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Bourbon Boos Finale : The Smokiest Surprise Yet - Smokehead Single Malt Scotch Review
Apr 29, 2026
Clifton closes out Bourbon Boos 2025 with a bang — and a cloud of smoke! This week’s spooky pour is Smokehead Islay Single Malt Scotch, a bold, affordable peated whisky that just might be the surprise of the series. For under $40, does it hold its own against bigger Islay names? Plus, new whiskey announcements from around the world: Heaven Hill’s Grain-to-Glass Specialty Barrel Series The Glenlivet 12-Year Jamaica Edition Rum-Cask Finish A Midwinter Night’s Dram Act 13 and Old Overholt Cask Strength 12 Year Tune in for peat, price talk, and one last Halloween pour that proves not every spooky bottle is a trick.
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0:00
Hey everyone, this is Clifton. Before we get into today's episode, I do want to say I had a bit of
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a technical difficulty with today's episode. I recorded a couple of additional news stories
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but for some reason they became corrupt during the export. So not sure what happened there. So
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I'll save those for next week. Nothing pressing, nothing too crazy, but just want to let you guys
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know why today's episode is a little bit shorter. But yeah, stay tuned. This should be a fun one
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Today on the Bourbon Vites podcast, I'm sharing new whiskeys from across the industry
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including Heaven Hill's new grained glass specialty barrel series, a Glen Levin aged in Jamaican rum casks
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this year's new release of a Midwinter's Night Dram, and more. Plus, I'm doing my final bourbon boo-hoo's review of Smokehead Single Malt Isla Whiskey
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hello everyone and welcome to the bourbon bites podcast i'm your host clifton and this is the
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week of thursday october 30th 2025 we are entering our final week of my bourbon booze series and this
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week we have a whiskey that is actually a whiskey, believe it or not. This week we'll actually be
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reviewing an Isla single malt with a very spooky logo on it, but we have some whiskey news to get
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into first before we do the bite-sized review. As with previous weeks, we are going to list off a
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ton of new and upcoming releases that were announced this month, and many of these I'm very
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very excited for. I'm just going to dive right into it with the first one that hit my inbox
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earlier last week actually and this is the new heaven hill grain to glass specialty barrel series
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now as with the original grain to glass series that came out a while back each release begins
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with corn seed varietals chosen annually in partnership with bex hybrids but this year they
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are taking it a step further with a barrel selection that complements the corn type so
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with the help of the independent stave company heaven hills master distiller selects a barrel
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This year they chose Chinquapin Oak, which we've been hearing a lot about
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A lot of releases are using Chinquapin Oak these days. But they say this is a rare white oak native to Missouri that was chosen for its unique character
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And it's going to be available for all three of the releases, including the Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
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the Kentucky Straight Wheated Bourbon Whiskey, and the Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
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I think the most recent whiskey that I've had that's used Chinquapin Oak has been the Shinx Homestead
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from Mictors. And I think it does have a significant impact on the flavor of the whiskey
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Would I choose it for three different whiskeys? I don't know, but maybe something this year
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with the corn varietal. It just works really, really well. Now, I will admit that I've not
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had a chance to try any of the Heaven Hill Grain to Glass series, mainly because I've heard mixed
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reviews on it and the price is pretty up there for what it is. You know, it's relatively younger
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whiskey. I do love to see the experimentation and collaboration with farmers and specific farms
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That's really cool to me, but this is definitely a try before I buy type of whiskey, and I just
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haven't had a chance to try it. I would be curious to try it side by side with the previous releases
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that use typical American white oak compared to this chinkapin oak. I think that would be a really
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fun comparison. Usually we see chinkapin used as a finishing cask, but from my understanding
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it seems like this release was aged entirely in this oak. They do say these are all at least six
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years old and the series is going to continue with different oak casks. This is just the first
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in the series of releases. So very interesting but it's definitely a try before I buy like I said
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But we're not stopping there with the new releases. Just saw that an email came through about the new
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Buna Haben 12 cask strength for 2025 I bought two previous years releases for this and have absolutely loved that whiskey This one though the price has gone up a relatively decent amount
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It's gone up to $149 MSRP. The ABV on this one is 56.4%, which is in line kind of with what they usually do
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But yeah, the price is an 82% increase over last year's bottle
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And, you know, I know price increases are inevitable, but such a massive increase
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I think that's what people are mostly talking about. I will say in the past, this has kind of been an instant buy for me when I see it for I think it's like usually let's see 82%
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That's more math that I'm willing to do right now. But I know it's previously been, you know, under I would say $80 and it's been like an instant buy
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But this one, I'm definitely not going to be pulling the trigger on it because to me, it's a great whiskey
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And it's always been, you know, one of the favorites on my shelf for the price
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but for something that drastically different in price it's gonna have to be a much better whiskey
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and until I try it I'm not gonna put the money down for that but sad to see it because I've
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really enjoyed this release like I said I had the 2024 and I think I had the 22 release of it
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and have usually you know really wanted to seek it out but not for 82% higher of a price. Now
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there is a new Glenn Levitt 12 year old that is called the Jamaica edition, which is pretty fun
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I love the bright colors on the label. This one is a 12 year old single malt scotch that has been
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finished in Jamaican rum casks. Jamaican rum is typically a more of a funky rum. It's not one of
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my go to's, but I know it's used in a lot of really great tiki cocktails that I'm a fan of
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I think a funky rum is always a fun addition to a finishing cask. I've had a rye whiskey, I think, from Doc Swinson's called the Funky Drummer that was also finished in Jamaican rum cask
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And I really loved the unique twist that it gave the whiskey. I think Glenlivet is such a, I don't want to say like basic whiskey, but a approachable, not too nuanced whiskey
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I think adding something like that to a Jamaican rum cask could allow for a really fun flavor
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experience. So I'll keep an eye out. Retail on that's about $55. I think that's a very fair price
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And traditionally, I've kind of liked some of these fun finishing casks. So I'm keeping an eye
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out for that one for sure. Another new announcement is the 12 year edition of Old Overholt Cast
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Strength. This has been a release they've been putting out every year and always goes up one
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year in age so I feel like they're dealing with the same stock of whiskey that they're just holding
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some of it back. I will say the 10 year version of this was absolutely delicious. One of my favorite
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whiskeys I've ever had from Jim Beam. I was lucky enough to buy a backup bottle of that last year
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and compared to the 11 year that came out in 24 there's no comparison. The 10 year to me was a
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drastically better whiskey. So I'm hopeful that this one is going to be right there with the 10
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year maybe a little less like the 11 year but I definitely want to do a comparison I am almost out
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of my 10 year I need to save a sample so I can do a 10 11 and 12 comparison retail on this is 110
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ABV will range between 53% and 65% because it is bottleneck cast strength so that's on my must
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buy list at least to do a comparison for the channel and I think I talked about this a couple
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weeks back when it was first announced but now that it's out High West has released their 13th
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act of midwinter night's dram rye um this one's coming in at a retail of 150 abv is 48.3 always
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been a fan of this release um but it's still creeping up there in price i think last year
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or it was actually two years ago i bought it for 120 now it's up to 150 i still will probably buy
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a bottle let's be real like i i have the opportunity to buy one through my local liquor store and i
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haven't done that yet but I just really love this release year over year and it
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always to me drinks like a high whiskey so even with the price increase I think at least for now I willing to give it a shot Now this is aged for four to ten years old It combining both MGP Distillate and High West Distillate
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They don't tell you exactly how much but I know over time more of High West's whiskey is going to
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go into this. So again it's one that I have just loved personally. I love a port cask on a rye
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whiskey and High West is one of the best ones I've ever had that do it. Now there's some more
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affordable options that do it almost as good from Old Scout one in particular that one is a favorite
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of mine but I still think Midwinter's Night's Dram is one of my favorite limited edition releases and
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it's one that's not extremely hard to get my hands on so yeah I'll probably pick it up
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All right well as I mentioned this week's episode of Bourbon Booze isn't as scary as previous weeks
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because we have an actual whiskey here to review not a spirit drink as we did last week. So this is
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one that I've seen staring at me on the shelves for pretty much all year and I thought what better
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time to review it than around the Halloween season. This episode's coming out the day before Halloween
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so I thought it was an appropriate one to review for today's episode. This is Smokehead Isla Single
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Malt Scotch Whiskey and there's a few different releases of this. I just picked up the basic one
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just to kind of get a baseline impression of this brand. And it's actually bottled by Ian McLeod
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Distillers based in Scotland, of course. They actually own three different distilleries
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Glen Goyne, Tamdu, and Rosebank, and one gin distillery. Actually, Edinburgh Gin is owned by
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them as well. But this lineup from them, the Smokehead series, is from an undisclosed Islay
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distillery. There are some theories about where it's from, but nothing official is out there. So
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we're just going to go into this assuming it's from probably one of the major ones maybe some of
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their younger distillate of course this one isn't age dated but it's at least three years old I know
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some of their other releases do have ages on them but this one is their most approachable pricing
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wise from the lineup this one was only $35 on sale I think retail on its 40 of course it is a
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spirits direct brand from Total Wine so you can often get it at a cheaper price but yeah I thought
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I would pick this up because one, it is very Halloween-y, and two, that's a very affordable
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price for a single malt Islay whiskey. By the way, this comes in at 43% ABV, which is better than
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expected with it being such an affordable bottle. There's really not much information on the back of
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the bottle itself. It just says it is intensely rich yet subtly sweet. Smokehead embodies a wild
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spirit and appeals to those with an appreciation for heavy, earthy peat. With immense smoke and
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notes of sea salt and spice, this is a vigorous whiskey that stands out from the crowd. But other
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than that, I really don't know much about it, but I had to give it a try for you guys. Let's go ahead
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and get it poured. Oh, on the nose, this is actually pretty pleasant. I mean, if you are a fan of peated
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scotch, it's not too crazy with the peat. To me, it's almost more like a smoked barbecue note, a
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little bit sweet. Definitely some ashiness there as well. It's not overwhelming my palate like some
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peated scotches do. I would say it's a little bit of like a maritime kind of peat, a little bit of
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like an ocean spray kind of note. The actual ocean spray, not like cranberry juice. But it's got a
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sweetness to it that actually I'm enjoying quite a bit compared with that peat. Kind of more of like
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a candy, like a caramel sweetness compared to like a fruitiness. And I wouldn't expect too much of
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like a fruitiness on this anyways. As much as I love my sherry cask and port cask single malt
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Isla Scotches. This one is not cask finish, I believe. Some of the other lineup is though
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All right, let's go and give it a taste. Cheers. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely smoky. You can usually tell from like a younger Isla Scotch
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the smoke kind of dominates And that kind of what happening here But I do actually think the proof works in its favor you know being low proof It not kind of like blowing your socks off with the peat It actually gives you some time to kind of process it and really think about what going on before you try to quickly down it
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And surprisingly, this one has a really nice finish on it. Even just from the first sip, it's lingering on the palette and it's going really sweet on the back end
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Up front still, there's that maritime kind of smokiness, a bit of asheness, almost a little bit of like cigar
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like some tobacco not like burned tobacco but more of like a tobacco leaf but as it goes across
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the mid palate and finish it goes into that sweet direction like I said caramel a little bit of like
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butterscotch I'm getting there and all the way through the finish that smote is kind of goes
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down very very easily wow I I don't know what I was expecting going into this being you know a sub
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$40 bottle it's probably one of the least expensive Isla single malts I've ever had I mean even some
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of my favorite blends from Isla or the whiskeys that do use Isla whiskey in it. I had a pour of
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Pete Monster actually earlier today just because I knew I'd be reviewing this. That one drank really
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really nicely and a bit more complex than this one but that's you know $20 more and it's a blended
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malt versus a single malt so I think what Smokehead has done here is actually pretty impressive for
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the price. I wouldn't say it's necessarily an entry-level Isla unless you just don't know what
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smoke taste light. I think there are other ways to ease into it if you're not you know familiar
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with a smoky palette. But what's interesting is like I said they have quite a few bottles in this
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lineup. They all have really colorful labels. One I'm very interested in they have a 15 year edition
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of it for $65. So for 30 bucks more you're getting an age statement still the same ABV
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They also have what they call a high voltage release for 60 and that one comes in at 58
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ABV. So honestly, I am very impressed by this entry level into their lineup. I don't think it's
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you know, the most complex Isla in the world. I think it's, you know, relatively simple in terms
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of complexity, but it's a really nice experience. And like I said, that finish is really surprising
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for such a moderately priced bottle. So in terms of ranking, you know, I consider all things
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including price, availability, you know, flavor, of course. And this one, it impresses me in a lot
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of different ways. I'm going to have to give that a 8 out of 10, all things considered. While it
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doesn't have some of the complexity and nuance that, you know, a lot of namesake single malt
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scotches do, it makes up for it in price and availability. I mean, it's really hard to find
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fault in this other than the fact that it is young and it's a little bit, you know, simplistic in
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terms of complexity but again it's a $35 bottle you have to think of it from that perspective
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and I think for that you're you're hard pressed to find another Isla single malt in that price range
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I mean yeah this one is definitely one worth trying especially some of their higher-end items
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in their lineup this makes me really curious to explore like I said their 15 year they have a
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sherry one a stout cask a tequila cask and of course that high voltage version of smokehead
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so yeah wow ending bourbon booze with a bang so that does it for this week's episode of the podcast
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thank you all for listening thank you for entertaining my bourbon booze series let me
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know if you guys want to see more themed months not quite sure maybe we could do a holiday one
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coming up in november or december not quite sure what we're doing yet but i look forward to
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bringing you more episodes make sure to follow me on your favorite podcast platform if you can leave
15:41
a rating please do if you leave a review i'm happy to read it out here on the podcast of
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course if you want to leave a voicemail message you're always welcome to do that you can give me
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a ring at 916-642-9837 or 916-64-bytes of course follow me everywhere on the web bourbonbites.com
15:59
has all my links but most of all thank you so much for listening cheers and i'll talk to you guys
16:03
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