George Dickel No. 12

Just vanilla on the nose, with oak, vanilla, and a bit of green apple on the palate. Would be a strong bourbon, but has an oppressive medicinal flavor that blankets everything else.

Very good for the price. A staple in your bar. -H

Dickel 12 (a recipe number, not the age, akin to Jack Daniel's No. 7) is the less famous of the two major Tennessee whiskey houses (take a wild guess at the other one). It's also the better one, albeit one with a more unique profile that might not suit all drinkers. As you'd expect from what essentially is a bourbon, the dominant mix of flavors are vanilla, caramel, and some citrus fruit. However, there is a chalky or vitamin-like quality to Dickel's spirit which reminds me of Springbank in the scotch world. This expression also features some unusual spice qualia, particularly in the finish. My wife identified cardamom as one of the last notes, so all credit to her for that one. Hard to complain about something this good that costs around $25 a bottle. As someone stuck in the shadow of a more famous name might say, "They'll forget they ever heard about Jack Daniels."

Simple and smooth with oak, corn and light caramel sweetness. Nothing special but considering how cheap it is it’s decent. It’s an ideal light profile mixer than I could still enjoy on its own. $30 in Ontario.

I would say JD is the better Tennessee Whiskey. Smooth but it has a very bitter after taste. I was pretty disappointed in this one and that’s hard to do.