Lot No. 40

APPEARANCE: Dark caramel.

BODY: Medium bodied.

AROMA: Delicious. Like dark caramel flan sauce with dark rum, spicy rye and cherry notes.

ON THE PALATE: The arrival is dryer than the nose. Rye, cherry and oak at the top, with a flash of sweetness, then a long fading away of the sweetness into spicy rye and malt, with coffee at the bottom, earth and dry. And the cherry, always the cherry.

SUMMARY: There’s a lot here to be contemplated. Great balance. Complex and rich, yet very drinkable. Tasting this whisky is a long, lingering spicy trip from sweet to dry. There is no age statement, but there is nothing obviously young about this whisky except perhaps the pleasant spiciness of the rye. A fine dram for those who like their rye complex and a little on the dry side.

VALUE: At $57, and considering I was amazed to find it in NYC the other day, this is a pretty good value.

Megawatt also did a review of this whisky back in October of 2012, which I entirely agree with.