Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength - Pour Three

Ahhh sweet sweet pour number three. After this pour, I can officially offer up my opinion on this whiskey but I suspect it will come as no surprise that I heartily enjoy this beverage. Right off the bat that green grass smell that at first evaded me in pour two jumps out straight away for me. Just as I could only smell vanilla for the longest time in pour two, I am only getting that green grass/barley smell now. Oddly, there is actually a bit of alcohol punch/burn on the nose this time around; I don't recall getting that strong of an alcohol impression from the nose in previous pours. Because there was a fair amount of prickle in the tasting portion of the previous pours, I am going to add about a teaspoon of water straight away and let this glass rest a spell.

Long before Anthony Bourdain published his first book, Kitchen Confidential, detailing what life was like in the kitchen of a busy Manhattan eatery, I was experiencing first-hand many of the scenes he so vividly described. Granted, I was not working in New York, but the restaurant that hired me to clean fish, peel shrimp, shuck clams and oysters, along with countless other scrub-level-one jobs was actually quite busy on a nightly basis. The dining room had a seating capacity of 48, yet on our busiest of nights, we would frequently turn the dining room over four times, preparing and serving 192 patrons worth of seafood delights. I worked at that restaurant from the age of fourteen all the way through my second year of college. In that time I progressed to line cook in the kitchen as well as the seafood/produce/beef buyer for the entire menu and associated fish market. If you have ever read Mr. Bourdain's book, I can assure you he told no tall tales - the restaurant kitchen, the restaurant business in fact, is filled with easily the greatest assortment of characters and personalities that I have ever come across.

Whoa, the water has brought out an entirely new smell for this whiskey - earth/dirt coupled with that green grass and yes, lo and behold, the vanilla is there at the end as well. I absolutely love how whiskeys can change from night to night. The taste has a rush of sweetness and no where near the alcohol punch that I remembered from a few nights ago. This is the kind of pour that brings about a smile - sweet barley sugar, some vanilla, a gentle bit of oak. Zero astringency to me and zero yeast smell/taste to boot. To me this feels like a well-aged whiskey, both in terms of length as well as attention to detail throughout its life in Ireland.

The service staff at the restaurant remained fairly consistent throughout my tenure, not many firings nor new-hires. Most were in their late-30s to early-40s and quintessential Florida beach bums. None had college educations but many had tried the office-job route previously, ultimately deciding the lifestyle-freedom and money offered by serving suited their needs better. In contrast, there was far greater personnel turnover in my area, the kitchen staff, and perhaps expectedly, that is where the most remarkable and colorful personalities of the staff resided.

Holy crap, there is that lemon Pledge again! I noticed this wack-a-doo smell during pour number one and was wondering if it was just a fluke. The lemon is fleeting, not lingering, but it was most certainly there. The taste remains satisfyingly consistent - the green grass, the malt sugar, the subtle oak, what a reliable palate this whiskey offers.

Taking inspiration from Reservoir Dogs, I will not use any real names in what follows, so let's get started with Mr. D who served primarily as the lunch-shift cook. Mr. D claimed to have served in the Army during the Vietnam War, completing two tours of duty. He was a short, trim man, standing 5'8"ish and weighing I would guess no more than 150 pounds. He had long brown hair that he almost always wore pulled back into a tied pony-tail. Upon arriving to work each day, Mr. D would pull from his various pockets several gallon zip-loc bags containing handfuls of loose marijuana as well as sandwich-size zip-loc bags containing dozens of pills whose color assortment had the physical appearance of a burst bag of Skittles. He was fairly soft-spoken, but I always felt that was due to him never being sober while at work. He would often stare the thousand yard stare as though deep in thought, yet nothing profound ever came. Once he claimed he was best friends with Neil Young's guitar technician - even going as far as to promise me he had arranged backstage passes to a Billy Joel concert at the Orlando Arena for me as his friend was helping Billy out on this tour. Mr. D told me my passes would be waiting at Will Call; shockingly there were no passes when I arrived. Good thing I had purchased tickets just in case. Billy put on a heck of a show that night, just as Mr. D had in his own way. I never saw Mr. D drink, but he professed that he loved Glenlivit Single Malt, which considering this was the early 1990s is kinda cool - Single Malts were just starting to gain major traction at that time. Mr. D was ahead of his time.

I am nearing the end of my dram tonight and can happily report that each sip has remained consistently enjoyable. For me, this whiskey needed water to help tame that alcohol punch. I don't recall the standard Redbreast 12, sold at 40% ABV, requiring any taming with water, but I also doubt I proofed my Cask Strength pours down that low from their starting point of 58.2%. It would be interesting to try the standard offering side-by-side with the Cask Strength version. I am betting I would still prefer the Cask Strength version, but those who do not want to bother adding water or adjusting the spirit in the glass would be better served by the standard offering I suspect.

Big J was in many ways the opposite of Mr. D. He was an absolute unit of a human being, standing 6'4" and easily weighing 275 pounds. He allegedly attended the Culinary Institute of America though no one could say if he graduated (or even attended for that matter). He claimed to have worked in some pretty legendary restaurants - the original Morton's in Chicago, Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan and Olives in Boston to name a few. To listen to Big J relate his work experience, one got the impression that he essentially worked his way down the Eastern seaboard until he finally settled in our sleepy little beach town. One thing was certain however - Big J could cook and I do mean cook well. While Mr. D was a quintessential fry cook, Big J worked every aspect of the kitchen - grill, broiler, range with a masterful hand and a gracefulness that defied his physical presence. He was the first to teach me the beauty of the Maillard reaction, the end-result of proper searing. He also taught me the power of stock making - boiling down lobster and shrimp shells for days at a time, the resulting stock when strained could be used to orgasmic effect in bisques, cream sauces, or compound butters. The very first dish he prepared for our 'staff dinner' was steak au poivre. When I chimed in that I don't like pepper, he grimaced and told me to shut up. I can still remember that first bite, it was life-changing and instilled in me as pure a love as possible in regard to a proper pan sauce. While Big J did not have the zip-loc stored vices of Mr. D, it did not take long to discover why Big J had perhaps worked his way down the Eastern seaboard. On the line in the kitchen was a cold line were all refrigerated items for service were kept.  It was these refrigerators that housed Big J's muse - vodka, and lots of it. Working alongside him, I would routinely see him finish two 750 ml bottles of vodka in a six hour span. He would repeat this incredible feat night after night. More times than not, he could maintain his composure despite the vodka infusion, but it was the occasional 'not' that caused most of his troubles. It was an amazing experience for me, still on the young side of teenager at this point, to witness the destructive power of alcohol firsthand. Big J had a genuine talent, a real gift to create delicious food, but he also had a serious demon that he allowed to totally neuter that talent. I am not here to say Big J would have been the next Emeril had he put the vodka down, but I do know he would have had a far stabler life than bouncing from restaurant to restaurant staying one town ahead of his drunken reputation. Such a shame, such a waste. Doubly so when you consider that he was actually a damn nice guy - funny, generous, attentive, a blast to be around ... when he was sober.

Well my third pour is done and dusted. I have waxed poetic enough I suspect but my goodness, we have only scratched the surface of my adventures in that restaurant. Perhaps future pours will stoke the flames of nostalgia in future posts. It was fun composing these three entries in a stream of consciousness manner. As for Redbreast, it is utterly delicious. If you like Scotch, particularly Highland/Speyside malts that lean towards fruit sweetness with gentle barrel influence, then I think you will dig Redbreast. The one characteristic that Redbreast brings over say a Speyside malt is that fresh green grass characteristic thanks to the un-malted barley in the mash bill. So long as Redbreast keeps the quality of this whiskey consistent, I will always ensure there is a bottle on my shelf to enjoy and share with friends. Erin go Bragh!

Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength - Second Pour

A different glass for this pour, a glass that I discussed in an earlier entry and related that while it is a crowd favorite in our house, it is not the best glass for nosing a whiskey in my experience. Despite this shortcoming, the first sniff of this pour brought an immediate smile and 'ohhh sweet honeycomb' exclamation. My goodness, tonight's pour is sweet sweet sweet. Near zero alcohol burn on the nose. This almost smells like a liqueur. After some time, the vanilla comes back out to my nose.

When I was fourteen years old, I asked my father for a raise in allowance. Without flinching, he reached into the local paper sitting on the end table next to his recliner and tossed me the help wanted classified ads. My dad was, as the kids would say today, old school. He was not one to celebrate life's wins all that much nor would he lament life's losses all that much either. If I brought home a report card with a 'C', he would, in no uncertain terms, tell me that result was unacceptable. When I raised that 'C' to a 'B', he would again tell me in no uncertain terms that that result was unacceptable. When I raised that 'B' to an 'A', he would simply nod his head. Exasperated, I would prod him for a celebratory high-five to which he would in all seriousness tell me 'achieving the result you should have achieved in the first place is not a cause for celebration'.

Zero sweetness on the first taste with a wallop of alcohol. Of course that impression I know is deceiving as my tongue cannot be trusted with that initial ethanol blast. Let's add some water, I'd say about half a teaspoon into this one ounce pour.

This is not to say that my dad's parenting style is the gold standard. I've always felt that it takes two to tango in regard to parenting. If by adolescence the child does not agree with the parent's core philosophies, then I don't think it matters all that much how the parent parents (within common-sense reason of course, I'm not talking Lord of the Flies parenting is acceptable here). Two of my brothers didn't exactly see eye-to-eye with my dad in many regards, one of them did the bare minimum in terms of compliance with my father's rules and regulations, the other openly defied him most of the time. I on the other hand, seemingly from my earliest memories, totally agreed with my dad's philosophy which meant my compliance took near-zero effort.

The water has seemingly unleashed the vanilla on the nose. That or my nose is looking for and only finding the vanilla. Interestingly, I just now noticed that fresh-cut green grass smell that is so prevalent in Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey; usually that is the very first smell I detect from an Emerald Isle malt. Subsequent tastes and the alcohol burn/punch is still strong after the water. Stronger than I expected to be honest. I'll give it a few more minutes.

My father handing the me help wanted ads did in fact lead to a rather important moment in my life. Not too long after that incident, I landed my first job and started to earn a legitimate paycheck. Two folks originally from Boston came down to Florida and purchased a two-building business smack-dab on A1A directly on Florida's Atlantic Ocean shoreline. They converted the building from office space into a twelve-table restaurant in one building and a seafood market in the other. The restaurant proved quite popular and when full, those awaiting an open table put their name on a list and waited in and around the seafood market portion of the business. One such night, my mother and I were awaiting a table when I noticed a women behind the seafood case struggling to shuck oysters. I was practically raised on seafood, in fact, my family is adamant my first spoken word was 'lobster'; virtually all our recreation time as a family was spent in, on, or around Florida's waterways and ocean. We used to harvest our own oysters and clams, as well as actively fish and as such, I was shucking shellfish and cleaning fish around the time most kids learn how to tie their own shoes. I was a shy kid but for some odd reason, I spoke up and asked the woman shucking oysters if I could come around and show her how to shuck properly. She looked up, smiled and said 'if your mother is okay with it, come on back kid'. My mom nodded and back I went. A few moments later, three dozen oysters were shucked, placed on ice-laden serving platters adorned with lemon and cocktail sauce and whisked away to the dining room. The woman thanked me for my help and said 'if you ever need a job, come talk to me'. A week later, my mom was dropping me off after school to begin my shift as the seafood market clerk and prep-cook cleaning fish, peeling and deveining shrimp, picking crab, etc. Of course, this was all totally off the books, the restaurant was a cash-only business, payroll was always in cash, and I highly doubt the state of Florida had any idea that a fourteen year old boy was working there, but let's leave the rest of that story for pour three.

After adding even more water, we are up to just over a teaspoon for this pour, the alcohol punch is calmed, but still stronger than I remembered from my first pour. This is still a tasty malt, just more prickly than I remember from a few nights ago. Barley sugar, more apricot, and the vanilla returns to the palate, definitely a sweet dram, but not as sweet as the nose would have you anticipate. Tonight's pour is a perfect reminder how one's experience with any whiskey can change. I have no doubt that the difference in tonight's experience lies not so much in the whiskey itself but with my physical and mental state tonight. Perfect justification not to judge a whiskey off just one experience.

Pour three in the coming days!

Redbreast 12 Year Cask Strength - First Pour

Some recent developments in the news cycle have been swirling around in the ole noggin this week and what better companion to contemplative thoughts than a quality whiskey. So promising a stream of consciousness set of impressions, I will just write and see if combining an unrelated rant with tasting impressions has any traction.

Let's break the ice with appearance - absolutely beautiful honeyed amber color in the glass. The Internet is conflicted as to whether Redbreast 12 Cask Strength is artificially colored. Sadly, there is no official word from Redbreast, but it is known that the standard Redbreast 12 year is artificially colored. As such, I have a nagging sense that this Cask Strength version is indeed artificially enhanced. Though it is a gorgeous color, personally, I would prefer au naturale.

Lauda Air Flight 004, a six-month old Boeing 767-300ER, crashed approximately fifteen minutes after takeoff on May 26, 1991. All 223 persons on board, 213 passengers and 10 crew, were killed on that flight departing Bangkok, Thailand bound for Vienna, Austria. The owner of the airline - three-time Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda, himself a licensed and certified commercial airline pilot - took a decisive and first-hand, though unofficial, leadership role in the accident's investigation. Upon visiting the crash site spread throughout the mountainous terrain north of Bangkok, he noticed the reverse thruster had been deployed on one of the aircraft's two engines. Much of the aircraft's wiring as well as flight data recorder had been irreversibly destroyed in the crash, so no definitive cause for the crash could be determined, but investigators arrived at a probable cause - the reverse thruster on one of the engines had mysteriously engaged while the aircraft was under full power during its ascent to cruising altitude.

Nose - honey, green grass, apple, vanilla, orange, slight alcohol (nowhere near what one would expect from a 58.2% whiskey). The smell alone is worth the price of entry in my opinion. I remember my first experience with Irish whiskey - there was a unique smell that I had no idea how to quantify or describe. My whiskey mentors helped guide me, allowing me to smell fully malted whiskey side by side with single pot still Irish whiskey that uses some malted and some un-malted barley. That unquantifiable smell suddenly was quantifiable - a fresh grass, green grass smell that comes from the un-malted barley. After a splash of water and yet more time in the glass, lemon pledge alternating with sweet vanilla emerge. Soon, I found the vanilla dominating the smell of the dram.

Investigating and assessing blame in high profile situations is an insightful thing. There are generally two types of personalities at the table - those looking to find the truth, even if it hurts their interests and those looking to preserve and shield their interests regardless of the truth. This is where you find the true measure of a person in my opinion, at least when it comes to integrity. The official crash investigation, conducted by the Government of Thailand found the probable (not conclusive) cause of the accident to be an uncommanded deployment of the left engine's reverse thruster making stable flight impossible. Boeing partially rejected the finding however as they were not willing to rule out pilot error.

Taste - just a whisker too much alcohol punch when sipped neat. It is certainly possible to sip neat, but the dram feels a bit like when you induce distortion in speakers by cranking the source volume up a tad too high. With a splash of water and some time in the glass, oh, my, what a taste. Barley, apricot, stone fruits, some gentle perfume/floral notes all accentuated by subtle oak and vanilla as the sip slips over the tongue. This sounds bizarre, but I am reminded immediately of some creme brûlées I have enjoyed in the past, but with a lightly toasted sugar rather than a darkly toasted sugar. All of that Internet hype around this whiskey is making sense now.

Months passed with no official statement from Boeing but eventually Boeing disclosed to Lauda Air that in their internal testing, they had actually replicated an engine thruster deploying without being commanded to do so. On Boeing's test bed, an o-ring in the actuator that manages the reverse thruster failed when under high thrust which consequently caused the reverse thruster to unintentionally deploy. It turns out that the 767-300 featured a new and improved electronic and not mechanical linkage to deploy an engine's reverse thruster. In the older mechanical linkage version, there was an interlock that prevented an engine's reverse thruster from deploying in non-landing situations. No such interlock existed in the new and improved electronic fly-by-wire version featured on the 767-300. Boeing quietly modified the 767-300 reverse thruster system to include interlocks preventing their deployment in non-landing situations. Niki Lauda however was incensed that Boeing would not issue a statement of any kind regarding Boeing's findings in regard to their investigation of the Lauda Air Flight 004 crash. Lauda persisted, waging a public war challenging Boeing to prove that a 767 remains flyable when a reverse thruster was deployed under full thrust. Boeing initially balked, Lauda still persisted, even offering to personally fly on a 767 test where a thruster was deployed in flight if Boeing could prove that such a situation was survivable. Boeing admitted such a situation was not survivable and finally issued an official statement to that effect as well as exonerating the flight crew of Lauda Air Flight 004.

Finish - honey, vanilla, just a bit of astringency. Delightful finish, slow and lingering with continued vanilla sweetness that never quite departs. For me, no real fruit influence from the taste carries over to the finish, this is a pure sweet with a tinge of alcohol astringency finish. Perhaps a bit more water would help tame that astringency, but truthfully I am nit-picking here, this is a sensationally enjoyable whiskey. This finish lasts well into the double-digits in terms of minutes.

I have been thinking of Lauda Air Flight 004 quite a lot this week as the reports of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 swirl through the news. Like Lauda Air Flight 004, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was a young (four-months old) example of a relatively new variant of long-pedigreed aircraft. Unlike Lauda Air however, around six months ago, a different example of the exact same aircraft crashed, killing all aboard, in very similar circumstances. The cause of the earlier accident, still under investigation, swirls around the aircraft's automation disregarding pilot input because the pilots had not disengaged a newly developed anti-stall safeguard in Boeing's software that is exclusively found in the 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft. Upon closer investigation, it was learned that Boeing had not sufficiently trained or disclosed how this new anti-stall automation behaved or how to throughly interact with it.

I have little doubt that the 737 Max 8 and Max 9 are safe, airworthy aircraft, but there does appear to be genuine doubt surrounding Boeing's thoroughness in disclosing and educating pilots as to the aircraft's modified flight control software. My only hope is that the truth, whatever that might be, will emerge and be put to good use preventing similar tragedies in the future. In my previous professional life, I took an FAA-sponsored course in disaster avoidance where the instructor bluntly stated that the vast majority of today's aviation rules and regulations are written in human blood. The loss of human life is tragic, but it is unacceptably tragic if that loss is not used to help prevent future losses.

Second pour sometime this weekend, perhaps even tomorrow night, who knows, we can't put rules on these things. Also, if interested, here is Niki Lauda in 2017 reflecting on the crash of Lauda Air Flight 004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E42NN1rU93o

'Tis the Season!

Well Kermit, it may not be easy to be green, but you are in good company this time of year. Redbreast 12 Cask Strength ... At long last, purchased over a year ago, I am finally cracking this most honorable libation. My first experience with Redbreast 12 was in last March's tasting. I was so enamored that I decided to take the fiscal plunge and check out the cask strength version. Typically, as a rule, I do not post any impressions of a whiskey until I have had three separate pours spaced out across three separate days. In this case however, I will try something different and post the notes from each of my tastings as they happen in pseudo real-time. The uncorking and first-pour are tentatively scheduled for this coming Thursday! Hashtag More To Come!

Blackbirds & Hound Dogs

There’s only two kinds of people in the world - Beatles people and Elvis people. Now Beatles people can like Elvis and Elvis people can like Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere, you have to make a choice, and that choice tells you who you are.
-Mia Wallace

So, are you barley or are you corn? Oh sure, there is that rye fellow, but sticking with our metaphor above, rye is more akin to the Ramones - a dedicated and strong, but smaller following. My whiskey journey started with Scotch, but that relationship got off to a rocky start and to tell that tale, we have to rewind the clock back to my teenage years.

Save the final six or so years of his life, my father drank Scotch, specifically blended Scotch, throughout the entirety of his adult life. He, like many from his generation, drank for the physiological effect of the spirit rather than the intricacy, nuance, and enjoyment of the spirit. As such, his number one priority when shopping for Scotch was price - he often procured the most obscure brand that came in the largest plastic jug possible. Think Clan MacScotchy's Ancestral Jug O'Malt. Growing up, he occasionally let me take a small sip from his ice-laden tumbler and I was often left wondering why in the world anyone would consume such a foul tasting concoction. To be fair, much like my childhood disdain of sauerkraut, I am sure part of my bafflement was due to an inexperienced palate rather than the blend's provenance, but a seed that would sprout decades later was sown back then.

When I came of legal drinking age, Scotch, and for that matter the entirety of whiskey, never registered on my radar. Back then the precursor to today's craft beer - Pete's Wicked and Sam Adams - reigned supreme. Distilled spirits were consumed in mostly schnapps and liqueur form, think Goldschläger, Kahlúa, and of course the cornerstone of post-adolescent debauchery, Jägermeister. The first crack in the wall of mediocrity that surrounded my hooch shelf came from one of my true loves in this life - cooking shows. Now I am not talking about today's iteration of cooking shows, the ones hosted by former sitcom stars or social media influencers that have never stepped foot in a professional kitchen. No no, I am talking about PBS old school, actually teach you technique and theory type of shows - Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, Martin Yan, Graham Kerr, Jeff Smith, Justin Wilson, and the point of this rant, my beloved Rick Bayless.

Back in the early 2000s, Rick Bayless created and hosted a show - Mexico: One Plate at a Time - where he toured and taught the audience all the marvelous culinary offerings from the various regions in his adopted home of Mexico. One episode took Mr. Bayless to Tequila Herradura - the distillery in Mexico, owned by Brown-Foreman, that produces Herradura tequila. Now at this point in my life, my then-girlfriend (but future bride) and I thought we knew all there was to know about margaritas - Cuervo Gold and that large jug of fluorescent-green Margaritaville margarita mixer - one part to three, shaken with and served on ice. This assured confidence in maragarita mastery was rocked to its core as I watched this particular episode and Rick Bayless, standing next to the distillery's fermenters, proclaimed '...but they're making the good stuff here.'

Good stuff.... just what did he mean by that?! Rick proceeded to explain how tequila is made, how the hearts of blue agave plants are cooked, preferably in fired kilns vs steam-heated kilns, then pressed and the resulting juice is used as the basis of fermentation which in turn is distilled. He highlighted how not all tequilas are created equal, that there are bottles legally labeled as tequila yet only contain 51% blue agave distillate and 49% who-knows-what (typically sugar and water added during distillation). He concluded the episode with a plea - regardless of what brand you choose, when shopping for a tequila, scour the label for those magical words - 100% de Agave - to ensure you are buying a true, pure tequila containing only distillate from the agave plant.

Armed with my newfound knowledge, I immediately bolted to the liquor store, searched out a reposado Herradura and returned home to mix two separate margaritas - identical in every regard save the tequila - Cuervo Gold in one, the Good Stuff in the other. I presented each to my better half, she sipped one then the other and instantly pointed to the one containing the Herradura: 'this one, not even close '. Intrigued, I tasted and came to the same conclusion, it was astonishing how the quality of the Herradura was instantly perceptible even when mixed with the faux neon-green mixer. This of course led to a second trip out - if a premium spirit could so noticeably lift a garbage mixer, imagine what would happen if we paired it with a homemade mixer made from fresh limes and scratch-made simple syrup, and sure, why not a splash of Grand Marnier. The result was ... illuminating. Like that chap in Plato's cave, my reality expanded that day as I was freed from the shackles of ingredient ignorance.

Many years after my tequila awaking, I began to think more and more about my father's drink of choice. What if a similar knowledge-based phenomenon could be found in the whiskey aisle as had been found in the tequila aisle. The answer, as you probably could have predicted, was a resounding yes, which brings me back to the start of this post - barley or corn. While I am only a little over a decade into my whiskey exploration, no matter where or how far I stray, I always find myself returning to barley. Barley whiskey is capable of an elegance, oftentimes delivering a transcendental experience that corn whiskey has yet to replicate for me.

When I think barley whiskey, I typically mean Scotch, but that is not an exclusive delimiter - Ireland, Japan, and the United States have all produced barley whiskeys that caused my toes to curl and my eyes to relax into that contemplative stare into nothingness; nuance, intricacy, progression of aroma and taste - barley whiskey when done 'right' can be a symphony for the senses. None of this is to say that aged corn whiskey, which by and large for me is a bourbon whiskey, is not capable of delivering an enjoyably memorable experience. It's just that bourbon delivers an entirely different experience for me, but I personally feel this is wholly by design.

Due to the legal requirement of exclusive maturation in a new charred oak container, bourbon never fails to deliver a sledgehammer of flavor that can linger for some time. The side effect of this legal requirement is that bourbon tends to deliver a common sensory experience - vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, oak, baking spices. Bourbon producers do have some leeway - yeast selection, proportion of grains, distillation and barreling variation, barrel char levels, where and how those barrels are stored for maturation, also how those barrels are blended before bottling are but just a few legally allowed variances afforded. These variances can introduce fruit, peanut, savory and/or sweet herbs, but the power of a brand new charred oak barrel cannot be understated; it's influence on the distillate is profound. Scotch producers on the other hand are only legally required to use oak containers with no stipulation on whether they are new or not. As a result, Scotch producers have tremendous leeway, using and reusing barrels that once contained not just whiskey, but other spirits such as rum or brandy or even non-distilled alcohols like wine and beer for the maturation of their whiskeys. This huge diversity of legally allowed barrels for maturation empowers a Scotch producer to layer a near-infinite variety of flavor subtlety when producing their final product.

This should not be construed as a criticism of bourbon however. Bourbon's heavily regulated definition limits what producers can do to change up the experience and this is, in my opinion, a good thing - it defines the genre to such a degree that consumers have a legitimate indication of what the bottle they are considering purchasing will in fact deliver. With Scotch, there is a bit of a leap of faith as the consumer generally doesn't know the specific proportion of barrels used during maturation nor how 'fresh' or 'tired' those barrels are.

Rest assured, just like a lot of Beatles fans, I adore Elvis; there are many bourbons that bring genuine joy and amazement into my life. In fact, it was a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 that was my sole spirit companion during the electricity-free eight days that followed Hurricane Irma after she scooted past our homestead. Bourbon also tends to be what I reach for on a weekend afternoon as I prepare the coming week's dinners and lunches. Many a lazy late afternoon has been spent sitting on the pool deck or in our tiki room contemplating life as I gently twirl a pour of bourbon. Bourbon will always be represented on my whiskey shelf, but for those sublime moments in life - completion of a great meal, an engaging conversation, unwinding after a challenging day, or that rainy afternoon where you catch up on your neglected reading list - those tend to be the province of Scotch for me.

My emotional support Turkey during Irma's aftermath, taken a few days beforehand

A Year In The Making

Twelve. Twelve months in a year, twelve whiskey parcels shipped out, the first of which was twelve years old. Twelve. Twelve teaser posts, many containing clues to that month's offering. Twelve reveals, and in a great coincidence of symmetry, just a splash over twelve two-ounce pours in a 750 ml whiskey bottle. That last nugget is significant because unbeknownst to the group, there was a silent member of the group - an empty bottle (I call him Mac) of the first month's offering - which received a two-ounce pour of each of the whiskeys sent out (since March featured two different whiskeys, one ounce of each was added). Diligently collected and patiently completed with its final resident, Johnnie Walker Green Label, the bottle shall now sit in a quiet corner of the whiskey cabinet to mingle and relax.

I have no clue how the blend will taste, but I look forward to finding out and sharing with my fellow malt mates and bourbon buddies as our paths cross in 2019.

So, how exactly did we spend our time in 2018's whiskey extravaganza? There are many ways to quantify the year, and those who know me, know that I love me some analytics and data. Let's start at the top - in total we sampled thirteen different whiskeys (March contained not one, but two Irish Single Pot Still Whiskeys) from a combined eight different whiskey classifications:

1. Three Single Malt Scotch Whiskies
1. Deanston 12 Year
2. Caol Ila
3. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban
2. Two Straight Bourbon Whiskeys
1. Evan Williams Single Barrel
2. Wild Turkey Rare Breed
3. Two Irish Single Pot Still Whiskeys
1. Greenspot
2. Red Breast 12 Year
4. Two Finished Bourbon Whiskeys
1. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
2. Maker's 46
5. One Japanese Blended Malt Whisky
1. Nikka Pure Malt (Black Label)
6. One Straight Rye Whiskey
1. Pikesville
7. One Tennessee Whiskey
1. Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof
8. One Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
1. Johnnie Walker Green Label

Age estimated for Greenspot, Woodford, Maker's, Jack Daniel's, and Wild Turkey (click to expand)

A graphical representation of the spreadsheet (click to expand)

2018 Whiskey Superlatives
Most Expensive - Red Breast 12 year - $69.99. They say high tide raises all boats and brother, whiskey's popularity is definitely a rising tide at the moment. I am not sure the historical pricing of Irish whiskey, but I am betting a decade ago Irish whiskey producers merely dreamed of commanding a price premium equal or greater than their Scottish counterparts. That being said Red Breast 12 was very well received by the group and nearly unanimously swept the A/B comparison to Greenspot, so the quality is in the bottle. It is a shame it is still offered at 40%, but Red Breast 12 year can be found in cask strength form, non-chill filtered to boot, typically for ~$90.00 and I can say first-hand the extra twenty dollars is easily justified for the step up if you enjoyed standard Red Breast.

Least Expensive - Evan Williams Single Barrel - $24.99. Since I began my bourbon exploration, I have always had, and always will have, a bottle of this whiskey on my shelf. Heaven Hill deserves a standing ovation for offering a whiskey, typically eight years old, that smells, tastes, and finishes like a quintessential bourbon - vanilla, oak, caramel, baking spices, some smoke - it's all there and the only criticism is its amiably low proof, but its proportionally low price helps sooth that criticism.

Highest Proof - Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof - 66.1% ABV. A bit like bringing a bazooka to a pellet-gun fight, one could within reason disqualify this Jack as being an anomalous wild-point, but alas the king has earned and deserves this crown. Astonishingly, despite being two-thirds ethanol, this Tennessee Whiskey is plausibly enjoyable neat but water has always improved the experience of this deliciously different whiskey for me.

Lowest Proof - (tie) Red Breast 12 and Greenspot - 40% ABV. Perhaps in a bout of national conformity, both of our Irish entrants come in at the legal minimum to still be called a whiskey. I, along with many Irish Single Pot Still whiskey fans have long wished for a modest bump in ABV for these standard offerings, even 3-percent would do wonders in my opinion.

Oldest - Johnnie Walker Green Label - 15 years. To be fair, we had six non-age-stated whiskeys that *could* be older than 15-years but that is a bit like saying your mortgage bank *could* forgive your note out of the goodness of their miserly heart. Still, as I stated in the reveal, it is awesome that Johnnie Walker has maintained the 15-year age statement and kept the price in the $60 neighborhood - a benevolent gift to malt maniacs in today's harsh reality of vanishing age statements and younger and younger offerings.

Youngest - Unknown! As stated above, six of the thirteen whiskeys sampled contained no age statement whatsoever, so we can only speculate here. My speculation, and it is no more than that, is that Maker's 46 would tie the age-stated Pikesville Rye at six years old for this accolade.

The More You Know - UPS Quirks - Approximately half of each month's samples were sent to their respective recipients via UPS (the others were hand-delivered by yours truly). Due to various legal and/or regulatory reasons, there is no parcel carrier that will accept distilled spirits from an unlicensed sender. I chose UPS over the United States Post Office because I felt it better to violate a corporation's policy rather than the Federal Government's policy. Regardless, of the 48 parcels sent through the year, all but two had silky-smooth journeys. The trials and tribulations of the troublesome two each revealed interesting UPS behaviors. The first - it does not matter what name/address you affix to a box, UPS will only deliver the parcel to the name and address listed on the shipping label they affix to the box (UPS did not notice one recipient's change of address and instead used the incumbent address in their system on the shipping label). The second - a parcel that is hilariously misrouted and given a Mr. Toad's tour of the United States will ultimately find its way to its recipient without any intervention from the sender. As an added bonus, UPS will proactively refund the shipping cost as their system is built to automatically detect such routing errors and make good on them, both logistically and financially. Well played UPS, well played.

Favorite Whiskey - Many of them! Okay, a cop-out here, but variety is indeed the spice of life. Re-reading the Group Impressions from each month, it seems to me that Johnnie Walker Green Label, Red Breast 12 Year, Taketsuru Pure Malt, and Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban were the most sweeping in terms of positive consensus among group members. Each a barley whiskey, coincidence? Most interesting indeed. Even more interesting to me is that there was not a single whiskey that was panned by the consensus. The closest was one taster's loathing of Caol Ila, but given how polarizing peated malt whiskey can be, it would be a statistical anomaly if we did not have at least one dissenter in Caol Ila's tasting. This adds to what I have long suspected - that there are very few 'bad' whiskeys out there. Just as Napoleon (the pig, not the angry short dude Bill & Ted kidnapped) said - all whiskeys are equal, but some whiskeys are more equal than others. Or something like that.

So where do we go from here...
A final hearty thank you to all who played along through 2018. I had a hoot and a half with the whole experience and as an added bonus, procuring all the whiskeys kept me in the good graces of the various frequent shopper programs of my local merchants. I do not plan to retire this blog, at least not yet. My hope is to continue to use this space as a journal for my whiskey raves and rants, likes and dislikes, and whatever verbally meandering hooch-based inspirations strike my fancy. There will be more group tastings, though not monthly, and most likely done in smaller, targeted groups. There might even be a jump to rums and tequilas, as well as entries scribed by special guests, but we can't put rules on these things at this juncture.

Lastly, maybe one day the delightful person at the UPS Store that personally marshaled each and every whiskey parcel sent during the twelve consecutive months will stumble upon this blog and realize that I really wasn't making my own hot sauces, infused oils, and spice extracts to send to friends for their impressions. I suspect they are procedurally obligated to ask 'and what are you sending? ' each and every time for insurance or regulatory reasons. Almost certainly they suspected something was afoot within a few months as the same dude showed up on the first Wednesday of each month, always with identical boxes, with identical dimensions, going to identical and unchanging recipients. Still, they never batted an eye when my replies became ever more exotic. Hmm, perhaps we have stumbled upon our first special guest for 2019, I wonder if they like whisk ... err rosemary-habanero infused vanilla extract.

Month 12 - Johnnie Walker Green Label

Johnnie Walker Green Label
Classification: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Country: Scotland
Region: Multiple Regions (Speyside, Highland, Lowland, Islay and the Scottish Islands)
Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Strength: 43.0% ABV (86.0° Proof)
Color: Artificially Colored
Filtration: Chill Filtered
Maturation: 15 Years in both American and European Oak
Price: $59.99 (Total Wine)

Overview

And so it comes to this, our twelfth whisky sample of the year and specifically ounce numbers 45 through 48 of this grand experiment. The first thing I did when devising this concept was to list and assign potential whiskeys to send - each month had to feature an appropriate and meaningful selection, but I did not want to repeat styles on consecutive months. There were revisions, tweaks, and changes to many of the months, yet the original selections for the first month and the last month remained unchanged throughout the editorial process. I wanted to open with an approachable and affordable Single Malt Scotch whose production quality was a notch above most of its price-point rivals. Similarly, I wanted to conclude with a whisky that is maniacally engineered to be reliably enjoyable to a wide spectrum of whiskey fans.

Jack Daniel's, Jim Beam, and Johnnie Walker - this has to be the holy trinity in regard to whiskey brand recognition. Imagine walking into a random watering hole and asking the barkeep simply for 'a whiskey'; it is said that in America it will be a coin-toss as to whether you receive a pour of Jack or Jim, but in the rest of the world, there is a high probability the bartender would pour you a Johnnie Walker.

Just as with Jack and Jim, there really was a Johnnie, well John Walker at least. Born in 1805, John Walker started his professional life as a grocery merchant but quickly shifted his focus to selling spirits. An odd choice for a man who chose not to consume alcohol personally. In his day, blended whiskey was far and away the most common presentation of Scotch Whisky and as such, John Walker produced a number of customer-specific blends of both malt and grain whiskies using just his name written on the bottle as he had no label of his own. In his day, the law forbade blending malt whiskey with grain whiskey - you could blend malts together, you could blend different grain whiskies together, but you were forbidden from blending a malt and a grain whiskey; quite a different story today, but we'll get to that in just a bit.

While John Walker had comfortable success in his life, it was his son and grandson that really skyrocketed the Walker whisky blending business. In 1860, John's son Alexander debuted two design details that are synonymous with Johnnie Walker to this day - its square bottle design (allowing more bottles to fit on a shelf) and its slanted label, precisely 24-degrees upward, left to right (allowing larger and more visible text). So iconic are these two design elements that a bottle of Johnny Walker is immediately distinguishable from all other products that it might happen to share a shelf with. In addition to cementing Johnnie Walker's brand identity, Johnnie Walker went on a distillery purchasing spree to ensure an ample and diverse supply of whisky from which they would produce their blends. You see, to a whiskey blender, consistency is paramount - they strive to ensure a bottle of blended whiskey purchased today tastes identical to a bottle of the same blended whiskey produced a year ago or even ten years ago. Because whiskey varies not only year to year, but barrel to barrel, the only way a whiskey blender can ensure consistency is to produce blends containing as many individual whiskeys as practically possible.

Today, Johnnie Walker is owned and produced by drinks giant Diageo. No entity on Earth produces more whisky than Diageo. In Scotland alone, Digeo operates twenty-eight distilleries whose combined annual yield is approximately one-third of all Scotch whisky produced. It is with the bounty from this stable of distilleries that Johnnie Walker produces its blends. Note that Johnnie Walker produces only Scotch whisky blends which legally are classified into three possible categories:

1. Blended Malt Scotch Whisky - a blend of two or more single malt Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
2. Blended Grain Scotch Whisky - a blend of two or more single grain Scotch whiskies from different distilleries.
3. Blended Scotch Whisky - a blend of one or more single malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single grain Scotch whiskies.

Of Johnnie Walker's seven core blends, six are Blended Scotch Whiskies (#3 above) and only one, Month Twelve's Green Label, is a Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (#1 above). To me this is a huge distinction because it is only a blended malt that contains only single malt scotch whisky. The other two categories contain single malt and/or single grain, think things like vodka. This means that Johnnie Walker's most expensive core offering - the fabled Blue Label - contains single malt and non-malt Scotch whiskies. For the price of a single bottle of Blue Label, you could buy three bottles of Green Label and have three bottles containing exclusively Single Malt Scotch Whisky. That is a no-brainer to me.

First introduced in 1997, Green Label became immediately popular among single malt fans despite coming from a brand that some single malt devotees chide for being more marketing than substance. Temporarily discontinued in 2012 to make room for Gold and Platinum Labels, Diageo happily brought Green Label back in 2016. Johnnie Walker lists four specific single malts that represent the key components (using their marketing-speak) of Green Label - Talisker (The Power), Linkwood (The Finesse), Craggenmore (The Heart), and as sampled in Month Four, Caol Ila (The Mystery). All four distilleries are unsurprisingly owned by Diageo, but the reality of Green Label is that it is almost certainly comprised of far more malts from additional distilleries. Because all of Johnnie Walker's blending recipes are trade secrets, we can only speculate, but it is almost certain that well over a dozen different single malts are used in Green Label. Some even speculate that over two dozen single malts are used in Green Label which is certainly plausible given Diageo's prolific Scottish portfolio. Regardless of the actual blend recipe, we can state with complete certainty that not only is Green Label only made with Single Malt Scotch Whisky, but that the youngest drop of whisky in the bottle is at least 15-years old; a remarkable attribute given recent trends where whiskies are being released younger or without any age statement whatsoever.

To me whiskey production's two phases are the perfect marriage between science and art. The first phase, distillation, is pure science, pure chemical engineering. The second phase, maturation, is pure art as no two barrels of whiskey will mature identically. A blender must pick the appropriate barrels in the appropriate proportions whose combination will result in the desired taste profile. A good blender can often perform miracles by reliably producing a product that is notably better than the sum of its parts. Blending can just as easily mask imperfect whiskey as it can elevate delightful whiskey. It does boggle the mind to think of the task at hand for the blenders of Johnnie Walker - mixing together dozens of single malts whose end-result will be near identical through the years.

Lastly, I'll conclude with a few thoughts on whiskey blending at home. Consumers can, and should, dabble in whiskey blending at home. Do you have a bottle of ho-hum whiskey? Don't toss it away, try blending it to a higher plateau. Experiment by adding a portion of a favorite whiskey, or a dominate whiskey and, after allowing a few days for the blend to marry, see if it improves the experience. Personally, I have had luck in adding just a few drops of a peated single malt like Laphroaig to a lackluster whiskey; it is amazing how the peat complexity really lifts the overall enjoyment of the mediocre whiskey. Some home blenders approach blending with stedfast discipline, documenting each blending experiment while others are far more casual and fancy-free. There is no right or wrong approach, only experimentation and a loyalty to one's palate. If it tastes great to you, that is all that matters. Blend on my fine malt mates and bourbon buddies.

Tasting Notes

Group Impressions

Well well well, Month Twelve was fascinating indeed; the first month that saw universal enjoyment and desire to purchase the whisky sampled. Since everyone, save myself, tasted this blind, one must give a tremendous pat on the back to the blenders at Johnnie Walker as they bottled a blend that resonated quite positively with everyone in the group without any confirmation or brand bias. Further kudos must be given to both the blenders and the group as everyone picked up on at least one of the blend's official attributes denoted in Johnnie Walker's tasting notes. One of the coolest aspects of Green Label to me personally is how the blend captures so many hallmark single malt notes. You have honey and fruit sweetness from the Highlands and Speyside, grass and salt from the Lowlands, and of course the unmistakable peat from Islay and the Islands regions. Intermingled is a delightful whisper of aromatic woods that most likely comes from the mix of bourbon and sherry barrels used for maturation of the respective malts.

Fitting that our final month had the strongest consensus among the group as to the offering's many qualities and few shortcomings. Everyone picked up on the offering's modest proof, interesting mix of flavors, smoothness, and yes, it's shorter than desired finish. Very well done to all and a hearty thank you for playing along this past year. Rather than say goodbye, let's say until next time because who knows what 2019 will have in store.

Apollo
Our sample this month looked pretty standard upon visual inspection. It had a light brown color, and after swirling it in the glass, the legs started to drip like normal. However, they seemed to stick there on the side of the glass and never really disappeared. That was a little unusual in my experience. Although, it's possible that I just don't often let it sit long enough to notice that!

The smell didn't strike me with anything strong but I did notice a slight smell of peat.

Once I tasted it though, it was clear that this was something nice. It was very smooth. It didn't have much alcohol burn at all. No immediate flavors jumped out at me except for just a general sweetness. But after swallowing it, I was hit with a wonderful peaty flavor. It was like magic. I couldn't taste the peat at all until after it was gone. I've had very peaty scotches before, but never one that was so stealthy. It was a great flavor and a really nice surprise. Based on the peat flavor and the smoothness, I'm expecting this one to be a scotch in the 80 proof range.

So, as you can probably tell, I really liked this one. It was smooth drinking, very flavorful, and that flavor presented itself in an extremely interesting way. I can't wait to find out what it was!

Jonathan Quayle Higgins
Appearance
Light copper with a bit of the infamous e-150 glow of artificial coloring. Normally I loathe when producers artificially color their whiskies, but I have read that caramel coloring is used in blended whiskies for a practical purpose as it helps the multiple whiskies blend and marry in a blend. The truth is, every blended whiskey I have seen has been artificially colored, so it is unfair to ding Johnnie Walker for this if it is standard operating procedure for blenders.

Nose
Barley sugar, grass notes, fresh grass, not dried grass. Definite peat smoke, gentle, certainly not a pure Islay malt, but very reminiscent of the delightful Caol Ila. After a few moments in the glass, more fruit emerges for me, particularly peaches. There is a wood note here, not a charred wood, more of a aromatic wood. Gentle alcohol on the nose, far from fierce, but enough to know this is indeed a distilled spirit. This is a very inviting nose, a nice balance of smoke, fruit, and aromatics.

Taste
As with the nose, barley sugar leads the way here. Mild smoke and finally a fruit sweetness near the end of the sip. There is alcohol here, I would grade it as mild, not sharp, not even prickly, but present. Adding water is interesting, I feel after water this whisky becomes a bit spicier. I can’t say I have experienced increased spiciness as a result of adding a few drops of water with any other whisky.

Finish
Short if I am honest, medium-short if I am being generous. Smoke is most prevalent with the aromatic wood from the nose reappearing and lingering throughout. Just as with the taste, the addition of water brings more spice out on the finish. I just wish the finish was longer...

Overall
My previous bottle of Green Label had a screw top and a intricate plastic pour diffuser in the neck. I didn’t mind either, but the most recent bottles purchased have returned to an empty neck and a cork topper. Also, the most recent bottles have a lovely thick slab of tapered glass found at the bottle’s base, I gotta admit, it looks posh and fantastic.

Bottle aesthetics aside, Green Label is a thoroughly enjoyable whisky. I know some fans of Scotch whisky immediately dismiss Johnnie Walker the same way some fans of Bourbon dismiss Jack Daniel’s, but that is a bit unfair in my opinion. Not only is there nothing wrong with Green Label, I think there is a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction to be found in its pours. I do wish it was offered at a higher proof, even 3% more ABV would be a significant boost. The finish is in my opinion the weakest aspect to the experience as it is far too short. That ABV bump would help this I suspect. The nose and taste are both quite enjoyable - some fruit, some peat, some aromatic wood, a very nice all around experience. Price-wise, of course I would love a lower price, but in reality I can’t knock its $60 asking price given its 15-year age statement. These days, the $60 price-point typically nets you a 12-year single malt, so given the 15-year age statement combined with the luxury tax commanded by the Johnnie Walker label, $60 is not too shabby. This is a malt that has always been on my shelf and I find myself pouring Green Label whenever I just want to relax with an enjoyable, familiar pour.

Zeus
Appearance
Pale gold color. Legs are easily apparent.

Smell
Woody/smoky scent initially. Smells like a scotch, but not an overpowering one as the wood scent was subtle.  A little sweetness comes through in the scent for me. Cherry popped up on further sniffs.

Taste
Very light bite to it, somewhat mellow. There is that cherry again, tasting it this time. Not much wood taste to it, but it's there in the back. The cherry taste degraded quickly after further sips, might of been me consciously trying to pull that flavor out of it.

Finish
Nice smooth finish. The wood/smoke comes through came out better here.

General Thoughts
At first I was thinking this is a scotch. A very fine scotch.  It's so we'll balanced started to think this might be a Japanese whiskey. I compared it to a couple of Japanese whiskey's I had, a Yamazaki 12 year and Suntory Toki. The Toki was closer, but I think the sample tasted better.  fter the comparison I'm still on the fence, might be a Scotch or a Japanese whiskey, which a slight leaning to the Japanese whiskey. Great whiskey regardless, this would be one I would seek out and buy.

Admiral Hawkes
This month’s treat is a pleasant Scotch, with a nice golden/amber color, a nose that says scotch, but without the sting of alcohol that the hotter ones deliver. I could not quite find the words to describe the aroma.. almost a little corn, which is weird unless it was aged in a bourbon barrel.

I had the first taste neat as always. I liked it and found it drinkable. I want to say I tasted smoke and fire, but it was not overtly peaty, not sure how they pull that off. Nor was it hot, as my first sniff anticipated. The aftertaste, and I mean a good minute after a nice sip, had some sweetness to it. I was pleased, but somewhat baffled, because I still could not find words.

Two weeks later, I poured the remainder in a glass with intent to add a few drops of water.  I didn’t... neat again, and much the same result.  This time the aftertaste went int the direction of orchard fruit and a hint of vanilla. This was a good dram, delivering a smooth and not overpowering experience. I usually like to make guesses, but instead I will await the reveal and be surprised regardless.

Happy Holidays to all!

Carol Baldwin
Appearance
Golden yellow. When sipping I noticed several well formed legs.

Smell
Like a scotch! Ok, to elaborate, slightly peaty and grassy with some wood. A bit of resin and alcohol warmth.

Taste
It's a flavor explosion on the tongue. It's at first peaty and grassy; resinous. It mellows into a softly woody taste with well balanced alcohol heat and hints of tobacco.

Finish
Slightly bitter and warm.

General Thoughts
I really like this well balanced whiskey. A lot of flavor and it's a pleasure to sip neat. A fitting finish to end 2018!

Waldo Norris
Had a great night, cold outside, raining, and just a touch of feeling like winter (for Florida), so what better way to warm my insides with a nice glass of whiskey.

Appearance is a golden amber color

Aroma smelled of spices, tea and peppermint, with perhaps just a tad of vanilla.

The taste was smooth and fresh, which develop into a gentle bite, which had a dry, clean and brief finish.

Just to come clean, I had my first glass of this on a night that was a normal Florida in Winter kind of night. I did enjoy it on the first night, neat as a whistle. I rather enjoyed just sipping on this, as I wasn't looking for a heavy liquor that night. I would say this is an 80 proof whiskey, which on that particular night was perfect.

Tonight when I tried this glass, I did add a drop of water and allowed the drink to open a little more to see what more I could get from the nose. It did smell about the same as the first night, although I thought I could pick up more of the Vanilla on the second night. I'm not sure I liked adding the water as much (albeit, my cooler shoved a little more in the glass than i wanted), but it almost took away from some of the first night flavor that I was picking up on.

This to me seems like a drinkable whiskey, probably American. I'll venture a guess that is may be something from the Jim Beam distillery.