Can you guess what I just had?

[Nebraska]

Alright, Gary and I started a can you guess what I just poured thread. Describe the flavors you experienced and other helpful hints and we will try to guess what it was you just had.

Ok,ok...not just Gary and I but everybody guess what it is.

[Gillman]

Mark did the first one, Sazerac straight rye whiskey "junior" and my choice was Elmer T. Lee bourbon. My thinking on this is some information beyond one taste note should be given, including perhaps some commercial information. Otherwise it may be too hard to spot the brand. Giving too much information would make it too easy. But one word if distinctive enough might do it as spinach did for the Sazerac rye, so I don't want to pre-judge it, but words such as "minty" alone probably won't work. Also, I suggest we avoid descriptions which recall expressions well-known here (e.g. "vitamins" for Dickel). I suggest someone else pick a third whiskey, if no one does we'll know interest has trailed off.

Gary

[Ambernecter]

I enjoyed a lunchtime jigger of a fairly popular whiskey. It is a high rye recipe Bourbon that I reakon does not get enough attention really.

I find it an easy to drink whiskey, at just over 90 proof. The spicey rye flavour is there but more subtle than say a Wild Turkey. I let a girl taste my drink (she is not a Bourbon drinker) and she said it was much more like Brandy than whiskey which I thought was spot on...

So all in all a smooth, easy to drink whiskey, high rye recipe, easy finish with a brandy like edge to it. Any guesses?

[Tricky]

Gary - I picked out Marks' Sazerac 6yo ... and I also thought about the ETL for yours, but your clues included both "chocolatey" and "nutmeg-like" and I attribute both of these to EC18 also - a tricky one !

It might be interesting to pick several characteristics but only one relatively distinguishing item (but not a unique one).

Mark did the first one, Sazerac straight rye whiskey "junior" and my choice was Elmer T. Lee bourbon. My thinking on this is some information beyond one taste note should be given, including perhaps some commercial information. Otherwise it may be too hard to spot the brand. Giving too much information would make it too easy. But one word if distinctive enough might do it as spinach did for the Sazerac rye, so I don't want to pre-judge it, but words such as "minty" alone probably won't work. Also, I suggest we avoid descriptions which recall expressions well-known here (e.g. "vitamins" for Dickel). I suggest someone else pick a third whiskey, if no one does we'll know interest has trailed off.

Gary

[Tricky]

... at just over 90 proof ... I let a girl taste my drink (she is not a Bourbon drinker) and she said it was much more like Brandy ... a smooth, easy to drink whiskey, high rye recipe, easy finish with a brandy like edge to it. Any guesses?

Hmmmm.....you could be drinking Blanton's SB ?

[Ambernecter]

I could have been Tricky but I was not! Not as good as Blanton's IMO but still very nice - this is a pretty new whiskey and has won a few awards already.

[bluesbassdad]

Whenever someone mentions "brandy", I think of Eagle Rare SB 10 y/o. I'm not sure about the other points you mentioned, such as the high-rye recipe.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Ambernecter]

Well not to drag this out, it was Woodford Reserve. Not a bad drop at all I reakon and one that worked today in the Summer sun.

[jeff]

Well not to drag this out, it was Woodford Reserve. Not a bad drop at all I reakon and one that worked today in the Summer sun.

Now see, if you had said "tastes like a copper penny" I would have gotten that:slappin:

[Ambernecter]

Now see, if you had said "tastes like a copper penny" I would have gotten that:slappin:

Ha! Nice one Jeff - didn't want to make it too easy though.

There is no love for this whiskey on this here forum but I always have quite liked it...

[ratcheer]

I have always liked it, too, but I haven't had any in several years. I guess all the negative comments had a social effect on me. :skep:

Tim

[Gillman]

Hey Amber Nectar, not so fast, some of us may have gotten it!

Okay I'll go now.

A whiskey past 4 years old, available not regionally but not "typical" of its brand family. Not top shelf but solid mid-shelf.

There is a noticeable chewy rye quality but not wintergreen-like, not cinnamon-like, not "red hots", not eucalyptus.

Name that hooch, fellas.

Gary

[Nebraska]

Humm, "not regionally", so available nation-wide. Not "typical", this part has me thrown a little bit, does that mean the family brand is a little harder to get nation wide and this particular product is widely available?

[Gillman]

No more clues, I've given too many already.

I hope the mavens won't feel abashed to answer for fear of missing the mark. This is about love of whiskey, being passionate about something we care about and the risks and adventures attendant on same. If anything, as a whiskey veteran I'd take an odd kind of pride in being trumped by someone who knows "less" or even a newbie. What greater palm for the board than to see a less experienced member grasp the crown? And if an old hand pulls it off, that's no less satisfying, to be sure.

Essay, gents, don't be shy, don't tarry.

Gary

[Hedmans Brorsa]

I counted to seven 'nots', Gary.

Can´t you give us at least one 'have'?

[Ambernecter]

Could it be WT 101?

[Gillman]

Good guess but nope (and it is a bourbon by the way).

I did state many positive facts, to sum up:

- chewy rye quality (I'll add, cereal/grainy with a pungent quality)

- older than 4 years

- member of a brand family

- distributed beyond a regional range.

Gary

[Nebraska]

WT 101 was what I was thining as well...That and WT Rare Breed.

[Hedmans Brorsa]

- chewy rye quality (I'll add, cereal/grainy with a pungent quality)

Gary

Kentucky Spirit?

Being non-English speaking I am not 100% certain about the word pungent but somehow I connect it to the 'unripe oranges" theme characteristic of KS.

There is also a chewy quality to it, one that I always has connected with the oak, though.

[Gillman]

No.

Here's another clue to the palate: "creosote".

Gary

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Ooops, should´ve read the earlier post stating that it was a solid mid-shelf.

Anyway, when I first read "chewy rye quality" I thought of my first bottle of Jack Daniel´s SB. Confronted by "creosote" (had to look it up) I immediately thought of the good ol´ No. 7.

But since this is a bourbon I have to go for the nearest in style to JD in the bourbon world :

Jim Beam black.

Soccer-time for me. I will return later, eager to collect the $ 10.000 in prize money offered by Jim. :grin:

[Gillman]

You got it!

Gary

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Well, perseverance does it!

Have I understood it right that the person who comes up with the correct answer is supposed to provide a new one?

In that case, I will have to hand over the baton to someone else. I´m not really that good when it comes to English expressions about food and related.

I will have to sit down and do a tasting and scribble down some notes to be able to serve you with some good clues. If I´m lucky enough to guess right again, then I´ll have something prepared.

So, over to the most willing!

[bluesbassdad]

Lennart,

I've written in another thread about the uncertainty we all experience in connection with communicating sensations, regardless of commonality of language or lack thereof. Your mention of the word "pungent" impells me to continue in that vein.

Here is one dictionary definition of the word. I must confess that I have used it many times to describe a smell that was not "acrid". I once had the opportunity to sniff and taste what a co-worker described as "pure mint oil". I found the aroma to be startling, and I might well have used the word "pungent" to describe it. However, I would not have called it "acrid", which to me means bitter, even though "acrid" is used in the definition of "pungent".

I have noticed that many people have speech habits in connection with aromas. For example, my wife is incapable of referring to garlic without using the word "reeks" in close proximity. In contrast I use that word only in regard to aromas I find unpleasant, and garlic is not one of them. I'm more likely to use the word in connection with something we all would agree smells bad, stale cat urine, for example.

The existence of such idiosyncratic habits or patterns makes communicating about taste and/or aroma all the more troublesome.

In short even a native speaker of English might do no better than you in characterizing an aroma as being pungent or not. At least the use of a tasting vocabulary such as the one on this site has some chance of evoking common experience. For example, I would suppose, without any direct knowledge, that a peach in Sweden tastes very much like one in the USA. If one of us uses that word in tasting notes, there's a better chance of accurate communication than if we were to say "sweet", for example.

BTW, if you had never mentioned that English is not your first language, I would never have inferred that fact from your writing.

Yours truly,

Dave Morefield

[Gillman]

I was searching for one word to describe Beam Black but didn't hit on it until later in the game. Creosote perfectly encapsulates the whiskey for me. There is no other whiskey I'd ascribe it to. But for the Beam family, including OG today, they seem to share this oily, tarry and certainly pungent note. Creosote is more specific though than these other terms and the moment I mentioned it Lennart knew the bourbon I meant.

Gary