Tastes

The price per bottle for Proper No 12 has recently dropped to $20 USD around my area so I thought I'd go ahead and give McGregor's elixir a try. Boy do I regret that decision. This whiskey tastes like what I imagine an alcoholic Dr. Pepper with a few melted ice cubes would taste like. Oddly musty, a little bit fruity but mostly without character or real definition. On the plus side, if you used this as a mixing whiskey, you could skip the ice since its already so watered down. This is the kind of whiskey you chug while drowning in self loathing after snapping your leg while squaring up with one of your sworn enemies. Yikes! You know I just had to take a jab at "The Notorious".

Strong fruity taste. Does lack the strong Rye spice of other Rye whiskies. Good if you like whiskies heavily influenced by port or sherry caks. Tasted neat.

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.