Ellington Reserve 8 Year

The 8-year age statement is impressive and confusing for what is clearly such a low-end whiskey. There's some earthiness on the nose with a bit of vegetation and a hint of mushroom. It's a light nose, though. The palate is richer than the regular Ellington, but this allows the unpleasant caramel to show through more, along with a new mushroom flavor. It tastes substantially more artificial than the regular Ellington. The mushroom is interesting, and there's a bit more tingling spice here, but the flavor is still simple and it doesn't come together. This is a hard one to drink. I think I'd rather have the regular Ellington. There's a bit of something rich in here that hints at honey and orange zest, but there's far too little, and it doesn't overcome the unpleasant flavors. In direct comparison, there's more going on here than in the regular Ellington, with some more appealing richness, I suppose. Still, though, it's not very good; that says more about my overrating the regular Ellington upon first taste than it does about me underrating this. There's more richness and character here than in the regular Ellington. It almost doesn't taste like paint thinner. It's a big improvement over regular Ellington, though it's still awful. It's quite different from Black Velvet, and while this does taste worse, I do appreciate its complexity. There's a bit of a rum flavor in here with some smoke like fireworks and sweetness. This has substantially more character than Black Velvet does.

Nose: nutmeg, egg nog, brown sugar, black pepper, rubber, cocoa, dusty corn, artificial caramel, vanilla, old wood, with a mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste: bland corn sweetness, nutmeg, cherry, black pepper, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, dry honey, light oak notes, nondescript citrus, with a mild alcohol bite. It finishes quickly and is cloying, with chemical caramel, vanilla, and a hint of barrel spice. Oh, Canada. We meet again. This is actually one of the better Canadian whiskies I've sampled, certainly better than Canadian Mist, but not quite on par with Crown Royal Deluxe. Still, there's not much to praise here. It possesses that same unpleasant, bland, cloying sweetness that seems to be characteristic of most Canadian whiskies I've encountered. It's poor quality, but drinkable.

An incredibly smooth whisky with a straightforward flavor profile. It presents a strong maple syrup aroma upfront, with light caramel. When sipping, I detect significant maple and some caramel, bordering on butterscotch or toffee. My only regret is wishing it was a bit stronger than 80 proof, but considering that's the only drawback, this is a fantastic Canadian whisky overall, and an even better value.

Super smooth Canadian blended whisky with caramel notes on the nose and the palate. Almost tastes like it was flavored with caramel. A Total Wine employee was eager to pour me a sample.

A pleasant experience. It has a good kick at the end, confirming its presence. Flavorful and easy to drink. A significant improvement over the standard Ellington whisky.

Basically undrinkable straight. Lacks flavor. Only hot spice and oak. Good with ginger ale like Crown or Canadian Club, but not much other use.