Apple nose. Pink pour. Medium head. Sweet and dry flavor with dry palate. No carbonation.

Gold pour. Dry apple, aged tasted flavor. Dry palate. Hint of nut and apple palate.

Can from Crafted. Orange pour only light bubbles. Nose is tart apple and some floral hops. Tastes of white grape, peach, crab apple, florals. Quite dry. Fairly still and some funk.

Clear pale yellow with a small white head. Soft wood and apple. Soft yellow apple a light tannin hit. Not sure I get the Whisky.

4-pack from Shacksbury. Rounded pint glass @home. Clear MGD gold, lingering head. Smells strongly of citrus pith, cake & well-oiled leather. I don't get any obvious whiskey vanilla notes, but maybe they're there. Taste is medicinally strong upfront. Laquer, oily wood, alcohol, caramel. Apples come second. Tart, acidic, juicy, mildly bitter. I think the barrel bites a bit more than the apple tannins. Feel is tacky & a jump up from thin. Strong, potent, well carbonated, but a little difficult to drink. Wasn't as hot with age, but still significantly boozy. Bolder apples might have made me love this. Meh to okay. --- Beer merged from original tick of Lo-Ball (Barrel Aged with Whistlepig) on 03 Oct 2021 at 19:59 - Score: Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5. Original review text: Four pack of cans from Appalachian. Last of the pack, probably 3 months old at this point. Drank the others straight. Pint glass @home. Big fizzy show. Clear, active, dark apple gold. Soft, sweet, mellow, warm caramel nose, just a bit of perceived apple brightness. Strong whiskey & apple acidity upfront. Toffee/artificial caramel, vanillan, wax, bitter apple skin, burnt corn husk, booze & not so natural lingering maple essence round back. It doesn't specifically state what they added, but I'm curious. Big bubbles, not super thin, slightly slippery, feels stronger than the 4.8% listed. Meh to okay.

Bottle from the Shacksbury cellar sale. Cheapo rounded wine glass @home. Clear, oily gold. Saline, bitter apples, dry yeast, mint, clean corn oil. Soft, tangy sweetness, like fugi/gala upfront. Does not taste like wild apples at first. Second half is much more acid & salty skin. Dries out with a bitter, lingering, minerally finish. Maybe some wood there once it warms up. Lean, thin, low to moderately carbed, light perceived abv. Unusually delicate for Shacksbury. Comes off like another familiar brand. Just okay.

Bottle from the cider club. Yeasty bottle neck & a little bit of a bottle bomb. Never had that outside of French cider. Pint glass @ home. Peachy opaque pour, big head. Smells of twangy, earthy, fermenting apples, rose wine, mulch, lots of yeasties. Taste is nearly dry, soft minerals rose with a moderate apple sourness. Clay, tannic skin, very thin, moreso dry on the finish. Carbonation could be better, alcohol is very low. Smells of second runnings, but still solid. I thought this was better when fresh & was prepared to give it a plumper rating.

Bottle from the Shacksbury cider club. This was the middling bottle of three varieties. Two month sleep in the fridge. First bottle was consumed soon after arriving. Pours a seemingly flat, opaque, dark oily gold. Smell is yeasty, boozy, macerated stuffy apples, earth, shrooms, veg, solvent, curious fruit punch on the tail. Taste is murky. Decent acid, earthy, tangy sweet apple skins, more veg, plastic-y ferment, definitely wild & iffy apples. Off/bittersweet. Carbonation was low, but existed. Very yeasty despite ample settling time. Bit boozy for the reported 6.9%. That exact number always makes me smirk a little. Okay.

750 ml. Aroma is dusty, Band Aid, floral (honeysuckle), apples. Pours sunshiny golden with a huge soapy off-white head that eventually collapses into a thick ring of foam. Taste is moderately tart and pretty funky with flavors of the aroma descriptors. Highly carbonated foamy mouthfeel. An interesting experience.