So given our restrictions in reviewing (we don’t know what they are tbh), we have this whiskey which is really more like a rum, simply because it’d been aged heavily by the process, and that matters. Teeling isn’t a typical whiskey, having been aged in rum casks, but we do have some thoughts on it.
It’s a lesson once again in well-known obscurity as we once again have something to review that we here know well enough about, something we’ve carried in our bar and ordered in others, and yet something that for some reason hasn’t made it to this damn website. So let’s hear it for Bulliet rye for being all the rye you ever truly need, but maybe not what you want.
One of the main reasons we’ve continued on this crusade of reviews is that all too often your idea of a whiskey viewed on the shelf or pontificated upon the bottle bears seemingly no resemblance to what is in the glass. Take this, for example, named after some bank robbers, owned as another gobbled up Sazerac distillery from Kentucky, and a look that screams “I will kill you in a way Jacky D never could”
We honestly did not pick this up because it was an Indian whiskey – as always it was huh, never seen that before. let’s get it. That being said it’s great to see that the offering from India is actually pretty good, oh sure it’s got problems, and it’s not as good as Japan’s recent forays, but first impressions are good.
It’s been a minute since we’ve had something that is actually this well liked, but to give away too much at the beginning – Tin Cup is a good whiskey. That’s not to say it does not have its faults. While no single aspect of Tin Cup makes it exceptionally amazing, it is a solidly good whiskey, and it’s only true complaint comes in trying to change it.
While we understand how integral horse racing is to the Kentucky area, and that by extension it’s not insane how many bourbons associate with that heritage. (Lord knows KY has some other stuff not to latch onto). Between other industries, Nascar, bluegrass, and more – you’d just sort of wish to get a bourbon that doesn’t have a stupid 4 legged creature.
At this point, we’re fairly familiar with Bowmore. However we’ve sort of been going about it in reverse having started with the 17 year, and then near 6 years later (yikes), we did the 15 year. We’ve opted this time to go with the 12 year. We can therefore finally form a verdict on which Bowmore you should buy, and what (if anything) does time do?
We’ve not actually covered Maker’s Mark here so in typical HBR fashioned let’s review a special version of it first and review the regular spirit many years later as an afterthought. This Maker’s was actually bought as a gift until said person made a comment about hating American whiskey over scotch (and Japanese) so we ran an audible and bought a scotch instead – and enjoyed this ourselves.
Christmas time has come and gone once again, and once again a scotch has been gifted to the lounge. Sadly however it’s not a scotch as it’s been tainted by the wicked evil magic that is sherry. We’ve long been opponents of sherry aged scotches, but the recent trend of finishing in sherry has revived our hopes and can often be enjoyable. That is not the case here.
We really do like when companies such as Cedar Ridge take the step from being things like a winery or brewery or pub and branch out into the spirits game. That being said at the top let’s get into why this small batch bottle of ‘bourbon’ isn’t exactly what we had in mind.
