The Strathmill 25 Year 2014 Limited Edition

Tasting notes:
The three aspects of this whisky are as diverse as they could be. Fitting them together into one whisky is wild alchemy of the first order.

The nose is a crazy cool acid trip: plum saké dusted with crushed Smarties®, nori-wrapped candies lit from the bottom, and a freshly painted park bench (green) abutting an abandoned caber toss pitch that you’re sure doubles as a vampire hangout. Then a face full of pretzels, followed by a post-pretzel perplexity: beehive beeswax inside an abandoned wasp’s nest.

The mouth could be a heartburn treatment: with more chalkiness than a vacant lot in a Detroit neighborhood artists are actively attempting to gentrify, there are also hints of essence of magnolia calyx, yielding Milk of Magnolia Altoids™—they’re curiously powerful and not unlike a sparkle pony with its tail on fire.

The finish is a think piece, an intellectual journey: it’s creamy and long, but not poignant. Think New England clam chowder made with full cream soft cheese by an artsy chef with half of his hair buzzed close to his head.