For the past couple of years I’ve been informally back-testing the validity of the Whisky Mates whisky matches, tweaking the tasting notes and various inputs as I saw fit. This was a combination of tracking down reputable tasting notes and creating an amalgamation based on the flavors that came up most frequently and intensely, as well as adding in my own notes from whiskies I tasted. Now that the site is getting some traction, I’ve enlisted my friend and fellow whisky lover, William Bedard, to help me with a more rigorous methodology of tasting to help us hone in on those primary and secondary whisky aromas and flavors. William has tried more whiskies than I even knew existed, and has an incredible sense of taste and smell; he could tell you what kind of deodorant someone is wearing two aisles away in a grocery store. Hopefully for William, most people wear deodorant to the market.
So without further ado, today we’re going to taste the Michter’s US-1 Bourbon, their classic mainstay. Here’s what William had to say about it:
“The nose greets you with a heavy barrel char and gram cracker – very powerful despite the low proof. Elegant silky body that is much more comforting than the nose would have you believe. Notes of honey, caramel corn and warm baking spices. The finish lingers reminding you of the nose with a subtle char and faint red fruit.”
This makes me want a drink and it’s not quite 10am yet. Next time I will do this later in the afternoon or evening. My personal issues aside, this aligns fairly well with what we’ve got in the tasting notes: William detects caramel, corn, and baking spices, and a barrel char which all correspond well with what’s in the current palate flavors (caramel, corn, vanilla, smoke (e.g. barrel char is a tertiary flavor for smoke)). He also finds faint red fruit in the finish which corresponds well with the plum we have. Nice.
From here my plan is to tweak the input intensity on several of these flavors to play up the caramel and amplify the red fruit on the finish.
For those of you that were intrigued by the Michter’s tasting notes, I can’t blame you – it is a very solid whisky. It’s not an extremely highly rated whisky, but whiskies that cost $45 usually aren’t. At $1.87/pctl bang for your buck, this is an every day drinker with value.
The closest comps are the Old Forester 1910 Old Fine Whisky (~$60 and $1.94/pctl) and the Woodford Reserve Double Oaked (~$55 and $1.31/pctl). I know this post is about the Michter’s, but in my humble opinion (and I know William feels the same) for your money, you can’t get a much better daily drinker than the Double Oaked. It is so smooth and creamy – it’s easy to drink neat or with a small cube (I don’t feel bad diluting it either).
For more comps and heaps more whisky data and comparison information, check out the Michter’s US-1 whisky profile on Whisky Mates.
