Powers Gold Label

Nose: astringent, pencil eraser, vanilla. Butter, and honey more pronounced after drop of water Palate: creamy mouthfeel, toasted butter, honey, malt, touch of spice Finish: long finish but without much complexity, spice more pronounced with subtle honey

Rating: 6/23 I've been curious about this one for a while and now I'm even more curious seeing that it has an ABV of precisely 43.2%. N: It smells like close to nothing. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it probably isn't awful. On the other, there's no way it can be particularly good. Also, this being an Irish whiskey, it probably wouldn't have the sulfur problem that plagues most cheap scotch. Still, it could have smelled tremendously like alcohol, but fortunately it doesn't. It does smell oily, which reminds me a bit of Glen Logie due to its oiliness that is separate from essentially anything else going on. I do get a waft of ethanol and grain, and maybe fruit as well, but there really is not much going on in here. Despite being minimal, Glen Logie's nose is more substantial. Not necessarily better, but definitely more substantial. P: It's a minimal palate with minimal flavor present. It does a good job of balancing the bitter and sweet though with the oil lending it authenticity, but not taking over. I get a faint hint of caramel that might or might not be artificial. There's some kind of generic grain in here, but it isn't that tart, harsh single grain flavor. This palate is fairly harsh though. Not extremely harsh, but it definitely burns a bit. There's a faint nectar quality to this whole dram that I want to compare to honey, but it's so so light and not bitter. There aren't really any bad flavors here, but there just aren't many flavors period. F: Light oiliness with just kind of the rest of the profile present here, but reduced and looking lost. You know, I don't totally hate this. If I imagine it to be an interesting vodka, I actually appreciate it better. It's lacking the alcohol flavor and in-your-face youth plague Kilbeggan, but it's also lacking any particular personality and remains harsh. I really can't think of another whiskey that is more boring. As a harshness comparison benchmark, I tried this alongside Beluga Noble vodka and the Beluga was substantially harsher, though this was still definitely harsh. This is a bit richer and more flavorful, but not by much. Considering that, this could be a good substitute for vodka in some situations. Which puts me in a weird situation trying to rate this. It's quite solid as a vodka, but a bit more questionable as a whiskey. This has less personality than Pure Scot and frankly I don't like its flavor as much. Both are fairly harsh, but I think that this might even be a little bit harsher. Which is unfortunate because otherwise this could be a solid boring whiskey. I can deal with harshness if it's caused by high proof or if the flavor is great, but for a mellow dram like this, it really isn't appropriate. This strikes me as about Kilbeggan Single Grain quality because of its harshness. The Kilbeggan's flavor is rougher around the edges, but it also actually has more flavor. Both are pretty harsh. The qualities seem about equivalent. It's possible that I underrated Pure Scot with a 7 since I'm considering a 7 for this to put it above Kilbeggan Single Grain slightly, but this could just be a 6. Sadly, Pure Scot is better than this in every way. I think I'm going to stick with a 6 on this because it's kind of harsh and boring, despite having a pretty clean flavor.

Fantastic for the price. Full bodied, viscous and oily mouthfeel, the kind that coats your tongue and sticks to your gums (in a good way). Nose of green apple, marzipan, cinnamon, clove and faint star anise. Taste is similar with stronger green apple and a touch of cardamom. Some faint ginger as well, all backed with a sweet butteriness. Finish is long and warm, with the savoury spices coming back for the final word. This is really great for the price and has all the hallmarks of a wonderful pot still whiskey- rich, savoury spice and a viscous, buttery mouthfeel. Non chill filtered, no bitter grain whiskey influence and no bitter oak tannins. For the price I doubt you'll find better.

This one caught me off guard... Maybe I have a bad bottle. It has this dominant note on the nose of raw pumpkin guts. It's not an appealing note. I've never experienced something so musty and vegetal in an Irish. I can kind of get past it after it sits for a bit but it smacks me in the face every time I've poured it. I've given it 5 pours before rating. Weird.