Fior Blended Scotch Whiskey Review

 

Retired Marine Corps Maj. Eric Dominijanni is one heck of a chef. He even beat celebrity chef Bobby Flay in a steak-grilling contest held at a base in the Mojave Desert! He assumed that, once he retired, he would continue to delve into his culinary arts.

 

In 2013, Eric accidentally found himself at a California Scotch bar. He tried ordering rum, but the bartender used the opportunity to teach Eric about the various types of Scotch whisky. He fell in love, and when he returned home, he started tinkering with Scotch and created his own infinity bottle blend. He would invite his fellow Marines over to enjoy the whisky; it was meant only to be shared amongst these friends. They all loved it and suggested he should make more.

 

In 2017, Eric and his friend James Landis, founder and former owner of Hypnotiq, got involved and sent a sample of this house blend to Scotland to see if his contacts could reverse engineer it, which resulted in three different samples that Eric tried. He wasn’t a fan of the first or third, but found the second was spot on. James asked Eric if he was interested in marketing it. Eric agreed, and the two became partners in what would eventually be called Fior, which means flower in Italian and clean, pure, and true in Gaelic.  

 

Fior Blended Scotch Whiskey is the first black-owned and veteran-owned Scotch brand. It can be ordered from its online store and is also available nationwide. Eric is big on giving back to the community. A portion of the sale of each bottle is donated to Operation Gratitude, a foundation that supports Service Members, Veterans, and First Responders. He has also donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

 

“To those that served before me, to those that served with me, and to those that serve now, I raise a glass to you. To all my devil dogs, gyrenes, jar heads, crayon eaters and leathernecks who had my six, OORAH.” - Eric Dominijanni, founder, Fior Scotch LLC

 

Fior has won many awards and is marketed as a super-premium blend. I’d like to #DrinkCurious and put this whisky to the test. Thankfully, Fior was kind enough to provide me with a sample in exchange for my no-strings-attached, honest review. Let’s get to that now.

 

Oh, wait, one last thing. I am aware that I’ve used both whisky and whiskey throughout the introduction. That was done purposefully. The brand uses the e while the category does not.

 

• Whiskey Type: Blended Scotch Whisky
• Distiller: Undisclosed Highland and Speyside distilleries
• Age: NAS
• Mashbill: 40/60 malt-to-grain ratio
• Cooperage: Undisclosed
• Alcohol Content: 43% ABV (86°)
• Price per 750mL: $41.99

 

Appearance: I used a Glencairn glass to explore this whisky neat. It had a brassy appearance and formed a thinner rim with slow, crowded, medium-width tears.

 

Nose: Fior rested in my glass about 20 minutes before I approached it. Once I brought it beneath my nostrils and inhaled, I encountered apples, pears, lemon peel, vanilla, oak, and mild smoke. When I drew the vapor through my lips, I tasted grapefruit.

 

Palate: Fior had a rich, creamy mouthfeel, with a smoky oak palate shock. With my second sip, I separated flavors of vanilla and toffee on the front, with allspice, almonds, and dark chocolate on my mid-palate. The back consisted of dry oak, mild smoke, and leather.

 

Finish: Light smoke, older oak, dark chocolate, leather, and a maritime quality remained. Then came a note of bold clove. It was incredibly dry, leaving some pucker power on the roof of my mouth and tongue, and that seemed to last forever. I timed it; the duration ran 3:32! Three minutes is highly unusual for any whisky from any region.

 

Bottle, Bar, or Bust: The first couple of sips were pretty average for a Blended Scotch. As I continued exploring it, the whisky grew on me. The texture became even creamier, the peat, maritime, and clove sensations melded, and I found myself reaching for yet another pour.

 

Eric and James could have packaged this at 40% ABV (80°) and been done with it. They chose not to, and instead went with what seemed to work best. Truth be told, I’m darned curious what this might taste like at cask strength, but as it is, at $42.00, it deserves every bit of my Bottle rating. Cheers!

 

 

My Simple, Easy-to-Understand Rating System

• Bottle = Buy It
• Bar = Try It
• Bust = Leave It

 

Whiskeyfellow encourages you to enjoy your whiskey as you see fit, but begs you to do so responsibly.