Tastes

Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Straight Rye Whiskey 47.5% abv   This is a nice Rye whiskey from Dad’s Hat located just outside of Philly in Bristol, PA. This is a 3yr old Straight Rye whiskey with a mash bill of 80% Rye grain and 20% Malted Barley, which is pretty cool to see something that isn’t 100% Rye NOT blended with corn at all…..Sounds excellent right?    The smell is fresh Rye/Dill/baking spice, menthol/eucalyptus, light vanilla.  The taste is a nice warm spice, very little heat.  Pepper, Clove, fresh cut grass, a bit of honey. The finish is medium to long with menthol/eucalyptus, pepper and baking spice.    I was skeptical of this one because a few other Craft Pennsylvania Rye’s have let me down. I am happy to say that this one is very good and fairly priced. I think I paid around $60 for this which may seem high, but in today’s whiskey world you aren’t going to find a High Rye “Straight Rye” whiskey 3-4 years old for much less. Kudos to Herman Mihalich and John Cooper for creating this Rye. This was my first bottle of Dad’s Hat but certainly won’t be my last. Looking forward to sampling their entire lineup. They have a Port finished Rye that I have to get my hands on….They also have a vermouth finished rye – sounds interesting but I may have to sample that one first.   Overall Grade:  B+

77 Whiskey Rye and Corn 45%abv   What we have here is Breuckelen Distilling (in Brooklyn, N.Y.) 77 Whiskey Rye and Corn. This is an interesting Rye whiskey. Having never heard of Breuckelen Distilling I fortunately decided to take a chance on this one when I saw it sitting on the shelf at a local store. It was on sale for $40 and just reading the bottle, it provided me with the information that ALL whiskies should provide but often times, especially here in the US, we are bombarded with misleading information on labels….but that’s a post for another time. This bottle of 77 Whiskey tells me EXACTLY what it is, where it was made, and how old it is. I could do without the white wax seal but that’s my only complaint.  90% Rye, 10% Corn sourced from local NY farms, 439 days old, and aged in American Oak Barrels.  This is what they have to say on their site https://brkdistilling.com about this one: “Local Rye & Corn is distilled on a Coffey style pot still which produces a cleaner, softer spirit in a single pass. We distill rye and corn mashes separately and blend them after maturation. Rye is a brash spirit, with rich spicy notes. Our methods tone down rye’s intensity, but retain its characteristic style and full flavor. Distilled from 90% rye, 10% corn, aged in new American oak.”   The smell on this is what you expect from a good rye – fresh dill/rye spice, fresh cut grass, vanilla.  Really nice smell on this The taste is really nice – fresh clean dill and rye spice, sweet corn, vanilla…not a lot of different flavors but all are very bright and present. The Finish is short but nice….not much changes from the rye spice and corn flavors   Very impressed with this one. There is also a Bottled in Bond version of this one and a 100% Rye. I can’t wait to get my hands on those. Not sure of the distribution on this but highly recommended if you can find it.    Overall Grade:  B Check us out at: https://www.wickedswill.com And check out our tasting journals: Scotch Whisky Tasting Journal - https://tinyurl.com/yc55yhu6 Bourbon Whiskey Tasting Journal - https://tinyurl.com/jmvp9sew

Tullamore DEW 15 Trilogy 40% abv. Tullamore DEW is a pretty cool brand. I like that they are willing to try all kinds of different things with their whiskies (cider cask finish, rum cask finish) and this one – the 15 yr Trilogy that is a combo of wood maturation (bourbon, oloroso sherry, and rum casks). The biggest complaint I have for this one is that it’s neutered down to the legal minimum of 40% abv.  Everything about this is pleasant and easy drinking but lacking any real substance.  Here is what Tullamore DEW says about it https://www.tullamoredew.com/en-gb/our-range/tullamore-trilogy/  The smell is pretty nice – red fruits, banana, strawberry, green apples. It’s a bright fresh clean fruit smell.   The taste is very nice but lacking any real definition. Some soft fruit, light spice, soft vanilla.  It’s slightly fruity and sweet and has a very pleasant taste but just lacking anything that really stands out. The finish is much like the taste – pleasant but short. Red fruits, light clove spice and a little heat. This is a tough one for me because it is really nice and easy to drink. I believe the age shows well even though it’s watered down to 40%.....I’ve tasted plenty of inferior whiskies at 40% that still give off a lot of alcohol burn. That’s not the case here. As much as I enjoy this it’s hard for me to justify this price. This was close to $80 and I can tell you that the Tullamore DEW Phoenix is WAY better than this one and $20 cheaper. Tullamore DEW 15 Trilogy is a really nice whiskey and if you have the cash to burn, go ahead and grab it – it’s certainly tasty but it’s just a bit boring. The combination of it being watered down and the price point is my hang up on this. If it were priced right and provided at 46-50% I would probably give this a much better rating. As it is – It’s good and tasty and I’ll happily drink it so long as I never have to pay this $80+ price again. Overall Grade:  C Check us out at: https://www.wickedswill.com And check out our tasting journals: Scotch Whisky Tasting Journal - https://tinyurl.com/yc55yhu6 Bourbon Whiskey Tasting Journal - https://tinyurl.com/jmvp9sew

The Glenlivet 12yr old First Fill 43.2% abv.   The Glenlivet is often the go-to scotch when introducing someone to whisky for the first time.  I’ve always enjoyed the standard 12yr old.  The older age stated 16yr old Nadurra was one of the best values going for quite some time…unfortunately those days are gone. When I first came across this one I was pretty excited to see a new take on the 12yr old.  It is age stated, matured only in first fill American oak casks and gets a small bump in abv.  On top of that the price was around $40.  The smell is– bright fresh citrus fruit, vanilla, caramel, orange rind, floral and almond.  Very nice. The taste is quite good a lot of citrus and vanilla, sour citrus with some spice and more vanilla. The finish is short mostly with the spicy orange rind.   I really enjoyed this one. It’s certainly an improvement over the standard 12yr old and the small bump in price is worth it. I would recommend this one all day. I think this plays well to both newbies and veterans of the whisky world.    Overall Grade: B

Paul John Classic Select Cask 55.2% Non-Chill Filtered and Cask Strength and Natural Color   My wife originally got me into the Paul John whiskies. She was always on the lookout for something new for me to try and she came home with a bottle of Paul John before I had an opportunity to try Amrut even though I had read all the raving reviews about Amrut. I think the select cask peated was the first one she came home with and from that bottle I was sold. This was probably about 2 years ago and now, since then, I have made it a point to try everything in their core lineup, and I can tell you that it’s all good. This one however stands out above the others to me. You can read about it on their site here https://pauljohnwhisky.com/en/singlemalt/classic   The smell is a strong blast of green/unripe fruit – banana, kiwi, almond, honey, spice, and a little bourbon heat. Really nice and very unique The taste is a little hot without water but after the burn you can taste some excellent barley sugar, honey, almonds, vanilla, grains. With water the banana and kiwi flavors come out. Clove, grain sugars, and sour cherry. This is really good and different. The finish is long with all the unripe fruits and clove spice.    This is such a good and odd/unique whiskey.  I really enjoy this and while it’s priced around $80 I think it’s well worth it. I have seen it as low at $60 in some places but no matter the price it’s worth your time. It’s very different but very nice. If you have the opportunity to grab any bottle of the Paul John core range I would recommend it but this one in particular is excellent.   Overall Grade: A    

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte Scottish Barley 50% abv, Non Chill Filtered and Natural Color   The Port Charlotte line is one that I am familiar with in the Bruichladdich family however the last time I tasted this was back when Jim McEwan was still with them….so that makes me 7 years overdue to get my hands back around some Port Charlotte.   The smell ash and peat as expected honey and green apple. – a fresh or clean smell to it The taste is really hot at first, beyond that is honey and peat.  With a little water it’s really nice the clean peat and honey really stand out.  Caramelized sugar, vanilla apple and some pepper.  The finish is quite long as with most peated whiskies.  Smoke, sea salt, vanilla and pepper.   This PC is just like the ones from the past I remember which is good.  I have yet to try the PC Islay Barley or the PC 10 but I suspect those will be purchased here before too long.  Overall this is a very good peated Islay whisky.    Overall Grade: B

Old Forester isn’t one of my bourbon staples at the house and there is no good reason for that.  Honestly it’s that I drink more scotch than bourbon so I keep less of it around.  This 1910 bottle was a recommendation and it’s honestly one of the best bourbons if for no other reason than it’s maybe the most unique bourbon I’ve tasted.    The smell is awesome. Marshmallow, buttercream, cherries, chocolate, dark red fruit The taste is excellent cherries, syrup, chocolate, burnt corn, raisins The finish is more of the cherries, syrup and red fruits with brown sugar. Overall thoughts – I’ve never tasted anything like this – it’s like an assortment of buttercream and cherry cream filled syrup chocolate candy.  Bourbons are generally sweet and that is what’s both good and bad about them but this is odd in that it’s very sweet that is definitely different and worth seeking out.  I will certainly stock more bottles of this in the pantry.   Overall Grade: A

Unfortunately this along with the 21yo is officially discontinued from the OP core line.  They kept the 12yr old which is always a great value but replaced the 17yo and 21yo with a 15yo and an 18yo which I haven’t been able to try yet.  The 17yo is honestly one of the best relatively affordable whiskies I have ever tasted.  It takes all of the normal honey and sea salt and fruit flavors you expect from OP to another more intense level with craft style presentation.   Smelling this is excellent - Fresh fruit, Honey, Apple, Pineapple, sea salt, floral (“who’s gonna clean up all these damn flowers”?) and citrus The Taste on this is excellent -  Spicy fruit, honey, vanilla, green apple, bitter fruit rhine, pineapple, burnt sugar, sea salt, seaweed, very light smoke.  Just excellent and full of flavor The Finish is mostly long with spice, sour apple, honey, salt, light seaweed.  Anyone get my Coming to America reference above? Since this is discontinued you probably won’t find it cheap.  Normally I was able to pick up for around $100.  Some of the local shops around me still have some inventory and sell it for about $120.  Whatever you can find it for I would suggest picking up a bottle if you have the means.  If you are new to OP you can always find the 12yo at a reasonable price and start there.  If you like the 12 you should get the 17.  The price jump is worth it.   Overall Score – A