Sometimes you just need someone else to do the heavy lifting. Thanks, Whisky Advocate, for rounding up the 10 top-scoring whiskies from the magazine’s Spring 2019 issue.
No. 1: Chivas Regal The Icon Blended Scotch Whisky (95 points), yours for a cool $3,500.* “A spectacular citrus nose with incredible freshness,” Jonny McCormick says. “An intense array of citrus on the palate…accompanied by baked brioche, Ling heather honey, vanilla and oak, with a hint of eucalyptus on the extraordinarily long finish.”
Something to chew on
Moving to the bottom of this topflight list, we’re all over Booker’s 2018-03 “Kentucky Chew” Bourbon (93 points) from the Kentucky distillery founded by Jim Beam descendant and small-batch bourbon pioneer Booker Noe. If you’ve never done the Kentucky Chew, swish, swallow and smack your lips, Susannah Skiver Barton instructs.
Her take on this $70 bottle, whose ABV sits north of 63%: “Aromas of peanuts, cherry cola, candied ginger, blackberry jam and curing tobacco are echoed on the palate, which has grape jelly, blueberry pie, peanuts in Coke, Mexican hot chocolate and a hint of licorice. The finish is warming, lengthy and sweet, with a lift of cherry and spice undercutting chocolate and oak.” Hot dang.
*All prices in U.S. dollars