Tastes
-
Jack Daniel's Old No. 7
Tennessee Whiskey — Tennessee, USA
Reviewed August 2, 2017 (edited August 12, 2017)Oh, Jack. The third wheel for many an epic evening in college (and the occasional one in seminary, like when my friend and I snuck out of a guesthouse run by nuns during a retreat to go light a campfire and split a bottle of this down by the Cedar River in Iowa). But...is it any good? I mean, it's alright. It's the ultimate blending whiskey - a little sweet, a little fruity, fairly smooth, nothing exciting. It's a bit like a bar of soap that's gotten so smooth around the edges that you can hardly hang onto it in that regard - it's there, but then it's gone. Nothing I'd want to drink on its own, and I'll take anything from Dickel over this anytime, but it's alright. -
Nostalgia is a funny thing. Nearly ten years ago, I was living in Montevideo, Uruguay for a year of volunteer work between undergrad and seminary. My supervisor at the social project had the foreign volunteers over on Christmas Day; being a good uruguayo, he got the grill up and going for an asado extravaganza, and pulled out the Buchanan's. His father in law kept asking me if I wanted "más hielo" in my whisky...let's just say he that wasn't only adding ice, and I had a REALLY good Christmas. In South America, this IS scotch. It's the biggest seller. Truthfully, it's not hard to see why - it's balanced, sweet, fruity, easy to drink, and has just enough of a whisp of smoke and salinity to stay interesting. Is it a great whisky? No. It is, however, a pleasant warm weather blend on the rocks...which makes it a great Southern Hemisphere Christmas dram. Feliz Navidad!
-
Yeah, it's as good as they say it is. Know what's even better? Getting the last pour of it, probably ever, at your preferred local bar. The bartender gave me more like a pour and a half because there wasn't quite enough for a second...happy Father's Day to me! This has pretty much everything you could want in a Japanese whisky, or about any other kind - a nose that smells like a cookout in a fruit orchard at high season, a pleasantly rich (but not heavy) mouth with the right balance of ripe stone fruit, pineapple, and mango with charcoal smoke. The finish is lingering and smolders like those coals on the grill do long after you've finished cooking. So, so good - drink it if you can find it.
-
Well, we're not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure. The uniqueness of the dram make the case that climate and terroir account for at least some of the personality of a given whiskey. Whether it's the Indian malt, the hot climate, or some other factor, this stands out. Toasty, dry malt, drizzled with wildflower honey with a certain salinity (reminds me of a mouthwash I once was prescribed for gingivitis) and sandalwood notes. I don't know that I love this, but it's certainly its own creature, and I can at least appreciate that.
-
Tullibardine 228 Burgundy Finish
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed June 16, 2017 (edited December 26, 2017)Either this is a recent behind-the-bar addition to my usual spot, or else I've just not noticed it before. Tullibardine seems like that sort of malt, though - the pleasant (if not life altering) surprise that's overlooked in favor of other, more fabled offerings. It's a pity, too - while the 228's wine-inflected red fruit (classic Burgundy for you), cocoa powder, and vanilla creme notes aren't anything groundbreaking, they're nonetheless extremely pleasant. I wish the finish were longer and perhaps a bit less hot (no age given, so I'm assuming young spirit is to blame), but it's a worthwhile dram. -
I'd call this really a 3.5, but I'm feeling generous enough to round up. This is a notable improvement on the standard Crown bottling - that extra age leads not only to extra smoothness, but more pronounced flavor. Not that you'd guess it from the nose, though, which is virtually nonexistent. Fortunately, the palate is full of brown sugar and spice, with that unique grain quality that I only seem to find in Canadian whiskies...must be the blending of 100% grain specific whiskies together. I don't know that I'd pay the $45-ish that I see this sell for, but it's pleasant enough.
-
Slaughter House American Whiskey
Other Whiskey — (Bottled in California), USA
Reviewed June 8, 2017 (edited August 29, 2022)I don't usually do re-reviews; typically, I adopt the same attitude as Pontius Pilate in John's Gospel and declare that "what I have written, I have written." (Bet that's the first time Pilate's been quoted in a whiskey review). That said, this bottle, sadly, has earned a demotion and with it a new write-up. From the get-go, there was a certain almost-chemical note that I could never peg. In and amongst the sweet wine finish notes and and spices, it drifted - like a cheap shoe sole, or a garden hose, or a tennis ball..very rubbery. I figured it would go away with time. It didn't. It proved too off-putting for me to find this whiskey enjoyable, despite the many good things it does have going for it. Really rather disappointing. -
Just because it's on clearance for $9 doesn't mean it's good. The nose is that wet cat, overly young spirit scent that I associate with cheap tequila and bad decisions at college parties. The palate is better than the nose, but that's not entirely a complement. Sweet vanilla cream and too much young spirit rawness. On the plus side, if I ever want a rum and coke, this will do marvelously since that'll mask the burn.
-
I wasn't supposed to like this one, or at least that was my interior monologue as I tried to convince myself to shell out more for a different bottle. "C'mon, don't fall for crass marketing - just because it looks like it came off a pirate ship and is, in fact, called Pyrat doesn't mean it's good." At the end of the day, though, the $20 price tag and the fact that I'm the kind of person who plays Sid Meier's Pirates! on my iPad after a stressful day added this to my cart. And, you know what? It's actually pretty enjoyable. The review's comment about chocolate oranges (the ones you smash on the counter to get to open up) is spot on. The citrus notes are VERY present on the nose - orange, lemon, apricot, a hint of lime, and a little nip of alcohol. The palate, while still having a certain youthfulness to it, is actually a scrumptious combination of milk chocolate, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon peel. I could ask for more in terms of complexity, and I'm not sure I'd call this "fine rum" in the same way that, say, a rhum agricole might qualify, but this is a fun, cheap-n-cheerful summertime bottle. Besides, my sister-in-law who recycles bottle for her artwork is going to love this funky shaped thing when I'm done with it.
-
Maryland versus Pennsylvania is *the* rye debate. OK, maybe not, but much like how much of Western philosophy can be (over)reduced to a question of Plato vs Aristotle, rye whiskey tends to fall, for me, into two categories: mellower, sweeter ryes with plenty of other grains (usually corn) in the mash bill (aka Maryland style ryes), or punch-you-up spicy ryes that usually have very little of anything else in them (Pennsylvania style ryes). This is Maryland through and through, with a rich mouthfeel that delivers plenty of cinnamon, caraway, and spice, with the tiniest hint of dill, but wrapped up in enough of a blanket of caramel sweetness to soften the impact. Very enjoyable stuff!
Results 131-140 of 363 Reviews