Johnnie Walker Black Label, a 12 year aged stated blend from one of the best-selling whisky brands on the planet.

Heaven Hill's Evan Williams is one of the bestselling brands of bourbon, and the backbone of the line is the entry level black label bottling.

The second of two SMWS 10 year old Clynelishes.

The first of two SMWS 10 year old Clynelishes.

This specific bottle is on the bourbon side, but after the usual new charred oak cask aging, it spends about 12 months in French oak Cabernet Sauvignon casks from the Chappellet Winery in Napa Valley, California.

This bottle had a special place for us originally - it was one of the more expensive bottles we purchased in the first couple of years of our whisky journey, and we waited to pop it open until an anniversary trip last year.

On top the Dunn Vineyard cab barrels, this whisky was also aged in both rum and Port barrels as well, so there should be a number of layers of flavor to dig into.

The distillery got its name because of its location: when dueling with pistols was still legal, the Linkumpinch farm was a popular place to settle these scores.

Today we're looking at the Monkey Shoulder blended malt, a budget-friendly whisky from William Grant & Sons. Its popularity has grown immensely in recent years.

This year, instead of a sherry cask, this Octomore received the Sauternes treatment after some initial maturation in ex-bourbon barrels.

Released in 2021, this bourbon should show of plenty of oak notes with its plentiful aging, but to balance that spice, the French wine casks could add some sweeter flavors.

Here we have the Glenmorangie Nectar D'or, a non age stated release (although on the brand's website, it does specify that the total maturation time is 12 years, at least for the current releases) from one of the Highlands' most popular distilleries.

Available in the early 2000s, this 'cask strength' bottling of Caol Ila, coming in at an even 55% ABV, could be found at the distillery.

This is the basic core range version of Yoichi, not sporting an age statement or any details other than a strength of 45% ABV.

Balboa rye is an older variety of rye grain, dating back to the 1940s.

As opposed to most American whiskies, which are mashed using a sour mash process, this rye is made using a sweet mash process, which does not involve adding additional ingredients from previous batches.

New Riff's 6 year old Malted Rye, which has a mash bill consisting of 100% malted rye grain.

Hailing from The Bard Distillery, this bourbon is a continuation of the original 13 year Cinder & Smoke bourbon bottling, which drew widely positive reviews.

A highland stalwart, the 12 year single malt from Aberfeldy. Founded in 1896 and now owned by Bacardi via John Dewar & Sons, this distillery produces a sizeable amount of spirit, with a capacity of 3.4 million liters of pure alcohol per annum.

The third and last Spicy and Sweet bottle we'll be tasting in this series is from Balmenach, specifically an 8 year old bottled at a cask strength of 60.6% ABV.