I like to try new bourbons. Sometimes I find things that surprise me by how good they are, and other times I end up with something like this Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon which left me feeling cheated that I spent $30 dollars on it.
The first sip made my eyes go wide as the whiskey slid over my tongue and hit the back of my pallet. It feels thin and has a strange aftertaste that is hard to describe, other than it reminds of me of my days working at a chemical plant and accidentally getting a whiff of petroleum products that made your throat burn.
The distillers at Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon pride themselves on using a purification/accelerated maturation process to remove harsh-tasting congeners from their whiskeys. The whiskey itself is aged a minimum of 6 months. Both those sentences should scare you. Whatever they did, it results in some really funky flavors.
Overall, Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon earned its 15/100 score and I’m still shivering at the memory of the taste.
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I took the first sip of Stillhouse Black Bourbon. My expectations weren’t that high, as I only paid $22, so on top of being a very drinkable bourbon, it is quite affordable.
Stillhouse Black Bourbon
So how drinkable was it?
The nose hits you with a bit of alcohol, but it quickly mixes with wood char.
The palate starts in a very similar fashion. The alcohol burns then quickly turns to mild oak char that finishes with a touch of bitterness, astringency, and spice from the coffee ground and rye. Those coffee notes through me at first. Stillhouse Black Bourbon is “mellowed in coffee beans”, but I didn’t know that until after I’d taken the first few sips. Then it clicked, that bitterness and astringency is from the coffee.
Even though I’m giving Stillhouse Black Bourbon a 61, putting it in the Mixers or On Ice category, its already a “bottle” that I’ve bought more than once. It is perfect for mixers, and better yet, it is perfect for camping and hiking, where not having a glass bottle is a real bonus.
Color
Dark amber and brown.
Proof
40.0% ABV
Pros
Packaged in a metal tin, which makes it perfect for camping and hiking as well as parties where you don’t want to take a glass bottle.
Great bang for the buck when it comes to value.
Cons
Some drinkers may not like the opening astringency.
If you like your whiskey neat, this might not be right for you. It really does need some ice or be put in a mixed drink to help smooth out the rough edges.
It is packaged in a squarish metal case, while being awesome, also means its hard to tell when you are almost out of Stillhouse.
Knob Creek Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont Kentucky. Jim Beam is in turned owned by Beam Suntory of Osaka, Japan. The whiskey is aged for 9 years in white oak barrels and bottled at 100 proof.
Knob Creek Small Batch
The nose on this Knob Creek Small Batch is strong. Not in a bad way, it is just very in your face, or in your nose I guess. The first note is strong burnt marshmallow and sugar that hides faint hits of vanilla under it. Surprisingly there isn’t really a lot of alcohol on the nose, which I was expecting given that its 100 proof.
The next surprise was on the tongue. I was expecting the same strong notes from the nose to come through on the palate, but it was actually more subdued. There is brown sugar and marshmallow, and I found they did stick to my tongue. From the moment this dark Bourbon touched my tongue there is that sweetness that gets a touch of leather on the finish. I couldn’t taste any of the Vanilla though. It was hinted at on the nose, but I just couldn’t find it on the tongue.
I’m not sure if it is the proof and the sweetness that didn’t seem to work for me. While Knob Creek Small Batch is 100 proof, it wasn’t really the alcohol I didn’t like either. It was just something about how the burnt sugar stuck to my tongue. A nice long finish is awesome, but if it hangs around too long it’s not quite as enjoyable.
I did however find that a few ice cubes really helped to cut down that sweetness and helped to soften the finish. Knob Creek Small Batch earned itself a 49/100.
Color
Dark amber and brown.
Proof
50.0% ABV
Pros
The strong nose is oddly enjoyable.
If you like burnt marshmallow, you will love this.
Cons
The finish leaves something to be desired.
Really just has one note on the palate. The burnt sugar overpowers everything else.
A blend of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and a unique honey liqueur of our own making, for a taste that’s one-of-a-kind and unmistakably Jack. With hints of honey and a finish that’s naturally smooth, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey offers a taste of the unexpected. -Jack Daniel’s
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
Clearly Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey was an attempt to compete with other flavored whiskeys. Even if technically its not even a whiskey. It’s a Liqueur because of how its created.
The nose is all sugar. Yes, it smells a bit like honey, but really all I get is sugar and alcohol.
The mouth feel isn’t much better. It is sweet, but also sticks to my tongue as if it is just a bit too much like syrup. It only gets worse on the swallow. As well as being sickly sweet it has an odd aftertaste. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey is one of those drams that I kept licking my mouth as if I was trying to physically scrub away the flavor.
These drams are always hard to score. Instead of how much did I like it, the score becomes how much did I dislike it? It is basically a rating of how to torture me with Whiskey once the rating goes below 29. So if you want to torture me someday Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey scored a 10/100 making it just bad.
I’m not a huge fan of Flavored Whiskeys. Whiskey should taste like Whiskey as far as I’m concerned. I know the segment is expanding in lots of markets and some people love them. I’m just not one of those people. If you love Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey or other flavored whiskeys let me know int the comments and I’ll try the out.
Color
Way too much potassium in your pee.
Proof
35.0% ABV
Pros
If you like to drink syrup this might be a Whiskey for you.
Its super sweet and at only 70 proof might be good for new whiskey drinkers?
Cons
Too sweet.
Feels like a dessert but doesn’t taste good (to me).
One of my sons lives a few miles from Cinder Bar and pre pandemic we would meet there for dinner and drinks on Friday nights. Cinder Bar has excellent pizza, the most amazing Deviled Eggs of any restaurant I’ve ever been to. I know its a simple dish, but simple dishes done well is sometimes the hardest thing.
My family loves the pizza, but my favorite meal is the Short Rib Cheesesteak.
The meat is just mouth watering. Juicy and full of flavor that is just rich and decadent. The fontina cheese, aioli, and caramelized onions just combine into the most amazing bite – every bite. The sandwich is rich. Its not huge, but somehow it fills me up more than sandwiches twice its size.
What I’m trying to say is that the food is really good.
So what do I normally drink with my meal? A Manhattan of course.
Cinder Bar Basil Hayden’s Manhattan
While my Basil Hayden’s Manhattan was amazing, its just a fraction of what’s available at Cinder Bar. This is a real Whiskey Drinker’s restaurant. The Whiskey Menu is so large it takes up multiple pages on the menu.
Cinder Bar has a great selection of Irish whiskeys.
I can’t even get a screen capture of the full Whiskey Menu because its several pages long. But you can view it here. There are six pages of whiskey to choose from.
When it comes to having a great selection of Whiskeys and amazing food, you can’t go wrong with Cinder Bar.
Cinder Bar is scoring 96/100, putting near the very top of places I Will Go Back to. Like most things in life you pay for quality, and Cinder Bar is not cheap if you have a few drinks, appetizers, and everyone eats an entrée.
Is it worth it? Yes it is. I have yet to have a bad meal here.
One of my sons brought this bottle of Hill Billy Bourbon home as a gift because he knows I like to try new bottles. I now have to question if my son has it out for me. I ended up making a small modification to this bottle, updating the label From “Hilly Billy Bourbon” to “Hell Billy Bourbon”.
Hill Billy Bourbon
Even copious amounts o ice could not save this dram. Did I get a bad bottle? How in the world did this win awards? Because on their website this won several.
The nose had faint hits of vanilla and spice, but was overpowered by alcohol and wood char.
The mouth feel was clean, but for me this Hill Billy Bourbon was all jagged edges and burn on the tongue. Hill Billy Bourbon had a faint but very unpleasant antiseptic aftertaste that overpowered the more pleasant hints of vanilla.
I’m going to give Hill Billy a 9/100 as I can’t really see ever getting another bottle. Yes, the bottle looks like I did some damage to it, but I was using it as a taster for new drinkers to give them an example of what Just Bad tasted like. It is always important to give someone a point of reference. Out of two dozen tastings, I did have one person really like it, which is great. Drink what you like and enjoy it, but for me this isn’t it.
Spend a few bucks more and get a bottle of Buffalo Trace. Those extra five dollars make a world of difference.
Color
A morning pee when your quite dehydrated and may have eaten a few orange crayons the night before.
Proof
50.5% ABV
Pros
Cheap.
Great bottle if you are trying to show someone the difference between low end and high end Bourbon.
Cons
You get what you pay for, and this was cheap after all.
Tastes a little bit like someone poured some antiseptic into a glass of cheap bourbon.
Is that a stock image in my review? Yes it is. I could not buy a bottle, even for the picture, after what it did to me. This was a long time ago, but I still got stomach pains just thinking about it. My wife took me to an outside fire pit gathering full of people I didn’t know. One of the other guests brought a huge bottle of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and we started to take shots together.
Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
This isn’t really part of the review, but it’s a good story so I’ll tell it. The guy pouring Fireball into me was a high school teacher and I remember asking my wife if he was gay. I don’t care if he was, it was just I felt that he was hitting on me a little bit. He laughed at every joke I made and was following me around like a puppy. It was flattering, but my wife told me he wasn’t, he was there with his wife. I remember telling my wife the guy was at least bisexual. Several years later the host of the party told me wife the dude got divorced and remarried a guy. Good for him.
Now back to the Fireball. It’s not really whiskey. It is more accurately cinnamon flavored sugar water mixed with alcohol. There is a ton, and I mean a ton, of sugar in Fireball. How much? Look at your pour and now replace 25% of it with sugar.
With so much sugar, its not a surprise that it goes down like candy – because it pretty much is.
The problem is that with so much sugar on board, your able to drink it long past when your body should be telling you to back off, and that means its really easy to over indulge with Fireball. When that alcohol catches up to you it hits you like a hammer. The hangover is one of the worst I’ve ever had. Fireball isn’t like other booze where you feel better after you puke, and it tastes so much worse coming up.
For me, Fireball is a 5/100, putting it at the bottom of the barrel of the Just Bad category. If you are going to drink whiskey, even cheap whiskey, there are much better options out there.
Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey is distilled by Irish Distillers, at the Midleton distillery in County Cork. It is a blended offering that is just about as affordable as Irish Whiskey should get. I can routinely find Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey for $20 if I’m willing to drive to the big liquor store a few towns away. At $20 bucks, it might just make you wonder how good could it be?
Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey
The nose is really subtle. It’s a little malty and a little sweet that blends with a bit of alcohol.
The sip is just about as subtle. This is a thin whiskey. The mouth feel is watery, but its also beautifully simple. I’d say this is perfect for those times when the friends or the food is the focus, and the whiskey is going to flow freely, which is perfect as this Paddy’s Irish Whiskey is just about as affordable as it gets.
It is also an award winner. When it comes to value, you really can’t beat Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey.
Just Some of Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey Awards
The finish is a little spice that overpowers the malt, but not in a bad way.
I find it amazing that a $20 bottle is also packaged so well.
Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey Packaging
Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey scored a 70/100, putting it just into the Sip Worthy category. Don’t let that score scare you off. At this price, that score is really impressive. There are times when I just crave Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey, and since its a few bucks cheaper than Jameson, it is also easy on the wallet.
Color
Light to medium amber.
Proof
40.0% ABV
Pros
For $20 bucks this is a great buy.
Great budget whiskey.
Affordable whiskey for new drinkers.
Amazing value Irish Whiskey with tons of awards.
Cons
Not a lot of complexity. Will underwhelm a more appreciative pallet.
Not a lot of anything on the nose.
After a dram, the next dram goes down easier, which is nice, but also dangerous.
The Busker Single malt says it is a modern Irish whiskey that is smooth enough to drink straight, or perfect for a mixer, or in their own words:
The Busker Single Malt Irish Whiskey is born out of a modern Ireland, where the contemporary and bold meet at the crossroads of tradition. Smooth enough to be had alone or added as a delicious kick to your favorite mixed drink.
- Disaronno International
The Busker Irish Whiskey
Now lets see how these claims hold up.
The nose is full of alcohol burn. There is maltiness hidden in there, but the nose really hits you with ethanol.
The first impression is alcohol, just like the nose, that turns to malt and transitions to a bit of butter cookie before finishing very rough. I was really not impressed with the overall mouth feel, the opening, or the very rough finish.
I was really surprised by this as I’d read a ton of positive feedback on “The Busker” brand Irish Whiskeys.
At the end of the day all I can guess is that The Busker marketing team is really good, and really aggressive. For me, The Busker Single Malt scores a paltry 4/100. Yes I drank it, but I didn’t enjoy it, and while it did get me tipsy pretty fast, it also gave me a headache. For me, a headache usually means the quality of the bottle was slow.
At the $35 price point there are better options out there. I’d pass on The Busker Irish Whiskey if I were you. For $10 bucks cheaper you can pick up a bottle of Jameson, and for me, that is a much better buy.
Color
Medium toffee mixed with amber.
Proof
44.3% ABV
Pros
It tastes like it might power my lawn mower. Is that a positive? I couldn’t think of anything to be honest.
Cons
Too expensive at $35.
The alcohol hits you on the nose and continues to hit you on the palate.
How can something give you a hangover while you’re drinking it? This gave me a headache as I was drinking it.
Kavanagh Single Malt Irish Whiskey is what I’d call a budget offering. I’ve only ever seen it at the massive liquor discount store so I’m not sure if its an actual brand, or made just for a a big box store.
Kavanagh Single Malt Irish Whiskey
I have to be honest that I opened a bottle of Kavanagh when I had a guest over and totally forgot about reviewing it until I want to reference it against Kavanagh 16 Year Single Malt.
Why did the slip up happen. Well, it’s not good news.
A buddy was over and I figured we’d try this Kavanagh together. I poured us each a dram, but I was the first to actually sip from it. It was so bad I had to take the glass away from my friend and pour him a glass of Bushmills 10 Year Single Malt instead.
Kavanagh is distilled by Kilbeggan Distilling, and I’ve read several reviews saying I should try the Kavanagh offerings. Which is one of the reasons I was surprised at how bad this Kavanagh Irish Whiskey tasted. If I’m brave enough I’ll buy another bottle someday to see if I got a spoiled batch. Or maybe I’ll wait until a buddy has a bottle and I’ll just try a dram of his.
Why am I hesitating to buy another bottle of Kavanagh Single Malt Irish Whiskey? Well, it tasted something like Irish Whiskey mixed with turpentine.
It was sharp, chemically, and unpleasant. I’m giving Kavanagh Irish Whiskey a 3/100 as I took three small sips before I decided to pour it out. I will usually keep a bottle I don’t like and see if any of my buddies want it. In this case I felt like that might cost me a friend so I just poured it out.
I’m hoping the Kavanagh 16 Year is significantly better.
Color
Light amber & toffee.
Proof
40.0% ABV
Pros
It’s relatively cheap at $25 as long as your not planning on drinking it.
My sink enjoyed it.
The holiday seasons are coming up. Gift it to someone you really don’t like.
Cons
Tastes like someone left chemical cleaning agents in the still to me.
Will likely result in you pouring the bottle out if your tastes are like mine.
