Tastes

2.5 stars - Very nice; multiple bar pours Tastes like Jim Beam white label with all the rough edges polished off. This used to be in limbo on the store shelf. Terrible branding. Jim Beam Bottle in Bond, Jim Beam Single Barrel, and Bookers were all better value-for-your-money picks. Very glad to see Bakers got completely refreshed.

4.5 stars - Superb; 750 ml bottle This is an exceptional whiskey. It is the real deal: aroma, mouthfeel, flavor, and packaging are all spot on. Great on day one, great on day 120. Tastes like Talisker 10 year plus a squirt of lemon Pledge. Trust me, it works.

1.0 stars - Poor, flawed; 750 ml bottle Ouch. I was really looking forward to this one. Felt guilty that I passed it by so many times. Then months after it disappeared from shelves, one bottle magically showed up at my favorite liquor store. Fortuna smiles upon me! Beautiful box and a nice concept. Opening the seal ripped off the entire neck label and reveals a very cheap screw cap. Oh-oh! Aroma was good. Flavor had a really sharp acetone (nail polish remover) bite. Undrinkable. Fortuna is laughing!

3.5 stars - Very good; 4 bottles I had one bottle of Michter’s rye in 2016 that was life changing spectacular. Each bottle since has crept down about a half star per bottle. There is a lot of herbal goodness but less rich, malty backbone. I will give Michter’s high marks for being the only distillery I can recall to make a successful transition from sourced to home distilled whiskey. It is one of two distilleries, the other being New Riff, that are in the same ballpark for quality with the American majors (Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, Brown Forman). I have been burned by more “craft” distilleries than I care to count. I will give credit where credit is due. Michters is putting out some really nice whiskies.

1.5 stars - Nice, but flawed; 750 ml bottle Good Michter’s flavor but with an odd, sour tang. Like it was 3% vinegar. Seeing all the great reviews, and given my experiences with other Michter’s products, I think I got a bad bottle.

3.0 stars - Good; 750 ml bottle Classic bourbon flavors. If someone was new to bourbon, I would start them here. Easy to enjoy with a nice amount of sweet corn, toasty oak, and vanilla. Nothing extreme and an easy jumping off point to explore other profiles. Michter’s prices are in no man’s land. Excellent bourbons seem to be clustered at $30 and $60, while Michter’s sits at $45. This isn’t quite a special occasion whiskey and it is 50% more than my favorite daily drinkers. Hard to decide where it belongs on my shelf.

4.0 stars - Excellent; 750 ml bottle Michter’s regular line up (sour mash, small batch bourbon, single barrel rye) gives me major “chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven” energy. Ooey, gooey, rich and delicious. Is it fine dining? No, but most afternoons I would prefer a chocolate chip cookie to poached trout. The juice is good and the bottles look great. Please stop with the horse hockey marketing. For example, on this label they state: “Distilled in small batches according to the Michter’s pre-Revolutionary War quality standards dating back to 1753.” Dan Brown novels are more realistic fiction. Stop pretending to be the historic Michters. Let the whiskey speak for itself, it is very good.

3.5 stars - Very good; 2+ bottles This is the ultimate party whiskey. For the price of a nice bottle of wine, you can show up to the picnic with a whiskey 90% of people will consider a premium bottle. At $22 bucks you won’t be upset when people drink it on the rocks, take a shot, or mix with cola. Good, approachable flavor profile that is always consistent. Bonus points to Maker’s Mark for having a real history and real marketing. Pro Tip: For your two pretentious whiskey friends at the party, who will look down on Maker’s, bring a mystery whiskey in a flask. Make them spend the whole evening tasting it blind and making guesses at the origin.

2.0 Stars - Nice, but… This whiskey is like a clerk at my favorite grocery store. Agreeable, pleasant and gets the job done…but I am not inviting him over to my family barbecue on Saturday.

3.5 Stars - Very good; 4 pours at a friend’s house. Old Forester has done a fantastic job renovating their whiskey. They used to have a flawed portfolio full of off flavors. In a weird way, I enjoyed that I could write off this whole distillery so I could more easily work my way through all the big name bourbons. I cannot ignore them anymore. They are putting out a line of well made, distinctive whiskies. Nice!