Black Bull 21 Year (Duncan Taylor)

Nose: Light cereals, honey, fresh-cut grass, orange juice and orange zest. There is a little hint of vanilla but it’s fleeting and the main sensation is of a spritzy, crisp nose. When nosed neat there is an obvious alcohol nip but a dash of water clears that away and the nose gains a buttery note. Palate: Ginger and orange with Szechuan pepper and a pinch of hot cinnamon. Lots of zingy oak tannins and unripe fruit. The texture is creamy but masked by the spicy crispness. The palate is immediate and does not show much progression, which is to be expected from a blend (even a good one). Finish: Medium/Long. Zesty spices that recede to sourdough bread with an afterthought of bitter citrus oil. I’m feeling that 21 years was probably too much oak contact for this spirit, particularly the grain whisky component. Instead of mature softness it has a rock hard tannic personality and I’m not convinced that bottling it at 50%abv was a good idea. Lower alcohol content would have allowed it to speak more calmly, instead of shouting from start to finish, and it's hard to create the necessary poise by just adding water at tasting time. The other Black Bull blends I’ve tasted have displayed stewed fruits and fortified wine whereas this has crisp, tannic, almost astringent ex-bourbon cask traits. It’s interesting to taste but a bit one dimensional and it’s not a whisky I’d buy or recommend. Tasted from a 30ml sample. “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)

On sale at I believe 100 bucks....ok lets see what we have here. Nose - Cereal, vanilla, and a hint of a red note - there's some wine casks in here. A very nice and lovely nose but non discrete across the board. taste - I can't lie, there's something about blends I love. They are so sparky and complex and varied. This is no short coming. I get just a whole world of notes. So for you grain haters, yeah I can taste grain whisky. They claim it is heavy malt but there's a LOT of grain in here too. Now grain whisky gives me a lot of cereal and vanilla which I get here so those aren't bad things. I get so many fruity notes, but nothing I can pin point. There's a lot going on and I just acn't do this justince. I'm sorry all I can't give good notes here. It's a blend of blends of blends it feels like to me. Think highland and speyside fruity and oily and full of a lot of different casks. Citrus and vanilla forward with a grain after taste. If any of that sounds good, buy it if you can do the 150 retail. Even if 150 is high and that sounds good, get it. This is great whisky

Pretty good. Long finish that gets better over time

Lots of spice decent flavor profile.