Chris | Page 23 | NYC Whiskey Review

christopher.dias.nyc@gmail.com

Eagle Rare Bourbon

June 2, 2022 America

Name: Eagle Rare Bourbon

Color: Light Brown

Nose: Corn/malt, oak, green grass

Taste: Sweet corn, honey, vanilla, oak, brown sugar

Eagle Rare is a straight bourbon, aged approximately 10 years, bottled at 45% abv, and is an undisclosed Buffalo Trace mash bill #1 expression (possible low rye mash). It had a decent taste and is a little spicy on the tongue. When ice is added, it dilutes too quickly, and the flavor rapidly disappears. Add a few drops of water and the flavors opens up and holds a little better. Eagle Rare also won a bunch of awards. Congratulations, I hope the metal was very shinny and the ribbon was soft and silky.

It is decent bourbon, but it was not really fooling me to be amazing at the price versus Buffalo Trace’s baseline price of $35+. Recently on the JRE Podcast a guest asked Joe Rogan why he did not have any Eagle Rare in his studio since he is sponsored by Buffalo Trace. I give that guy credit, he did his homework.

Priced around $45 and it’s fine to drink, but it is not fooling me to be anything too special.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Crown Royal Apple

May 26, 2022 Canada

Name: Crown Royal Apple

Color: Brown

Nose: Chemical apple, no crown royal notes

Taste: Chemical sweet apple, touch of crown

Holy fucking shit, this stuff awful! From the moment I opened the little nip bottle I could only smell chemicals and candy apples. I did not want to taste this stuff, but I did. This shit is just as bad, if not worse, than Jim Beam Apple. (My first opening statement draft was less strong.)

Crown Royal Apple is a liqueur, not a liquor so do not expect much for whiskey taste. If you are not familiar, a liqueur is a distilled spirit but is usually much sweeter than a liquor. They are usually lower in proof. Basically, they are an additive to a cocktail.

Crown Royal Apple may go well with a specialized mixed drink, but I would rather drink water. You are basically drinking chemicals with this stuff. It also appears to be popular with the college students on Instagram. I can’t fault them for bad taste, I used to keep Goldschlager in my dorm room in the 1990’s.

Priced around $35 and tastes like shit.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Buffalo Trace Bourbon

May 11, 2022 America

Name: Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Color: Copper

Nose: Corn, vanilla, caramel, dark fruit

Taste: Corn, vanilla, oak, molasses, spice

Buffalo Trace Bourbon comes from the Buffalo Trace Distillery which is located in Frankfort, Kentucky. This bourbon has been around for a long time and is owned by the Sazerac Company.

Buffalo Trace is a large distillery and produces many different expressions and products. They also supply smaller start up distilleries that can not fund the cost of operating a full distillery. Other popular expressions that produced: Colonel H. Taylor, Eagle Rare, George T. Stagg, Old Taylor, Sazerac, W.L. Weller, and many more. If you are not familiar with some of these bourbons I recommend you try them. I visit Kentucky every October and these bottles are on every bar and most stores and they are well known.

One interesting item of note is that Joe Rogan on his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast” has cracked open a bottle of Buffalo Trace more frequently than any other whiskey since I have started listening to his show. I believe they are a primary sponsor.

Buffalo Trace Bourbon is decent stuff and tastes good for the price but ultimately it is the baseline whiskey for other produced expressions. I find it better for cocktails or slugging it down with friends in the Bluegrass State.

Priced around $40 and worth it to have it on your bar at home for a mixer or to give as a gift.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Excelsior Straight Rye

May 5, 2022 NYC

Name: Excelsior Straight Rye

Color: Light Brown

Nose: Orange jam, rye spice, honey, wood

Taste: Rye spice, orange jam, light oak

Review:

Excelsior Straight Rye is produced by Coppersea Distilling, located in New Platz, New York and was founded in 2011. The name of the distillery comes from an old saying that there was a “Sea of Copper stills along the Hudson River Valley in the 1800’s…” The title of this rye whiskey originates from the New York State motto “Excelsior”, in Latin translates to “Ever Upward”.

Coppersea follows Empire Rye Whiskey Association standards which it is also a founding member. They source their products locally, or within a limited distance to the distillery. The grain, water, yeast, wood, copper, etc. are all as local as can be reasonably achieved. The facility is small and the production is limited per year but quality if the focus. If you want to learn more, watch the videos on their website. They are short, well made and very informative.

Excelsior Straight Rye has a mash bill of 80% rye, 20% malted barley, and is bottled at 48% abv. The flavor profile is rye spice with sweet orange jam/marmalade finish.The sweet finish is a little too much for my taste on a rye, but overall is very good and blends nicely. This bottle was a gift from the distillery and I was invited up in April 2021 for a private tasting of all the available expressions. I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw and tasted, and that does not happen to very often.

Reviews on the other expressions such as the Bonticou Crag Straight Rye Malt & Bottled In-Bond Rye Malt, Excelsior Bottled In-Bond Rye Straight Bourbon, Big Angus Green Malt, Pedro Ximénez Cask Single Barrel Rye, Amontillado Cask Single Barrel Rye, and Sauternes Cask Single Barrel Rye will be coming soon. These each having varying flavor profiles and there were a couple I thought were excellent.

Priced is $50 and is a good price for the flavor profile. I recommend you take ride up to New Platz for the day and try all the expressions and buy a bottle that you enjoy.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

The Famous Grouse Smoky Black

April 28, 2022 Scotland

Name: The Famous Grouse Smoky Black

Color: Dark Gold

Nose: Smoke, iodine, floral, honey

Taste: Soft, light smoke, heather, honey, light wood

The Famous Grouse label is a well-known and popular Scotch Whisky that you see in all the bars in Scotland and most liquor stores in America. Founded by Matthew Gloag and his son William Gloag they created The Famous Grouse in 1896 and have become a cornerstone of the scotch whisky industry in Scotland.

The distiller produces other expressions such as; Famous Grouse, Alpha Edition, Mellow Gold, Snow, 16-Year-Old Vic Lee, and a few other expressions. The Famous Grouse was also the official whiskey of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and I will be reviewing a special edition of Grouse 1986 at the end of year.

Following on my previous sampling of the regular Famous Grouse I opted to buy the Smoky Black. I was pleasantly surprised it is very nice stuff for the price. It is smoky (hence the name) and a bit heavier than the Famous Grouse but easy to drink. This one will be my go-to gift instead of Johnnie Walker Black if it is available in the store.

Price around $35 and very affordably Scottish. It is fine for a slugging whisky and I find it easier to drink then Johnnie Walker Black for the price.

If you like it, drink it!

Sagamore Rye Signature

April 21, 2022 America

Name: Sagamore Rye Signature

Color: Orange brown

Nose: Vanilla, rye, white pepper

Taste: Rye, light spices, vanilla caramel

Sagamore Spirit Whiskey originates from Baltimore, Maryland and is owned by the owner Under Armor clothing. The marketing claims that Maryland produced rye whiskey before Bourbon was created in Kentucky. This makes sense when you look at how America’s colonies and states developed, however, I can now smell a Mad Men marketing a mile away before I taste a whiskey.

Sagamore Rye is the baseline expression bottled at 83 proof. This expression has a light nose and a decent taste profile, but compared to the other expressions it is very basic baseline rye. I was informed this expression is 75% of the Sagamore business which would make sense due to the cost of this bottle versus the other expression which can be double and then some. You can not blame a business for making a product affordable that is its cornerstone of production and revenue. However, you can blame it if the cornerstone is absolute shit. Sagamore Rye’s are NOT shit.

If you know where you can purchase all the expressions in a store in the NYC or North New Jersey area please let me know. I only a few different expressions in the stores and they are usually the Signature of the Cask Strength. I would like to purchase a few different expressions for my summer cocktails in 2021.

I recommend Sagamore Rye Signature for cocktails or on the rocks.

Priced around $40 and worth the money to start experiencing Sagamore Whiskey

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Calumet Farm Small Batch Bourbon

April 20, 2022 America

Name: Calumet Farm Small Batch Bourbon

Color: Brown

Nose: Corn, vanilla, wood, dark fruit

Taste: Corn, vanilla, orange cream, light oak

Review:

Calumet Farm was established in 1924 in Lexington, KY and produced numerous champion racehorses. At some point they started making bourbon, and by “making” I mean sourcing it. From my research on their limited information, they source the whisky from Western Spirits by Three Springs Bottling Company in Bowling Green, KY. They then market they shit out of it in a unique and sexy looking bottle.

It is stated that this expression is a blend of 7-8 year-old and 14-year-old Kentucky Straight Bourbon. The mash bill is 74% corn, 18% rye, 8% malted barley, and bottled at 43% abv.

The first taste gave me a nice balance with an impressive flavor profile. The second taste was very smooth, and I was more impressed. This one was a new experience for me as I had not heard or tried this bourbon before. I do not see it on the shelves here in the NYC area.

Other expressions: 15, 14, 12, 10, 8, Small Batch, and The Pedigree.

Priced around $60 and a decent tasting bourbon. I look forward to trying more expressions to see how they hold up..

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

anCnoc 12-Year-Old

April 14, 2022 Scotland

Name: anCnoc 12-Year-Old

Color: Light Brown

Nose: Malt, flowers, light smoke, honey

Taste: Malt, lemon, almonds, wood

anCnoc (“a-nock”) 12-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch comes from the Knockdhu Distillery in AberdeenShire, Scotland. The distillery dates back to 1893 when the Scotch production was for Haig’s Whiskey. The distillery was near the Knock Rail Road Station, so distribution was an advantage to getting the product to market. Knockdhu was closed in 1983, sold in 1988, resume production in 1989, and re-named in 1994. The re-naming was done to avoid confusion with Knockando and the name is Scottish Gaelic and translate to “the hill”.

Other expressions: 18, 24, 2002, Peatheart, Rudhan (travel), Cutter, Rascan, Barrow, and Black Hill Reserve.

anCnoc 12 is Speyside styled scotch bottled at 43% abv, medium malt body, semi-fresh tasting scotch, and has a nice balance. Overall, it is good tasting and there is a little more malt on the taste profile than anything else. The other flavors are subtle on the back end.

Priced around $50 and worth a try of you like the flavor profile. I look to other to trying other expressions.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Jameson Crested

March 17, 2022 Ireland

Name: Jameson Crested

Color: Light Yellow

Nose: Malt, citrus, flowers, sherry

Taste: Malt, citrus, flowers, light cream

Jameson Crested Whiskey is one of many expressions from the New Midleton Distillery in Dublin, Ireland. This expression was originally titled “Crested Ten” but Jameson decided to drop the “Ten” from the title. I am going to guess it had to do with it being a non-age stated whiskey. The actual age of this whiskey is 3+ years which is pretty much the minimum. It is bottled at 40% abv and aged in ex-bourbon and sherry cask.

Crested has a nice pot still malt flavor, good sherry notes, and is well balanced. It is smooth to drink neat, would do well on the rocks, or in an Irish Coffee. I am not a fan of Jameson expressions or most of New Midleton’s rename cousins in more expensive bottles, but this one is good. As of this review it is the best of all Jameson labeled whiskey I have sampled. I might buy a bottle if I had to go a party in Southie (Irish section of Boston). Hell’s Kitchen (former Irish section of NYC) is now all hipster millennial snowflakes so they can go drink flavored Vodka.

Priced around $45 and good stuff for a Jameson label.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

Slane Irish Whiskey

March 9, 2022 Ireland

Name: Slane Irish Whiskey

Color: Light Brown

Nose: Malt, oak, vanilla cream, flowers

Taste: Malt, oak, vanilla cream, flowers

This is going to be short, never a good sign on NYC Whiskey Review.

Slane Irish Whiskey is sourced, blended, bottled at 40% abv, and aged in triple casks. On the bottle these casks are listed as virgin, seasoned, and sherry. From my research the barrels may be Bushmills, Jack Daniels, and Forester Bourbon. I am not able to confirm if this accurate and the marketing of the casks names does not really align with these other distilleries.

This whiskey did not impress me, nor did it get better with a couple of drops of water. It is very cheap tasting and has an odd finish.

Priced around $30 and is slugging whiskey and not worth the money.

If you like it, drink it! – Christopher

If you like it, drink it!

christopher.dias.nyc@gmail.com

Eagle Rare Bourbon

Crown Royal Apple

Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Excelsior Straight Rye

The Famous Grouse Smoky Black

Sagamore Rye Signature

Calumet Farm Small Batch Bourbon

anCnoc 12-Year-Old

Jameson Crested

Slane Irish Whiskey

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