Gibson's Finest 12 Year

Smell: Smell intensity is light to medium. There are pears, green apples, strawberries and honey. This means it is quite a bit malt heavy for this whisky. There are some rye spices with mint, cinnamon and cardamom. Light notes from the corn with light marmalade, corn, vanilla and light colored caramel. Some maple and light oak. Taste: The corn is more apparent in the taste with strong vanilla, marmalade and caramel. Then, the fruits come in with the pears, green apples and strawberries. Ends up with the rye notes with the cardamom and mint mostly. Ends up with maple and some oak notes with cinnamon and light pepper. Finish: Finish is all a very floral honey with a light vanilla note but doesn't last a long time at all. It's good but too short. Mouthfeel: It is very light an watery. Overall: This is a very good whisky for the price (even though I don't consider that in my reviews). On taste along, it would have been a 3.75. But the shortness of the finish and the very watery mouthfeel brings the whole score down. It still is very good for the price IMO. One thing I have to note about this whisky is how incredibly drinkable it is. I could down this dangerously fast. It is very very "pleasant". Incredible as a daily drinker you don't have to pay too much attention.

Nose: Rich caramel, toffee, and butterscotch, yellow apples and mixed apple skins, small touch of orchard fruit (pear and peach), icing sugar and cinnamon, treacle with a hint of maple, sweet oak, some floral perfume oak notes, a dollop of sweet honey, complex citrus (candied lemon peel [like a fizzy lemon drink], blood orange peel and grapefruit peel), dried fruit (dates and old raisins), hard red cherry candies, dusty rye spice and corn mash, old black pepper, cooked/melted sugar, browned butter, some baking spice (clove, nutmeg), molasses, hint of phenolic rubber, fresh fennel/celery Palate: Honey, cooked/melted sugar, paprika, rye spice, oak sugar, sweet tea, simple syrup, slight cola note, caramel covered oak, some creamy oak, a touch of canned peaches with cream, some tangy orange pith, candied lemons, barrel tannins, candied yellow apple peel Finish: Yellow apples, lingering candied lemon, green paprika, a touch of oaky caramel, treacle, green apple candies

Gojiberry nose once you get over it being a screwtop. Really lingers. Very benign palate. Not bad but not noticeable. Good recipe for serious inebriation. Some would call it mild. I would elaborate further but still thinking about it being a screw top. Finish is overwhelmed by the fact it is a screw top. Why? Why would anyone in the whisky business order a bunch of screwtop bottles. No serious drinker would say there's a hint of strawberry, leather, or raisin after unscrewing the bottle. It screams "I am trying to do this as cheaply as possible". I understand six Sigma, economies of scale, a rising tide raises all ships, and EBIDTA. If I bother to stop on the way home from work on Friday and spend 40 bucks on some whisky, I want to pull a cork out of it like my great granddad did.

Des arômes dévoilant les ex-futs de bourbon, bois, épices et légère vanille, alcool sec. Le maïs se faufile timidement à travers tout ça. Quelques effluves d'écorce d'orange et quelques fruits à noyaux séchés, minéraux. En bouche, maïs plus évident, son aspect sucré se mêlant à la vanille du fût, gelée à l'orange, épices douces et alcool sec qui vient un peu gâcher la texture. Une finale à l'image des whisky canadien, sucrée, légèrement boisée avec des saveurs de fruits du verger en compote. Texture un peu difficile à apprivoisée, un liquide qui manque de repos. C'est bien mais je m'attendais à plus de raffinement pour un 12 ans. Le prix permet de passer au-dessus de ses défauts plus facilement mais il se fait mieux pour cette catégorie

The first thing that hit me on the nose was butterscotch. Like, "holy butterscotch, Batman!" levels - rich, oily, creamy butterscotch, exactly like the hard candies in the bright gold wrapper. With that is coconut, floral notes, caramel, and a tiny hint of cinnamon. The palate is light and a bit fruity, with a less obnoxiously butterscotch quality, milk chocolate, coconut, vanilla, and an oily, but not heavy, body. This is a light, fresh, perfect-for-summertime whisky...but light doesn't mean insubstantial here. Plenty good neat, but I suspect it would hold up well on the rocks or with a bit of club soda for those times when you're really looking to go light and refreshing.

There’s a saturated sweetness on the nose. Strong honey and a little wood spice. Also jumping out of both the nose and the palette is clove. I would say it’s more prominent here than any other whiskey I could think of. It even persists on the finish, along with vanilla and a waxy characteristic. As far as Canadian whiskies go, it’s not a game-changer but it does stand out for its balance. If i’m going to introduce someone to Canadian whiskey for the first time, this would definitely be in the flight.