Review #6 Michters Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey

This is another review of an American whiskey, a Bourbon which I enjoyed recently in Hawaii. The bottle caught my eye from behind the bar (Don the Beachcomber) at the Hotel where we were staying in Kona on the Big Island. On a slight tangent these guys served up some really tasty burgers and made a beautiful coleslaw which I couldn't get enough of while of, looking forward to recreating it during the summer. I'm salivating just thinking about it.  I had this whiskey in the early afternoon on a breezy day from a tumbler right by the ocean as you can see from the picture, while writing postcards to the folks back home!

I had heard of the name Michters before from listening to whisky-cast - a really good whisky related podcast. I had never seen it or had the chance to try it before, up until this point, so I grasped the nettle! Carpe Diem! and all that! and I'm glad I did.

Price: This is an expensive whiskey: I don't think I paid too much for it at the bar but over here in Oz it will set me back $120 a bottle by the looks of it, excluding Postage and packaging. Or I can get it by the half dozen for around $720 - what a steal! It is small batch though and bottled at 45.7% so 3/6.

Appearance: This whiskey looked alright, amber gold I'd say and I was drinking it in a beautiful setting on a beautiful day as you can see from my photo. How could I not love anything in that moment? 6/6

Availability: Well it is small batch so it shouldn't be very available and it isn't! Not here in Melbourne anyway. I've never seen it in an airport, I can't walk to the shops and get it however I can get it online and I suspect if I went into a decent whiskey bar I'd probably be able to order a dram: 3/6

Marketing: Website tells a little about it and goes into the small batch stuff and how no more then 12 barrells typically go into a batch.There are some pretty slick videos on Youtube from the distillery, check out the link below, all good stuff: 6/6.

https://youtu.be/eo4PEkx1yMo

Packaging and Label: Nice and plain yet still eye catching from behind the bar. There's a little bit of historic "B.S" about a pre-war recipe - Americans love wars! Well some do, I'm pretty sure a lot don't, but they've become very good at making films about them: 4/6


Nose: Light nail varnish , solvent smell, a little citrus - orange peel maybe. I would really love to have this from a better glass sometime in the not too distant future but for now and based on how I enjoyed it i'm giving it 14/20

Taste on entry: Lovely light fruity entry with sweet grapefruit - very unusual in my experience but really nice stuff, not bitter, a little sweet wood spice in there too: 16/20 

Mouth feel/ body: Nice and smooth - great for the hot weather. The mouth feel is good, velvety, a little lighter than some of the other bourbons I tried while on holiday: 7/10

Finish: Medium to short and has a little wood spice and some orange - quiet pleasant;  15/20

all up this gets 74/100
If I can do simple addition,

This is a lovely whiskey! I'll have to check out more of their range if and when I get the chance, maybe a visit to some of Melbourne's better whiskey bars is in on the cards,

happy days!

cheers,
Kev 

Review #5 Seagrams 7 blended American whiskey

Hmmm not much on the nose from this one!

I'm drinking it from a mini beer glass while watching the sunset from Dons cocktail bar in Kona.
It's our first night on the "Big Island" having had four lovely nights in Waikiki on Oahu. My lovely Wife is putting the little one to sleep and I'm having a drink and chilling out at the bar or lounge gazing out across the pacific ocean. I think I said it previously but life is good! The sky is red, the sea is calm, there's a gentle and very pleasant breeze, a luau is going on in the distance to my left and there are a bunch of Tiki torches burning to my right - check out the view!

This whiskey is accompanied by a local porter from the Kona brewery which is pretty good.  

I've never heard of this whiskey before and the waitress told me it was scotch which it isn't because it's American! Not specifically from the USA but possibly a blend of US and Canadian whiskeys or one of either of the two if that makes any sense. A little online research reveals that this whiskeys origin is slightly unclear and that it's largely drank with mixers - 7 and 7 apparently is a popular drink... why anyone would want to add 7 UP to whiskey is beyond me but to each their own!

There really isn't much on the nose at all, I got a faint whiff of something bourbony at the start, there's something faintly sweet about it all but nothing much else. 

It's hard to talk about the color in the light but really who cares the setting is beautiful and well it has a gold brown sort appearance which is fine. 

Unsurprisingly it's a hot evening in Hawaii!

This whiskey is smooth, has a pleasant mouth feel which is one of it's most redeeming features.

It's sweet to taste with some wood spice but not too much, fairly mild and muted but quite pleasant to drink given the conditions. 

There's something a little fruity - cherries I think. 

Not sure how easy the little one is going to go to sleep, there's a fair bit of noise - drumming and applause coming off the luau, although it sounds like they may be wrapping things up shortly.

The cherries come in more on the finish with some wood spice but don't hang around for too long but long enough to be enjoyable. 

Not a bad whiskey by any means. I can't find anything online from the producers about this whiskey albeit only following a quick search. It was fairly available and cheap too while in Hawaii. I've never seen it here in Australia or noticed it anywhere else for that matter. It's always nice to try something new.

I'm scoring this one 63/100

Cheers
Kev.

Review #4 Crown royal - Part 1

Night 2 on Oahu

Having this whiskey as a chaser with a pint of "Heff" (Tikis' house heffeweissen) at Tikis' bar in the hotel where we're staying while the little one puts my lovely wife to sleep even though it should be the other way around ;-)

I think this whiskey suits hot suits the hot weather,

It's very easy drinking with a little spice but not much,
It barely smells like a whiskey but I am drinking from a tumbler so that doesn't really help much.

Lovely mouth feel to this, smooth and velvety. 

Doesn't taste much of anything at all, a little sweet and very little aftertaste or development...

Maybe it's the heat??

Maybe it was the very tasty burger I had for dinner???
Who knows...

Again this was drank from a tumbler at a bar.

Very easy going stuff!
I'm scoring this a 62 out of 100 (for the moment).

What was nice is that as soon as I ordered and received the whiskey the guy beside me said cheers! and I got talking to him, the barman and the waiter from the night before. He have me a  recommendation for his own place of work across the road as a top steak bar and also the best whiskey bar in town with a selection of over 20 whiskeys!
I'll have check it out (I didn't - maybe next time)

BBQ Ribs - done (repeatedly mm mm ribs!!)

Burger - done (was fantastic Americans do great burgers!)

Steak - did it  (disappointing - steak is better in Australia and Ireland)

I will review this whiskey again as i bought a miniature to take home with me :-)

cheers,
Kev