Shieldaig Nasty Ashtray

Dr Desert Flower and I were at Total Wine over the summer, and they were offering a free tasting of Shieldaig "The Classic" Blended Scotch Whisky, aged 12 years. 

In Tasting at the store, it was fine.  12 year? that's pretty good.  $12 a bottle...  Why not?  So I bought a bottle, and brought it home. 

Sometime in July, I opened it up, and ew!  It tasted like an ashtray.  Very smokey, very unpleasant, it reminded me of a dive bar like Casablanca used to be in Greenville SC next to the Reedy River - but not a happy memory of many beers consumed and music listened to. No, it was a more primal memory triggered by scent, and taste, of thick smoke, permeating the bar's very existence.  DDF encouraged me to pour it down the drain, but I found that with LARGE quantities of ice and lemonade and a splash of Cruzan flavored rum (banana or vanilla) that it was drinkable.

If you LOVE the taste of smoke, then Total Wine's got a cheap bottle of Scottish smoke for you. I won't be buying the stuff again, and cannot recommend it.  I'll stick with my High West instead.  =)