Tastes

Right from the nose you can tell you're going to be tasting an inferior product. You can tell right away that this is an odd mix of corn, rye and barley because all of their scents are present and feel disjointed. Dusty corn is the most prominent with an unfocused rye kick haplessly in the background. There's a bit of that barley graininess too but it's overpowered by the clumsy wooden notes that feel more like sawdust than actual maturation. Interestingly it has a strong smell of red apple juice as well along with fainter notes of very cheap maple syrup along with a faint trace of white grapes. Ethanol also punctuates the proceedings in a rather unpleasant way. There's no official age statement but some online research showcased that this seems to be aged for roughly 3 years. That seems to add up since this feels like an extremely young outing that almost reminds me of much better unaged white dogs I've had. This has absolutely no character or interesting characteristics. Once imbibed you get a weird medley of flavors that don't really mesh together. Young, somewhat dusty corn is the most prominent flavor in the front palate coupled with a faint but noticeable rye kick. There's an odd artificial medicinal quality to the proceedings as well, as if someone added maple syrup and wood shavings to a mild cough syrup to cover up the unpleasantness. You also get hints of vanilla and oak but they feel more like hitchhikers out of their element than intentional parts of the taste. Oh there's also traces of fruitiness in the front and mid palate. Like cheap apple juice giving away to room temperature white Welshe's grape juice but they are so subtle they're hardly worth mentioning. I cannot stress how young this tastes with all the flavors feeling more like a weird, unconverted bombardment of sweetness and grain than an integrated effort. The finish is actually surprisingly bitter and abrupt. Suddenly the artificial sweetness and young grains give out just leaving you with a souring medicinal note. Thankfully it doesn't last for too long. Five seconds tops and then the taste is out of your mouth for good. As you can tell I absolutely did not enjoy this endeavor but it does have three things going for it: it's extremely cheap, despite my negative comments this is extremely easy to drink and it's simplicity and strong sweetness make this an easy option for people who don't like more complex whiskeys. I may not have liked to savor this whiskey at all but if you turn your brain off it actually tastes of sweet corn, a bit of rye and some maple syrup. It's when you break it down and drink it with focus that it becomes a borderline undrinkable mess. But a few times I found myself mindlessly drinking it and being okay with it. Any soda or strong mixer will drown out it's flaws while playing strongly into its sweet strengths. Personally I would much rather have Crown Royal as a mindless sipper or mixer but this is an okay ultra-budget replacement.

Here's a word for the day: unimpressive. I've heard good things about the single barrel rye Jack Daniel's offers but sadly their regular rye product turns out to be an odd but ultimately unexciting entry into the field. What makes this a weird Rye is that it has that Jack Daniel's trademark banana scent and flavor. Banana is the main nose profile you get with rye lingering awkwardly around the corner. You really need to let this one air out because at first pour the smells don't really mesh together. Once it settles down though it's a pleasant enough mix of banana with a hint of rye spice along with mild notes of artificial cherry that also gives it an almost medicinal like scent, honey and oak. It's not a terrible scent but it's really hard to be excited about. Unlike other more traditional ryes this one doesn't have much of that spicy kick you'd expect from a rye whiskey. Sure it's there but it doesn't really show up until the late mid palate and starts fading away by the time the finish arrives. What's curious is that this tastes overwhelmingly like bananas with some of the oak flavors occassionaly showing up so it feels like you're eating nutty banana bread with some vanilla extract. There's also some hints of a slight medicinal flavor at the front palate. This would honestly be a neat flavor except that it tastes really young to me. I really think this needs to be aged more because it has this weird, almost unaged characteristic to it, almost as if the whiskey itself hasn't yet matured and quite found it's identity. As the banana and rye kick fade out the back palate turns into a nice, almost cereal like quality. It's not very well defined but it isn't bad. Sadly the finish is extremely lackluster. You just get the oak flavors...and that's it. It's severely underwhelming and disappointing. All things considered this is a competent rye whiskey with some potent banana aromas and flavors. If you're a fan of those tasting notes, this may well be worth your attention. Otherwise there just isn't too much to say about this rye other than it exists and makes for a decent budget option. It's not bad. It really isn't. But I just feel like I want more out of my ryes. I'll be on the look-out for the single barrel Jack Daniel's Rye. I hear good things about that outing and this one shows they have the potential to make something unique and spectacular.