Nose: Vanilla wafers, sugary frosting, diluted windex
Palate: Comin’ in hot. Wood is real intense. Lemon pledge, lightest sulfur note. Finishes on a real green note.
Rating: 3 / 10 – this isn’t great
Nose: I poured this blind and it smells of cranberries and rose hips. Feeling kind of tickled… pink. A very sweet nose, confectioners powdered sugar. A pot de creme with a crackling candied crust. Pink peppercorn simple syrup. I’m really enjoying the smell, as I work on 2024 budgets. It’s an uplifting counterpoint to the crass realities of finance.
Palate: Oh … OH. a sugar bomb but not in the classic bourbon or thick syrup sherry vain. Not even the Sauternes or Tokaj as those come with a touch of funk (that I also enjoy). Reminds me of cultivating honeysuckles on the fence out behind verve. And the smell of passion flowers. Penny ice creamery would be making fresh waffle cones. It was a heady combo. Sweet vanilla notes and while I rarely gravitate to young grains, this complements those cereal notes so well. Like the first time I tried Life cereal.
Rating: 7 / 10 – I would easily reach for this on a day where I want a sweetie.
Nose: Sweetness, graham crackers, celery salt
Palate: Christmas tea, allspice, grosielle, fennel
Rating: 4 (Ryan) 5 (Shane) / 10
Nose: Pipe tobacco, coffee beans, big oak, raspberries, grapefruit peel
Palate: Dark chocolate covered raspberry, leather, nice mouthfeel, black tea with hints of cardamom. Great finish
Rating: 7 / 10 – long and nuanced palate. Super fun. First one of these recent releases that seem all marketing and no substance to deliver. About time.
Nose: Milk chocolate, oats, with a dash of cinnamon. A rich festive smoked horchata. There is a gofio factory a touch inland from daily surf break. Waiting for waves on my longboard while basing in the sun, the wind turns, and the whole lineup perks up. The smell of warm roasted oats and maize, almost coffee like, drifts by on the winds. You can’t help feeling like it’s breakfast time.
Palate: Delish. Potent smoke, but you gotta know that going into a Ledaig, followed by a wood 2×4. Not quite as dirty as some of its brethren. A hella good wallop. Like a straight edge kid from the 90s. Deeply roasted coffee with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream, cinnamon, and a shake of irish cream. Baking powder.. In the way that it shapes the flavor of a proper fluffy belgian waffle. With a spoonful of nutella.
Rating: 7 / 10 – Blind I could almost imagine this is a Killowen, which is a mutual complement. When I want a smokezilla with a clean foundation, this is going to be an easy choice.
Nose: I’m getting to the point where I smell and instantly recognize the savanna DNA. And I’m incredibly partial to it, more than most people I meet. It’s like a pineapple and a strawberry had a love child and were rocking it in a cedar bassinet lined with a blanket doused in mint oils. The kids left a couple star fruits hiding behind the bananas I was letting go super ripe to make bread, and when I found them, all the starfruit sourness had a whole new layer of funk. Turned into fantastic lemonade, but I wouldn’t do it on purpose.
Palate: Kapoooow. So much rock n roll in such a tiny bottle. Julie used fruit chapstick for years. I still love strawberry kisses. Kids and I made strawberry ginger beer a couple years ago. Mash up ultra ripe strawberries, grip of sugar, with a nice layer of ginger & lemon. Let them sit for a week in a 2L soda bottle until it carbonated and the yeast went bonkers. It had that amazing funky spiciness. Under the fruit is a touch of salinity, maybe more towards brine? I really like picking radishes for tacos, or lime pickled red onions.
Rating: 7 / 10 – just delicious concentration of goodness. You gotta jive the esters to get to this train, but if you don’t mind the funk, it’s got a hint of the dirty side without grinding your face into the parking lot.
Nose: Werther’s originals, vanilla, golden raisins, twinkie.
Palate: Tastes like feet. Which probably leaves you with questions… best unanswered. Good god uncharted, what are you doing?!?
Rating: 4 (Ryan) 3 (Shane) / 10 – this sux
Nose: Pencil, rose hip, fruity, berrylicious.
Palate: Astringent, a bit too woody, red fruit is dominant (pomegranate, cranberries)
Rating: 4 (Ryan) 5 (Shane) / 10
Nose: Subtle notes of pickle brine and some fruit vinegar.
Palate: Oily, raisins, oolong, really sour
Rating: 4 / 10
Nose: Tangerine, smoked salt, juicy fruit gum.
Palate: Sumo orange, very gentle peat notes, miel de caña
Rating: 6 / 10 – an unusually elegant port charlotte. Cleaner than some of its kin.
Nose: Vanilla icecream, green apple peel, grilled pineapple, kettle corn
Palate: Sweet toasted corn with brown sugar and smoked butter, hint of iodine and big smoke.
Rating: 7 / 10 a raucous good time. Elegant nose with a big palate.
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