, Micheladas. Old bay / gumbo aftertaste the next morning, lightly metallic with a krafts mac and cheese powder vibe.
6 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – A lovely and complex nose paired with a light and fresh palate. Eau de agave, just lovely. Cornucopia of summer peppers and tomatoes fresh off the vine.
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