Hi everyone,
American brands and distilleries are always super confusing to me. Who the hell produces what? There’s a tonne of brands on the market but not that many distilleries. But the source of the whiskey for the brand isn’t always disclosed, which sometimes makes it difficult to track down where the whiskey was actually produced.
Michter’s is another one of these, being an old distillery that never started producing again. They do now have their own distillery I think but a lot of the whiskey has been sourced from Brown-Forman I’ve heard (through minimal internet research), although officially it is unknown… See, confusing.
How do they taste though? I got to have a few of these at a tasting in Milan recently.
Michter's Sour Mash 43%
Colour: Dark Bronze
Body: Medium
Nose: Very honeyed, lots of caramel and toffee, vanilla, a little mint. Classic Bourbon flavours really. Lots of clove here too.
Taste: Quite a lot going on, honey, spice, oak, caramel, toffee, lots of clove, some vanilla and black pepper.
Finish: Very short length. Almost non-existent!
Shame about the finish. I liked this the least of these four.
62/100
Michter's Unblended Whiskey 41.7%
Colour: Bronze
Body: Medium
Nose: Different. More fruit, apple, more restrained but vanilla/caramel still there, liquorice.
Taste: Sweeter, fresher, apple, oak, vanilla, very little spice, some clove.
Finish: Short/Medium length. Honey and apple. Some oak.
Using a combo of new, recharred and 2nd fill barrels. Which is different and cool, would like to see more of this kind of thing. Like Scotch distilleries using virgin oak. Saying that, I don’t think this has worked really well.
64/100
Michter's Rye 42.4%
Colour: Bronze
Body: Medium
Nose: Quite light but the spices are there, clove, cardamom, a little coriander, liquorice. All quite light. Vanilla ice cream.
Taste: Spicy and intense, ginger, pepper, coriander, some cardamom, then lots of clove, a little harsh though.
Finish: Short/Medium length. The clove goes on.
I’ve tried the barrel strength version previously and I much prefer that. This seems a little weak, especially on the finish.
66/100
Michter's Bourbon 45.7%
Colour: Dark Bronze
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Darker, deeper caramel, dark chocolate, cold black coffee, smells like an old Bourbon, green peppercorns.
Taste: Dark, deep caramel, coffee, spice, lots of clove, then 90% dark chocolate.
Finish: Short/Medium length. More oak and dark chocolate.
You could tell me this was double the age it is and I'd believe you. I was told it was 5-8yo. As I said before, I quite like this style of Bourbon. Lots of really dark flavours here. Would love to try this at cask strength.
75/100
Thanks for reading!
American Reviews #45-#48
Whisky Network Reviews #602-#605
American Average: 69.9
Network Average: 74.6
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 22
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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