{undercover review of own purchase}
with falloween (a portmanteau of fall and halloween) right around the corner, i've decided to dedicate the entire halloween month to everything sinister and spooky. and this next trio of posts features one of the season's ubiquitous decorations 💀
usually, the sign of a skull on a bottle (or a glass) might give one reason to pause before imbibing, but not so in this case. the skull logo of Smokehead reflects its close affinity to rock and roll music, and the hardcore level of peat it offers.
on the nose, this is a decent amount of smoke over old leather, with a slight touch of bitter wood beneath and a generous scoop of vanilla and caramel over the top.
it's not a bad profile in itself (in fact, it could probably work as a perfume) but the sweetness is a little too cloying for me.
and unfortunately, the palate is somewhat of a letdown in comparison. the taste is straightforwardly simple with few nuances, and the smokiness is nowhere near the peat bomb levels i was expecting.
the finish is surprisingly short for a heavily-peated whisky as well, and i regret that the bitter wood comes back with a vengeance to haunt me on the finish.
honestly, this particular edition feels more like a victim of its own successful marketing.
it's not bad by itself as a whisky and could pass for "baby's first peat" or a regular daily dram... but unfortunately it can't live up to the strong claims on the bottle and tin, which had gotten me hyped up for dragon-level smoke.
i can't really fault it too much considering the relatively cheaper price (you do get what you pay for) but at least i can console myself knowing that i got a nice display-worthy tin and cool rocks glass out of it.
and as always, stay safe and drink responsibly!
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