It seems absurd to have an intern who doesn’t like drinking supporting your alcohol site. Yet, Andrew was eager to participate, and I could hardly blame him. As part of Andrew’s internship at Sublime Imbibing, I was insistent he at least TRY a whiskey tasting. Below is his article chronicling his tasting of a bourbon, a scotch and a rye. While not all contain flattering tasting notes, it’s an interesting insight into the uninitiated’s perception of whiskey, in a fairly riguorous tasting. — Smoth
My first official whiskey tasting brings back memories of when I was younger trying one of dad’s beers. I so badly wanted to like the taste of beer but for some reason my taste buds would disagree with it. Whisky I found to be somewhat of a more interesting journey, each drink having its own story to tell.
Bourbon — Woodford Reserve:
I was started off with the Woodford Reserve, off the top there was a plethora of flavors ranging from caramel to vanilla leaving a sweet Chocolaty like smell to the nose resembling that of a box of chocolates a Christmas.
The taste however was not so much like chocolate, instead there was a surprising mint like freshness to the drink immediately followed by a very perfumed floral after note. Somehow after turning into a refreshing minty drink Woodford Reserve found away to come right back to where it started leaving a final tasting note of caramel and vanilla.
Scotch — Glenmorangie Original:
Glenmorangie. was hardly as good a journey as my introduction to the world of whiskey. The initial smell was that of hand soap and honey, to me it smelled exactly how I imagine a fancy bathroom at the Queen’s palace.
The taste was not much better than its scent, initially it reminded me of the taste of a horrible soup I had nearly 15 years ago, a memory I did not ever want to relive yet here I was. There was also a minty flavor attached to this drink yet not comparable to the one in the Woodford. The final tasting note left a savory olive type taste leaving me feeling as if I had just downed a shot of, well, olive oil.
Rye — Bulleit Rye:
Finally the Bulleit Rye, I had figured at the point no whiskey could possibly be worse than the Glenmorangie at this point — luckily I was right. On the nose Bulleit was very spicy with peppery cherry scents resembling that of the Polo Red fragrance offered by Ralph Lauren. It was not a scent that made me feel like I wanted to drink it so much as wear it.
The nose does not lie on this one as it tasted almost exactly as it smelled, I was hit with a spicy cinnamon bite followed right away by a very floral aroma. The finish of the drink was very short and does not leave much to consider other than that you may have just mistaken your father’s bottle of cologne for whisky.
Tasting Conclusion:
Despite not particularly enjoying any of the whiskey I tried, I still found a much better understanding for how unique each one of them is. This experience was a good journey nonetheless, but for now I think I’ll stick to my coffee.
— Andrew Bonk, Social Media Coordinator
