Friday, January 22, 2010

New Maker's Mark?

According to a few of the forums I frequent, and with confirmation from the master distiller himself on the comments section of this post, there's going to be a new expression of Maker's Mark coming out soon.
It looks like they're adding toasted oak staves the barrel, and increasing the bottled proof. Pretty cool, considering the variations of MM have been really limited (I like the mint julep version, since I can't make an actual mint julep to save my life). Not sure when the ETA is for stores, but I'll definitely check it out.

-ed

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Next up...

Just picked up a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel, 1998 Vintage.

I'm also looking for 2 bottles that my closest store didn't have: Old Grandad BIB, & Ancient Age 10 year. I'll check Frugals next time I'm around there.

-ed

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Bottle # 1 - George Dickel No. 12

This is the other Tennessee whiskey. Jack may get most of the press, but Dickel has a special place in my "bar" (as it's only a shelf in my house, under the plants that got moved inside in the winter...such is the life of living in a small apartment).

Made just south of me in Cascade Hollow, near Tullahoma, George Dickel Whisky won me over after a visit to their distillery. Due to some wonderful laws, the only places where whiskey is made in Tennessee are located in dry counties, meaning that while certain bottles can be sold only at the distillery, there are no tastings allowed (Will prohibition ever really end?). I picked up a bottle of Dickel No. 12 shortly after, and it's kept a spot in my house ever since.

No. 12 is 90 proof, and has a nice reddish amber color, a little darker than the bottle of Ridgemont Reserve I currently also have, and much darker than the Johnnie Walker Red.

On the nose, it seems to me to be very sweet, and I pick out vanilla and maybe some honey.

The taste is, as with the nose, it's very sweet. Letting it move around the mouth a bit brings out some of the vanilla. The finish is not too long, and has a taste of pepper.

George Dickel No. 12 is a whisky that I plan on always having around. It's a great every-day kind of whisky. I haven't tried to No. 8 yet, but I would be interested to compare them. My father-in-law bought a bottle of the single barrel while we were at the distillery, but I didn't try it while he was here. I saw a bottle at my local store, so I do plan on getting one eventually.

Thus concludes my first tasting. Please feel free to leave a comment if anything I said sounds weird, or if you have any advice for future tastings. As I said before, I'm new at this.

The cat's sleeping next to me, the wife is out with a friend, so I think I'll finish off this pour and read a little more McCarthy. Seems appropriate.

-ed
What's going on

So, I re-templated the blog. I was tired of the black, and since I'm almost 25, I figured I should grow up and stop being so angsty.

Also, I'm examining the purpose of this blog, which has skewed towards writing about music and other assorted rantings. From today onwards, I'm refocusing the scope of this to include a new obsession of mine: Whiskey. Or Whisky, depending on whatever you find suits your prejudices.

I have been slowly getting acquainted with the fine art of drinking whiskey, which began slightly before last summer, but was expedited by trips to the Jack Daniels and George Dickel distilleries in TN, as well as trips to Jim Beam & Heaven Hill in Kentucky.

I'll update this blog every so often with my opinions and tastings of certain bottles I've picked up. Being at my income level, don't expect to see any Buffalo Trace Antique Collection reviews, or any amazing old finds (for that, please go to The Bourbon Dork or Chuck Cowdery's Blog, which are sort of my inspiration for going in this direction). This will be a learning experience for me, as I my knowledge of whiskey is still in its infancy. So, if you come across this, don't slam me for my ignorance, kindly point me in the right direction instead.

Tonight, I'm going to put up a review of my favorite Tennessee whisky, George Dickel No. 12. Basic, nothing fancy, just a good Lincoln Co. Process whiskey.

-ed