Tastes
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50ml mini bottle ($2.95) tasting series. Tasted neat. Pale yellow copper and full coating legs in the glass. Nose is floral grain, vanilla oak, and a hint of spice. Sweet maple cereal mush, soft and mouth coating. Vanilla and cinnamon sugar cookies or graham crackers. The finish remains soft and sweet, but shows more oak tannins and baking spice. Average long finish, some stone mineral and dry sweet grass tingle. Little ethanol or astringency as I recall in the regular Jameson. Softer and rounder, and in that way more pleasant to sip. Not an over-complicated flavor profile, but a good easy entry level Irish.
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50ml mini bottle ($2.95) tasting series. Tasted neat. Pale yellow and full coating legs in the glass. Nose is floral grain, sweet, stone fruit, and just a whiff of spice at the end. Light brown sugar cereal and vanilla in the mouth. Sweet and thin mouthfeel, with some ethanol bite. Finish is sweet and citrus, then dry grass, mineral, baking spice, and vanilla oak shows up. Finish is above average length, dry, tingling, and then a lingering saline astringent sour. Not a bad blended Irish--may be better with an ice cube to tamp down the sweet.
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Whiskey Del Bac Dorado Mesquite Smoked Single Malt
American Single Malt — Arizona, USA
Reviewed January 11, 2024 (edited January 13, 2024)90 proof, tasted neat. Copper color and good coating legs in the glass. Nose is wood smoke, char, and sweet grain, light vanilla, and just a hint of chili pepper spice. Mesquite smoke like a bbq/smoked piece of meat in the mouth. Leather and vanilla oak over the top of sweet grain cereal and spicy sweet grass. Rich and full and mouth coating, with some ethanol warmth. Finish shows the light astringincy of that smoke and oak, as well as light baking spices, saline, and sweet charred chiles. Long and tingling and coating. An ice cube smooths and makes this drink sweeter, less spicy... but the mesquite remains. This really hits all my preferences--the smoke, sweet grain, and spice. Hate to say, I like the mesquite as much (or more) than peat. Maybe that's my western prejudice and scent memories--mesquite smoke hanging in cold winter air. Or maybe I'm just used to peat, tired of it, appreciating something similar but new and assertive. I'm guessing others won't like this as much for that reason, and that's ok. Gotta know what you like and your own biases. For me, this is a familiar terroir statement, and I don't see what others call artificial smoke flavors. It's breaking new ground (alongside Balcones), and it's a good American single malt whiskey.64.0 USD per Bottle -
J.P. Wiser's 10 Year Triple Barrel
Canadian — Ontario, Canada
Reviewed January 9, 2024 (edited January 10, 2024)Another in my series of 50ml minibottle tastings, neat, and $2.50. From the Wiser website: "An award-winning blend of corn and rye distillate, aged in 10 years in new white oak, once used American bourbon, and used Canadian whisky casks. This whisky is at its best when sipped neat or on the rocks." Light orange copper color and average coating legs in the glass. Nose is light--dry sweet grass, vanilla, citrus. In the mouth, butterscotch and werthers hard candy, with a little oak (very little for a triple barrel?) and a small astringent ethanol burst. Light thin mouthfeel. In the finish, a citrus astringency shows up with rye spice and a tingling mint mouthfeel. Pleasant, but not rich. Kinda a sweet and sour flavor profile. No bad, but not deep. Don't know why it makes me think of Old Grand Dad, but without the 100 proof kick. Orange color and citrus overtones? Still... Worth the price of admission.35.0 USD per Bottle -
50ml mini bottle tasting series, tasted neat at room temp. Clear and light legs in the glass. Nose is mineral and lime citrus, kinda perfumy and floral. Funky earthy, green compost, and then a growing saline and mineral flavor battling it out in the mouth. Little smoke or ethanol. Kinda grassy and kinda flat. Finish turns sour, approaching rancid--a flavor that I now recognize was underlaying that compost--and then disappears quickly. Would appreciate some smoky agave or even some ethanol. Flat. Oddest joven mescal I've had, more like a reposado tequila, but that underlying funk... that is an odd chemical performance... not in a good way.
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El Jimador Reposado Tequila
Tequila Reposado — Tequila Valley, Jalisco, Mexico
Reviewed January 7, 2024 (edited January 8, 2024)Tasted neat at room temp. Light straw color and little coating legs in the glass. Nose is lime and saline mineral and a little sweet floral. In the mouth the citrus all but disappears. Mineral and saline with some sweet grass and oak blooms. Light mouthfeel, no ethanol. Finish grows with white pepper, dry grass, oaky spice, becoming tingling, and then sour, but doesn't last too long. Nothing surprising, nothing outstanding. Easy to drink better to mix.23.0 USD per Bottle -
Koenig Williams Pear Brandy Northwest Eau de Vie
Eau-de-Vie — Idaho, USA
Reviewed January 5, 2024 (edited January 6, 2024)375ml bottle, $20. Tasted room temp and neat. Clear in the glass with little coating legs. The nose is distinctly grassy and full of pear essence, sweet and floral, with no ethanol. Pear and ethanol appear up front in the mouth. Mineral, green apple, a little anise and musty earthy flavors lie underneath. A little bitter too. Bracing. Finish is rather long, bitter/sweet, earthy, white pepper, and sharp, with a little anise and sour lingering after a minute or more. Important to remember... this is an Eau de Vie, not a tamed pear liqueur. Sipped cold, it kept about the same flavor profile, but the earthiness and anise lessened--became more mineral. Will experiment with how this mixes in cocktails.20.0 USD per Bottle -
El Jimador Blanco Tequila
Tequila Blanco — Tequila Valley, Jalisco, Mexico
Reviewed January 3, 2024 (edited January 5, 2024)Tasting neat room temp. Clear and average coating legs in the glass. Nose is lime, salt, and sweet grass with a little marshy funk. In the mouth, thin feel, clean/neutral, saline, a little dry lime and damp wood--kinda funky. More flavors bloom in the finish--light ethanol, baking spice, and grassy flavors through a fairly long finish that tingles and turns a little lime peel bitter/sour, then saline, then cleanly disappears. Perfectly fine to mix, less interesting to sip.24.0 USD per Bottle -
Trimbach Liqueur de Poire
Fruit Liqueurs — Ribeauville, Alsace, France
Reviewed January 1, 2024 (edited January 2, 2024)F.E. Trimbach a Ribeauville, Alsace, France, 375ml, $22, Unaged ("a finished product when it leaves the still") Pear liqueur/brandy. Light straw-colored and good coating legs in the glass. Nose is ripe pear, floral grapes, and dry grass. In the mouth, sweet sweet, pear and tart grape flavors, floral, and then a hint of ethanol as it moves into a short, clean finish that is light and floral. Easy to sip at room temp, but I was mixing this with chilled prosecco into a Champaign Pear cocktail (1.5oz to 3-4oz of prosecco). Not as forceful a pear flavor as I had hoped, but servicable.22.0 USD per Bottle -
Heaven Hill Bottled In Bond 7 Year
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed December 22, 2023 (edited December 23, 2023)Tasting neat. Copper color and average legs in the glass. Sweet grain, vanilla, and a hint of spice on the nose. Sweet grass, vanilla, and spice in the mouth.. Light mouthfeel, modest oak, little ethanol bloom for a BIB. Finish is average length, sweet and tannic oak, with grassy rye spice. Clean finish. An ice cube softens this already soft flavor profile even more. Not a bad bourbon: balanced flavors, BIB, 7 year age statement, easy drinking, probably mix well at 50 ABV. But nothing particularly special to set it apart or (especially) balance against the too-premium price.50.0 USD per Bottle
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