Here is what we tasted:
*Campbeltown Loch 40% ABV (Springbank blend)
-smelled sweet dessert and wood
-tasted light oak, dry
-not as sweet as it smelled
-more alcohol burn than expected
-with water dulled almost all the smell
-tasted sour oak
-more alcohol burn!
Water ruined this whisky. Being a light blend, all of the flavor was apparent in the first taste.
*Inverarity Ancestral 14 yr. 40% ABV
"Aged Entirely in Sherry Casks"
-smelled olorosso/cinnamon bun sweet
-smelled slightlylike raisins (first time I've ever gotten this!)
-tasted very peppery with some oak
-with water smelled cookie dough
-tasted sour wood
-after a few minutes it got sweeter
-taste went up to the roof of my mouth and cool/dry
-trailed wood
I actually tasted raisin in this. Sadly no butterscotch, caramel or licorice.
*Wolfe's Glen Single Grain 10 yr 40% ABV
-smelled sweet candy with rubbing alcohol at back
-almost a powdery sugar smell
-tasted corn
-with water smelled turpentine
-tasted lighter and oak
I like corn whiskies. This had enough corn in it to impart the flavor. Like most blends, water ruined this.
*Murdoch's 15 yr 40% ABV Blended Scotch
-smelled lightly sweet caramel
-tasted chalky/peppery with caramel
-trailed wood
-with water knocked down the pepper
-sweetness in the beginning
-trailed oak
Pretty unremarkable blend.
*Suntory Pure Malt Whisky 12 yr 43% ABV
-Smelled light wood sweet
-tasted peppery wood with a dryness
-with water dulled the pepper
-trailed oak with the same dryness
Surprising since we tried this before. This is an earlier expression. Water had little affect on the whisky.