Tastes

What a masterpiece of a bourbon this was. Nose is dominated by sweet baking spice and vanilla. The taste brings in some familiar sweetness from Maker's core offering: vanilla and caramel coat the palate. The finish brings in a sweet and tart wisp of juicy apples along with some sweet cinnamon spice. Why aren't these Wood Finishing Series regularly made?! A shame I tell ya.

Slightly spicy neat, and becomes almost overpowered with Rye once it sits with ice. Great if you like Rye.. but I do not.

An interesting whiskey indeed. At first taste, it is evident that this whiskey lacks proof but sometimes that's a good thing because it has almost no burn at all. Its sweet and tastes every so slightly herbaceous going down. This whiskey lacks the complexity of a good scotch but its a reasonably priced bottle to draw you away from the norm, which is sometimes a welcome change. I saw some negative reviews for this whiskey detracting from it because it doesn't taste like bourbon. Well.. it was never supposed to taste like bourbon. That's why Michter's has a bourbon.

RIP to Cedar Ridge, one of my favorite bourbons that could be had at a mega cheap price point. It had a gentle, sweet corn taste and from what I can remember, lacked any harshness or bite. This one will be missed.

Hard to argue with the taste at a sub $20 price point. But in this case.. you get what you pay for. Tastes fruity and somehow musty. Like those weird candied fruit things on top of fruitcake.

Woodford Double Oaked is like distilled concentrate of the good qualities of Woodford Reserve bourbon. You get that delicious caramel-vanilla sweetness, mixed with a little bit of something thicker and sweeter. Maybe some sweet rolls? That thickness gives the impression of viscosity but this bourbon is no more viscous than the rest. The finish continues the sweet train but rolls in a little bit of leather as it fades into a memory. You know something? This is well worth the premium over standard Woodford Reserve.

Red Label is the kind of whiskey you reserve for people you don't like very much. I can't imagine anyone who would want to drink this stuff neat and its astringent and jarring flavor would likely ruin any cocktail it touches. Please, for the love of God: if you insist on Johnnie Walker, spring the extra couple of bucks for Black Label.

This stuff is barely drinkable to me. It tastes like alcoholic prune juice and has a really strange, musty taste. While the slow pour top does seem infuriating at first, maybe its a good thing that you can't pour this stuff too quickly.

This hangs out somewhere between a mediocre Irish and water. It's not offensive and doesn't make me wince, but barely tastes like whiskey.

There are some people that swear by Dewar's. And to those people I say: you really ought to try better whiskey. Its harsh and downright unpleasant to drink. You might be able to get away with using this as a mixer but there are better "cheap" blended whiskies for that job. Avoid this stuff.