My first experience with this one left me a little cold, like I'd wasted a good chunk of dough. I found the vanilla/woody nose a bit off putting. Also found the taste somewhat bitter. Tried it again tonight. Let it sit in the glass for about 15 min. Neat it still had quite a vanilla/oaky nose but was much better in the mouth. Added a little water and it really changed its character quite dramatically. It sweetened up quite a bit, but not too much and became very drinkable with a nice aftertaste and a decently lengthy finish. Don't know if I would buy it again, but I now quite like this one. I would score it in the low to mid 80s if using HP18 as a 90 pt. benchmark. Anyone else tried this one?
My first experience with this one left me a little cold, like I'd wasted a good chunk of dough. I found the vanilla/woody nose a bit off putting. Also found the taste somewhat bitter. Tried it again tonight. Let it sit in the glass for about 15 min. Neat it still had quite a vanilla/oaky nose but was much better in the mouth. Added a little water and it really changed its character quite dramatically. It sweetened up quite a bit, but not too much and became very drinkable with a nice aftertaste and a decently lengthy finish. Don't know if I would buy it again, but I now quite like this one. I would score it in the low to mid 80s if using HP18 as a 90 pt. benchmark. Anyone else tried this one?