Infectious Charm. Devastating Wit. Below Average Looks.
George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey might as well be called "that other Tennessee whiskey not called Jack Daniels." This phrase, on a plain white label in Times New Roman, on a bottle with a plastic screw cap on the bottom shelf, reflects really the strength of George Dickel's market share as compared to the taut Jack... Continue Reading →
God bless value bourbons. Especially the bottles that ain’t bad. Bourbon has long been a Helm’s Deep for whiskey people getting left out of the party by steeply rising prices for a decent bottle. Scotch skyrocketed. Irish, too. The good Canadian stuff is in the premium price category, and even the top end bourbon bottles... Continue Reading →
Being by far the biggest advocate for Canadian whisky in the club, I still have my criticisms. That being said, I don’t think I can often blame Canada for these nit picks of mine. One of the said nit picks is primarily a legal one in the famed “9.09%” rule for Canadian whisky sold in... Continue Reading →
Aberfeldy’s recent brand makeover seemed to me to be an attempt to remind the whisky world that their whisky still exists and is not just meant to be blended into Dewar’s. It is also promising that Aberfeldy didn’t just redesign the label, and if you’re into that sort thing, it was an improvement, but they... Continue Reading →
Continuing our treasured practice of reviewing bottles you will probably never find ever, we continue with an even more rare and hard to find specimen in Cadenhead’s Royal Lochnagar 18. Owned by J.A. Mitchell and Co., Cadenhead's is the oldest independent bottler in existence and specializes in single cask malt whiskies without chill-filtration or coloring.... Continue Reading →
It’s been some time since we cruelly reviewed a whisky you likely will not be able to find, and because those are so helpful, we submit to you a few pieces of info on Talisker Port Ruighe... It sure does come in handy that we as a whiskey club are able from time to time... Continue Reading →
The old story is that Prohibition destroyed Rye. It destroyed distilleries, is what it really did, which in turn destroyed brands, only a few of which have survived, or have been revived, to today’s time. And now that I have used 5 commas in a sentence, a feat I am certain has been unattainable until... Continue Reading →
It should go without saying, but inherent to whisky recommendations is the subjection of yourself to someone else’s opinion. Even our best tasters are still dispensing subjective opinions despite their great skill in sensory evaluation. Many of those opinion makers sing songs of high praise for Old Potrero, distilled by the San Francisco based Anchor... Continue Reading →
For today’s review I was preparing to snarkily opine about yet another US company (a Californian winery, in today’s case) sourcing a good whisky from somewhere else, bottling it themselves and slapping some historical figure’s name from the 1800’s on their label and charging a horse’s hind end load for it. It would be a... Continue Reading →
It was Macallan night during one of our monthly SWC meetings. We had on the docket the 10, 12, and 15 year old expressions. I was excited. How could you not be with Macallan? Life was good. As we went through each whisky, nosing with patience, tasting with gusto, living life as God intended, our... Continue Reading →
Sherried Scotch whisky, at least in this author’s dumb, uninformed opinion, shouldn’t be the quintessential Scotch whisky expression. Just a few years finished in sherried oak can overwhelm a malt’s inherent flavor profile. Macallan’s Fine Oak, now called "Triple Cask Matured," series offered a glimpse into the distilleries house character without a dominant sherry influence,... Continue Reading →
I felt like a gentlemen with a monocole and a top hat. And a kilt. All that was missing was a well oiled mustace. That’s what I felt like when I tried Macallan 12 for the first time. Back then, this was my first “luxury” malt, as that was what I thought Macallan was at... Continue Reading →
I wonder what Malt Rage looked like back in the day before whisky bloggers were around. Maybe it was just as annoying and self-important as it is today. I was not "malt aware" in 2004 when the owners of The Macallan released the Fine Oak series, but boy, I hear it was quite a thing... Continue Reading →
I suppose Macallan 12 Double Cask represents the Edrington Group’s attempt to jump in on the Americanized Scotch train that started a few years ago (Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Cask comes to mind). I cannot find the article for the life of me, but an editorial on ScotchWhisky.com explained the subtle attempts by some Scotch whisky makers... Continue Reading →
Organic. I think people perceive this term as a mostly meaningless one. Have you ever really looked it up? I myself do not care if something is organic or not, to a certain degree, but for this review I wanted to understand the term. Turns out, the degree to which something is certified organic can... Continue Reading →
Henry McKenna was a sprite Irish gentlemen who upon arriving in Kentucky made good and fine use of the abundant grain around him. He did what any Scots-Irish worth his salt would do back then: distill everything and sell it. He also invented the Blarney Stone and loved U2. I normally don’t put much effort... Continue Reading →
In the olden days of my whiskey youth, Wild Turkey 101 was one of the first bourbons I became acquainted with. In fact, I had an early experience with Rare Breed that really catapulted my sense of bourbon’s aroma as well as a few nice evenings spent with Russel’s Reserve 10 year. My first memorable rye... Continue Reading →
Whiskey marketing isn’t all that bad. There are kernels of truth embedded in most of it, some kernels bigger than others. While reading on Knob Creek's 2001 Limited Edition release, I found myself a sucker. Any bourbon story involving Booker Noe passing down a bourbon tradition to his son, now Master Distiller Fred Noe, is... Continue Reading →
The phrase “Sherry Bomb” isn’t precisely a regulated one in the Scotch industry. A’Bunadh, Macallan, Dalmore, we can all agree on those. If a malt has a strong sherried presence but only was finished for a few years in a sherry cask, could it still be a sherry bomb? I think yes. And I think... Continue Reading →
