Andalusia Stryker Smoked Single Malt

Nose - dare I say smoked bbq chips? Not enough salt or savory for meats but chips...yeah. Then a young and kinda funky oak is just barely there, you gotta look for it. Taste - So the big take away is a bit of a strang and kinda odd bitterness. I almost get a weird tap water element here. Now the big show stoppers of course are BBQ, mesquite for sure, some smoked meat notes (not salted or savory still), a huge brown sugar element, and the finish is oak and smokey funk. I have to agree with another tasting note, this is not a sipping whisky. This is a whisky to pair with smoked meats and frankly, I rarely have whisky that I think "I need food with this". I need for with this one. I'm starting to have a theme with a lot of texas whisky. It's not GREAT and some isn't even "good" (better than average), but it's unique and it has a time and place where it's the whisky to drink. This is just that. I don't really love this. Alcohol punch is over the top for me. The profile and flavors are intense but not complex. But with some bacon or BBQ or even some kind of smoked really anything, I think I'd be in heaven with a glass of this. I'm doing a 1.75 as there's no way I'd ever want this by itself as it's just not for me and I doubt it's what any whisky drinker wants just for a night cap. But if I had some smoked meats, I'd be on it and frankly I want a bottle for just that. I'm not sure I should score this higher due to that, but for me and for right now, yeah I gotta stick with this score. Very cool profile and I'm going to be bubbly and possessive for these unique younger but flavorful drams. I'm 100% into what they're doing. I'd much rather have a sub optimal whisky like this than 99.9% of the others out there that I'd score the same.

Nose: A vibrant red wine note. To best describe, it's a combination of rich, dark fruits including plum and fig. There is also a tart fruit note that comes across as both cranberry and blackberry. Included is effervescent spice, herbal essence, and barrel ding. Taste: Bold black pepper and sweet, spicy honey quickly explodes into a dense, sweet, smoked wood note. It tapers to a lingering sweet, spicy oil coating and the tingle of freshly cracked pepper. Later sips reveal herbal notes, black tea, dense caramel and brown sugar, and indiscriminate dark fruits beneath the dense wood note. Final notes: This is a tricky bottle for me to be decisive on, particularly due to a very polarizing nose and taste. I do like this whisky and would purchase again, but there are things that just fell below the mark I wanted. As someone that values taste over nose when drinking a whisky, I must say the nose on this whisky is wonderful. However, parts of the nose I badly wanted in the taste failed to show or fully reveal themselves. The fruits notes that finally snuck out on the taste were generic dark fruits that never developed into particular plums or figs that I found on the nose and the tart cran-blackberry just failed to show at all. I did love the combination of freshly cracked black pepper and sweet & spicy honey with the smoked wood note (mesquite?). It was fun and reminded me of a 4th of July BBQ. This would be a fun whisky to try in an old fashioned, as well as explore with the addition of water. Very interesting bottle overall.

Distillery tour today. Andalusia Whiskey Company is located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country about an hour from Austin or San Antonio. They do all their own smoking of their barley, as well as age and bottle on site. Among Texas distilleries, they get a lot of press, and have been featured in Texas Monthly and Whisky Advocate. This one is perhaps their most well known malt. Stryker is made with a portion of malt that has been smoked with mesquite and applewood, much like a Texas BBQ pit. The nose contains that smoke and smells just like a brisket fresh off the cooker. The taste keeps the smoke consistent without being too overpowering. The finish is a bit short, but the smoke lingers. I can't say this is my favorite mesquite smoked American Single Malt (looking at you Del Bac...), but I was glad to have tried this one.

Ok, so Crown can’t do smoked whiskey for crap. Andalusia very much can. On the nose, notes of cocoa and oak, but the biggest, most fascinating thing I get on the nose is brown sugar-candied bacon. There’s a light, but sweet savoriness in there. On the palate, I’m reminded of the Balcones Froak, but with more smoke. There’s chocolate, coffee, brown sugar, red fruit, and tangy sweet bbq sauce. It’s unique. And delicious. The smoke is more sweet than anything. Much more inviting than the more challenging Islay scotches, and both are fantastic in their own right. Good long finish. Dangit, Texas strikes again.

Nose is deep and dark and makes me think of something like vanilla extract or liquid smoke. The taste is Kapow! Smoke and thick dark rich alcohol. The malt was smoked with Texas oak, mesquite, and apple wood. So yeah, BBQ will likely cross most texan’s mind when they taste this. Definitely has the sweetness of single malt but zero ferment funk. If you like smoke but not bandaids, rubber, and cosmoline then this may be a good Islay substitute. 50% ABV $50

This Whiskey is actually perfect. The Smoke feels a-lot more natural rather than the funk that an Islay Scotch will give you. It has the Sweetness and richness of a strong bourbon but without the bite. Some might say its not as complex as it should be but I can definitely tell you the few notes that it hits it hits well. Every sip I take of this is so satisfying! Buy it now.