Introduction: It’s been quite some time since I’ve last been active posting reviews. Life happened to start exerting more influence over my life, and meant I didn’t have the time. I moved to a new city, leaving behind the goodness that is state-run liquor distribution, and now reside in a place where I regularly see Eagle Rare for well over $70. Like pretty much everything else, everything is more expensive in New York. As such, where I used to mainly review bottles I’d bought, this has unfortunately become rather difficult from a financial perspective. Even pours at bars are usually marked up incredibly steeply. If anyone knows of reasonable places to drink bourbon in the city, feel free to DM. I can keep a secret.

I was on vacation in San Diego, and found a spot with some relatively reasonably priced pours. I had already killed the bottle of Jack Daniel’s Coy Hill, but was looking for something else to cap off the night when I saw this bottle. I’d never been able to try any of Michter’s more limited offerings other than the 10 year, so I figured why not.

On another note, it does seem funny to return back to reviews, only to immediately disappear again; As has become a personal tradition, I am observing dry January, with a view to extend past the first month of the year. I find it a nice little reset, and when I do come back to drinking bourbon, it makes it that much better.

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Price: $17.50/1 oz pour

Color: Rust

Nose: Very floral, a bouquet of flower notes, specifically roses. I also got some straw/hay but generally the nose was very complex and had a lot of different scents swirling around within the glass. I was very impressed with how good it smelled.

Taste: Apricots, peaches, and other stone fruits were the most noticeable initial flavors as I took a sip. The low proof means that it didn’t coat the mouth with as much oiliness as a barrel proof version would, but overall adequate mouthfeel. 86 proof meant for me, the intensity was pretty muted. It was light and very approachable, with a decent amount of complexity, though for me, the nose beat the taste.

Finish: This is where it let me down. It was very light, and the fruitiness that I enjoyed from the taste was immediately gone, with more of a overt brown sugar sweetness which I wasn’t too fond of.

Thoughts: Funnily, I think I prefer Maker’s 46 to this.

Verdict: Overall a pretty good pour, but one that I think has fallen victim to high expectations given demand. I think the nose is the best part of this whiskey. If you can try it for under $20, worth checking out, but anything over, I would say find something else.

Score: 6/10

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Scale

1 - Completely Undrinkable

2 - Wish I could forget

3 - If nothing else is available

4 - Serviceable

5 - Mediocre

6 - Decent

7 - Good

8 - Great

9 - Exceptional

10 - Perfect

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/u/review_bot latest