Aerstone 10 Years old Single Malt Whisky: Sea Cask

Been a while since I’ve “reviewed” a whisky, odd coincidence about a year ago! Some things never change, £10 off (£30-£20) in supermarket, so treated myself. Well, not really much of a treat sadly. “Smooth and easy” is code for bland boring unfortunately😞 yes, it is smooth, and doesn’t have much going for it, I think I can taste the salt amongst the spices, but that could just be because the label mentions it!

There’s sadly not much I can say to describe this whisky, it’s drinkable neat, but there’s just not much too it, no real flavour, just sort of tastes like whisky. for £20 you could do worse, but for £30 you could do much better.

Maybe it’s just not sweet, or fruity enough for my liking, but I’m really not sure who this would appeal to.

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Tesco Finest 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Like the Speyside I reviewed a while ago, this retails for £25, and now and again drops to £20. Like the Speyside, it’s been crafted by Master Blender, Richard Paterson, it’s excellent value for money, a fine whisky. It’s quite sweet, smooth, but probably slightly harsher than the Speyside.

I prefer the Speyside, I like the sweet honeyness of it, I can’t really put my finger on the flavours here, perhaps more caramel and fruit, not a bad thing necessarily, just an observation. I’ve seen other comments on the internet people comparing the two, saying they prefer the Highland to the Speyside, they’re both very good, worth buying, at full price and definitely so when reduced.

I guess these are both good “beginner’s” whiskies. They’re not too complicated, not peaty, nothing overpowering, so good while you’re beginning your journey, and still finding your feet, but maybe the whisky conoisseur would find them a bit too tame, there’s nothing to get too excited about.

Gentleman Jack

Another case of a large price reduction (£10) in the supermarket twisting my arm to give Gentleman Jack a go, and I’m glad I did, I find Gentleman Jack to be much nicer than regular Jack Daniel’s old No. 7. This I can very happily drink neat, no need for coke. I did try it with coke (ratio 1 part Gentleman jack, 2 parts coke), and as expected it was nice, very smooth, and sweet, however it would be a shame to pollute such a good whiskey with coke!

It’s much smoother and sweeter than the traditional Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7. The flavour is similar, vanilla, caramel, but where it has been charcoal filtered twice, rather than once, you can enjoy that flavour more as the harshness is gone, it’s cleaner, but still a welcome slight kick with the finish.

Bulleit Bourbon Frontier Whiskey Vs. Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7

Different review to “normal” for me. JD and coke is a classic, it’s a nice drink, it’s never been my favourite but over Christmas bottles of JD were reduced in supermarkets so I bought a bottle.

Neat, it’s not great, it’s harsh, and no particularly distinct flavours, but with coke it’s good, the sweetness helps, I like a ratio of 1 part JD, 2 parts coke.

A while ago a friend said he moved off JD to other US Whiskies and bourbons, so when Bulleit was on offer in the supermarket, I thought I’d give it a go. Glad I did, it’s much better than JD. It can be drunk neat, it’s much smoother, and has a pleasant whiskey, spicy taste, hints of vanilla. Again, with coke the sweetness brings out the flavour even more.

I’ve got the rye whiskey to try next, as that’s been on offer again as well 🙂