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Honest To Goodness Tasting Notes (My first try)


MurphyDawg
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Hey guys my wife bought me a bottle of George no12 as a suprise today so i thought i would use this as the opportunity to do my first tasting notes, a comparative of the two Tennessees. . . . . i know its been done before but seemed like a good jumping off point. lemme know what you think if you like, i may do more.

Name (full):Jack Daniels Old Time Old No7 Brand Quality Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey

Proof: 86

Price: $17.90 @ Marion County State Store, Marion OH.

Bottle: Classicaly identified tall rectangular bottle with short ribbed neck. Black Label w/ white designs and script (bottled @ the distillery, Lynchburg Tenn.)

Color: Glassy Amber

Nose: Honey, Maple (candy?), floral like apple blossoms. . .intial sugar sweetness fades to smoke (hoghouse??), then to fresh earth.

Taste:LIQUORICE firtst, Earthy Moss, Chewy (like dandelions in a salad), then smoky.

Finish: Medium but Harsh(!!!) kick in the teeth of strenght, then 3 seconds of joy, then a kick in the stomach.

Mouthfeel: Nice though thin and watery.

Conclusions: Not nearly as good as I remember it and not nearly good enough to justify the price. Might be worth it if they sold it in the Jim Beam White Label price range.

Name (full): George Dickel Original Tennessee Finest Quality Sippin' Whisky Superior No. 12 Brand

Proof: 90

Price: $15.40 @ Marion County State Store, Marion OH.

Bottle: Fat Round base with a long ribbed neck, beige label with grey design and print (says it is Bottled by George Dickel & co, Lawrenceburg Indiana 47052)

Color: Golden Bronzed.

Nose: Buttery, Butterscotch, (Burned Sugar Cookies) an a smidge of lemon juice.

Taste: Sweet then blossoming like apple, then birchbark\Applewood. There seems to be an taste like lemon vitamin C drops buried there somewhere, but so slight i might be imagining. . . . .

Finish: Medium but lingering .. . .Smooth , Oily, Warming.

Mouthfeel: Very Smooth, oily, absurdly drinkable.

Conclusions: This stuff is incredibly drinkable, a very satisfying endeavor for the price. I see myself on the front porch in June, listening to a Red Sox game on the radio, throwing fetches to my dogs, as the sun sets on another great summer day, while drinking this stuff, and at $2.50 less than Jack, this is the stuff to buy!!!!!

a little note (at the state store i go to , the shelf tags reflect the final price paid, after ALL applicable taxes, so factor that into my prices)

Whadda ya think?!?!?!?!?!?

Tom C

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by MurphyDawg on Thu Apr 4 21:35:17 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

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Good effort Tom! I always encourage folks to post their notes. Just the act of sitting down with a whiskey and seriously examining it really opens your mind up to what's going on in your glass. The more you do it the more confident you become. Then you can trust your own palete as to what tastes good to you and not rely on what some writers or magazines say/rate. Much better than saying "Oh this mag rated this whiskey a 95 so it must be good.". Then buying the bourbon and possibly be disappionted in it.

Keep it up!

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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A worthy effort. Keep at it. Many people like to limit their serious tasting to newer or higher end quaffs, but I think there is a lot of merit in doing a serious evaluation of the most popular brands. I also often think tasting is too subjective to be of much value, but your notes match some of my own for those products, although what you call licorice I call shellac.

That Dickel is now coming from the old Seagrams plant in Indiana is interesting. Apparently Diageo has decided to keep that plant in operation. It is the largest and most modern of the facilities they now own, so that makes sense. Since it says "bottled," they apparently are bottling whiskey distilled in Tennessee. Will they see if they can get away with making Tennessee whiskey in Indiana? We'll see.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://cowdery.home.netcom.com>--Chuck Cowdery</A>

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iving in ohio, most often the major brands are all i have to taste. :) I would agree about the subjectiveness in tastings being detremental to their usefulness, but i think they are fun to read on sites like this, because sometimes they say more about the taster than the spirit (Linn's are a good example of that)

a note of clarification too, i capitalized Liquorice (??) in the tasting because it came on strong and I am not at all a fan of that flavor, so it might as well have been shellac.

maybe if i get that bottle of old forester i will do a tasting for that. . . . .TomC

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Good job! And you reached the correct conclusion. Let others pay up for JD, the smart money sits on the porch with George.

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"Licorice". And, licorice is good, not bad. Why do so many people not like it?

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Agreed, texascarl. I've been trying to tell my friends here in NE Indiana of the joys of George but it's awful hard to get them away from Mr. Jack's whisky.

Whisky money is best spent on George. I find his whisky to be "cooling" to the palate unlike Jack's Burn from tongue to tummy. There must be something to chilling the Lincoln County Process!

Dave Juhl

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i dunno, it could be a good quality, i just never really liked it, in candy or cakes or anything............just could never get used to it

oh well,

TomC

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I was over a friends house last night who served me some George Dickel with coke, and you know what. . . . . .It was Wretched!!!!!!! I was shocked. Anyway it wound up being a good thing because now I will never add anything but ice to it ever again.

TomC

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Yeah Tom once you get used to drinking bourbon straight adding flavored mixers becomes a ghastly thing. All I add to mine is ice and sometimes a dram of water.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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IMHO Dickel 12 never needs more than an ice cube on a hot day. The only 'mixer' I keep in the 'fridge is Stewarts Ginger Beer. Kind of sweet and about 5 times more ginger(hot!) than most Ginger Ales, it mixes well with an honest Rye like Old Overholt or Wild Turkey Rye. I sometimes mix it with one of the high-rye bourbons like Old Grand-dad BIB. I prefer it as a chaser, but there's a time and a place for a tall, cool Rye and Ginger (with 2 ice cubes-no more!)

I get mine (4 pack, $3) at local grocery stores, but here's an online source:

www.popsoda.com/stewginbeer.html

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Carl my wife always mixes with either Sprite or ginger ale. It depends on what bourbon she's drinking as to which mixer she uses. I've always said drink bourbon anyway you please. I'd rather see people mix than go with some other spirit or the new and very popular R.T.D.'s.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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Okay, Linn, I'll bite. What is an R.T.D.?

Tim

Never mind. I think it just came to me: ready to drink?

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You got it Tim! Ready To Drink. Beer was civilizations first RTD alcoholic beverage; then wine was developed, and much later distilled spirits of which whiskey was among the first. All of these come 'ready to drink' as far as I'm concerned - so I don't see what the big deal is with RTD's.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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I don't know ... I kinda like those pre-mixed cocktails for two things.

Now if they could just squeeze a nice dinner and a good f**k in there, we'd be all set!

Cheers,

Jim Butler

Straightbourbon.com

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Now Jim you know that R.T.F.'s have been around a long time! laugh.gif

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. Will Travel.

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It is well known how people like to add Coke to Jack Daniel's. However, as pointed out on the JD tour, adding Coke or anything sugary to whisky will "put the hangover back in the drink". Supposedly that's what the Lincoln County Process is all about...taking the hangover out of the whisky.

At least that's what the guides tell you.

Ice cubes only in my Dickel if you please.

Dave Juhl

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  • 2 weeks later...

Like I mentioned before I think that the situation and the people you are with can make a good experience even better. This is a perfect example. On Tuesday night my wife and I & our doggies (doggies are people TOO! wink.gif) packed a picnic supper and went to Mt. Gilead State Park in the next county over (Morrow). We had Fried Chicken and Macoroni & Cheese and of course good ole George from a vintage flask I borrowed from my Mother-in-Law. We even managed to pick up an AM Baltimore Radio station on the lil' radio we brought (which was mighty convienent caus the Red Sox were playin' the Orioles that night. . . ) So as the sun was goin down over the pond, I was tossin' water fetches to Murphy and takin little tugs offa the flask, thinkin there can't be a much better way to spend the last night before going back to work another week. . . . if only the damn bums woulda won!

Food for Thought

TomC

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  • 2 months later...

Tom,

I thought that your notes were very good. I too like #12 a lot, and it always suprises me with new aromas and flavors. During a tasting that I had yesterday, we started off with JD's Old #7. My friends had good impressions of it, but they did not observe the liquorice flavor that you noted, but I too have tasted that flavor. I dislike the aftertaste of the JD! It is not something I'll buy again at any price. I think there's lots of good options for less money, including #12. My friends had never had Dickel before. Once they tried #12, they were all astonished at the quality of it's aroma and flavors. All of the aforementioned good impressions of JD went out the window, cause it took a fear seat to good ole George D. I know that Dickel's has some new fans now, and they were all planning to buy a bottle or 2. Hopefully, those of us that enjoy it can all get some new Dickel converts, and customers, so that they'll begin distilling again sometime soon!

Bob Mooney

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Amen to that!!! I spread the news about Dickel #12 to anybody who will listen "If you like JD, you will like this BETTER", and thats EXACTLY how it is with me. I am not opposed to JD, just I lie GD better than JD. I hope they keep making it, I am just beginning to enjoy it!!

TomC

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  • 11 months later...

Never having had much experience with JD (maybe a shot years ago) I recently had an opportunity. I was at a very nice wedding...open bar.. grin.gif but the only whiskey selection (having asked for bourbon) was "Canadian or JD." I picked the JD. My taste experience does not match MurphyDawg's...I wonder what he gave me...the overwhelming flavor was "whiskeysour"...literally. Not undrinkable but definitely different and not much to my liking...and yes, I like a good whiskey sour. The color was pale..like urine.. tongue.gif...I hope it wasn't! Maybe I was slipped some no-name whiskey or blend. If it was the Canadian...it was a little different in taste than what I would expect.

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I don't think that was the real thing, either. JD is not pale and it doesn't taste sour. It is more like paint thinner. wink.gif

Tim

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry for the bump guys.........

There seems to be an taste like lemon vitamin C drops buried there somewhere, but so slight i might be imagining. . . . .

I saw this and couldn't help it. We have had the discussion of the Vitamin flavors and Flintstones Chewables as it relates to Dickel. I think that mostly has been attributed to Jeff, but to go back and see this and to realise it was Murphydawg who first put us on this slippery slope, It's too funny! Bleee bowdown.gif

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Fine, now my own words have been turned against me!!!!!

Well,

large-smiley-030.gif

(that's friggin great Bobby, good find!)

TomC

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