The drink is amber in color and smells delicious.  Even the aroma is complex, consisting of honey, fruit (banana?), vanilla, and a hint of oak.  The smell is very soothing and pleasant, and as a result I sat sniffing this bourbon for quite a while before I finally tried it.

The flavors lived up to my high expectations.  The strongest note is definitely corn, which is what I think of when I see a Kentucky bourbon.  There is also a rich caramel smoothness, and the vanilla and other sweet flavors really define this drink.  The fruit (which I’m pretty sure is banana after all) is in the background, but isn’t lost in the medley of flavors, and neither is that classy hint of oak.  There is even a bit of spiciness about mid-palate, which may be cinnamon.

What stands out to me most about this bourbon isn’t just the flavors, it’s how balanced they are.  One would expect such a sweet bourbon to be overpowering, but it isn’t.  It’s a mellow sweetness, not a syrupy, cloying sweetness.  The finish on the Maker’s Mark is also right on the mark—long, smooth, sweet and satisfying.

I’ve seen this bourbon for sale for as much as $30.00 and as little as $15.00, with most bottles priced around $20.00-$25.00.  Are there cheaper bourbons?  Yes, certainly, but most of them don’t deliver as much in terms of complexity and balance.  Are there higher quality bourbons?  Yes, I’ve tasted better—but usually at a much higher price.  This bourbon falls squarely into my hopes for its price range—but does outshine my expectations.  The Maker’s Mark is a great value, and definitely worth your while if you want something which is delicious but affordable!

Color: Amber.

Nose:  Honey, vanilla, oak, banana.

Taste: Corn, caramel, vanilla, oak, banana, cinnamon.

Want to buy this whisky? Available in: UK & Europe (click), USA & World (click)

By coincidence (or did I write the above to as a nice little introduction to this? Who knows), just such a product happens to sit in front of me today: Isle of Jura 200^th anniversary. As interesting as it would have been if the whisky inside the bottle was as old as the distillery, unfortunately such is not the case. it contains a special edition 21 year old expression, which is probably more drinkable than a 200 year old whisky would have been, so perhaps it’s not all that unfortunate after all. What surprised me most about this whisky, it must be said, is that it wasn’t 200-quid a bottle – instead it goes for just under the £100 mark. Bit incongruous, don’t you think?

Anyway, let’s have a sniff. The nose brings to mind creamy sherry, in other words there’s plenty of dried fruit and perhaps even the odd dried berry. There’s also a certain freshness to it, like fresh honeydew melon. This initial sweetness is followed by what, to me, is reminiscent of a classic Christmas blend of flavours: you’ve got your nutmeg, your cinnamon, and the lovely scent that fills your nose as you bite into chocolate dipped marzipan (which happens to be one of my favourite things in the whole wide world, if you were looking to buy me a gift on the cheap).  The initial flavour was almost as much as a surprise to me as the missing £100 on the price tag – seaweed! Very mild, mind, but there nonetheless, and even after tasting it I couldn’t find it on the nose. Maybe my palate is a bit off today – if you end up trying it, I’d love to know if you detect it, too. It soon falls into line with what I’d expect though, with plenty of ripe pear, sweet orange zest and juicy sultanas, along accompanied by a subdued gingery undertone. Oh and there’s chocolate there, too, but the marzipan is unfortunately too preoccupied stroking your nostrils to work your tongue.

Overall a very pleasant experience, and I would warmly recommend it to anyone who is after a sweet (but not too sweet) whisky and who has got a thick enough wallet to handle the price tag (available from Master of Malt). If you’d have to stretch your budget to get it, though, I’d recommend two of my personal favourites  in the genre instead – Dalmore 12 or, if it’s Christmas you’re after, Glenfarclas 15.

Colour: Caramel.

Nose: Creamy sherry, dried fruits & berries, honeydew melon freshness, nutmeg, cinnamon, chocolate, marzipan.

Palate: Seaweed (?), ripe pear, sweet orange zest,  juicy sultanas, ginger, chocolate.

The bottle I bought had aged eight years, but was still a pale golden color.  The aromatic notes included sweet caramel and peppery spices.  I believe I detected a hint of clove hovering in the backdrop.  There is something vegetable-like as well, possibly corn.  The sweetness was very much in the foreground.

From this I would have expected something sweet, but I was surprised by the flavors, which weren’t at all what was advertised by the aromas.  I do taste that vegetable, but still can’t tell for sure whether it’s corn.  The sweetness is there too, but it’s definitely taking a backseat to the peppery spiciness.  What I thought was clove tastes more like cinnamon, and the body of the bourbon is very light.  There also seems to be something woody here, possibly pine.  The pepper is the last flavor to remain on my palate.

Basil Hayden’s Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey definitely surprised me in terms of its flavors, but in a good way—as far as light-bodied bourbons go, this is definitely one of the more subtle ones I’ve tried.  I was surprised at how pronounced the pepper and cinnamon and other spices were though, while at the same time pleased they didn’t overwhelm the other flavors.

You can purchase Basil Hayden’s Small Batch for around $30.00-$40.00.  Considering this, it’s not inexpensive, but fans of light-bodied bourbons will really enjoy this one for its subtlety and complexity.

Color: Pale gold.

Nose:  Caramel, pepper, clove, vegetable.

Taste: Vegetable, pepper, cinnamon, pine, caramel.

Here’s the very simple recipe for anyone who fancies a bit of drinking disguised as being healthy:

• 1 handful (about 10-15) of raspberries
• 1 banana of average length and girth
• 200ml of milk, semi skimmed
• About 35ml of cheap whisky
• A blender of some description

I’m sure you can figure out how to do this all on your own, but I’ll go ahead and write some instructions anyway

1. Peel your banana and chop it into no more and no less than 6 exactly equally sized chunks, and put them in a suitable vessel for blending;
2. Add the berries, milk and whisky to the very same vessel that houses your banana chunks.
3. Blend, pour into a glass (if you’re feeling fancy) and enjoy, preferably in the sun with a good book. I would currently recommend The Heart is a Lonely Hunter which is favourably accompanied by a bit of Kris Kristofferson.

If you want to make it more filling you can add a handful of oats to the mix as well, which if anything makes it even more delicious. Not recommended if you’re looking for something purely refreshing/not filling, however.

Angel’s Envy comes in a bottle which is patterned with a distinctive and recognizable image of wings.  Inside this elegant bottle is a bright golden liquid.  I’ve also seen some of the older vintages which are more copper in color.  I was amazed with the sweet, fruity aroma which came from this bottle—maple syrup, vanilla, berries and other fruits, corn and oak.  How did the taste measure up to the aroma?  I was impressed here as well: maple syrup and corn predominated, but there was plenty of fruity flavor as well, just as advertised.  I think I tasted berries, plum, and maybe raisins and dates.  There was also some spiciness which I believe was clove.  The finish is maple syrup, but also with a hint of toffee.  There is still some spicy fruitiness, but it fades into the background, and the syrup lingers the longest on the tongue, leaving a pleasant aftertaste.

All in all, Angel’s Envy was a light but flavorful bourbon which is among the fruitiest I’ve ever tasted—there were many complex notes blended together here and the finish was delightful.  As far as price went, it wasn’t cheap—I paid $50.00 for my bottle, and have seldom seen it go for less.  It was well worth it though.  New drinkers and veterans will both enjoy Angel’s Envy.

Color: Golden.

Nose:  Berries, oak, vanilla, maple syrup, corn.

Taste:  Corn, maple syrup, toffee, vanilla, berries, plum, raisins, dates, clove.

Want to buy this whisky? Available in: USA & World (click)

At the time of writing Douglas has reached 6% of his target, and the offer is open until the 14^th of June, so there’s still a definite opportunity to invest if fancy owning a part, big or small, of a distillery. The total equity up for grabs stands at 40%, and you can find plenty more information on the crowdcube page.

Whether it’s a good investment or not I will leave up to you to decide, but at the very least it could be a giggle.

It is therefore a pleasure to be amongst the first in the world to share with you, dear reader, the creation of an exceedingly novel and highly exclusive new offering from a very well-known brand indeed: The Famous Grouse. I’ve known that this whisky was in the making for a wee while now but sworn to secrecy – as a matter of fact, and you probably won’t believe this, I had to go through a complete background check, which included TFG representatives interviewing my employer (past and present) and partner. That may sound over the top, but the whisky industry is highly competitive, and trade secrets are guarded closely.

I’m finally at liberty to reveal to you their latest product, however! Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce The Famous Goose. At first glance, sniff and tongue-dip it is quite similar to The Famous Grouse (I’m sorry in advance for this, I tried to stop myself – but you might say they are two birds of a feather): the nose is still fruity with a fair old bit of apple and citrus, accompanied by distant honk of spice. As you put it to your lips, the first few drops to land on your tongue smack of vanilla and toffee, which are quickly joined by a team of other flavours, including fresh citrus, spice, and a fleeting whiff of smoke. It differs from The Famous Grouse mainly in that the flavours are deeper and heavier, a very good thing in my book.

What is truly interesting about this whisky, however, is the way it is made. The casks in which it matures are made from first-fill Canadian Maplewood barrels, which are only ever made in the early autumn. The reason for this is that the wood is at its most pliable as temperatures begin to drop after summer, a fact that was only discovered a few years back. In fact, this is the very first whisky to use Canadian maple barrels, but based on the result I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of it in the future. That’s not all, though. The second thing that makes the production process interesting is that the unique qualities of the wood makes a new practice possible: overfilling the casks. Once you’ve filled a normal oak cask up, that’s the end of the story – until some of it evaporates, you can’t fit any more in. With Canadian maple wood casks, however, it’s possible to exceed the maximum capacity of the barrel by up to 15% through a process known as “force filling”. This a fairly straight-forward process whereby a pneumatic pump is used to over-fill the cask. The result is a richer, oiler whisky.

That, dear reader, is all I can tell you about the Famous Goose at this point.

Colour: Brownish-gold with an unusual grey tint.

Nose: fruity, apple, citrus, spice.

Taste: Heavier than the grouse, vanilla, toffee, citrus, spice, whiff of smoke.

The Botanist is made using no fewer than 31 botanicals; 22 of which are collected on Islay, and a further 9 which are sourced from elsewhere. If, like me, you don’t know much about gin, that may not immediately impress you; but once you hear that Gordon’s contains only four botanicals and your average gin somewhere in the area of 12-13, it’s in a league of its own on that account. Reportedly, the 22 ‘native’ Islay botanicals are:

Chamomile, Sweet Cicely leaves, Water Mint leaves, Wood Sage leaves, Wormwood leaves, Creeping Thistle flowers, Apple Mint Birch leaves, Bog Myrtle leaves, Meadow Sweet, Hawthorn flowers, Lady’s Bedstraw flowers, Red Clover flowers, White Clover, Thyme leaves, Juniper berries, Peppermint, Elder flowers, Tansy, Gorse flowers, Lemon Balm and Heather flowers.

To which the following 9 are added:

Orris root, Liquorice root, Juniper berries, Orange peel, Coriander seed, Cassia bark, Lemon peel, Cinnamon bark and Angelica root.

You might expect the result to be one heck of a mess, but it’s really not. Sure, it’s tricky to pick out the individual scents purely because of the number of botanicals in there – but then, that could be down to my inexperience in the field of gin. Either way, I can tell you that it all comes together to create a lovely, sweet, gin with lots of juniper berry and lashings of citrus. I’ve never before enjoyed drinking a gin neat, but I honest to the man above did with The Botanist. As for mixing it with tonic, I did try that as well, and it was yummy as anything – I didn’t add any fruit, though, as I can’t see it adding much. The gin already has a lovely citrus flavour to it, and I don’t think adding a wedge of lime or lemon would really do much to improve it.

According to the tour guide at the Bruichladdich distillery, the Botanist is currently outselling their whisky 3 to 1.

With the deliciously good value for money provided by the Green Label my hopes are very high indeed for this more expensive expression. Starting with the nose, it certainly doesn’t disappoint – there is a fantastic woody, nutty combination with great handfuls of buttery almonds (which can never be a bad thing if you ask me) along with honey (even better!), some oats, and dried fruits (warm muesli, anyone?). As ever when you put down a list of scents or tastes it’s easy to paint a picture that doesn’t quite put across the full complexity of the whisky, and I suppose I didn’t make this better by pointing out the similarity to muesli, so I feel I should clarify that the nose is well balanced and very creamy; all of the individual elements complementing each other beautifully.

So far, so good, but I’m afraid things are about to take a slight turn for the worse – the body is a bit water. Argh! Such a shame it is, too, because I’m one of those whisky drinkers that appreciate a rich and creamy body to go with a rich and creamy nose, and a watery body can put a massive downer on proceedings for me. Not everyone is as sensitive to this as me, though, and putting this slight disappointment aside the palate is good. It starts off with a somewhat surprising liquorice note that I had not at all picked up on the nose, along with those beautiful almonds, honey, toffee, vanilla, a whisper of smoke and a pinch of spice. Importantly, there’s also a sort of sea-salt quality and general seaside feel to it, which adds a gorgeous balance to the sweetness and really does, in my mind, make the palate.

If I put the wateriness aside, and after the initial disappointment it isn’t that much of a problem, this is a gorgeous blend. As for whether or not it is worth the £20 on top of the price of a bottle of Green Label… I’d have to go with no, I don’t think it is. The Green Label is an outstanding blend and offers a bang for buck ratio that’s really hard to beat. With a creamier palate they might have been close to equals, but I’d still put the Gold Label a couple of points below the Green.

Colour: Warm Sherry.

Nose: Wood, nuts, buttery almonds, honey, oats, dried fruits, thick.

Palate: Watery, liquorice, almonds, honey, vanilla, toffee, whisper of smoke, spice, sea salt, maritime.

Want to buy this whisky? Available in: UK & Europe (click), USA & World (click)

The tasting notes are mostly rye and oak, though there is a sweet edge provided by the vanilla and caramel.  This stuff will warm you up for sure; it tastes strongly alcoholic with a pronounced burn.  It isn’t very sweet overall, more astringent and dry.  The lack of complexity could be due in part to how young this particular vintage is, but I suspect that the simplicity has always been part of this bourbon’s appeal.  That has probably contributed to what has made it a mainstay for over a century—its simplicity has given it consistency from year to year.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the recipe has changed little with time.

I wouldn’t drink this stuff straight up, if simply because I tend to lean toward more complex bourbons with more going on.  This one is very simple and unsophisticated, and not quite as smooth as I’d necessarily like.  I have tried mixing it into other drinks and it adds something, but not necessarily a lot, and again, it would seem best to choose something more sophisticated for anything really special.  If you’re on a budget, this could be a good bourbon to buy for simple mixing (especially at the lower end of the price range), but it isn’t something that really calls to me otherwise.  If simple and dry is your thing though, you could enjoy this.

Color:  Golden.

Nose:  Caramel, tobacco, pecan, fruit, oak.

Taste:  Rye, oak, vanilla, caramel, astringent with a strong burn.

Want to buy this whisky? Available in: UK & Europe (click), USA & World (click)