With Cinco de Mayo this week it’s time once again for the Honest Booze Reviews tradition of mixing up the holiday with St Patrick’s day so we begin with this, which was sadly the only whiskey I could find from Ireland that wasn’t Jameson or Bushmills at my local store. (Thankfully I do go to other stores)
I guess this is now a more Laphroaig return (we had like 7 scotches mostly in a row) starting with Laphroaig recently. This is another gift to the lounge in the form of a 15 year old whisky. While the lounge accepts all gifts, we accept those older than our nieces and nephews happily.
Alright time get into some good ol’ fashioned bourbon. This week we get something from Jesse James? Okay much like Tenacious D’s famous song this is actually just a tribute. As far as tributes go though this isn’t too bad.
This actually is a bourbon used for the barrels of a bourbon aged beer we’ve tried (but not reviewed) that if I’m honest was terrible on account of being too sweet and falling victim to the classic bourbon barrel aged problem that most beers can suffer from. And when the bourbon used is like this instead of it’s hotter 100 proof cousin you can see why.
If this whiskey could have an intro song it would be “Let me tell you bout my best friends” or “Come Together”. It’s a beautiful collaboration of a whiskey made from barrels that were used to make beer, where the beer was made with the same whiskey’s barrels. It’s the pinnacle of the trend of ‘upcycling’ so hard it almost hurts.
As part of a three-whiskey box special I got a selection of Jameson’s. Of course you know we’ve already reviewed the classic, but the next two up are the Caskmate and this the Special Reserve (or as it’s being slowly renamed too – the Black Barrel). However with either the name of a special reserve or black barrel this feels not like a better more exclusive Jameson, but simply another breed in it’s line.
As promised here we have some irish whiskey’s mostly due to a sampler pack I bought, but I figured I should get something else, and this one came with a nice flask. While I am fine with everything but the actual taste I don’t think this is the irish whiskey I would ever want or need.
Alright time for some whiskey, and this time we go for some good ol’ southern bourbon instead of scotch. While Islay may pack a punch, this packs a whole whollup. Normally I ignore a bourbon set at a higher proof as being anything more than a bit boozy, but this is so hot Chris Tucker is reprising his role from Fifth Element.
Our part 2 of New Hampshire scotch adventures, and of course some people just muttered/shouted that this is not in fact scotch. This is due to the fact that it actually comes from Japan despite its presence in the scotch aisle of every store. Japan has been making waves recently in the whiskey market, most notably with Sunatory buying many whiskey making companies, and with it’s own well-known/imported whiskies. Hibiki and this, Nikka.
Sigh. Sorry to bum everyone out, but I am just waiting to try a Canadian whiskey that is actually something great. Something that is more than just a single note of Rye, or a subpar taste. However again I seem to be stuck into reviewing a whiskey that is for lack of better or more eloquent words bad.
