Fahrenheit 173 - Aged Spirits

Jack Daniel's Old No. 7:
The nose is fragrant and in-your-face with apricot, almond, caramel, pepper­mint, vanilla and oak. Complex and quite nice yet a little spirity. Intense, power­ful palate yet clean with a nice sweetness as well as notes of citrus, mint and vanilla. Oaky, spicy finish. All in all nice but very power­ful (some­times I like it, some­times I find it too intense). (82 p)

Jim Beam Black Label:
The nose has nice notes of oak, vanilla and a hint of fennel. Un­for­tu­nately it's also a little earthy. Rich, sweet palate but a little "dirty" and unbal­anced. De­velops nice notes of oak and fruits, however. Also some heat. The finish is hot, spicy and quite dry. Dis­ap­point­ing. (81 p)

Jim Beam White Label:
Vanilla, apricot, orange, white pepper and oak on the nose. Also a note of rye. Nice and complex yet slightly spirity. The palate is fairly light with sweet corn and orange at first, then drying, de­velops dry rye notes and oak. It's fairly thin in flavour but at the same time spicy with some alcohol burn. Dis­ap­point­ing finish: oaky with herbal notes that don't work with the oak. It also has a cloying sweetness. (80 p)

Jim Beam Yellow Label (straight rye):
Unusual nose with a dusty, earthy rye note, also cereally and a little spirity with a note of solvent. Powerful, oaky, spicy palate. Dry and a bit harsh but de­velops nice notes of vanilla and orange. Spicy, fiery yet nice finish. All in all en­ter­tain­ing with lots of character but lacks bal­ance. (80 p)

Three new Swedish single malt whiskies
A review of Swedish single malts Box "Pioneer", Hven "Merak" and Smögen "Primör".

Five single malts from Cadenhead's
A review of Ardmore 1997, Balblair 1990, Glen Moray 1992, Strathisla 1987 and Strathmill 1995.

World whisky
A review of single malts from the Czech Republic, England, Germany, India, Sweden and Taiwain.

Six Irish whiskeys
A review of Green Spot, Yellow Spot, Tullamore Dew 12, Redbreast 12, Powers John's Lane and Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy.