Rare Perfection 15 Year Cask Strength Canadian Whisky

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 9: So if you happened to read my review of the 14 year, you can only imagine my anticipation of this 15 year. To be perfectly clear, this is not a fooled-me-once-shame-on-you-fooled-me-twice-shame-on-me scenario. I bought this and the 14 year together. So after suffering through that ass swill at $140, it’s hard to put into words how I feel popping this $175 bottle. I’m going to go with: man who shat his pants on a hike, and now, back at his motorcycle, realizes he has to smear his shit pants all over his leather seat to get home. I’m currently on my ride home, thinking, “Great. Now I have even more shit I’m gonna have to get rid of.” Nose makes me hopeful. That weird pencil eraser scent is there, but not nearly as prevalent as in the 14. I get honey and citrus too. Nose isn’t bad. The body: damnit Rare Perfection. You had to string me along for a few seconds more with that nose. I get a hard hit of that awful flavor. Pencil shavings. Sawdust. Possibly some dirt. The Bertie Bott’s of whisky. Finish is cinnamon. A bit of that sawdust still. Not terrible. Okay. I’m a skeptic. This applies to whisky too. I would be delighted for someone to help me understand how to enjoy this stuff. I’m $315 in the hole with this stupid product line. I’m highly motivated to enjoy it. But until that explanation comes, this product line is in the running for “worst whisky I’ve ever tried.” Is this guy better than its 14-year brother? Yep. If you chug it, you might be able to find some enjoyment on the nose and the finish, only having to suffer the body once. Is it drinkable? Ask my kitchen sink drain. This product line needs to be removed from existence. I don’t know if I actually have 22 more new whiskeys lined up, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments.

As mentioned in my Rare Perfection 14 year review, I tried this back to back. Wanted to see the difference a year makes and which one is better. I really like Willet Rye from Preservation Distillery and eye balling Rare Perfection 14/15 and their Summer Rye (a play on Samurai). Rare perfection struck out. Let's see if 15 year can turn the tides. Awards: Breaking Bourbon two of the guys had this as their Whiskeys of the year for 2019. San Francisco World Spirits Award 2020 - Best Canadian Whiskey. Again, thank you @Milliardo for the samples. Super generous and allowed me to try before I buy. GC, 15 minutes to breathe. N(3): Ahhh. I guess 1 year older and higher proof couldn't eliminate the burned plastic spork funk. Still had the wet wood musk as well. The flavors were a lot more bold than 14. Got a bit of an ethanol tickle, but not overwhelming. There's a lot more pleasant aromas that I'm picking up over the 14. Butterscotch. Vanilla. Sweet Oak. Some peppermint-ish spices. P(3.75): Woo-Hah. Spice. Sweet brown sugar swimming in creamy vanilla. Brown sugar evolves into caramel that has been cooking to the point where you can also pick up the sweet smoke. Surprisingly, no fruit is coming out. It's like a spicey cupcake. F(4.5): Finish is long, deep, rich, velvet. Vanilla full fat cream. Crush roasted almond and peanuts mixed together. Could even be hazelnut. A drop or two of lemon juice with TONS of melted butterscotch dominating. Overall: 15 almost turned the tides. At $190 it's not strong enough to buy or push me to try Summer rye. It is good. Better than 14 but that plastic. I can't get over it. If I could, I would pick it up for $150. Since I can't, maybe $60.

Nose - vanilla, some rich creme brulee, some metalic awful young whisky or something notes. Some heather and some savory also coming through. A lot of alcohol on this nose. Taste - Sweet caramel, some kind of canned fruits, spices, and a hell of a lot of alcohol. Water seems to only bring out more alcohol and more heat. Overall the opening is this really creamy and viscous sweetness that's met with assertive spices and then killed with metallic and youthful alcohol burn. An incredibly disappointing experience for the price and for the age statement. I'm at a 1.5 as the sweetness is really appealing at first.

Nose - Caramel vanilla bomb, heavy on the sticky sweets. Super sweet, little floral. Its like a spriced up dulce de leche cheesecake, really really desserty and sweet. Starwberry cheesecake. Palate - Super interesting flavor profile, a little too bitter for my liking and mind of medicinal but there are some instant basil, floral, sugar, honey, oak and leather. Theres some slight cinnamon notes. Just interesting. Finish - Finsih is pretty mediocre, very bery bitter like it aged kind of poorly. Bitter and cinnamon.

Tasted about 10ml at Liquors Hasegawa in Tokyo, Japan. The color is not nearly as dark as I would expect from a 15 year old whiskey, but I guess since this is Canadian whiskey it was probably not first fill casks. The nose is of candied sugar, brown sugar, and booze. The taste is pretty much just rubber and caramel. The finish is very sweet and then suddenly bone dry, with a bit of the rubber from the taste. I don't think this is worth remotely the price for the bottle.

On the nose, it's cake, perfume, and a bit of harsh cleaning solution. It smells like something unexpected. Almost an uneasy marriage. The taste is still very sweet, but a little richer than the nose, with some clingy sharp oil coating the palate making this a little more interesting. Strawberries. Vanilla. And even some apricots make an appearance. It's definitely different, but probably not one of the greats.