Tastes

Tasted neat following a mostly-full carton of Fairlife Butter Pecan ice cream. Color is a rich reddish-brown in the bottle, but a lighter-than expected shade of diabetic piss in the glass. It doesn’t have any legs because whiskey can’t walk, and it also doesn’t have a nose. However, my nose tells me that this stuff smells like the holidays. One thing that I can assert with certainty is that this whiskey pairs excellently with butter pecan ice cream. The sweet, nutty, maple-vanilla-y notes of the ‘scream perfectly compliment the warm and spicy notes of the whiskey. It’s not an overly sweet rye, though it’s certainly sweeter than a lot of ryes on the market (especially those with the 95%/5% MGP mashbill), but the sugary notes are amplified when the drink is tasted alongside a delectable dessert item. Yowza. That being said, this whiskey is certainly good enough to enjoy without going out and getting a carton of sugarnut ice cream. Some have remarked on Rittenhouse’s unusually fruity notes. I guess I can see why they’d say that, but, to my palate, the flavors are pretty on par for a barely-legal rye. It’s spicy and aromatic, but it’s also got a decent amount of corniness and malt backbone which all combine to create a harmonious (albeit slightly ambiguous) whiskey experience. The extra proof offered by this BiB whiskey is certainly appreciated and duly noted. It’s not smooth. It’s zesty and fiery. I’m perfectly fine with that because the flavors carry over quite well. I haven’t tried this in a cocktail, but I suspect it will make a killer old fashioned. It’s certainly affordable enough to mix, but definitely still interesting enough to enjoy neat.

Oh, Dickel! I’m so fickle. But for you, My heart is true. The sweetest, but cheapest. From Tennessee, but lo, Smoother than Hennessy! Your coconut taste Fills me with haste. Hie! To the liquor store! I must obtain more! So quickly the bottle drains And quickly, my happiness gains. For I grow ever fonder Of this liquor distilled yonder In Cascade Hollow Your whisky I will ever follow. To all of you reading, My warnings, you heeding. Don’t drive up the price. The results won’t be nice. Keep our little secret. The drinks will be so lit. Leave the fervor for those Who hunt wild Buffaloes. Leave the Dickel for me. So cheap, almost free. Raise a glass S. D. Gloria And pour me one more, oh yeah.

Tasted neat from a rocks glass. I’ve had the bottle for a couple weeks and I decided to give it a review after having a handful of drinks from it. I’ve been doing some amateur furniture-making as of late, and I just wiped some shellac on a piece before drinking this. I’ve always thought that Bullseye Shellac smells a lot like bourbon, and maybe it’s just a product of association, but, I dare say that Noah’s Mill smells like Bullseye Shellac. I don’t mind that one bit. The nose is spicy and sweet. The “Thanksgiving Spices” tasting notes are spot on, as others have noted. Cloves, cinnamons and nutmeg, with a healthy dash of ethanol and oak. On the palate, the flavors really hit you “mid-tongue”. Sweet and a little spicy. The high-proof warmth really helps to round out the flavor profile and coat your entire mouth hole with Kentucky Goodness. I detect some salted caramel and vanilla, as well as a hint of ripe banana. The finish is exactly what you’d expect for a higher-proofed bourbon. It’s warm and sweet and leaves your tongue and the roof of your mouth feeling slightly sunburned. The flavors don’t linger all that long, but they do leave an impression of quality and well-roundedness. Overall, I’d say that this is a pretty good value at ~$50. Old Forester 1920 is pretty similar and worth the extra $10 or so, but this definitely beats out many of the other options in the same price range.

Ok. So, this review may not apply to the current iteration of J & B for reasons I shall elaborate and elucidate in due time. Nonetheless, this is an honest review of the product I’m tasting. In years past, my grandfather was the personal pilot for the CEO of a restaurant company. He’s retired now, but he still has a big box full of miniature liquor bottles that have been sitting in his basement for the better part of 2 decades. The J&B that I’m tasting came from one of these 50mL plastic bottles, except the bottle probably contained <30mL due to evaporation. I don’t really know the science behind how this evaporation process affects the flavor of the spirit, but honestly, I don’t care and I’m not going to overthink it. This stuff is fantastic. Smooth, sweet, sherry and slightly peaty, it reminds me of Highland Park 12, but, dare I say, better. There’s no way it’s 80 proof. It tastes closer to 100 at this point, but I suppose that only serves to amplify the enjoyable flavors found in this stuff. Maybe all J & B is better than I realized, but I doubt it. I’ll have to pick up a new bottle and compare. Maybe I’ll put it in a big plastic jug and store it in my basement for 20 years. It’d be worth it, for sure. Since this is such an enigmatic iteration of the blended scotch in question, there aren’t many things I can definitively say about it other than the fact that I enjoy it immensely. 3 stars since I don’t know what J & B usually tastes like. If it’s always this good, I’ll up it to 4.5.

MaCallan 12 was the first bottle I bought on my 21st birthday. From there, I quickly branched out to bourbon, rye and Islay scotch. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t take more time to explore the mouthful tastes of Speyside, but life is short and my liver is young! My first bottle of MaCallan 12 was of the single cask variety, and unfortunately, I don’t remember it well enough to compare to compare it to the double cask. No matter. I probably couldn’t formulate an adequate MaC tongue dance tête-à-tête anyhow. The double cask is good stuff. It’s not world-changing and it doesn’t suck. Any further comment on the matter will, in all likelihood, fail to convey the intended message as adequately as the above comment. The nose is pruny|raisiny and slightly toasty. It smells sweet and fruity but not cloying. I’ll admit that I’ve had a lot more blended and Islay scotches than Speysides or Highlands, so the raisiny note is surprising and kind of intriguing. The plummy dried wrinkly fruit note is also present on the palate, as is the sweetness. There’s some dark-chocolate influence there, as well, and it makes me think that this would make a great dram for the holidays. I bet this is what little Scottish children leave for Sandy Clause instead of milk. I really do appreciate the fact that this is bottled at 43% instead of the usual 40%, and the higher abv helps the whisky to pack a nice flavor punch while not tasting like str8 ethanol. There’s a slight bitterness on the finish that is mitigated by the addition of some ice (gasp) or water (sigh). The flavor of sun-dried heirloom raisins remains on the tongue for some time after taking a sip. It’s as if I’ve French kissed the Sun-Maid Maid and she’s totally into it. I know there’s more to MaCallan and more to Speyside than just dried stone fruit flavors, and I hope that further exposure can help to educate my taste-grapes and collegianate my mouth receptors. Some people have it and some people don’t. I don’t. It saddens me to see the price of MaCallan gradually rising across the board, and I hope that it starts to level out at the ~$60 price range, lest the value be eclipsed by the hype. PG, baby. Praise God.

Hmmm. This stuff perplexed me. The first few drinks seemed harsh and kind of bitter, as if the whiskey was aged in barrels made from railroad ties. I wasn’t all that impressed, but it still tasted like bourbon. Fast forward about two weeks. The 3/4 full bottle had a chance to oxidize a bit and the flavors changed dramatically. Caramel, nutmeg, vanilla and custard dance around my tongue buds like Yuletide sugarplum pixies, and I’m a happy camper. It’s a very smooth drink with a short(ish) finish. Think WT101 with a bit more depth and less bite. It’s not befuddlingly-tasty or orgasmically-nuanced, but it’s affordable and it’s enjoyable and way you choose to drink it. Thank you, Russell. You made a great bourbon and I really enjoyed you in “Big Trouble in Little China”.

I haven’t had a lot of Jack Daniel’s stuff, but I have had a lot of rye, so I know what I like and I know what I don’t. I like this. At least enough to buy it again for $20. At this price point, its main competitors are George Pickle Rye, Bulleit Rye, Old Overcoat and Beam Rye. JD rye (which is around 70% rye) holds up well enough against these competitors because it offers something slightly unique when compared to the dilly-dill, spicy-spice nature of MGP-sourced ryes and the sweet, corn-forward flavor of barely-legal ryes. The nose is ticklish, flirty and peanutty. It reminds me of Evan Williams BiB with a bit more spice. It has a decent amount of depth to it, but not enough to really impress me. The flavor is pretty straightforward and satisfying. It tastes like rye whiskey. I don’t really know what else to say. I guess I’ll throw in some bonus adjectives like “medium-bodied, grassy, warm and floral”. Those seem appropriate enough. The mouthfeel is kind of thin, but that’s understandable given that this whiskey is charcoal-mellowed. The flavors translate into a short and sweet finish with just a touch of bitterness. This whiskey is good enough to enjoy on its own, but I prefer it in an old fashioned because I’m a classy old bugger and I like cheap booze that tastes good. If you want immense complexity, look elsewhere, but if you want straightforward and unobtrusive flavors at a great price, this is the donkey water for you!

Never seen this before in GA, so it was a definite “must buy” when I stumbled upon it in a NC ABC Store while on vacation. Nose is slightly herbal and spicy, but predominantly “bourbony.” I don’t know the mashbill on this one, but I’d say it’s barely legal. It’s nice and warm and sweet, just like a good bonded whiskey should be. Not too harsh at all, but the higher proof is certainly noticeable. The same spiced bourbon flavor is present on the palate. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it certainly satisfies. The flavors start to open up when you add some ice or chill it slightly. The finish is moderate and agreeable. I agree with others that this would make a phenomenal old fashioned. For the price, I’d buy it often (if it were available in my dangumblasted state.) My only regret is that the tightly sealed, half-open bottle somehow leaked during transit, so now I’m short a couple ounces of fine rye whiskey and I’m left with a pair of booze-scented Levi’s and a coy expression on my face as I shake my fist at the sky and ponder the mysteries of life, happiness and freewill. Stay zesty, my friends.