Wiser's Small Batch
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Tasting Notes by Victor
The Wiser's whiskies are currently distilled at the Hiram Walker & Sons Distillery in Windsor, Ontario.
Nose: strong aroma of pleasant old sweet maple coupled with not-so-pleasant undefined astringent cleaning chemicals
Body: thin body, maple syrup consistency, coating the tongue
Taste: very sweet,like maple syrup. There is a lot of wood flavour and very noticeable spiciness, probably from rye, but, as with the nose, it tastes like there are cleaning chemicals mixed in with the taste of the maple syrup.
Finish: the flavours last quite long and fade away together. The chemical flavour is the strongest flavour at the end.
Balance: I have sampled from this bottle for 3 1/2 months now. For the first 3 months I thought this was quite possibly the worst whisky I have ever had in my mouth. For 3 months all I could taste was the industrial chemical taste, and some obscured spice in the background. At 3 months the flavours opened up a lot and mellowed out somewhat, with more sweetness becoming apparent, and an easier access to the wood and spice flavours. Now I would consider this drinkable, but at the low end of desirability.
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Whisky details
Distillery/Brand:
Wiser's
Bottling:
Wiser's Small Batch
ABV:
43.4%
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Comments
Requiem wrote:
I've enjoyed your reviews, Victor, especially as I'm favouring Canadian whisky on my most recent whisky voyage, but I have to disagree about this ill-mannered brute. Do you have a bad micro-batch of the Small Batch, I wonder.
The nose is Fort Knox closed at first, and has to stand in the corner for nearly ten minutes and take on a drop or two of forced water before it behaves and erupts into good behaviour and recalls the interior of a Niagara-on-the Lake fudge shop: yum! Seriously, a little water is the skeleton's key to getting a great nosing. It's thereafter cactusy-prickly hot and spicy on the tongue and pretty long.
I do hear what you say about the chemicals, though. Wiser's, which I love, has some kind of acquired taste/profile that I can't describe really but happen to love but is also alienating to some, I suspect.
Anyway, cheers, Tim
Victor wrote:
@Requiem, thank you for your comments and for your kind words. I am just now drinking the Wiser's Small Batch with a little water, as you have suggested. I do find that it improves both the nose and the palate noticeably. The chemical smells and tastes do not completely go away, however. I like the maple flavours and the rye flavours here. It is just the chemicals that get in the way for me. I will most likely from now on make a point of consuming this with a couple of drops of water. Cheers, Tim.
Requiem wrote:
No problem. I do hope those chemicals disappear. Tell me, is there any relation to Legacy? Is Small Batch a dirty little brother of Legacy? I have yet to try Legacy and plan to very soon after reading all the good stuff on it, including your review.
Victor wrote:
@Requiem, it would be a welcome and pleasant surprise if the chemical smells and tastes in the Wiser's Small Batch fade away over time now that the bottle is open.
To my palate Wiser's Small Batch and Wiser's Legacy might just as well live in two separate universes. It is remarkable that the two are distilled by the same company. I taste nothing artificial or chemical in Legacy at all. But that is just what is not wrong with Legacy. More importantly everything is right with it. Lush, smooth, flavourful, complex, magnificent.
Requiem wrote:
You've certainly sold me: "complex [and] magnificent" is impossible to turn down. I can't wait to try it as I love the 18YO.
Victor wrote:
@Requiem, I hope that you enjoy Wiser's Legacy as much as I do.
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