Tastes
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Empress 1908 Indigo Gin
Distilled Gin — British Columbia, Canada
Reviewed December 16, 2020 (edited February 28, 2021)Nose - grapefruit and lemon zest, juniper, thyme, musty tea, ginger, earthy grassiness, white pepper, floral notes, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sweet grapefruit zest, orange, vanilla bean, thyme, butter pecan, juniper, coriander, ginger, cola, white pepper, black tea, mild herbal and floral notes, cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa, mild alcohol bite, finishing medium fast with citrus, cocoa, vanilla, and floral flavors. I think this is really nice. It’s definitely the mildest of the gins I’ve tasted. I’m able to pick out more notes as well. There’s a strong tea vibe going on, along with some baking spice and cocoa notes that I haven’t detected on other gins. And maybe I’m imagining the butter pecan note, but whatever it is, I like it. Outside of the nose and palate, this makes some very attractive drinks when you want to impress your guests. I use it often in Bee’s Knees cocktails, which look and taste great. -
Bombay Sapphire Gin (47%)
London Dry Gin — England
Reviewed December 16, 2020 (edited December 22, 2020)Nose - juniper, isopropyl alcohol, yeast, lemon zest, prickly herbal notes, black pepper, rye, anise, high ethanol burn. Taste - lemon and orange zest, juniper, ginger, pine, black pepper, coriander, assorted earthy, herbal, and floral notes, anise, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast with spicy herbal and pepper notes. I do not like this. It’s hard to get past the bready, rubbing alcohol fumes. The taste is better than the nose, but I find it more astringent than Beefeater and Tanqueray. By no means is it undrinkable, but definitely below average for me. -
Tanqueray London Dry Gin (47.3%)
London Dry Gin — Scotland
Reviewed December 15, 2020 (edited February 10, 2021)Nose - juniper, lemon zest, celery, earthy herbal notes, black pepper, bitter anise, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - juniper, lemon and orange zest, earthy licorice, vanilla, pine, ginger, black pepper, herbal and floral notes, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with juniper, citrus, and spicy licorice flavors. I don’t find this all that different from Beefeater, but it’s a bit earthier, silkier, and less sweet upon comparison. I don’t know if I prefer one over the other. I think the Beefeater is a bit more pleasant to sip neat, but not significantly enough to rate them differently. -
Beefeater London Dry Gin (47%)
London Dry Gin — England
Reviewed December 15, 2020 (edited August 1, 2022)Nose - juniper, lemon zest, cucumber, celery, effervescent lime, anise, black pepper, subtle bitter nut, herbal and floral notes, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - juniper, lemon zest, sweet lime, ginger, black pepper, unidentifiable herbal and floral notes, honey, licorice, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast with juniper, sweet citrus, and spicy herbal notes. This is the beginning of a series of gins I plan to review over the next week. With the exception of vodka, gin is my least liked spirit category. I’m hoping this week of gin immersion my change my opinion of it. As for Beefeater, I chose it to kick off the series because it happens to be my house gin and I’m told it has a fairly standard profile to use as a benchmark against which others can be compared. I find it to be fairly mild, with sweet, sour, spicy, and bitter notes sharing the stage. For the price, I think it’s a great value and works well in the traditional gin cocktails. I’ll go with an above average rating based on my scale, but may revisit the score as I do more tastings. -
Grangestone Highland Single Malt Sherry Cask Finish
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed December 14, 2020 (edited December 16, 2020)Nose - artificial strawberry, pop rocks, lemon, honey, wet grass, caramel, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cloying strawberry, honey, orange, lemon, wet grass, sour apple, vanilla, subtle caramel, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing very fast with sour, chemically strawberry and young alcohol flavors. Obviously wanting not to be shown up by its bourbon cask-finished counterpart, this is somehow even worse. The strawberry pop rock flavor is really hard to ignore, making any other notes very difficult to perceive. The one thing it has going for it is how easy it is to drink. Like ‘fool the other parents at the tee-ball game into believing it’s juice in my juice box’ easy. This is the worst scotch I’ve reviewed thus far and rivals some of the worst liquors I’ve ever reviewed, bested only by Canadian Mist, which still haunts my waking moments. Down the drain you go. Never again. -
Grangestone Highland Single Malt Bourbon Cask Finish
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed December 13, 2020 (edited November 8, 2024)Nose - apple juice, vanilla, cloying floral note, honey, grape, wet grass, lemon, cereal grain, hay, moderate to high ethanol burn. Taste - sweet and sour apple juice, honey, grape, vanilla, orange and lemon zest, fresh cut grass, grainy caramel, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing fast and very sweet with young, bright alcohol and fading apple juice and honey flavors. This is not good, definitely a step down from the already very average 12 year offering. This one tastes very young and crosses into cloying territory. I really don’t like that sweet and sour apple juice note. It was on the 12 year as well, but it’s much more pronounced here than I remember it being on the other. At $25 for a single malt scotch, I imagine you get what you pay for. I’d rather spend the same money on a decent blended scotch and not mess with this one. -
Cabo Wabo Blanco Tequila
Tequila Blanco — Tequila Valley, Jalisco, Mexico
Reviewed December 13, 2020Nose - fungal earthiness, tree bark, black pepper, squash, vegetal and herbal notes, salty cooked agave, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, old wood, subtle vanilla, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cinnamon, dry vanilla, black pepper, ginger, nutmeg, briny vegetal earthiness, green pepper, nondescript herbal or floral notes, citrus zest, light cooked agave, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing short and slightly sweet, salty, and dank with faint agave and pepper flavors. This is a quality made tequila with a very average nose and palate. Nothing stands out as particularly off putting, but at the same time, there’s nothing to love about it either. At ~$30 near me, this isn’t unreasonably priced, but I’d rather pick up an Olmeca Altos Plata for a few bucks less. Thank you to @ContemplativeFox for generously providing the sample. -
Nose - molasses, burnt brown sugar, rich vanilla, butterscotch, creme brûlée, overripe banana, raisin, coffee, boozy chocolate, nutmeg, allspice, coconut, light smoke, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - molasses, coffee, brown sugar, caramel, butterscotch, overripe banana, chocolate, coconut, cola, overripe banana, raisin, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium long with butterscotch, smoky molasses, overripe fruit flavors. The Old Rum offering from Gosling is significantly better, but this isn’t bad. It’s very thick and full flavored, but a bit young and bright, more appropriate for mixing. I bought it mainly for making Dark ‘n’ Stormy cocktails, at which it performs admirably.
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Nose - stewed agave, white pepper, sweet vanilla, caramel, clove, nutmeg, tomato, citrus zest, vegetal earthiness, yeast, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cooked agave, sweet vanilla, salted caramel, white and black pepper, ginger, citrus zest, clove, nutmeg, minerality, allspice, yeast, herbal and floral notes, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with cooked agave, baking spice, creamy vanilla, and citrus flavors. This is very similar to the blanco, if not a bit crisper with some added sparkling citrus notes. The wine barrel presents itself mostly in the finish, where it ends with a slightly more tannic and citric palate than its counterpart. My assessment of the blanco applies here as well, although this is $10 more, so I feel there’s even less value here. Overall, this is a solid sipper, but there are better options in the price range.
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Código 1530 Blanco Tequila
Tequila Blanco — Jalisco, Mexico
Reviewed December 11, 2020 (edited October 30, 2021)Nose - white and black pepper, tomato, stewed agave, strong minerality, herbal and vegetal notes, clove, nutmeg, vanilla, yeast, subtle nuttiness, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - sweet cooked agave, rich vanilla, caramel, pepper, savory vegetal earthiness, nutmeg, mild citrus notes, yeast, clove, sugar syrup, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium length with syrupy vanilla, sweet cooked agave, and baking spice flavors. This is an interesting one. For a supposedly additive free tequila, I picked up on strong vanilla and caramel notes that I wouldn’t expect to be present in a blanco. On the nose, I get a tomato vibe similar to Siete Leguas, but not quite as acidic and bile like. The mouthfeel is much thicker than most tequilas I’ve tried as well. Overall, this is quite nice. Probably one step above Olmeca Altos and about on par with Siete Leguas for me. The price is slightly high for what you get, but not outrageous.
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