Tastes

Your boss just told you he’s letting you go, on your way home your car breaks down in the rain. As you’re walking the rest of the way home your wife calls to say she’s leaving you, and she’s taking your dog too. .... well this is the bottle you want to crawl into.

OK let’s get a couple things out-of-the-way. This is a budget price bottom shelf bourbon, secondly I was told I have become somewhat of a bourbon snob (an accolade typically reserved for scotch drinker’s LOL). so can a “bourbon snob” enjoy a bourbon for under $15, if it’s this bourbon I can. Now make no mistake, you can’t compare this bourbon to your standard in the $25 or above price range, it is what it is. There is plenty of butter and peanuts with lots of vanilla in the body. It lacks the smoothness and fuller body mouth feel, and there is a little bit of the “twang” on the finish. When you compare this to other bourbons in this price range, this one stands out - it’s good.

This is a good Irish whisky, I’d go so far to say it’s the Makers Mark of Irish whisky. By that I mean it’s consistently good, easy to drink but isn’t very complex. It’s like driving the interstate, you’ll get where you’re going but the ride won’t be very interesting. If you want an interesting ride get off the beaten path.

IMO this is the one of the best budget friendly bourbons available for $20.00, never disappoints. Countless other higher priced bourbons don’t have the character and interest this humble bourbon has, you’ll fool a lot of people with this one. Keep it around 👍.

Over the last year I’ve found I always have it on hand, it’s become my go to.

You bought this whiskey at Costco remember? Look at the label it says Kirkland, what were you thinking? I mean there you were minding your own business pushing your shopping cart and you see this big old bottle of whiskey and you see the price and you went WHOA what a deal! So what do you do, you pick it up and put it in your cart next to the 2 gallon tub of mayonnaise. Well you might as well open that tub of mayonnaise and fix yourself a sandwich to go with that whiskey because they’re both going to be around for quite a while.

One of my personal favorite rye whiskies, full bodied and spicy but not overly hot. This rye can hold its own in a cocktail, neat, or with a big cube. Nice vanilla oaky nose, I get a lot of burnt marshmallow sweetness, some nutty and oak roundness fill the body with light maple lingering. Really nice spicy sweet finish hangs around to remind you why you came here in the first place.

This is a big bold bourbon, hot and kinda harsh. The nose is very nice, honey and spice. The body is full of oak, tobacco, spice and you pick up charcoal. Not much smoothness to this one, best with a big cube. The finish is short and hot. This is the bourbon you bring to a back room poker game.