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[emelbe]

Mackmyra Brukswhisky

Swedish Whisky. Color me impressed. It’s more subtly sweet like a sherry or bourbon-finished (Huh. Turns out: both.) Only the faintest bit smokey. Really tasty.

Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Single Barrel Vintage, 2003

Oooooh, this one’s confusing. I went to go see what year of the Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage I’ve tried and it turns out it’s this one. And I had a completely different experience last time. Last time I thought it was good but nothing to write home about. Last time was recently. So recently that my palate really should not have shifted, at least not this drastically.

This time:

Heavily vanilla and bread and fruit but somehow not super sweet, spicy with no bitter back-end. A few things that are just on the tip of my tongue (har—actually more to the back) but I haven’t been able to place them. It’s definitely aligned pretty well for my palate but threre’s a lot of fun stuff going on in there, not just the sweet.

The original is here.

Tomintoul Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 14-year

Not my favorite. Probably not even a go-to but I wouldn’t turn it down. It was tasty but not remarkable for my palate.

Balcones Texas Single Malt Whisky

Ooooh. Malty malty malty malty. Balcones does some really neat stuff, this included. And it turns out I like super malty whiskies.

Dalmore Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 18-year

Not for me. It smells amazing. One inhale is fresh, still sticky, caramel corn and the next is campfire and that held such wonderful promise. But it has the same aftertaste as the Whistlepig Rye did and that’s an absolute no-go for my palate. I couldn’t finish it.

Comments

[nanila]

I've never had a Swedish whisky! Shall have to enquire after it at the shop in Brum.

Interesting that you've had such a big palate shift recently. I went off the super-peaty whiskies a while ago, but am slowly coming back round to them. Maybe palate evolution has orbital trajectories?

[emelbe]

Definitely worth the chase. I was prepared for okay. I got something really skillfully done and subtly different than anything else I've had.

I'm not certain my palate's actually shifted, it might've just been that the bottle I tried had been open a while and that accounted for the difference. Or maybe I was coming down with or fighting off something. It was way, way too recent for that sort of major palate shift.

I HAVE, however, noticed my tolerance for smokey and peaty shifting. They're both getting stronger; I'm able to deal with more of each (though the peat is easier on me than the smoke).

Regardless, there is definitely evolution and knowing that, with this experience under my belt, I think it'll be hard to ever settle down and have "my whiskies." How could I ever know that there isn't something else out there that I didn't like before but will blow me away now?