Excerpt: Very, very good but very modern and ‘engineered’, especially on the palate that is kind of liqueurish. A Laphroaig liqueur? We like the regular Quarter Cask a little better and our good old 10yo CS much better.
Excerpt: It’s essentially Quarter Cask finished in oloroso sherry casks, so in addition to the intense charcoal smoke attack there are rich fruity notes; blackcurrant and berries
Excerpt: I was really hoping this would punch closer to Quarter Cask than Lore but to me, this dram is more like Lore. There's not a lot here. It's on the same plane as the 10yr to me but I think I'd prefer to have a bottle of Quarter Cask.
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House Review
Nose:
Mild peat smoke, creamy sweetness. Some faint jammy fruits like raspberry, cherry, fig. mild pepper, sea air. Everything is there but sort of toned down.
Taste:
Oily but mild - nothing too epic here. Sweet, peppery with some mild brine. Mild sherry fruit and a little dab of cocoa. Sea air, some seafood notes.
Finish:
Medium and mildly astringent. More flavor than lore but its fruitier and the pepper, smoke and brine take a back seat.
Overall:
I was really hoping this would punch closer to Quarter Cask than Lore but to me this dram is more like Lore. Theres not a lot here. Its on the same plane as the 10yr to me but I think Id prefer to have a bottle of Quarter Cask. This bottle is also priced similar to Cairdeas here and there is no day of the week Id pick this up over any Cairdeas I can get my paws on. They just have so much flavor compared to this muted and pretty toned down bottle. For this reason, Im giving this dram a rank 5. Its perfectly fine, but I dont feel a need to buy it over the 10 (which is $30 cheaper) and I feel like the 10 has more flavor anyways.
Score:
5
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources