Tastes
-
Rey Campero Espadín Mezcal
Mezcal Joven — Oaxaca , Mexico
Reviewed April 18, 2021 (edited May 4, 2021)I have almost no experience with mezcal. Time to fix that. Tasted neat from a small snifter. The nose is quite vegetal and complex. Agave, cactus, succulents, green olive, ethanol, and a sweet element that reminds me of fennel seed. There's also a whiff of bay leaves and a sour note that rides in the background. On the tongue the first impression is sweet and smoky that's followed by a mild pepper and alcohol bite. I am immediately reminded of a light Isle scotch. The finish is long and slightly warming. There's a bitter vegetal note riding over a sweet chord. Mouthfeel is rich and creamy. Clearly I need more experience with mezcal but I like this one so far. Any rating I give should be tempered with the knowledge that I haven't critically considered mezcal before this. I do hope this one is representative of the category, however. I like it! -
First taste of this expression from a fresh bottle. This is a neck pour. I tasted this neat in a glencairn glass. The whiskey was given a solid 10 minutes to rest after the pour. On the nose I get hints of butterscotch, nut brittle candy (but not peanuts), dried fruits, and maybe even a ghostly wisp of Juicy Fruit gum. While I get a lot of impressions from it's aroma, it is quite delicate. Almost reticent. The mouth feel is a bit thin. A swirl shows thin sheeting and fast small tears. It tastes like a toasted marbled rye bread, with just a touch of white pepper and a bit of clove. There is a hint of a hint of menthol on the finish. The finish is fast and dry. There's a bit of barrel bitterness left. This rye avoids any traces of ethanol or other chemical flavors. It's pretty benign. In fact it's actually boring. I think I'd take Jack Daniels rye over this 7 days a week. 1= drain pour & 5= perfection and 2.5 is the peak of the bell curve. This rye is as ordinary as it gets. I don't think I'm being stingy at 2.5. I don't think this is worth the asking price and I doubt another bottle will end up in my cabinet. I think I'd like to do a side by side with the JD, Ezra Brooks, and Old Forester, Dickel, etc. It seems like there are a lot of inexpensive ryes on the market all of a sudden; some surprising and some not so much.27.99 USD per Bottle
-
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed April 14, 2021 (edited August 27, 2022)I just loaded up on Woodford Bourbon, Rye, and this Double Oak expression. This is my first taste of the Double Oak, a neck pour. It was tasted neat from a glencairn and allowed to rest for about 15 minutes after the pour. Visually this is a dark walnut brown. A swirl indicates a lot of sheating and clearly defined tears running down into the bowl of the glass. I expect this to have a viscous mouth feel. My first impression of the nose are notes freshly baked cinnamon sugar cookies, buttered cornbread, raisin bread toast, cherries in syrup and wet oak. It's a sweet confectioner's nose, and it's quite pleasing. It is moderately complex. On the palate this doesn't present nearly as sweet. As I anticipated, there's a nice creamy mouth feel but the jolt of sugar I was expecting never came. There is a lot of barrel oak, some char, and a hint of maple syrup. There are no sharp edges. I also get browned butter, some brown sugar, a reflection of vanilla, overripe cherries, and maybe a bit of dark roasted nuts. There's a hint of lemon in the background. The finish is quick, with very little spice and no hang time. It's actually the least satisfying part of this bourbon. This is good. It's not crazy good, but it's solid. I'm enjoying it, but I really don't think another bottle is in my future. I rate on a scale of 1 to 5, where a 1 is a drain pour and a 5 is a perfect example of the expression. A competently made whiskey should score on the bell curve between a 2 and a 3, with a peak at 2.5. This deserves to be just above that curve. At $55 I don't think it offers a great value.54.99 USD per Bottle -
Tasted neat. Much sweeter on the nose than Bombay Sapphire. This is flowery, sugary sweet compared to Bombay's meatier, more juniper-laden richer nose.There is a solid ethanol background. On the tongue this is light, not particularly crisp and sweet like frosted breakfast cereal. In comparison the Bombay brings pepper, bitter orange, pine and a cleaner finish. The New Amsterdam isn't as complex, but it's not bad. In a sour or other mixed drink the NA is tasty. Not a Martini gin by any stretch of the imagination, though. I rate on a scale of 1 to 5 where a 1 is a drain pour and a 5 is a perfect representation of the expression. Most mass market liquor should rate between a 2 and 3 following a bell curve. New Amsterdam gin is absolutely in the average range.
-
Tasted neat at a restaurant. Never had a Jack Daniel's rye before so this is an interesting experiment. I am most definitely a rye fan. Served neat in a tasting glass, a swirl shows good sheeting and multiple small tears running down into the bowl. This should have good mouthfeel. The nose is fruit cake and christmasy spices. Very little ethanol. Very pleasant nose. On the palate it's delicious, soft, sweet and really approachable. It actually reminds me of Templeton The Good Stuff only better. Don't get me wrong, Templeton has its own faults but I like it. I like this one more! I think I'd want a bit more horsepower for serious cocktails, but this one is quite nice neat and would translate well into something like a Manhattan or Old Fashioned. Recommended.
-
I'd heard that this was a sleeper, and I finally decided to pick up a bottle and find out for myself. This was tasted neat from a glencairn. The nose is classic rye whiskey. It's reminiscent of a Christmas fruit cake. There's a bit of cherry, a little bit of pine, a touch of dill, the slightest tint of mint, and a faint note of ethanol. On the taste buds this is quite tame, but has a number of discreet flavors discernible, typical of a rye. They can be very fruity and this one follows suit. There is the aforementioned dill, rye, a bit of spice, some cherry, a little touch of menthol. This is a 90 proof whiskey, so it's pretty approachable. It drinks actually less than that. This is quite tame but nicely flavored. I am astonished at how good it is considering its price is under $13 a bottle in my local market. I'm going to recommend it based on value for money alone, but this could stand as a reasonably good rye against almost any of the popular mixers out there that sell for nearly twice the price. I made a Butchertown cocktail with this and it was quite tasty. The rye stood up to the Amontillado and Cointreau quite well. This is a bargain mixer and is good enough to enjoy by itself as a sipper.12.99 USD per Bottle
-
Knob Creek 9 Year Small Batch Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed March 9, 2021 (edited April 26, 2021)Oh how I wish I'd kept a bottle of the original 9yo age stated from the 1990's, another from the very end of the age stated run, and one from the NAS offering. What an interesting tasting that would make against today's sample, the new 9 year old. I'm no stranger to KC. It's been my regular since it was first offered on the market. I can't specifically say why, since I really didn't log my tastings until recently, when or why I stopped drinking the NAS. I guess it just got boring. That's not true at all for the 120 proof KCSiB. That bottle is always on the shelf in my bar! Let's dive into this offering and see if it can reclaim its past glories. The pour is fresh penny copper in the fading light of the cocktail hour. The nose is cherry and char, carmel and vanilla, oak and creamed corn. There's a certain level of ethanol that doesn't fade even after 10 minutes unmolested in the glencairn. There is ample sheeting on a swirl and some slow, small tears as the liquor descends to the bowl of the glass. This isn't extraordinarily thick, but I expect a reasonable mouthfeel. On the palate this is slightly hot with cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, nougat, peanuts and unsalted roasted peanut shells, creamed corn, cherries in syrup, and a touch of a medicinal note. The finish is moderate and warming. There's a bit of lip tingling, some heat at the back of the throat. It doesn't offer the massive Kentucky hug of its single-barrel brother, but not much does. This is a solid bourbon. Full stop. I prefer the SiB expression, and at this price point I'll pick WT101 as my regular pour for about 25% less in price (in my local market), but KC9yo will continue to make appearances in my line-up.29.99 USD per Bottle -
I first had this vodka about a decade ago. I remember it came with a chocolate liquer, also. This bottle has been sealed and sitting in my amaro cabinet for at least 6 years, maybe more. Anyway, it was tucked away in the corner by the Rum Jumbie and next to the Galliano and Frangelico. I'm working my way through tasting all the weird stuff I've managed to squirrel away. Let's see how this stacks up. The pour is a dark coffee color. There is slight sheeting and small, fast tears from a swirl. The nose is a pleasantly sweet coffee , quite a loud note. There are additional notes of chocolate and caramel, but they are subdued and secondary to the coffee note - which isn't really espresso but more coffee syrup. Tasted this is really what the nose advertised. It's sweet coffee with caramel and a very soft chocolate suggestion upon exhaling after a swallow. It's not bad at all and I can see why the first bottle or two to hit my home bar went quickly into icy sippers for the "before dinner" revery and into bold shooters for after the show. This is a flavor that can be worked with. It's not complex and not something I'd have neat, but I'd certainly sip it on the rocks or with a splash of soda. If you like coffee and you're adventurous this is one of the better flavored vodkas I've had, and that is a very small number indeed.
-
A gift bottle, this is something I don't think I'd ever seriously consider on my own. While I love finished whiskies, flavored bottles I hold in less esteem. So my biases are out there, I enjoy a strong bitter cold brew coffee. I really enjoy Irish whiskey. I'm not a Jameson fanboy by any means, but I'll approach this with an open mind. I'm in the process of tasting my way through a few weird things in the amaro/mixer cabinet and this fits right in. I'll be commenting on Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka right after this experience. First pour from a newly opened bottle (neck pour) tasted neat from a glencairn. The pour was given about 10 minutes to rest before evaluation. This liquor is a total coffee color in the glass. It looks like something between flat Coca Cola and drip coffee from the morning pot. Translucent with little sheeting on the swirl. The nose is almost pathetically weak. I expect the aroma of coffee, natural or artificial but I'm getting almost nothing. No whiskey notes I can identify, just the slightest trace of generic coffee and a faint wisp of ethanol. I'm certainly losing confidence in this now. Let's go in for a taste. Watered down whiskey in bad coffee, left in a mug overnight. Perhaps with some cigarette ash in it. Bitter, nasty finish. Good god, this is bad. Jameson themselves say to mix this with cola, add ice, mix with coffee, anything but drink it neat. I should have listened to them.
-
This bottle was a gift to me back in 2000 or so from a vendor at the time. It's been open and is only a quarter full. Almost gone, sitting alone in the miscellaneous cabinet along with a Smirnoff No. 21 Pear (drain pour), Van Gogh Double Espresso vodka (still sealed), some Rum Jumbie (from 2001 or so and at least 80% full) and a bunch of other stuff that I can't explain. Such are the wages of being a committed lush... At least this is a bottle I thought enough of to drink most of it (20 years ago). This taste is neat from a small snifter, accompanied by a Fuente Best Seller (which will almost certainly taint my perception of flavor - life's full of such conundrums). The crystal clear pour has a strong nose of almonds. Sweet and quite inviting. Flavor-wise this is acceptable - I did drink 3/4 of it, after all. Sweet, almonds, short finish, relatively clean mouthfeel. Its something to sip from a pony but probably not anything I'd buy again. Essentially a strong almond liqueur with very little of its Italian grappa DNA showing through the finish. That said, I think this could be an interesting flavoring agent. I'll have to play with a couple cocktails, but I'm seeing this and Barr Hill gin maybe making an interesting sweet after-dinner martini variant.
Results 121-130 of 275 Reviews