Black Grouse (Discontinued)

Nose - Lightly smoky charcoal, dark apple/pear cider/juice, ripe strawberry/cherry hard candies. Taste - Apple juice w/ a hint of bright cherry/strawberry juice sweetness, initial faint smoky ash that transitions into a white pepper heat. Finish - Lingering sweet smoky apple juice, faint white pepper heat, smoky ash that turns into an ashy bitter feeling on the tongue, similar to taking a deep breath at a campfire the morning after it has smothered out. Score - 71/100 Final Thoughts - This is not bad, but it's not great. It's relatively lightly peated and it's not horribly offensive like what I get from a Laphroaig 10 which is very rubber/iodine/bandaid. This is more like an old campfire ash peat which is tolerable. It has this lightly sherried apple/pear juice intense sweetness throughout that has a very thin mouthfeel. I could see this being used as a lightly peated variation of a blended scotch for use in a cocktail. I'd struggle to sip this neat on the regular. Would I drink it if offered? - No Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - No

Tried this to see how different it is than the "smoky black". I'm not sure if one replaced the other, and page 1 of google didn't clarify 'Smoky black' I already reviewed, so this will be some comparisons. The tl;dr of that review is raisin nose, MILD peat, drinkable but very forgettable This one trades down on the nose. Grease, wood varnish, chimney smoke, horehound candy, sweet orange. Presence of peat in nose is enough to make a peat head a lil thirsty. Palate actually has enough peat to justify "black", even "smoky"! Unfortunately there isnt much else. Buttery shortcake, brandied raisin dryness is about all I got besides peat. I like peat, so this is great, but will honestly say it's not much else going for it. Mouth is short but with a definitive pepperiness->salinity. Very light and easy drinking, no off-putting heat or ethanol anywhere. At a higher proof this probably was great-but-boring sipping. At this proof it's just plain snooze-worthy. I'm giving it 3/5 because it's really drinkable, just nothing noteable.

A bit of smoke and a hint of peat, followed by a sense of something missing. Somewhat thin in both body and palate. Finish is short and sweet, leaving a taste of ash in your mouth. For $35, this is a pretty decent bottle of Scotch, with nothing really objectionable and a few strong points. If you're drinking popular blends, I strongly recommend it over the traditional J&B, Dewars White, and it's head and shoulders above Johnnie Walker Red Label. JW Black Label is quite a bit smoother, with more body and overall refinement, but lacks the smoke found in Black Grouse. For the price, it's well worth looking for and picking up.

I picked up a 50ml of this to try after liking my bottle of Famous Grouse. Definitely more peat and smoke than the regular "Famous" expression. Did not enjoy it as much as the "Famous" at first, but after 10-15 minutes in the glass, it really opened up. Gained a definite chocolate malt note to compliment the peat giving it an edge over the "Famous". Worth the couple extra bucks it'll cost you to move up. I can see a full size bottle of this in my near future.

I'd probably give this three stars in a straight rating, but in terms of value it wins some extra points because it's so much better than I expected from a $30 Cdn. scotch blend. Heather honey, surprisingly rich smoke, a little fruity. Sweet. Shows its provenance--I definitely get some shades of Highland Park, which I've heard is a constituent malt. Nice to have around for when you've had a couple better drinks to start but the night is marching on.

It's thin, has a smokey roll-over, a leafy finish and a sharp burn going down. But sometimes that's just fine. It might be the beautiful picture of the grouse on the label talking to me, but it'd be perfect in a flask, with a breach-load hanging over your arm, waiting for dinner to fly by. Better than similarly priced Black Bottle by miles in my opinion.