Refined, light and gently complex. This Single Malt is the perfect introduction to a beginner in the world of Scotch but can equally be appreciated by whisky enthusiasts with varying degrees of experience. Here is BourbonBlog.com‘s review…

Highland Park 18 Year Review

Whisky: Highland Park 18 Year old

Distillery: Highland Park Distillery, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Age: 18 years old

Proof:  86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Light to medium gold

Nose: Earth, umami, and a grassy fruitiness. A fiery, luscious honeyed peat.

Taste: Restrained at first, doesn’t come on with bold delivery like some single malts. However, you can often say more in a whisper of delicate flavor, that screaming a bouquet of nothing. Such is the case here with this beautiful whisper. For 18 years old, the sweet, lightness of this is complimented by a increasingly noticeable warming wood tones.

Like many whiskies, the more you sip this, the more the delicate flavors are uncovered, underneath this a candy-like peat. Lovely malts with notes of apple, fresh ginger, toffee and orange marmalade.

Finish: Biscuity, somewhat dry, smooth and brief.

Whisky review by BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer & Stephen Dennison

Popularity: 7% [?]

BourbonBlog.com receives two of the first, few bottles of the new Spiced Rum that have left the Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado.

While the final version has just been released, we were already impressed tasting an early version of the rum with Master Distiller Jordan Via in October while covering the Breckenridge Craft Spirits Festival earlier in 2011.

This rum is complex like a fine Scotch or rare Bordeaux and sweetly approachable like candied sex. Yes, you read that correctly so Google where to find that one and comment below, because we’re still looking.

The good news is Breckenridge Spiced Rum is easier to find and available at Breckenrdige Distillery. The distillery is the only place to buy a bottle for now, but that may change. Take a trip to Breckenridge to experience one of the most impressive craft distilleries in the nation. Take a video tour with us on this link.

If you want a regular rum flavor, go buy another. Think you’re getting the point, here is our review…

Breckenridge Spiced Rum Review

Rum: Spiced Rum

Distillery: Breckenridge Distillery

Age:6 months in a combination of new oak and used Breckenridge Bourbon casks

Proof: 90 Proof, 45% ABV

Color: Deep brewed tea

Nose: Exotic, baking spices warm the nostrils as if we’re actually smelling and feeling bakery goods being baked. Slightly sweet oak.

Taste: Enters with creamy cardamom and hints of dark chocolate shavings laced with cinnamon. There is nothing that tastes like this in the Rum world as we know it, so welcome to your palette a new breed of Rum. Tangy, juicy and the Breckenridge Bourbon casks impart sticky, toffee, oaky chewiness to the rounded flavor.

Molasses and brown sugar richly coat the mouthfeel toward the end.

Finish: Remnants of the Bourbon drift away, leaving vanilla and brown sugar.

Notes: Label reads “Turbinado sugar and dark molasses, belayed at 1600 fathoms above the sea, are aged in gold-medal winning Breckenridge Bourbon casks then finished with roots, spices, and dried fruits. I5 would taste a lie to say it wasn’t what we always wanted. Cheers, Mateys“

BourbonBlog.com's Tom Fischer and Master Distiller Jordan Via Breckenridge Distillery share a laugh at Breckenridge Distillery

Popularity: 13% [?]

As The Glenrothes 1995 Vintage is released after 16 Years of aging, BourbonBlog.com’s Tom Fischer reviews the both in The 1995 Vintage and 1994.

The Glenrothes was aged for 16 Years, while the 1994 Vintage was aged 12 Years, distilled in 1994 and Bottled in 2006.

The Glenrothes only releases vintages when they are deemed to be at the optimal level of maturity – not in response to a pre-determined 12 or 15 year-old age statement.

“It is far more important what happens to the whisky in the cask than the length of time spent in it,” Ronnie Cox, The Glenrothes’ Brand Heritage Director tells BourbonBlog.com

Both beautifully unique whiskies, The Vintage 1995 is priced $82 (750ml) and will be available from this month onwards; the Vintage 1994 is $79 and is almost out of stock, but you may be able to find a bottle at a specialty retailer.

The Glenrothes 1995 Vintage

Whisky: The Glenrothes 1995 Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Distillery: The Glenrothes Distillery, Rothes, Banffshire, By the Burn of Rothes

Age: 16 years, distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2011

Proof: 86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Brilliant medium amber

Notes: 30% Sherry Treated casks (both American and Spanish Oak) 70% refill

Nose: An oaky, toasty spice. Biscuit like, honey and bright alluring quality.

Taste: Starts creamy then goes between a crème brûlée and pink grapefruit. Toward the end, hints of apples become present

Finish: Mellow, relaxing and warming cocoa

                 The Glenrothes 1994 Vintage

Whisky: >The Glenrothes 1994 Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Distillery: The Glenrothes Distillery, Rothes, Banffshire, By the Burn of Rothes

Age: 12 years, distilled in 1994 bottled in 2006

Proof: 86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color: Brilliant medium amber

Notes: 40% sherry treated casks (30% AMerican Oak, 10% Spanish oak) 60 % refill casks

Nose: Toffee apple, buttery, and marshmallow

Taste: Light mouthfeel, citrus and slightly tangy. Buttery burnt sugar with some marshmallow.

Finish: Fruity and apples

Popularity: 12% [?]

You’ve seen the Kid Rock Red Stag commercials, we were first to tell you about the original Red Stag release in 2009, and maybe you’ve even partied with the original Red Stag Black Cherry. Jim Beam now prepares to release two new Red Stag flavors of Red Stag Honey Tea and Red Stag Spiced Cinnamon in early 2012 at $17.99 per  750 ml bottle.

To preface, the new “Red Stags” are flavored Bourbons. If you dont like this category, you probably won’t care for these and we invite you to debate flavoring Bourbons below under comments. Apparently there is market who enjoys these  because they are being released by a variety of distilleries at an increasing rate.

As these are “flavored Bourbons” both at 80 proof, the question we must ask as reviewers is, “Did it strike the right balance of flavor?” and “Does it actually taste like what it says it will?”

With our whiskey and Bourbon reviews, flavors from chocolate and oak to marizpan and vanilla can be detected and subjectively experienced by a variety of tasters. However, with flavored spirits, the intention of flavor by that distiller is on the label. So, “Do these taste like Honey Tea or Cinnamon Spice?

Kid Rock along with 7th Generation Jim Beamy Family Distiller Fred Noe. Jim Beam tells us " Our long-standing Kid Rock partnership is continuing, however he is more focused on Devil's Cut than Red Stag"

 Red Stag Honey Tea

Do we even need to mention the popularity of honey Bourbons whiskeys like American Honey and the category of tea vodkas like Firefly, Deep Eddie to conclude why the two flavors might have decided to get married?

Perhaps smart thinking, but Red Stag Honey Tea falls short of expressing any tea flavors in this marriage. The matrimony in your mouth seems to only taste honey, so not sure where all the tea went. Maybe the Bourbon drank it all? Southerners do enjoy their tea!

On the upside, the texture and flavor is light and fairly approachable. Still, sweetness prevails in the mouthfeel and rather than notes of raw sugar, it is more like a powerful “Splenda” or Equal flavor.

Red Stag Spiced with Cinnamon 

Red Stag Spiced with Cinnamon hits the cinnamon notes more accurately than Honey Tea. It delivers the candy cinnamon red hot candy flavor, so this Stag might  like a “Kid Rock whiskey in a candy store.” There are mild backnotes of mulling spice.

This one might work well in a variety of cocktails and we may play with this a bit to see what we come up with at BourbonBlog.com.

If Beam would have aimed for more a raw, fresh cinnamon flavor right from the stick rather than the candied expression, they would have given the marketplace something new.

We’re giving you some some new cocktail recipes with Reg Stag Honey Tea and Cinnamon below in case they become your thing. If you’ve read this far, maybe they already are!

The new flavored “Stags” don’t deliver enough tempting Bourbon flavor to be a “gateway drug”  for die hard clear spirits enthusiasts to be transitioned into the delightful world of whiskey. We always hope that if flavored whiskeys can succeed in anything, it will be introducing new consumers to sampling whiskey by itself.

Much the same way we drink it with Fred Noe. We’ve been impressed with the new Beam releases Devil’s Cut and Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve  and shared some with Fred in his smokehouse during Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

BUCK TEA

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
4.0 oz Arnold Palmer Lemonade/ Tea

Build over rocks in a tall glass.
Garnish with a lemon wedge.

HONEY HIGHBALL

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
Ginger Ale
Dash of bitters (optional)

Build over ice in a highball glass.
Garnish with a lemon wedge.

HONEY TODDY

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
lemon wedge
2 whole cloves
Steaming hot water

In a heat proof mug muddle the cloves and
lemon wedge, add Red Stag Honey Tea and top
with steaming hot water.
Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

HONEY BUCK’S FIZZ

1.5 oz Red Stag Honey Tea
1.0 oz Fresh OJ (chilled)
3.0 oz Champagne or Sparkling wine (chilled)

Build in order in a champagne flute.

SPICED RED CHOCOLATE

1.5 part Red Stag Spiced
Hot Chocolate

Build in a heat proof mug. Top with whipped
cream.

SPICED CHERRY COLA

1.0 part Red Stag Spiced
1.0 part Red Stag Black Cherry
Fill with Cola

BAKED RED APPLE

1.5 part Red Stag Spiced
Fresh Pressed Apple Juice

Build over ice or serve hot. Garnish with a
lemon wedge.

SPICED OLD-FASHIONED

1 white sugar cube
2 dashes of orange bitter
1 ½ parts Red Stag Spiced
Orange and lemon wedge
Orange Zest, to garnish

Place sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass and
soak it with the bitters. Add fruit and muddle
the mixture with a bar spoon; and add the
bourbon and ice cubes.

Popularity: 10% [?]

BourbonBlog.com became the first to bring you the video segment below about the new Drambuie 15 months ago when we tasted it at the launch at Tales of the Cocktail.

For whisky and Scotch fans, we recommend trying the new expression, Drambuie 15 as it brings the whisky cues to the forefront as compared to the original Drambuie.

However, the elixir which Drambuie fans have come to love, is still there in a smaller dosage allowing a refined message of smoke and sweet to speak.

Old Speyside malts with soft, complex fragrance and flavors to complement the aromas of the secret DRAMBUIE recipe.

A soft mouthfeel and delicious for sipping and savoring either neat or over ice. With the retail price of $56 (1 liter, 43% ABV), it brings a much different flavor than you might expect.

Here is our review…

Drambuie 15 Year Old Speyside Whisky Liqueur Review

Whisky: Drambuie 15

Distillery: The Drambuie Liqueur Co.Ltd, Edinburgh, Scotland

Age: 15 year old Speyside Malt blended with Drambuie’s elixir

Proof: 86 Proof, 43% ABV

Color:Rich gold

Nose: Herbacious qualities much like the original Drambuie along with light peat, lavender and burnt sugar almost “brûlée” type aroma.

Taste: The sugar comes in first then goes straight to the heather honey along with the more pronounced notes of a silky Scotch whisky.

There is a fruitiness, maple syrup, walnuts, pralines and vanilla. Pleasant complexities that compliment the Scotch notes.

One member of our tasting pannel said this Drambuie 15 reminded her a bit of Lochan Ora Scotch Liqueur which is made by Chivas Brothers, and she likes the Drambuie 15 even better. We believe Lochan Ora is only available in Europe and the U.K.

Finish: Cleans up well with a lingering Scotch and sweetness.

Drambuie 15 Year Old Release Video at Tales of the Cocktail

Whisky review by BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer and Stephen Dennison along with our dear friend Gayle DeMersseman

Popularity: 11% [?]