So I was Costco yesterday, making a little supply run with my kid. Get him out of the house, you know the drill. I stopped by the liquor store on the way in because I was running low on the essentials. You gotta keep that bar stocked, am I right? Anyway, right in front of the entrance is a huge display of fine whiskeys. They had a ton of scotch, bourbon, and rye, and all of it was middle-upper to top shelf. The had handles of Woodford Reserve for $45 and fifths of Woodford Double Oaked for $43, so I grabbed a bottle of each. I waited on the bottle of Angel's Envy, because even though it comes highly recommended, I couldn't stomach that $86 price point without talking to the wife first. I did, however, stumble upon this:
This was the cheapest of the scotches, coming in at $36, which was much more palatable to someone who doesn't normally drink scotch and wants to expand their horizons. All in all, I spent a little over $100 and greatly replenished my libation options.
When I first popped the cap on this bottle, I took a whiff of the cork, just to see what I could smell off of it. I smelled something that was very familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. So I'm standing there, sniffing this cork, and my wife comes around the corner and sees me in what must be the weirdest setting in the kitchen. Here he is, her husband, standing there with a puzzled look on his face as he's sniffing at a cork and making "hrm, hummmm...." sound effects every other breath. So I did what any otherwise intelligent person would do and had her take a whiff. See what she smells.
"Red wine," she said.
And then it all made sense! That fruity, earthy, kinda berry smell of a dry red wine! I knew I smelled something familiar! But just to be certain, I poured out a small glass and smelled it.
It's a good thing I did, because the glass definitely changed what I smelled! I smelled dark chocolate. Not just any old dark chocolate, but that 70% cacao DARK chocolate. It was definitely what I was smelling but couldn't put my finger on.
The first sip only cemented that notion further. You definitely pick up on the dark chocolate, but also the fruitiness of that dry red wine that my wife mentioned. In fact, I would go so far as to liken it to a dark chocolate covered cherry. Which, coincidentally, was sitting right next to the bottle as I was sampling it. The resemblance is uncanny. Definitely a chocolate covered cherry flavoring.
Would I recommend this scotch? Yes! I'm not a scotch drinker normally, but this one is reasonably affordable, it tastes good, and it definitely goes down smooth. The $36 price point might be more than some care to stomach for their libations, but this is a bottle worth a gander.