Rating: 15/23 Happy International Whiskey Day! This is my first time trying Mexican whiskey. I'm skeptical - not because I don't think that it can work, but because I haven't seen it work. It reminds me of my couple of experiences with French whiskey, which both were far too young, with weird flavors. Well, I do expect weird flavors from this because it's a red corn whiskey, but I also hope they will be good. As a sort of extreme comparison, I very much like La Luna Cupreata and consider cupreata to be a type of mezcal worth pursuing, but it's quite different from most of the ones out there. N: Wow, this is super funky. It already has that sort of cheesy, dirty sock scent like La Luna Cupreata. I cited the La Luna as an example of another weird dram; but I didn't expect them to smell so similar. All that's here is that funk. No grain, no fruit, no wood. Well, maybe a touch of wood, but that's it. The La Luna is sweeter and tarter with more cheese. This does show some light wood and mild nuttiness in comparison. Still, this is a whiskey, so I should be comparing it with other whiskeys, not joven mezcal made from unusual agave species. After a while, the wood opens up a bit more and I get vegetal corn notes but it isn't that usual sweet buttery corn. The weird funkiness here is giving me some American Whiskey made in Irish style vibes a la Ransom The Emerald. P: There's some sweet corn coming through, then it fades into vegetal flavor. There's some wood and a little sweetness mixed with some mellow character. Some roasted red bell pepper makes its way in a bit at points, with occasional hints of orange. There is certainly some vegetal flavor here and it reminds me of rhum agricole to no trivial degree. I start to get some of the squash for one thing, though there's more wood maturity here and a nice barrel spice that goes well with the corn sweetness. A little white pepper, but this is actually a very smooth whiskey. It's kind of dusty and not super sweet, but I do get some nice (somewhat odd) corn flavor. This has nowhere near the squash and sweet vegetal funk of Clement Premiere Canne. This is more balanced as well. This has more of a ... mature (?) funkiness. This is certainly better balanced. I'd call this interesting, but I wouldn't really call it a that great of a palate. F: Substantial vegetal corn notes with spices as well and hints of vanilla. This reminds me a lot of the palate and it isn't worse. It tames the funk a bit but also loses some complexity. - Conclusion - Is this a good whiskey? Well, I don't love it. It's not that Mexico or red corn isn't good; the problem is mainly that this is so young. I'm hopeful for Mexico whiskey in the longer term, but the 10 months or whatever they spent aging this clearly wasn't enough. This sure is better than a white dog though. I will also concede that the red corn profile is a bit weird. I really didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me. This is quickly entering the interesting and tasty category, though it's more like it's good for a funky budget sipper, which is a problem because it's not exactly cheap. Aside from a bit of ethanol showing through and the funk being challenging, this is competitive with Evan Willian's Single Barrel (14/23) and Elijah Craig Small Batch (15/23). This is also well in range of Ransom The Emerald (14/23), which I'm coming to appreciate more and may boost the rating of (though it still doesn't taste like Irish Whiskey). I am, however, inclined to place this a little above I.W. Harper 15 (14/23) and Uncle Nearest 1856. Old Granddad 114 (15/23) is again of similar quality. If I had to choose one or the other, I'd lean toward the Old Granddad. I'd be inclined to take George Dickel Bottled In Bond (1st release) (16/23) over this as well. This is closer in quality to George Dickel 15 Single Barrel (15/23). I can imagine going down to a 12 or 13 on a subsequent tasting if the off-notes and alcohol hit me more on a fresher palate. That said, this is super smooth, with all sorts of interesting flavors going on. If you can get past the funk, it's complex and easy-going, even with the ethanol. If this is a 14, it's on the high end. I don't think it's a 16, but I wouldn't be shocked if I upped it to that later. For now, this is a 15. This is not good value, but it's interesting enough to be worth trying. I'd like to get my hands on some of the yellow corn version to compare because I've heard that it's the best (though the red is a newer release, so I've heard absolutely nothing about it).