Tastes
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Jim Beam Black Label Extra-Aged
Bourbon — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed February 3, 2017 (edited November 18, 2017)I'm not exactly torn-up about the loss of the 8-year age statement on Jim Beam Black, because Jim Beam Black sold in Canada never actually had an 8-year age statement (international Beam Black was a 6-year-old). Regardless, its replacement is . . . sorta meh. Nice enough smell of caramel, vanilla and (fairly subtle) nutty Beam funk. Maybe some tobacco and stone fruits. But the taste is a bit thin, and leads with tobacco and Beam funk. A bit of peach, maybe. Candy corn. Lightly dry, toasty wood finish. An unremarkable bourbon, though the price is right. Beam Black is like every entry in the Beam Small Batch collection, if every entry in the Beam Small Batch collection was totally uninteresting and generic. It's Beam, it's bourbon, it's fine; the price is good ($28 in Canada on the right day, which is approaching bottom-shelf territory)--but for the same money, you'll have to pry Evan Williams Black Label out of my cold, dead hands. -
Evan Williams 1783 Bourbon (80 Proof)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed January 1, 2017 (edited January 2, 2017)A curious bottom-shelfer that's started showing up on Canadian shelves, at a strangely high price (perhaps owing to importation and minimum-pricing legislation). Smell is acetone/paint at first, but underneath there's actually a decent hit of caramel and vanilla. Some barrel-char character. A bit green, leafy. Faint apple. Not a lot of the "grape drink" flavour I generally get from Heaven Hill bourbons. Taste is thin and a bit hot. Initially some peanuts (not unlike the Beam yeast), then a nice vanilla/caramel sweetness. A bit of creeping bitter/soggy wood. Barrel char. A slight bit of fruitiness, creamed corn, and something evocative of a Scotch blend. Not an awful bourbon--it's got a very stereotypically "bourbon" taste profile--but it's thin, and hot, and with some creeping bitterness. I prefer the Evan Williams Black Label; I also prefer their White Label bottled-in-bond. In my local market, the 1783 is more expensive than both of those aforementioned bottles, and thus not even remotely worth the expenditure. -
Gooderham & Worts Four Grain Canadian Whisky
Canadian — Ontario, Canada
Reviewed December 25, 2016 (edited September 22, 2020)An interesting whisky. Its Canadian heritage is recognizable (and I am, frankly, no fan of most Canadian whiskies), but there's a complexity and delicacy here that's pretty likeable. Smell is a nice cedar wood, some rye spice, creamed corn, dill pickle, an interesting medicinal cherry syrup. Sharpie marker or some paint thinner. Vanilla. Taste is sweet and spice. A nice floral, with loads of rye, baking spices and brining spices (clove, caraway, dill, pepper). More of that medicinal cherry, pencil shavings, creamed corn, lots of white pepper on the back-end. Dry finish is a bit short with some spice. Unlike most Canadian whiskies, this one doesn't teeter way over into sweetness--it's recognizably Canadian, but actually quite balanced, quite interesting. Resembles, slightly, some of Forty Creek's high-end offerings, but with the sweetness really dialed back. The *actual* closest comparison, though, might be to Wiser's Red Letter--but at $70 *less* per bottle, it's actually a pretty decent value if you want to give Canadian whisky another shot. -
Crown Royal Vanilla
Flavored Whiskey — Manitoba, Canada
Reviewed December 25, 2016 (edited September 9, 2017)For a flavoured whisky? Not bad--a nice cream soda vanilla nose that doesn't go too far over into cloying artificiality, even if the taste is simultaneously too sweet and too watery, with no discernible rye character. I imagine this might punch up Coke to create an alcoholic vanilla Coke. On the other hand, vanilla Coke already exists. So. . . . For anything resembling actual whisky? It's borderline poison. -
Grass Widow Bourbon
Bourbon — (bottled in) Michigan, USA
Reviewed December 22, 2016 (edited December 23, 2016)The flagship of Detroit's Two James Distillery--a place that's totally worth checking out if you're ever in Detroit. What you've got here is high-rye LDI bourbon finished in madiera wine casks (a holdover until their own spirit comes of age; they've already got some young experiments on the market). What I like here is that it's not *just* another sourced whiskey; they're at least doing something a bit different with the red wine finish. Nose is recognizably LDI (think TinCup), but there's some nice winey nuttiness here; a bit of plum, fruit, syrup. Candied nuts? Baking spice and mulled wine. Some spirity ethanol. A bit thin in the mouth; first taste is a bit green, with that LDI nuttiness (similar to, but distinct from, Beam yeast nuttiness), but then there's that vinous sweetness, some red fruits, and solid rye spice. Finish is a bit chewy, with some fresh oak, dryness. The price on this one is high ($59.99 at the distillery), and the spirit feels a bit young--but the fundamentals are sound, and this is one I'm prepared to endorse (however tentatively) for the sake of supporting a really good local distillery in one of my favourite cities in the world. The 10-year reserve or the Cask Strength limited edition are certainly also worth investigating, though the price on them is . . . prohibitive. -
J.P. Wiser's Last Barrels
Canadian — Ontario, Canada
Reviewed December 22, 2016 (edited November 25, 2017)The nice thing about visiting home for the holidays is the chance to return to some whiskies you've bunkered away over the years. This one's the highlight of the bunch. Smell is cedar-y, oaky, wood-smoke, with a touch of paint thinner, and some nice cherry/cherry-wood (not unlike what I get from Buffalo Trace), some slight custard, maybe sour milk? Body is a bit thin. Taste has some of that slight cherry, some tart apple, cedar, a lot of dry oak, tons of baking spices, cinnamon sticks, brining spices (clove, caraway, dill?), grainy grittiness. Finish is like licking lumber, with a bit more of that sour milk. I like this juice a lot--it taste likes what it is, which is to say that it's a Canadian whisky made in the style of a straight bourbon. But I think people also got super-excited by the rarity of this bottle and over-rated it as a result. It's a nice whisky, but can't compete with the real stars of the bourbon world. As an experiment, though, I do really like it, and I'd love to see other Canadian whiskymakers following in Wiser's steps with these sorts of bottlings. -
Yet another bottle that leaves a man pining for half-star ratings on Distiller. I am not really a rum person; when I do like rums, it tends to be because of their similarity to whiskey. And in a lot of ways I'd frame Havana Club 7 as the rum equivalent of an entry-level single malt--a Glenlivet or Glenfiddich 12. Enjoyable, flavourful, but not really setting the world on fire. A lot of the appeal here is (for Americans, at least) the appeal of the forbidden, which tends to inflate opinions. But it's widely available in Canada, and that takes off a bit of the sheen. Closed nose at first, with some astringency. After time, brown sugar, molasses, huge tobacco leaf; dry and sweet herbal, leafy notes, some tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, papaya), raisins, prunes, and a bit of yeastiness. A lot of sponge candy as well. Taste is vanilla, caramel, brown sugar/molasses, with surprising density and creaminess for 40% ABV; wood smoke and tobacco, but the dark/dried fruits really dominate on the taste (plums, prunes, raisins). Bitter chocolate, and more of that honeycomb/sponge candy. Very dry, tobacco-y, smoky, which continues onto the finish. An acidity and yeastiness on the finish that's not ideal, but also the sensation of a just-smoked cigar and nice wood smoke (how much of this is psychosomatic?). A fabulous mixer and a solid--but not mind-blowing--sipper, the comparison to a lot of entry-level malts ultimately feels fair. And at $30 a bottle, quite a steal.
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Auchentoshan 12 Year
Single Malt — Lowlands, Scotland
Reviewed December 3, 2016 (edited September 21, 2019)Is this even available anymore, or has it been universally replaced by the Classic and the American Oak? Who knows. Smell here is waxy, lemon, light smoke, herbal throat lozenge, dough, vanilla, cream, and apple skins. Leafy? Taste is lightly fruity (just a hint of sherry, as evidenced by a bit of red fruits), apple skins, lemon zest. Faint smoke. More cough drops. Pear. Dough. Alternating tart, sweet, and herbal. Finish is dry, waxy, fresh cut wood, and apple skin. All told, it's sort of a cross between a young Speyside and a generic Irish; nice dram, but not a must-try. -
Auchentoshan Three Wood
Single Malt — Lowlands, Scotland
Reviewed December 2, 2016 (edited February 3, 2020)Even with the caveat that the Auchentoshan house style does nothing for me, I really have to say this guy did not impress at all--surprisingly muted, and a lot of what is here just feels more like a middle-of-the-road Irish whiskey blend than anything else. Nose of banana, heather honey, some cedar, cinnamon, raisins, caramel. Some apple or pear. The much vaunted sherry character doesn't actually seem to do much heavy lifting here, just adding a bit of grapey/berry sweetness around the edges--very ephemeral. It does grow a bit over time, though, and does at least present itself in the taste: reasonably creamy body given the ABV. Initial berries, red fruit, some sweet grape, apples and pears (poached?), then banana, some smoke and spice. Mint? A bit of lemon zest. Finish of light smoke and plantain, and dry, bitter wood. Surprising white pepper heat. Hardly offensive; just . . . meh.
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