Tasting Notes

Producing WhiskyCast has given me the opportunity to taste some really amazing whiskies, and I’m pleased to share my tasting notes with you here. You can search my entire database of tasting notes from this page, and I hope you’ll find it useful.

Smooth Ambler Contradiction (2018 Release)

Country: USA

Region:

Type: Blended Bourbon

Bottler: Smooth Ambler Distillery

ABV: 46%

Score: 91 Points

Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon. Image courtesy Smooth Ambler Distillery.West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler Distillery made a change to its Contradiction Blended Bourbon in mid-2018. It’s still a blend of the 7-year-old sourced Bourbon used in its Old Scout releases with the distillery’s own young Bourbon, but the bottling strength was reduced from the original 50% ABV to 46%. Fortunately, this is one of the rare cases where reducing a whisky’s bottling strength results in an improvement.

The nose still has a good balance of spices and sweetness, with touches of oak, honey, clove, allspice, brown sugar, and a hint of cocoa. The taste starts off sweet and soft at first with touches of honey and molasses, but spicy notes start to build up gradually while not blowing out the sweeter notes underneath for an improved balance over the original Contradiction. The finish is long and sweet with lingering spices and a touch of oak. A good example of refreshing a brand with a slight change! (October, 2018)