George Dickel No. 12

Had on my birthday (McKinley’s Mom bought for me) and really enjoyed it! Sweet but deeply oaked with smoky leather flavors

I've reviewed this whisky once before, on April 8 of last year. A year later my notes are different, partly due, I'm sure, to the training of my palate over time, but also I'm sure partly due to the subjective nature of tasting whisky. I thought more highly of it then than I do now, but I had less experience then, and its fall in my estimation isn't due to the quality of the whisky, but rather to my having since discovered even better juice. The mash bill is 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% barley. A fifth cost me $27.99 at Kelly Liquors (just a couple of dollars more than I got a fifth for at Total Wine a year ago, which is amazing considering that Total Wine is always cheaper, and prices have been going sky high since January of 2021). It's 90 proof whisky, there's no age statement (and the label doesn't call it straight whisky, so that aid to guessing the age is absent), and in the glass the color is dark gold. NOSE: Vanilla, pecans, honey, some kind of grain note that I can't be specific about, cinnamon, sweet corn, something earthy, peanuts, and puffed wheat. MOUTHFEEL: Silky TASTE: Honey, oak, cinnamon, charred wood (I expect from the Lincoln County process), black pepper, and pecans. FINISH: Medium in length, with only pecans and a little oak. SUMMARY: The taste is nowhere near as complex as the nose, but it is good. I especially enjoy the nuttiness of this whisky. This is the first whisky where I detected a nutty note (pecans in the finish), and although I've since detected nuts in other whiskies, this is still the nuttiest I've ever had. RATING: Good, which translates to 3.125 stars, or 6.25 out of 10/62.5 out of 100.

Mashbill #12, aged 6-8 years, bottled at 90 proof. Tasted neat. Color is a golden brown, with strong lingering legs on the glass. Viscous. Nose is sweet cherry fruit, brown sugar, and vanilla oak. In the mouth, tannic oak and char, burnt brown sugar over the top of fruit. Viscous mouthfeel. Spicy rye and baking spices comes through as this heads to the finish, which is long and warming (ethanol) with char smoke, grassy rye, and tanic valilla oak. Was impressed by this $23 bottle. I like it more than the 13 year old BIB Dickel at $45 that I tasted recently, and now side by side. This is sweeter, thicker, more complex all the way through to the finish, without the distinct sour flavor. I disagree with the Distiller Tasters' reviews of this and the 2008 13 y.o. that dropped in 2022. I feel like they have it backwards, but... that's the beauty of individual tastes...and maybe the benefit of the individualistic reviews that this site relies on. We all have different expectations going in, and different reactions to complex flavors on the fly. Not to mention the nostalgia-bias of a brand you drank in college in the 1970s. Such is life. So...try it yourself and make up your own mind. Heck, how wrong can you go for $23. Maybe I'm being too generous, but I think not--maybe too conservative.

One of the smoothest whiskeys I've ever had.