Forty Creek Copper Pot Reserve

Forty Creek claims this is "A bold whisky with intense spicy flavours resulting from higher degrees of aging in new oak. Truly meant for savouring, this unique, delectable blend is bottled at a higher proof to complement its deep flavours." Only in Canada is 43% abv considered bold. Nevertheless, I've often got this bottle on my shelf as my "house whisky" for sharing with friends. The weakest batches are pedestrian, but inoffensive, while the better batches can be pretty darned good.

Neat from a Glencairn glass

• Nose: a big hit of those individually wrapped Kraft soft caramels, a touch of rye spice, a hint of orange zest
• Palate: medium bodied, more soft caramels, almonds, a touch of butter, a hint of black pepper and nutmeg
• Finish: short to medium length, a bit spicy (pepper and nutmeg), apricots and oranges, but sadly there's some bitterness that mars the finish (not uncommon with Forty Creek whiskies in recent years).

This seems to be a middling batch of Forty Creek Copper Pot. Not the best bottle I've had, but not the worst either. I tried to get the batch number from the bottle, but something appears to have gone wrong as many of the numbers and letters are etched over top of one another.