Tastes
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George Dickel 11 Year Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whisky (Fall 2008)
Tennessee Whiskey — Tennessee, USA
Reviewed July 21, 2021 (edited September 5, 2021)Another day, another Dickel. Truth be told, I’ve long had a weak spot for their product - it has the right balance of things I look for in an American corn-based whiskey. I even visited the distillery in 2017, back when going places and doing things was still fairly common. This is a solid, very quintessential Cascade Hollow drop of whisky. Maple candy, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, baked apple, pecans, and toffee on the nose - nice and warm and inviting. The palate has a delightfully buttery quality - 50% is a nice sweet spot here for excellent body without too much heat. Similarly to the 15 year single barrel, this has a sweet-spicy-sweet progression of flavors - maple and buttery toffee up front, with the spice and pepper becoming more dominant in the mid-palate, and a nice maple baked apple finish. This is a drinker more than a thinker, so to speak, but I don’t personally view that as a problem. -
George Dickel 15 Year Tennessee Single Barrel
Tennessee Whiskey — Tennessee, USA
Reviewed July 20, 2021 (edited August 27, 2021)Much like Mark Twain, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. Kid #2 plus being married to a doctor during a pandemic plus everything else meant not a lot of bandwidth for booze tasting notes, but…I’m back! This was a great way to dive back in, too. I’ve long been a fan of Dickel’s approach to whisky, and this is really the pinnacle of it. The nose has plenty of what you expect from their take on Tennessee whisky - maple, ripe tree fruit, pepper, pecan pie, warm spices. The age adds in a distinct note of old oak; it’s earthy without being funky or off-putting. The palate is a beautifully balanced interplay of sweetness, spice, and wood - the initial entry is maple sweetness, then the spices kick in, followed by a backbone of that old oak, and then finally on the finish is a beautiful return to sweet notes, but this time almost like a white cake with a maple frosting. That beautiful finish lingers, too. It’s good stuff; what makes it even better in this whiskey market is that you can get a good 15 year age statement whiskey of any sort for $60-70. -
Copper & Kings A Song For You
American Brandy — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed December 8, 2019 (edited July 22, 2021)Copper and Kings is a brand that intrigues me. It takes some chutzpah to set up shop in Kentucky to distill *brandy* (and gin). To their credit, they do it well, and this limited release offering is a credit to their skillfulness. The nose is impressive - aged notes of leather and old wood play off of hints of apple, peppermint, white pepper, cardamom, and galangal, in way that suggests a dry character...expressive, but this is not a ripe sort of affair. The palate is round and coating, rich without being heavy, and true to the nose, it’s a dry, wood-forward profile marked by apples and mint at the forefront, with spices and dry leather and wood closing things out. A unique brandy, worth seeking out, and a good counterpoint to the assertion that brandy has to be sweet or fruit-dominated. -
Ron Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum
Aged Rum — Venezuela
Reviewed September 20, 2019 (edited July 20, 2021)Rum has a reputation for sweetness. This isn't always deserved, in my opinion - while being distilled from sugarcane-derived substances always lends a certain character to the distillate, there are plenty of fine sipping rums that showcase a wide range of flavors, not all of which immediately smack of sweetness. This one, though...yeah, this is pretty damn sweet, and intentionally so. Fred Minnick, best know for his bourbon writing, is also a rum aficionado, and his recent book on the subject pans this particular offering for the intentional adding of lots of extra sugar during the aging or bottling process. For him, it's a distraction that diminishes the other facets of the rum. For me...I would take it less sweet, but as is, there's still plenty going on here past the sweetness. Banana. Ripe papaya. Dried fig. Demerara sugar. Toasted brioche. Marzipan de Toledo. Fire-roasted marshmallow. Cocoa powder. Buttery, rich texture. Remarkable smoothness with only the most pleasant hint of heat. Cinnamon stick that's been infusing in aguapanela (a hot Colombian drink made of unrefined cane sugar and water). So, yeah...it's sweet, and maybe they could dial that down a bit, but I've got nothing but respect for any distilled spirit that can manage this level of complexity and sensual appeal.37.0 USD per Bottle -
Rhum Barbancourt 5 Star 8 Year
Rhum Agricole Vieux — Haiti
Reviewed September 19, 2019 (edited August 31, 2020)Years ago, this was the first sipping rum I ever tried courtesy of a friend (and seminary roommate). His sister was involved with a healthcare initiative in Haiti; they were literally selling bottles of this on the tarmac in Port-au-Prince to passengers boarding departing flights...so she picked up a bottle for everyone in the family, and her brother was generous enough to share. That was almost a decade ago, though, and back in the days when standard bottling Maker's Mark was "the good stuff" for me...so how does it stack up now? Pretty good, as it turns out. This is a slightly more lean and austere style of rum - if you're a wine drinker, this is a Chablis (a real one from France), not an oaky California chardonnay. The nose features sea salt, gasoline (in a good kind of way), and wet slate, plus grassy sugar cane (like a rhum agricole), caramel, and barrel char. The palate is medium bodied, with an initial attack of sugar cane (again, like rhum agricole), green grassiness, with a hint of grilled pineapple; the mineral notes roll in toward the finish with just a little bit of alcohol warmth. For a $30-ish bottle of rum, there's a lot to enjoy here, and it's memorably unique. This wouldn't be a bad entry point into rum for a whiskey drinker looking to branch out, especially for a fan of maritime-influenced single malts.30.0 USD per Bottle -
Red River Texas Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Pinot Noir Casks
Bourbon — Texas, USA
Reviewed September 3, 2019 (edited February 28, 2020)I know very little about this dram, other than that it exceeded expectations. A Texas bourbon finished in Pinot Noir casks, and I assume fairly young yet, it is nonetheless a nicely integrated, if straightforward, pour. Creamy vanilla, peaches, biscuity crust (like a cobbler), and a pleasant hint of red berries from the wine casks finish. Medium body, medium length finish with a drying sense of oak tannins. Waiting for a flight could be a whole lot worse. -
Four Roses Small Batch Select Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed September 3, 2019 (edited December 9, 2019)Managed to snag a bottle of this in Houston while down for a family funeral. This is a spice bomb - BIG cinnamon and nutmeg shaved over vanilla heavy creme brûlée dusted with dark chocolate. Rich, substantial mouthfeel with a long, spicy finish. Good stuff; not sure it’s quite a $50+ bourbon, but I have no regrets about trying it out. -
I've had this bottle for a while now, and several times have meant to leave a note here...but the words wouldn't come. This evening, though, something struck me. The semester of college I spent in Ghana was...hot. Ghana is really damn hot. Most afternoons, I would get a bottle of ice cold Pepsi from the little shop in the international student hostel to cool off, plus a snack. My usual go-tos were Snappy Snacks (kind of like Japanese peanuts) and Fan Ice (a frozen treat that tasted like a cross between ice cream and cake frosting), but occasionally, I'd get an Akuafo Bar. Ghanaian chocolate with candied lemon peel...it was a good chocolate bar when the mood struck. This dram noses like snack time in Ghana minus the Pepsi. Milk chocolate, candied lemon, sweet vanilla (like frosting), a whiff of crunchy grain, and a funky floral note in the background. The palate is summery and light, beginning and ending with vanilla and wildflowers, with chocolate, lemon peel, and toasted grain in the mid-palate. The finish isn't overly long, but does linger. It's a good drop of whiskey, and lovely in the summer, but...this is not a $65 bottle. Personally, I think this is the weakest link in the series - the brightness of Cooper's Croze excels, for me, far beyond this or the Blender's Dog. I'm not sure any of them is really worth more than $60. Is this good? I have no complaints. Does it compete with, say, Powers John's Lane or Redbreast? Not for my money. Granted, it's trying to be something rather different (light and bright as opposed to rich and rounded), but an airy Irish NAS blend like this, which is tasty but not particularly complex, is...not worth $65 a bottle.65.0 USD per Bottle
Results 11-20 of 363 Reviews