BeppeCovfefe
George Dickel 13 Year Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whisky (Fall 2005)
Tennessee Whiskey — Tennessee, USA
Reviewed
August 27, 2019 (edited October 24, 2019)
The standard Dickel bottle only with the bright blue background label is already a bit of a punch to the nose, this is no Dickel you've ever seen.
Found for the MSRP of 36USD, while it isn't allocated in GA,, YET, it also isn't universally available either, as some of the larger stores hadn't gotten it in yet. Having let this "open" for a few days I believe it's putting out an even sweeter profile on the nose.
So how sweet is that nose? Really sweet, damn sweet, awesomely sweet, what a great reminder of just how sweet a bourbon-whiskey can be without actually adding it after the fact. Speaking of sweet, while I don't normally pay much attention to it, this one is a nice deep, rich amber "honey" color, appropriately enough, and glazes the glass with a thick coat that beads after some seconds.
Nose: Rich sweet, honey-corn sugar is huge and bold, some feint red fruit sugars, all spice, butter and salt, remarkably smooth and almost alcohol free for being a BiB dram. Letting this juice open up for 48 hours with a little O2 in the bottle is a definite plus.
Front: All that corn sweetness lands first, hints of dark spice come in with a wave of salted, buttered garden corn and butterscotch-toffee. While some may detect fruit jam sugars and other notes, for me the well buttered and salted sweet corn is so in your face it doesn't leave room for much else.
Finish: The buttered corn and salt linger on whispering the words "I'm G.A. Dickel, now have another sip". Any harsh barrel tannins are appropriately reduced to salt that complements the buttered corn profile so perfectly it simply disappears on the night air.
I can safely say this is the smoothest 100 proofer I've had since the Col Taylor SiB, finding a BIB strength whiskey this smooth is not something that happens every day and I'm going to mark up appropriately for that fact. Also getting a well aged liquor for such a reasonable price has to be factored as well, this is really a gift from the Dickel Distillery. Sure you can complain about the lack of complexity and I get that, this isn't going to knock Little Book or GTStagg off their perch, but like the standard Dickel products, it has a lot to say for itself by staying true to it's roots while offering so much.
Well thought out and well done by Nicole Austin and the folks at Cascade Hollow.
36.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@BeppeCovfefe I enjoyed a pour of this the other night and got a lot more corn than I remember on my first sampling. The cereal that was a staple of my child hood, Kellogg's Corn Pops. It took the place of the fruit notes I was getting before. Either way, Hell of a whiskey.
@BDanner with saz you can bet most anything you want will be allocated, they are a scourge on the industry.
@BeppeCovfefe it has me looking forward to Sazerac entering the TN Whiskey business. I’m a Cascade Hollow Fan Boy, so I’ve tried to keep up with the comings and goings there.
@BDanner has it down, it's the Popcorn Sutton bunch that has been poaching the Dickel brain trust.
@BeppeCovfefe Allisa Henley was the Master Blender. They got the Master Distiller (his name escapes) right before that.
@BeppeCovfefe @PBMichiganWolverine the last master blender and last master distiller from Dickel were poached by the new Popcorn Sutton Distillery (bought out by Sazerac) but Nicole Austin is the most recent and current MD @ Dickel.
@PBMichiganWolverine I may be thinking of previous Dickel Master Distiller... Allisa Henley not sure, I don't see anything on the web saying Nichole Austin is leaving, and btw she was hired AFTER the Tobasco finishing project so she wasn't the one responsible for it.
@BeppeCovfefe Any idea which ? With her gone then, hopefully the direction will still continue
@dubz480 thanks sir, cheers! @PBMichiganWolverine Nicole did a great job but I heard she has been stolen away by another startup,
@BDanner probably meant to compete with those cinnamon whiskies the kids are drinking 😊
@PBMichiganWolverine yes! Let’s hope the Tabasco Fiasco was a one off abomination.
@BeppeCovfefe I love the direction Nicole Austin is going: put out really good whiskey at affordable prices, while staying true to the Dickel roots
Nice review as always