Not An Alcoholic

  Old Grandad Bonded Bourbon Whiskey Revisit     I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm not the biggest bourbon fan. I have tried multiple brands of bourbon now, and I have never enjoyed bourbon quite as much as I've enjoyed Rye, Scotch, Irish whiskey, or even my Straight corn whiskey. Bourbon in my personal and humble opinion, feels like it's trying to sit somewhere between a rye and a straight corn whiskey, and it doesn't fill what I want from either. I will try to give an objective review, but I wanted to clarify my stance and biases first.     Lots of peanut in the nose, I also get some corn, a bit of vanilla, and a sweet chemical note. Before I even got a mouth feel, I immediately got peanut flavor, then I started to detect it's a bit thin on the mouth, with a bit of a bite to it, then get some rye heat, mellows out to corn and vanilla finish. I gave this a 7/10 originally, I think you could raise that to a 7.5/10, it's fine, it's useful in my ...

Tullamore Dew Old Fashioned     I was looking for an excuse to use my lovely Tullamore Dew which I reviewed  here  and it occurred to me that I've yet to make a whiskey Old Fashioned. I've made one with rum, but haven't done a proper whiskey variant. Admittedly, this is still breaking from tradition slightly, in using an Irish whiskey instead of a Bourbon or Rye, or anything American really. But this is not too far off base.     Unfortunately, I didn't have any oranges to get a swath from, but this is a brighter whiskey, so I think we should be okay. The angostura bitters are very forward on the nose, there's some appley notes as well from the whiskey, but it's a lot of nutmeg and cinnamon and maybe a little allspice, it all leads to a very pleasant baking apple smell. Sort of a moderate mouth feel, not thick or thin, not sharp or anything, but I've had smoother, and then as you're dissecting the feel of the drink, the flavor creeps up on you, like war...

  Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey     Previously I did a review of another Irish Whiskey, Jameson  available here . That review is incredibly short, because it's literally just copy pasted from when I was still doing reviews on twitter. However, even though it's brief, I stand by the notes I gave in that review. I bring this up because I will probably reference it a lot when reviewing this whiskey.     The nose is sweet, but more cereal-y than the Jameson, still has a crisp note, like an apple or something. I would describe the nose of the Jameson as a bit more full bodied, but the smell of the Tullamore Dew is still very pleasant. Mouth feel is thin, and it has some bite that the Jameson doesn't. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I actually find the bite of this whiskey to be very enjoyable. But very cereal forward, with a bit of bite, almost like an American rye whiskey. The finish on this is a bit more unified than the Jameson. The Jameson almost goes...

  Egg Nog Review     Sweet, very lightly alcoholic, the nose is full of cinnamon and nutmeg, probably because I grated cinnamon and nutmeg on top of it. I do get some cinnamon in the taste, but the nutmeg is mostly lost. It doesn't taste like raw eggs, but the egg is adding some creaminess and thickness to it. I also get some vanilla and peanut notes from the bourbon. The cognac is a bit more subtle, but I think it's giving a tiny bit of interplay with the cinnamon. Very nice 9/10 My Spec My spec is: 4oz Milk (whole is better, but 2% works, try to avoid skim) 1 Whole raw egg 3/4oz Cognac 3/4oz Bourbon 1/2oz Demerara simple syrup 1 dash of angostura aromatic bitters 1 dash of angostura cocoa bitters Grate the top with cinnamon and nutmeg DRY SHAKE FIRST, that egg is going to expand as you shake it, and doing a good dry shake first makes sure that it expands properly, and that you're keeping your shaker sealed well. After the dry shake, shake it again with ice to ...

Smell is amazing, I get honey peanuts, rye, maybe a tiny bit of chocolate, but its soft. I also find the color rather appealing, but that's much less important. Mouth is a bit thin, spicy and rye forward, but I get honey, licorice, peanuts and butter. Very good 9/10 It's also worth noting that this is a relatively inexpensive bottle, and it's bottled in bond, and going to be one of the most commonly called for spirits behind your bar. You really want your rye to be something you enjoy, and the flavors here are just excellent.

The Paper Plane! The camera doesn't capture it well, in person its a lovely pink color. Smells softly of lemon and a little bit of bourbon. It's super balanced, a tiny bit tart, then I get warm bourbon flavors, a bit of orange, a bit of soft apricot flavor and then it does it all over again, it's got a super long and smooth evolution. In all honesty, probably the best cocktail I've had to date. I'd say 9.8/10 Equal parts (3/4 oz recommended) Lemon Juice Bourbon Aperol Amaro Nonino (which I found incredibly hard to open, idk if I got a defect bottle or something) Shaken with ice, strained and served up, with a typically 1/2 size paper airplane garnish Just for transparencies sake, I took this out to my mother because I was so impressed, and she was incredibly displeased with it. For reference, her usual go-to is a Margarita, on the rocks, with a half-rimmed glass. Or she likes a little baileys from time to time.

Smells sweet, but still strong, maybe a little bit of the corn in the nose, but not much. Mouth is soft, smooth, warm, lots of corn notes, like corn on the cob with butter. It's sweet, and maybe a little buttery, really pleasant. I also get some grassier notes. 8.5/10

Made a non-traditional Manhattan tonight. It honestly doesn't smell like much, but it's smooth, silky, the alcohol flavor arrives late, but the front is a lot of warm vermouth flavors, little bits of cereal from the whiskey, the bitters soften the edges. 😙👌 9/10

Smells crisp and sweet, maybe a bit of apple or pear nose. The mouth feel is very smooth, maybe a bit thin, super drinkable, sweet, lots of cereal notes, maybe a tiny bit of cinnamon, a bit buttery on the end. Very pleasant. 9.3/10 Requested by  @IKnapz

Smells very strongly of earthy smoky wood. Like the smell of campfire. And that little sherry glass is releasing so much smell. In the mouth its sweeter and smoother than I was expecting, with lots of deep rich smoke notes. Rich smoke gives almost to a soft grass note. 9/10 @MuteddR6  Requested Lagavulin 16. I was unable to get a bottle of Lagavulin, but this is also a single malt long aged scotch, from the south part of Islay, with a similar peat smoking method I keep sipping, I'm getting a mineral note, almost like a smoked salt. But it's not like, acrid, or palate desiccating or anything, it's really well structured around the smoke. I can see myself sipping a glass on a cold winter night.

I get a white wine note from the nose, also maybe an apricot smell, some sort of soft non-citrus fruit. Smooth in the mouth, malty, warm, bits of baking spice, other grain notes, it's sweet, its very well rounded. Good to sip. Probably my favorite whiskey I've had. 9.2/10

 Manhattan that I made for a friend at a party