Penny for Your Thoughts - Glenlivet Nadurra 16, Knob Creek Rye, Redbreast 12, Laphroaig Select
The Glenlivet Nadurra 16 (60.2% ABV) - Wow, this glass brings me straight to fall. It's like cupping an apple and a pear in either hand and taking big bites out of both, right in the middle of the orchard. Then there's cereal, some oak, and underripe strawberry. Great start. The taste has a bit of a nutmeg and again it's full of pears and apples, but emphasizing the sweeter, riper side of those fruits, which makes this scotch like a liquid fruit tart. Then on top of that, there's coffee, a sweet and salty combination, ginger, oak spices and tannins, and cherry. It finishes with a final rush of orchard fruits, salted caramel, and the heat that I expected given the ABV. For some reason, I hated the new, no age statement Nadurra First Fill. But this one makes up for that. A
Redbreast 12 (40%) - This is one of the few Irish whiskies I've reviewed, and among the few I've tried. For some reason, I've never focused on the category -- perhaps because they don't make many peated or smoky ones. Redbreast 12 has a very promising start: aromas of mint chocolate, cream, malt, cherry, and maybe a hint of sherry. It's pleasant, but there's a bit of a young spirit whiff to it, which is surprising considering the low ABV and its age. The palate hits that minty, milk chocolate again, with some mild honey, citrus, and a slight metallic tang. The finish is where this goes off the rails somewhat. The beginning is all good -- pepper, vanilla, cream, maybe even chocolate milkshake -- but for some reason it gets more and more bitter as time passes. The bitterness lasts a long time. After two sips, I stood there waiting for it to fade, eventually resorting to drinking some water, and silently ticking down the rating in my mind from A- to B+ to . . . B
Laphroaig Select (40%) - This scotch welcomes you with scents of apple, citrus, malt, and oily peat. The palate is a bit of a letdown, quite watery, with malt, simple syrup, and orchard fruit flavors again, along with some slightly charred woodsmoke. The finish is smoky, sweet, and short. It doesn't linger long enough to pick up much more than that. This relatively new expression from Laphroaig almost feels like a peated Glenlivet, a resemblance that I picked up on because I'd just had the Nadurra a day or two earlier. It's eerily gentle and a bit out of character for the distillery. I know based on the marketing that it's supposed to contain a bunch of different whiskies subjected to different cask aging or finishing, including sherry, but some of those are (at least for me) too subtle to be noticeable. This could be a decent introduction for new whiskey drinkers to the Islay style. For more experienced drinkers, it's a little league Laphroaig. B-
Knob Creek Rye (50%) - This may be the closest a rye has come to hitting the sweet spot for me personally -- but that's because it's a bit more bourbon-like than most ryes. The nose is darker, for lack of a better word, or smokier than a typical rye. I detect coffee, barrel char, and then a maple syrup sweetness and rye spice. The palate opens with a brief overture of rich, caramelized brown sugar sweet notes, but gradually more multigrain bread or poppy seed flavors emerge, which is where the rye content manifests itself. There's a nutty, slightly bitter, salty, nut or seed note that seizes the palate after a few seconds -- my best guess is poppy or pumpkin seed, or a mix of those two. The finish is nice, peppery, and not too dry. The strong multigrain crust notes here remind me of Jim Beam Pre-Prohibition, so I see the family resemblance. I'm a fan. B+