Hudson Baby Bourbon

46%

Pot Distilled from 100% New York Corn

There is a lot of mashlike notes on the nose. A woody, grainy mix.

The palate has a varnish woody stamp mixed with a grainy base. This is a young whisky from Tuthilltown distillery. They like to age their whisky on various small casks and some of the casks are laid next to the hot potstill. Surpriingly for a young whisky there is not a hot spirit note, so it's very drinkable. The youth can't be hidden, with the grainy taste and the maturation method has given this a strong wood/oak flavour. Persoanlly I am a fan of oaky flavoured whiskies (to a limit)

The finish is short-medium and then I get a little hot spirity taste. Ending with a heavy vanilla touch

Quite drinkable and one of the better offerings from the many new american whisky distilleries

Rating 82/100

Highland Park Ice

Highland Park Ice is a limited (as opposed to to a regular continuing) release.

It's 17yo and is bottled at 53.9%

The bottle comes in this wooding casing, which I can only describe as a catastrophe designwise (It's fucking ugly), but as I never really cared about packaging I prefer to let the whisky speak for itself

The whisky is warm and prickly. A bit hot on the approach, but I really like the powerful vanilla note that instantly hits me.The nose is really wonderful, delicate ex-bourbon whisky with an abundanec of vanilla notes. The vanilla nose gives this whisky a sweet first impression. On the taste I get a prickly almost Talisker like spicy punch as the first impression. There is a nice underlaying level of peatyness, that always lure in the background. This is on a level that will satisfy both peatjunkies and people who normally stay away from peated whiskies

The finish is long, and some bitterness hits me in the end

A very nice dram, that will appeal to fans of coastal style whiskies (salty, vanilla, prickly i the keywords for this style)

Rating 86/100

A quick search on the internet I find this is priced at around 200£ which I think is at least 120£ too much. But you get a piece of wood with it.

Thanks to Holm & Bertung for the sample