Western Gold 6 Years Old Bourbon Whiskey

I had read some good reviews of this award winning 6 year old bourbon, available from Lidl, and although price shouldn't affect judgment, the £15.49 price tag, along with the recommendations, persuaded me to give it a go. As the label says, it is smooth, it's also sweet, but curiously there is no specific stand out flavour. This means that neat it's quite nice, I certainly prefer it to Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 or Jim Beam Original White Label, which the square bottle suggests it's being targeted against, however, there's no real taste that would make me want to come back to it. 

It's OK neat, it's certainly good value for money, so if you "need" or "want" a drink, then it's worth buying, but if you fancy a "good", rather than "nice" bourbon, then you may want to look elsewhere.

I also thought I'd give it a go with various mixers, that was a waste of time, as the whiskey has no stand out flavour, they just diluted it, rather than enhancing any particular taste.

Tesco Finest 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Like the Speyside I reviewed a while ago, this retails for £25, and now and again drops to £20. Like the Speyside, it's been crafted by Master Blender, Richard Paterson, it's excellent value for money, a fine whisky. It's quite sweet, smooth, but probably slightly harsher than the Speyside.

I prefer the Speyside, I like the sweet honeyness of it, I can't really put my finger on the flavours here, perhaps more caramel and fruit, not a bad thing necessarily, just an observation. I've seen other comments on the internet people comparing the two, saying they prefer the Highland to the Speyside, they're both very good, worth buying, at full price and definitely so when reduced.

I guess these are both good "beginner's" whiskies. They're not too complicated, not peaty, nothing overpowering, so good while you're beginning your journey, and still finding your feet, but maybe the whisky connoisseur would find them a bit too tame, there's nothing to get too excited about.