Finally, after all this time, I've built up the courage to do a whisky review. It's going to be short and to the point, without a score or an introduction about the distillery and all that stuff, and if you want you can stop reading now because I think this whisky is good, slightly above average, not bad but not amazing as some cask strength whisky can be. It's a little hot, it's a little rough, it hasn't developed enough notes from the cask, or the cask wasn't seasoned with the best stuff I don't know, it's a little too hot and a little too rough and not as developed I am repeating myself, but if you like you can stop reading now as that's essentially the review, and I shall expand on that.
Also, I am reviewing this from a bottle over a number of weeks, so this isn't a quick review from a sample, it's me drinking the bottle over various nights, sometimes gaming, sometimes watching a movie, sometimes reading a book. I've seen it change a little over the weeks, but not much, and as I am coming to the end of it, I feel confident to say, ach, it's nae bad like, but I widnae buy again ken? Another thing I want to say, I had, when I first opened it, a SMWS Glenfarclas (Dessert triptych : mushroom sorbet 1.223), also 10 years old, sherried, and at a higher ABV, and it was better on all counts, so perhaps that is colouring my view. I have also drank this with coke, and had it from various types of glasses, so these notes are an amalgamation (not the with coke experience) of those tastings. I made some scribblings, and am now writing this review with a glass to hand, one of those nice stemmed Bimber ones, my favourite whisky glass at the moment. Anyway, here we go, HWFG
ABV: 58.2%
Colour: Natural Brown
Smell: First impressions are oranges, more orange peel I would say, lemsip, honey and some cinnamon. Maybe even some banana. I guess you could call that fruity, with regards to the fruits I have described, but ripe ones. I like the nose, I think, yes this is a fine whisky to sniff, not as complex as some I have had as you get that harshness from the high alcohol, it's abrasive which can happen at this strength, but not always. Getting a brandy vibe, but I probably shouldn't say that. With water things improve slightly, the reduced ABV allows more of the previously mentioned notes to come through, with some cereal notes coming into play
Taste: Well this is hot stuff indeed, slightly bitter, it's not as good as the nose and far far too much spirit influence, this needed more time in the cask. The honey has been burnt now, green apples popping up out of nowhere, frazzles (LOL) and definitely some dark chocolate, with oranges but very very faint notes of them, perhaps a memory. Of course water calms things down, with the chocolate becoming more apparent, the burnt note moving to the chocolate and away from the honey. It's alright, but as a cask strength drinker, I know there is much better, even at this age. Hang on, there is a slight cola note coming through at the end here, maybe just my imagination!
Conclusion: So then, I put the conclusion at the start, so this is just a piece of text to say thank you for reading, which I am going to reiterate with the classic he-man image I use, for some reason, at the end of all my blogs. On the advice of a friend, I have kept this short, as apparently that's better. Also I completely lied about giving this a score haha soz like
Score: 6/10
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