It is a solid pick up for any fan of Port Charlotte and is priced extremely competitively compared to independently bottled single cask Port Charlottes.  This ‘small batch’ Port Charlotte has a unique and enjoyable flavor profile.

My notes became far more positive in each subsequent tasting session.  Some time resting in the bottle, remembering to add a bit of water, and perhaps the nature of the day’s weather all changed the experience just a bit and allowed additional complexity to come through in the glass.

This is everything I wanted out of the Highland Park 18 Year but did not find.  This was full bodied, full flavored, and fully satisfying.  It had an intensity and clarity of flavor that the standard 18 was lacking and an excellent chewy oily body.

No Name is a salty maritime dram laced with tar and coal soot.  It is definitely peatier than the Peat Monster, but is still restrained— far from being a peat bomb— the teenage peat and additional of creamy highland malt round off some of the phenolic bite.

The bottle is delicious and thought provoking, a worthy pick up for anyone looking to explore American Single Malts, barley, yeast, or sherry casks.

It is a dinosaur, fun to see in a museum, but probably not the ideal animal to have as a pet.

The spectrum of earthy, mineral, and clay notes on this were as stunning as they were unique.  I have never had anything quite like the burning cow paddy I found inside this bottle— the sort of savory, musty, earthy, grassy smoke.  It was delicious, dung and all.

Maybe this dram was a unicorn, maybe a snowflake, whichever metaphor works, it was amazing, it was unique, and while I am sad I won’t be having another pour of it, I know there are always other fish in the sea.

For my money the best Travel Retail Exclusive bottle you can buy.

I love the funky profile of Ledaig.  This is the perfect dram to sit back with and explore the layers of funky umami that just roll out.  It is savory and salty with just enough sweet wood spices to keep you looking, trying to figure out how to describe the profile.

No one could blame you if you took a dram of this for breakfast.  It has cereals, fruits, and milk— everything you need to get your day started.

Not the worst blended whisky I have ever had— nor the worst grain heavy mash-bill.  It’s not very complex and the whole of the Amrut single malt lineup towers over it in terms of the depth and complexity of the flavor profile.  While it was alright, I won’t be searching it out again any time soon.  I think I’ll stick to my Amrut single malts.

The bottle has grown on me, slowly.  Now that we’re about two thirds of the way through with our first bottle we’ve started grabbing it out of the cupboard a little more often.  It is still not a bottle we pull out with any reverence, it’s more like a bottle we have two of and might as well polish off.  I think on the whole I still prefer the Quarter Cask and the travel retail PX Cask.

Apple is probably my wife’s least favorite note to find in a whisky.  If she describes a dram as ‘apple juice’ then I know it is not something she ever wants to drink again.  While we’ve had other great pours from the Elements of Islay series, this one did not hit the spot.

There is something intensely romantic about cupping an older whisky and getting lost in thought.

A friend of ours called this bottle a masterpiece of wine influence.  I think my wife and I both found it far too sweet for our tastes.  The bartenders at LMDW seemed to feel the same way, after they tried their own taste of it, they quickly pulled out a 7.3 for my wife to taste in comparison.