George Dickel 15 Year Tennessee Single Barrel

Sweet nose caramel Taste char and oak big flavor Finish lingers and has just the right bite 15 year old single barrel at 104.6! Good stuff! Bottle 10

Loving this one. I’m usually a fan of Dickel but this one wins.

I picked up this bottle locally in Stone Mountain GA for $48. Bottle #28 46.7% ABV. Sampled neat from a Glencairne Nose was mostly apple with some oak. Possibly a note of spice. Sweet with oak, and some sharp feel on the tongue. Not as smooth as I had hoped, but more depth than No. 12. It is way behind Russell’s 10 year in my opinion. I do prefer it to the Bottled in Bond Dickel. That offering just didn’t hit it for me. As a Dickel fan, glad I tried it and got to do so for under $50. I can only compare it to the three other aged Whisky I have tried, and it didn’t break into the top three.

Label says bottle 320 and 46.7% ABV. Proof seems a bit low for the possible range, but I wasn't thinking about that when I spotted this on a bottom shelf in a random liquor store while taking my baby daughter for a walk in a random neighborhood while waiting for a car wash. It was an impulse buy. (Yes, I take my baby daughter on walks to random liquor stores sometimes - where else am I supposed to go? Parks? Borrr-ing...) These notes are in a rocks glass with one ice cube, and I think that is the way to drink this one. N: Blast of peanut butter followed by chocolate, cherry, cherry cough syrup, Reese's Pieces. Every time you go back, slapped in the face by peanut butter and Reese's Pieces - it's kinda cool like that actually. Waiting out the peanut butter and candy gets you to some mild citrus, caramel, vanilla, dried red fruit. Every now and then there's this sort of Highland Scotch fruit quality that jumps out, peach and pear and very rich - also nice. P: Bitter and a bit boozy at first glance. Peanut butter is there, especially mid-palate, just before the finish. Dark chocolate, peanuts generally, dried cherry, milk chocolate, peanut brittle. Fairly sharp medicinal ethanol bite that is not very pleasant, especially in combination with the bitterness (tannic). Finish is a sort of indistinguishable mish-mash of hot baking spice that occasionally touches on chili pepper, but nothing else really stands out. Peanut butter lingers through the finish too, but not as clear or as impressive as on the nose. Mouthfeel is rich and heavy which later comes to feel sweet, but it's not enough to counteract the bitterness and ethanol. So, I tried drinking this straight from a Glencairn and was hugely disappointed. The concentration of the nose in the Glencairn is just too much. The whiskey comes across as very boozy and medicinal - I think my threshold for that is fairly high, but I found it unpleasant and hard to nose. I still got the peanut butter, but it was overpowered by a cherry cough syrup scent that I couldn't take or escape. I switched to a rocks glass and threw a cube at it. Night and day difference - the contours of the profile were the same, but the harsh spots were tamed. A beautiful and fun-loving nose emerged, as described above. The palate, sadly, was basically the same, but watered down, and mediocre before that. I would pass on this bottle at this proof. Maybe I got a weak barrel, maybe not. My gut feeling is that this is what it is - kinda mediocre - and the barrel isn't the problem. That said, I think if I spot this again, I'll look for a bottle with a proof approaching or over 100. Maybe I'll prove to be a glutton for punishment, but I have a feeling the extra angel's share might overpower the proof and leave just enough flavor compounds to make this pretty good.

I'm going to start this review by saying how jealous I am seeing all of you who got your Dickel 15 from a good barrel. My review is for a bottle of the 84 proof, ordered from Blackwell's Liquor (My FOMO caused me to order a bottle in case it came and went in NC before I could grab it). If you've been a member of Distiller longer than 15 minutes, you no doubt have learned that I am an unabashed Cascade Hollow Fanboy. That's why it pains me to have to write the following review. If this current bottle should improve, I will definitely revisit it. APPEARANCE: Great Dark Mahogany coloring. The only identification found on the label is "Bottle 48". NOSE: Best part of this Whisky. By a Mile. Pencil Shavings, Juicy Fruit Gum, Gooey Brown Sugar, Peach, Lemon Pudding, Hints of Floral and Unlit Cigar. Complex. The more time you spend with it the more you are rewarded. I was totally stoked to taste this obvious Nectar of the Gods. NEAT: Odd Citrus. Lemony. That Neon Yellow Lemon Pudding in the little snack cups, Lemon Pledge, Dry Fruity Pebbles or Froot Loops Cereal, A lot of Tannic Bitter Oak on the Mid-palate, Cinnamon, and Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. More Drying Oak Tannins on the back end along with a tingly heat. Bitter Oak and more of the Odd Lemon note coat the Palate after a too hot for its 84 proof finish. SPLASH: Helps some by reducing the bitterness and heat while giving the Oak a more Musty Character, but I'm afraid this is beyond saving. That dominant Synthetic Lemon is still just too much. VERDICT: After some time open, I was hoping a second and third try would help. If anything, it was worse. Knowing that the Artificial Lemon was present made it impossible to ignore. Absolutely none of the Maple and Banana and Char that I love from Dickel. What a letdown after the absolutely wonderful Nose. The Barrel Select, 9 Year Single Barrel, and 11 & 13 Year BIB's are miles ahead of this (Hell, the No.8 and Superior No. 12 are much better). I have discovered that more time in wood gives Dickel heavy fruity notes, but I've never associated any of those notes with "Lemon Pledge" until now. I hope with all my heart that this is just an outlier barrel as Dickel has NEVER let me down before. I've heard that the higher proof offerings (there are several different proof points offered) are better, and I hope so. I was able to find the 96 proof offering at my local store. Luckily (or unluckily, we shall see) I picked up a bottle before trying this one. I will hope for a much better experience and report back after trying.

My first time drinking Dickel, I can see why they say Flinstones vitamins. But it’s not unpleasant. It’s minerally for sure but there is a fruit in there I just can’t pinpoint. The mouthfeel is nice and the finish long. Not very complex but very tasty. Cheers!