George Dickel Signature Recipe

Smell is almost nothing, very faint. Sweet in the mouth, and mild going down. Neat as it should be! Good sipper, and ill buy again.

Rating: 11/23 This is supposed to be the same stuff as Dickel Old No. 12, just in a new bottle. I never tried the old stuff, so I can't really comment on that, but I'm basing my expectations on what I've heard about Old No. 12. N: Light, sour mash, marshmallows, a touch of grain, vanilla, woody tannins. Aside from being a bit light, it's a really nice traditional bourbon profile. P: Quite light, with sugar water meeting orange flower water, vanilla, moderated oak. Definite sourness in here as well. Maybe hints of sour cherry and tangerine coming out of that. I don't love the sour mash (though there is some nuance coming out of it, it's a tad strong) or lightness, but I like the overall profile. There's a nice restraint going on here. F: Oh wow, a big burst of vanilla. Lingering hints of sour mash, but just so much vanilla. I really like this as a finish. It drives home the elegance that this dram is striving for. - Conclusion - This is easy enough to sip, though it's nothing amazing. I would take Wild Turkey 101 (14/23) over it in general. The problem this has isn't that it's unapproachable but that it's not bold enough for most mixing. Since it's not that great as a sipper either, it leaves me wondering what to do with it. Let's be real though - I'm obviously going to try a bunch of rapid aging with wood chips. This certainly isn't as low as a 9, but a 12 seems like a bit of a stretch. I'm thinking an 11. OK, after some side-by-siding with low-end bourbons, the lack of bitterness here is really standing out. I can appreciate that clean sweetness of Tennessee whiskey. I'm still not convinced it's better than an 11 though.