Tastes

Let's "proceed with caution" into 2021, fam. Happy New Year.

Cloying, aggressive artificial banana flavor completely masks what's alleged to be straight bourbon underneath. I like whiskey, I like bananas; I do not like this. Probably lends itself well to some goofy fun cocktails, though.

Semi-blind taste. Deep cereal grain smell and spicy taste threw me for a loop when I plum forgot I had a bottle of rye lying around and I thought I was smelling sherried wood and tasting brined smoke and so I was all over the Scotch map on this one. (Still honing my whiskey sampling craft! Hence all the semi-blind tastes.)

Semi-blind taste. Tough to pinpoint. Smells and tastes like a "cheaper" mashbill - corn or grain - but there's enough wood and malt on the back end to throw me into confusion over whether this is Irish, bourbon, or what. Credit again to Nikka; this is a complex blend worth plenty of revisits.

Sampled in a blind taste comparison against two other peanut butter whiskeys. This is the only one that actually tasted like peanut butter, possibly because it's the only one that contains peanuts. Whiskey, not so much - more of a peanut butter liqueur. What is this trend? It's bad.

Sampled in a blind taste comparison against two other peanut butter whiskeys. Vanilla and bourbon on the nose with a sweet and slightly vanilla taste. There's a peanut butter-adjacent finish here and it's not as vile as the Sheep Dog but this is still pretty bad.

Sampled in a blind taste comparison against two other peanut butter whiskeys. Butterscotch nose, thick and syrupy caramel taste with no peanut butter vibes whatsoever. Sickeningly sweet and neither whiskey nor peanut butter, just an all around biff.

Compared this in a blind taste against Jack Daniel's No. 7. Dickel had more vanilla on the nose, a more medicinal taste, and a smoother and less spicy finish.

Compared this in a blind taste against George Dickel No. 12. Jack had a more neutral nose, a spicier and less medicinal taste, and a harsher burn on the finish.