Bushmills 10 and HP12

Highland Park 12 Y.O

This I bought because I thought it would work as a present for my dad, and it sure was, this is in many ways like the archetype Scotch, lots of sweet malt, a little smoke, when people say they don't like Scotch it's becasue of this taste, of course that only means they should try other types, that taste completely different, I like the taste, not the most interesting whisky, very little nose, but a classic taste, well made well tasting.After having tasted the HP18, I kinda knew what I was gonna get, I was more interested in the Bushmills

Bushmills 10

I'm drinking this as I type, and WOW what a special thing this is, my first taste of Irish Whiskey, I let it it open up and breath for quite some time, and I started to sniff, I was listing to music as I did it, then suddenly a smell hit me, I recognized it, but were I had to find out, it was so familiar but distant, I had to turn off the music to really concentrate, where the hell had I smelled this before, it took a good minute to really think about it, then it hit me, Bourbon, Jim Beam Black to be precise, this sweet chemical smell, yes that was it, naturally not as strong, but there was no hiding it, this just got more more interested, a single malt that smells of bourbon, I know Single malts often are matured on Bourbon casks, but I never actually smelled or tasted any bourbon in them, this was the first, it wasn't a hint of it, it was a clear strong smell, it was the primary smell in fact, now this is not a bad thing at all, I like the smell, I liked the minute it took me to find remember the smell to it was fun, to really have to think about it dig down into the olfactory memory. I REALLY enjoy this nose, it's nice to have a bourbon smell with out having to battle with the taste of the rather strong and harsh taste of Jim Beam Black, not that there is anything wrong with it. This is the kid of Whiskey I could just sit at nose for hours,The nose is sweet, chemical, Lacquer.

The taste, oh shit I forgot to taste it.

There is no Bourbon taste to it, only a hint of the nose of it comes along with the taste. Actually the Jim beam comes back, after the first taste which is classic malt, the bourbon comes back in the after taste it coats the mouth with lacquer, I never expected a malt to be so dominated by the casks it was in.You get a bourbon but it's really a malt, you get the smoothness of malt, but with strong hints of bourbon, very nice, very drinkable, I must say this one out did my expectations.This one I'll be drinking and NOSING often in the weeks and months ahead.