Tastes
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Lillet Blanc
Other Aromatized Wine — Bordeaux, France
Reviewed February 14, 2021 (edited April 17, 2022)Sweet white wine, muscato, and light honey, floral, and orange peel with bitter quinine in the background. Light clean flavors, trending more towards the sweeter than the bitter side (like Cocchi Americano which is a comparable aromatized wine). Essential for classic cocktails like the Corpse Reviver #2, or an aperitif neat (cold) or with a little ice. -
Cocchi Americano
Other Aromatized Wine — Piemonte, Italy
Reviewed February 14, 2021 (edited April 28, 2022)Bitter and gentian on the nose, lightly floral. Sweet Muscat wine with a dry bitter gentian and floral orange peel finish. Medium-light body and clean clear flavors. This has a soft bitter edge, more interesting than Lillet Blanc, and is an essential for classic cocktails like the Corpse Reviver #2 or modern like the Vesper. -
Stagg Jr Barrel proof Bourbon Batch 10
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed January 26, 2021 (edited July 20, 2021)Sweet carmel, burned sugar, cherry, rye spicy, and lingering oak. Barrel proof full body but not over hot, especially with an ice chunk to open it up. I've come to really appreciate these Stagg Jr's for their burley nature. 63.20 ABV, Batch 10, bought in 2017-18. -
Stagg Jr Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch 11
Bourbon — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed January 24, 2021 (edited February 14, 2021)Sweet carmel and grain nose. Carmel corn, cherry, burned sugar, vanilla oak, and then a long spicy finish. Dark color, deep and rich, barrel proof full body, but not over hot. Opens up and shows more floral cherry fruit with an ice chunk. This is a robust bourbon. -
Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye (Fall 2012)
Rye — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed January 12, 2021 (edited August 25, 2022)Still have the label, 67.4 ABV, but not certain what year-- seems like it was late-2000s. As I remember it was hot, very spicy rye, not sweet but with a whole lot of flavor and long tingling aftertaste like eucalyptus, nettles and mint. Sipped it with ice to help cut the alcohol heat, but also used it to mix classic shaken cocktails. Wish I still had it to try now that I love barrel proof whiskies. -
Sweet floral vanilla and apple on the nose, with a whiff of ethanol. Light grain, malt, and smoke, with oak and sweet fruit and a hint of tannic tea building from mouth through finish. Finish is long and pleasant, clean and light. Only 43 ABV, so this isn't a struggle. Light mouthfeel and very pale yellow color--like it saw an uncharred oak barrel and ran away. This isn't my typical drink preference, but it is intriguing and pleasant straight. With an ice cube it rounds out with a little more pear and stone fruit floral. I can see this being a real winner in a classic Japanese Whisky Highball (indeed it is on later tasting). It's understated, unlike an Irish whiskey, and the floral perfumes the effervescent Topo Chico mineral water I used. Nice cocktail combo.
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Floral vanilla and sweet grain on the nose. Just a whiff of spice. Sweet, vanilla oak, grassy herbs in the mouth. Ethanol burst, then rye spice, eucalyptus, and nettles comes on through the finish. Medium length finish then sweet-sour aftertaste. Medium oily mouthfeel, dark straw color. Bought this to mix, but it's not bad drinking out of a mug with a little ice. More interesting than the WT 101 Bourbon. Enough spice and umph at 101 to hold up well mixed in a classic cocktail.
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Chartreuse V.E.P. Green
Herbal/Spice Liqueurs — France
Reviewed December 25, 2020 (edited March 27, 2021)Chartreuse V.E.P. Green, Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolonged, Liqueur fabriquee par les peres Chartreux. Original green Chartreuse formula of 130 herbs/ingredients, aged an additional 8 years ("extra long aging") in oak casks and bottled at 54% ABV in individually-numbered, wax-sealed and stamped 1000 ml bottles. This taste is Exemplaire no. 932-2448, purchased in Salt Lake City, UT in November 2020. Like green Chartreuse, intensely herbal and sweet nose. Deeply herbal and sweet with an ethanol burn, but deeper, more oaked and woody flavor in the mouth and the finish. Viscous medicinal mouthfeel. Color is green, but darker (browner?) than regular green Chartreuse. Sip this ice cold and it grows on you quickly. I discovered Chartreuse in Chicago in 1986 as a graduate student; impressed my future wife (she knew it from living in France) when she discovered it in my apartment; and have kept a bottle on my shelf ever since. Yellow Chartreuse followed in the 1990s. This VEP is an extravagant addition to my cabinet befitting an extraordinary year (2020) in history. Cheers!155.0 USD per Bottle -
Teeling Single Grain Whiskey
Single Grain — Ireland
Reviewed December 17, 2020 (edited February 15, 2021)Sweet cereal grain on the nose, light. Sweet grain, floral grape, light oak and a whiff of smoke with mint spice coming on in the finish, which is fairly short. Delicate flavors hidden by dominant grain sweetness. Light in color, medium body and oily mouthfeel. A little Ice cube moderates the sweetness, stretches and rounds the flavors and finish. Works really well in a classic Whiskey Highball where the floral sweet blends with soda and ice. Initially disappointed by what seemed a one dimensional whiskey, but this Irish has grown on me, more as cocktail ingredient than as a sipper.
Results 181-190 of 471 Reviews