It is a bit hard to rationalize disliking when people put the words ‘farm crafted’ and ‘organic’ on something we review when we ourselves are the brand of hipster that hates some new burger joint charging 19 for their creation yet still visits a farmer’s market every week because it’s between the butcher and weed store and potatoes are required for a meal this week. In short, we don’t buy into this malarkey, but we at least respect it well enough.
A rye’s always a fun review in the lounge as it’s often accompanied by one of our favorite cocktails – and Old Fashioned, or as we like to call “The Litmus Test for Bars and Those Who Tend Them.” No in our minds when one asks for an ol’ fashioned you should be greeted with 1 question which is – which whiskey? The acceptable replies being a named bottle that you’ve already spotted, rye, or top-shelf rye.
If you are here for our take on this whiskey and willing to accept us at our word – don’t. If however, you are here for a reason you fully know why (because some sort of machismo old-timey boxing bullshit check-in) then we guess you should read further so that we can wholeheartedly change your mind.
Tequila is often considered a drink for all parties involved – as long as you mind the age. For the young it’s silver or rotgut gold shot so fast into your body it might as well be the bullet that kills you. As you get past those ’20s and ’30s though looking for something to sip quietly and in small quantities – you reach for an Anejo. This would normally be the bit where we undercut that with a past review, but it seems we’re starting at the Anejo and working backward.
Alright, that’s far too much whiskey for Father’s day timing, now let’s go with something my father would actually drink (he only drinks on Christmas, and always tequila). This is a Mezcal, but it’s not like that should matter right – there’s no substantive reason why it’d be considered anything less than tequila? Right?
So we have recently had the Bulleit 95, but thanks to our Father’s Day gift of whiskies to recommend we have the 12 year and figured we’d put this one on the usual Wednesday. This too unlike Cascade was also just a sample size, but unlike that French Oak Crown Royale – we wish we had a full bottle of this.
Once again in honor of Father’s day, we have another week of Whiskey on a Monday (the name of our Bukowski themed only-covers band). While we were not sent a full bottle of this like Cascade, we understand because this Crown Royal is nobler than that, and with a price to match. The quality though – well let’s just say there’s a reason we put this after the actual day we were asked to recommend it for.
Apologies if you feel by the calendar of our reviews that today is Wednesday, but we’ve made this and next week a bit special with whiskey for father’s day. This is primarily because we were given two spirits to review and possibly recommend for father’s day, and we start with this – Cascade a whiskey that has instructions for fishing on it.
We mentioned the week before about giving out a gift for the Christmas season (we know it’s April, friends in other states does this), and this is the companion piece – the gift to the lounge. We are willing to admit that in a blind buy we got better than we gave. While there are some niggling details here to stop this from being a darling, it’s a fine gift.
We’ve tried it spiced, but how does it fare clear? In short, it’s better, but then that bar was already on the lower side. You can already see the massive amount of sugarcane imparted into this spirit that will eventually mellow and ruin its spiced cousin. You can actually enjoy this in cola though so at least it has that going for it.
