Tastes

Disclaimer: I’m dabbling into the rye world. I think this might be my fourth ever. In the same way I want to develop my scotch palate in 2020, I want to do the same for rye as well. I’ve heard good things about this company, but I’m generally underwhelmed by rye whiskeys. Nose has mint leaves and pickle juice. Body is fascinating. I get cream, sugar, and chocolate. There are moments where it genuinely reminds me of a cold brew mocha. Something about the mouth feel even tricks you into thinking it’s a creamy liquid. Very good. Finish is where you’re reminded it’s a rye, and I don’t mean that as an insult. Mild burn on the sides of your tongue, pickle juice flavor. This is objectively good. I can tell this is a rye, but I like it. Hell, I’m tempted to pour this into my coffee tomorrow morning. Not only would I recommend this as a starter rye whiskey, right now this is my favorite rye. I have farmstock rye sitting right next to this little guy on the shelf, not to mention all the other Whistlepigs I don’t have access to, but for now, I am really happy with this rye.

I have been searching for my Jim Beam for some time. Not a Knob Creek, not a Bakers, not a Booker’s. I wanted a “Jim Beam” that I could enjoy sipping regularly, and not want to pound down in Old Fashioneds to make room on my shelf. Spoilers: this is my Jim Beam. The nose has vanilla, cane sugar, and a bit of honeysuckle. Vanilla is the main flavor, and it’s well done here. Body tastes of smarties, heavy vanilla, caramel, and dough. For me that dough is the chief connection to the rest of the Jim Beam line, but in this drink it’s one of many delicious flavors that work well together, not merely the sharpest note. Finish is a nice shift to cinnamon, more sugar, and baking spices. Extremely good for Jim Beam juice, and very surprising. This is by no means a favorite bourbon, or even a top 10. But for my money this is the best Beam product out there, and it isn’t close.

Disclaimer: Based on the official review, I do not believe this is the correct bottle, but I am unsure. My bottle looks identical to this one, and there is a label that states it was finished in sherry casks. However, written by hand on “barrel no:” is “Sauternes-23”. Not a wine guy, but I’m pretty sure Sauternes does not equal sherry. This bottle was marketed to me as a Sauternes finish, and after having a handful of these, I am convinced this is in fact a Sauternes and not a sherry influence in my mouth hole. End disclaimer. Hillrock versus Boone County 1833. Sauternes Cask Finish Bracket. Winner to face Jefferson’s. Full competition recap: In Sherry finish bracket, Wild Turkey Revival beat out Joseph Magnus, Noble Oak, and Rabbit Hole to be in the final 5. Port, Rum, and Red Wine brackets still TBD. I literally had to turn down the lights to do this blind taste test. There’s a drastic difference in color between BC and Hillrock, Hillrock being more in line with the other Sauternes cask finishes I’ve tried. Flavor-wise, it wasn’t hard to pick out BC. That is one delicious cask finish. Ultimately, BC had more to offer, and progressed on to the next round. Hillrock needs some work, to be sure. The nose on Hillrock does not give away its cask finish. It’s very plain, and I mean that is a bad way. I did not come here to drink a plain bourbon. Where did the Sauternes go? For lack of better descriptors, Hillrock smells like young whiskey. There’s an industrial smell (I’ll go with rubber gloves tonight) that is reminiscent of the Journeyman line. I didn’t know what Solera aging meant, so I looked it up. Now this nose makes sense. It’s not as harsh as a lot of young whiskies, because it’s mixed with sourced MGP. In my opinion, that’s kind of like pissing in lemonade and trying to take credit for how sweet your piss tastes. There’s a hint of raisin behind the industrial scent, but it’s almost impossible to suss out. Body hits smoothly, before the harshness sets in. That first hit is the only place you’re going to find your Sauternes influence. There green grapes, sugar, raisin, and vanilla. It’s a nice touch that, unfortunately, is far too fleeting. Finish hits early with the harsh, acidic bite of a young whiskey. It’s hard to get much in the way of flavor, because I’m honestly more in survival mode. If I had to toss out something, I’d say licorice and tea leaves. But then something awesome happens. The harshness fades away, and on your molars and sides of mouth, a pure sweetness comes back. I get tangerine, lemon, cane sugar, and more grapes. So the Sauternes was there after all, amidst the harshness introduced by the Solera “aging” process. Not of fan of that on principle, but I understand the practical value there. This entry wasn’t enough to make me never try Hillrock again, and for young whiskey, I think they’ve accomplished something far better than Journeymen, Cleveland, and many of the other young distilleries that charge you three times the cost of a WT101 for an inferior product. I will likely let Hillrock earn it’s stripes on someone else’s tongue, and check back when they’ve switched to actually aging, the good old fashioned way. Will not rebuy at this time.

Season finale! This year for the holidays I tried a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoalsweremet Dec. 31 I decided to end my new December mission with a new personal tradition: to crack open a limited yearly release at the end of its year. I’m thinking of this as one last “here’s to 2019,” to offer up one of the year’s finest (in theory) in celebration. I hope that one year from now I can still remember this is a thing. This distillery has sentimental value to me. It was the first bourbon distillery I ever visited, with a good friend who was both far wiser about whiskey and far less well-endowed. While at Angel’s Envy, I got to physically bottle my own port finish. There was a big ceremony, I signed a book. It was a whole thing. I tried my first Old Fashioned in their upstairs bar. They called their version the Henderson, in honor of the family who started the business. I walked into Angel’s Envy “not a bourbon guy,” and left with a bit of that chip removed from my shoulder. That was July of 2018, and shortly thereafter, bourbon stole my soul. I still have no regrets. The nose is deceptive. 61.2% should not be this easy to sniff. I enjoy this nose a bit better than standard AE and my current favorite port finish, Isaac Bowman. There’s cherry, grape, vanilla. It’s a predictable port finish nose, but it’s well done. It smells sweeter than it is dry, as in a well-made sangria. Very promising. Body does not hide the ABV, but I don’t mind. Cherry is the hero here. I can’t remember a whiskey deliver such a pure cherry flavor before. I get vanilla too, and a bit of tart orange. It’s delicious. Okay, the mouth feel on this finish is not going to be for everyone. My lips and gums feel like I’ve gotten a bunch of novocaine shots, and I’m only a handful of sips in. I actually enjoy it a lot, but it’s comically intense. Flavor transitions away from tartness and sweet fruit to vanilla, cinnamon, and a bit of leather. I can get dark chocolate too, but it’s less obvious. With ice: anything this hot I like to try tempered down a skosh to see what changes. From start to finish, a bit of ice takes away a lot of the sweetness. Before I could’ve convinced myself that this was not a barrel finish, just a really unique bourbon. The sweetness reduction makes the port influence harder to argue with, but it’s still a delicious drink. Per usual, you lose some notes with the ice, but the cherry and vanilla persevere. I don’t understand how extra ABV and room temperature can make something seem sweeter, but I can’t argue with science. This is a delicious bottle. $220 is steep, but for special occasions shared with friends, this bottle is worth it. There’s a lot to enjoy here. Will buy again if I can find. This December experiment has been a lot of fun. If you happen to be hoarding bottles like I was, I highly recommend doing something like this every now and then. I now have dozens of delicious bottles opened up (so no pressure pouring a delicious dram from my collection) and I’ve learned a lot. For instance, it’s against Distiller guidelines to start a review request for a liqueur. I don’t fully understand this, as liqueurs are a selectable category in the drop down menu during review requests, but whatevs. I learned that Booker’s are for drinking, not hoarding. I learned that my love for bourbon is likely contingent upon the fact that I’m an American. I now view this love as less of an objective fact about reality and more a subjective statement about regional availability. Next year, I hope to earn my stripes in the world of scotch. I really want to thank everyone who interacted with my nonsense over the past month. You’ve made this experiment all the more fun. If you find yourself in the Chicago area, tag me I’m a post and let’s go find a place to drink some whiskey. ‘Tis the freakin season!

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 30 I tried to make today’s entry for Jim Beam Peach. As I was attempting to create the spirit, Distiller crashed. I tried a few times after, and the system couldn’t or wouldn’t process it. I’m going to take that as a sign that I shouldn’t submit the review. Pretty sure I compared it to goat sacrifice at some point. Probably for the best. Anyway, this is a bourbon I’ve been looking forward to for some time. Used to be super hard to find in my region, no longer is. I’ve never had any Old Forrester products, so I’m excited about that too! If this is good, I’ll have to dip more into the other numbers. Let’s see how fine this little guy really is. Nose reminds me heavily of Booker’s, and I mean that as a compliment. There’s oak, vanilla, honey. There’s a little something extra there that I can’t place, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a flavor on the body and then make sense to my nose. Holy cow this body. So that scent on the nose was strawberries, because that is on this body, and detecting that as a whiskey note is a personal first for me. I love it when that happens. Other flavors include honey, cane sugar, and possibly watermelon, but that strawberry really takes the show. That is fascinating. After a rockstar nose and body, the finish is a bit of a let down. A bitterness enters that knocks you back to reality after a really sweet body. There is a bit of an aftertaste that reminds me of something from Elijah Craig—something that quite frankly turned me off from the product line for over a year now. Black licorice maybe? Even if it’s a letdown, I’ll allow it. That body is so good and unique to anything I’ve ever had on a bourbon, that I’ll suffer through some nasty ass black jellybeans at the end. This tastes like a cousin of Hotel Tango Bravo. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had similar mash bills and yeast strains, and if you’re a fan of one, you should try the other. I’ll have to have them back to back one day, but from memory, I think I slightly prefer Hotel Tango. That licorice or whatever is potent. ‘Tis the season. I DO have 1 more new whiskey lined up. Thanks St. Nick!

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 29 One thing that this experiment has taught me: Crown Royal is decent as a distillery. I’m never going to be a fan boy, but I give credit where credit is due. I’ve had three different things from them this year, and they’ve ranged from average to outstanding. This little 50mL marks my fourth look at Crown Royal. I can’t pretend that this nose isn’t awesome. Reminds me of my favorite sour apple candies. And I mean sour. The scent alone is turning my taste buds. Body is a bit of a let down, honestly. The sour apple is there, but it’s accompanied by a sickeningly sweet syrup flavor. The nose hinted that there might be a true sour apple bomb here, but at the end of the day, this feels like just another apple liqueur. The sour apple does linger on a bit here on the finish, but you have to will yourself to forget the syrupy sweet body to be able to enjoy it. This is fine. I’d say mid to high end when it comes to a liqueur, sub par on any real whisky rubric. That sour apple influence is genuinely interesting, but I feel like they somehow screwed up the sweetness factor. Better than Jim Beam Red Stag, worse than Crown Peach and the glorious surprise that was Piehole. ‘Tis the season. I DO have 2 more new whiskeys lined up. Thanks St. Nick!

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 27 I think this was either a joke or just an attempt to make me suffer after my Dickel Tobasco experience, but either way, this one comes by request from BeppeCovfefe. Thanks! Nose: Red Hots. Body: syrupy sweet. Tastes of poorly made cinnamon pancakes. There’s certainly the cinnamon, overly done, but there’s also a maple syrup sweetness there. Finish: %¥?#. Unpleasant. It honestly kinda turns your stomach. I remember that there was a time in college where this was used as a penalty whiskey during drinking games. Doing this now, I think attempting to taste this with sincerity might be worse than just pounding the damn thing. It does kinda make your stomach hurt. I honestly prefer the Dickel Tobasco. There was some interesting stuff in small doses there. This one is suffering from the first sip. Imma go find some tums. Edit: after whining out loud about my tasting experience, my buddy told me to stop being a kitty cat and pound the rest of my glass. After doing so, I can say with confidence that this whiskey was made for pounding, not sipping. ‘Tis the season. I don’t know if I actually have 4 more new whiskeys lined up, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments.

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 26 I am concerned. I am concerned because to date, Orphan Barrel has never disappointed me. Also to date, I have been unable to say that fact about any other distillery. This never mattered until today, because I fully expected Entrapment to disappoint me yesterday, and with nothing remaining in their portfolio except things I’ve already enjoyed and other bourbons which I’m likely to enjoy should I ever get them, that makes this drink the last true trial I expect Orphan Barrel to go though to fully win my heart. Bottom of the ninth, 2 outs, bases loaded. Kicker is lining up for the game winner. Other sports metaphors. Nose is grainy. I get fresh bread, bit of hay. Standard scotch smells, but well done here. Body comes in very smoothly, with fig, red grapes, and black pepper flavors. Finish is juicy. Low burn, sweet cucumber favor. Very much like drinking a glass of that stuff in the lobbies of fancy hotels. So for starters, I love this scotch. This is absurdly smooth. Orphan Barrel has done it again delivering a fantastic whisky. That means... so far, they are the only group that have yet to produce one thing I don’t like. (Please don’t make an Forged Oak Sting, now that I’ve said that. Nor a Barterhouse Bourbon Cream. I mean it. Doncha do it.) And once again, I feel fully incapable of judging this guy with the same degree of confidence that I do when I try bourbon. I have to punt once more and say: I love this scotch. If you love scotch, you should try to experience it somehow. Is it worth 1.8181 (repeating, of course) Balvenie 21-year Portwoods? Not in my opinion. I’ve also never had the pleasure of trying an absurdly priced Macallan 25 year. This is a 26 year. I’m owning this as a shortcoming: as a scotch dabbler, I’m punting on the value/dollar argument. #thisistasty #youshouldtryitifafriendhasoneandpossiblybuyoneifyouhavetheextracash,whichwouldbeimpressiveespeciallysincechristmasjustpassedandmostofusarerecoveringfinanciallyfromthecommercializedversionofwintersolstice ‘Tis the season. I don’t know if I actually have 5 more new whiskeys lined up, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments.

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 25 ~~~~~~ ‘Twas on night 25 of my new whiskey game (Where I looked ev’ry day for a new dram to tame) The children were nestled all snug in their beds After spending all day bashing toys on their heads I retired downstairs, an exhausted old elf And I flipped on the bar lights and scoured the shelf When what to my horrified eyes did appear But Canadian whisky marked 25 year My heart how it fluttered, ‘twas risky for sure To make this Canadian whisky my pour I recalled both the Orphan from the 24th And the times tastes went south due to shit from the north At the end of the day ‘twas the number that won Though I paused and I pondered: “Could this be undone?” But with wrapper in hand and the cork in my lap ‘Twas already too late, you see I was... entrapped. ~~~~~~ So no, not generally a big fan of Canadian whisky. But I generally am a big fan of Orphan Barrel. So I enter this drink with both a jolly optimism and a cheerfully low set of expectations. On the nose I get honey, syrup, and fresh-cut wood. It’s pleasant, mild, and I have far fewer objections already than I did for that Rare Perfection nonsense. I will continue to call you out until one of us rots. Body is very gentle in flavor. Nothing strikes me immediately, but over a few sips there’s honey, molasses, mint, and green tea leaves. Tastes mildly medicinal, but in a wives-tale, probably-not-real-medicine sort of way. Finish trails off quickly with cinnamon and mint, exceedingly low heat. Mild tongue buzz. This finish reminds me so much of a cinnamon Altoid. I’m going to file this away in the category of something well-made that doesn’t strike my fancy. For all the Canadian whisky I’ve ever tried, this bottle has done the best job straddling the line between “pleasant to drink” and “interesting flavor profile.” Unless you count my favorite Canadian whisky: Crown Royal Bourbon Mash. Which is definitely not bourbon whiskey. If you count that as Canadian, then this is a close second, and I give Orphan Barrel respect for once again delivering a quality product. In the incredibly subjective category of value/dollar, I’m 100% punting on this one. I don’t feel qualified to determine whether or not this is worth the 100 bottles or whatever of Canadian Mist you could buy with the same wad of cash. I will say that if Canadian whisky is your thing, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not trying this whisky. ‘Tis the season. I don’t know if I actually have 6 more new whiskeys lined up, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments. Oh, and Merry freakin Christmas!