Penny for Your Thoughts - Tullamore D.E.W., Jack Daniel's Single Barrel
An old friend came to town this weekend, so we got to try some new restaurants and bars and, most importantly for this site, two new whiskies!
Tullamore D.E.W. (40% ABV) - Among the workhorse, moderately priced blends on the shelf, Tullamore D.E.W. is one I've never tried (although, ironically, it's one of the first "nice" alcohol names I learned in college). The initials in the name stand for Daniel E. Williams, a manager and owner of the original distillery in the 1800s. This blend is a great bienvenue to Irish whiskies, with a nose of orange citrus, honey, malt, and very little acetone. The palate again is strong on the orange and fruit notes, with a little bit of pine nut and malt development in additional sips. The finish is short and smooth, without any discernable bitterness but also not a high amount of flavor. Very solid. B-
Jack Daniel's Single Barrel (47%) - The strange thing about my whiskey journey, which I imagine is true for a lot of other people as well, is that I've tried a ton of brands -- including some relatively rare, hard-to-find drams -- but I have missed some of the best-selling whiskies along the way. Jack Daniel's is one of them. I honestly can't remember if I've ever had standard Jack Daniel's, either in a mixed drink or neat. Anyways, I tried to make up for it by trying the single barrel variant at a behind-the-unmarked-door-in-the-taco-shop kind of bar. This "Tennessee whiskey," which in my understanding technically qualifies as a bourbon but is subject to an extra charcoal filtration step known as the Lincoln County Process, is a high-quality drink for under $50 a bottle. The nose is full of vanilla, toasted oak, and candy corn. The palate is sweet and syrupy, and again the vanilla and oak are the highlights for me. After swallowing, I detect some marshmallow. I did not get the purported Jack Daniel's signature note of banana, but these sorts of forgotten flavors are one of the pitfalls of trying whiskies at the tail end of a long night of drinking. I tried it again a week later and the banana was immediately noticeable in all three phases, but manifested as a caramelized banana, most similar to the flavor of bananas foster. B