I have had this bottle for about two years. It was one of the bottles I purchased when I really started to expand my collection and had way more enthusiasm than knowledge. It was a time I remember fondly. A time where, like a toddler at the pool, I sprinted towards the deep end with reckless abandon. Giving no heed to the voices saying “wait, stop!” and throwing myself headlong into a vast expanse of liquid joy.
And like when that toddler finds success and hits the water, sometimes my experience turned to coughing, sputtering, and someone asking “are you sure he’s going to be alright? Should I get a doctor.”
Ok, so maybe it wasn’t that violent of a reaction. But it was my first introduction to extremely well-oaked whiskey as well as my first introduction to straight Dickel. I mean, I don’t know for sure it’s Dickel, but it’s 14 year old Tennessee whiskey, it’s sourced, and you know, since I know more now I can say, it tastes like Dickel.
It is all leather, tobacco and oak. Seriously, it’s like someone distilled and aged a tobacco pouch. It’s very deep, dark and rich, but not sweet. It’s got graham cracker flavor in there if you search for it. The finish is strong and dry.
And the first time I tasted that, I ended up quite surprised. I’d tasted old bourbon, I’d tasted dark bourbon, even dry bourbon. But this combined all three, turned the oak up to 11, and kicked the dessert flavor that normally comes with dark bourbon out the door. It left me much like the toddler that reaches the deep end and gets some water down the wrong pipe.
But then does that toddler want to go back into the water after that experience?
A brief digression before I answer that question. The most common flavor I’ve heard used to describe George Dickel products is Flintstone Vitamins. As a child of the 80’s, I have had my fair share of Flintstone Vitamins. There is a distinct possibility that my mom called poison control to see what the safe consumption limit was after I polished off the better part of a bottle while getting ready for bed. And it being the 1980’s, she was told not to worry about it, the thing “professionals” always told parents back then after their kids did crazy sh…stuff. My point is, I know what Flintstone Vitamins taste like. It is a taste that is burned into my memory. I do not taste Flintstone Vitamins when I taste George Dickel. Further, because I thought that chalky vitamins in the shape of Dino would be the defining palate characteristic of Dickel, when I had sourced Dickel and got a very distinct but different flavor, I didn’t know it was in fact Dickel.
I only discovered this when I purchased a bottle of George Dickel Bottled in Bond and said “wait, I know this flavor!”
That of course brings us back to the question, do I like it? Does this toddler want to get back in the pool?
This toddler, yes. At least in the general sense. In the specific as sense of this whiskey, I still don’t know. I’m more than three fourths of the way through it, and I still don’t know how I feel about it. I’ve had it many times. I’ve experimented with blending it (respect to those who blend with Dickel, it’s damn hard to pair with anything and not just get a result that is Dickel next to another flavor that is now very weird because it’s next to Dickel). I’ve tried it in different moods and when I’m eating different foods. I’ve tried it in a house, and with a mouse and in a box and with a fox. All in all it’s an extremely interesting whiskey, with a flavor that is wholly unique. But it’s also rough and at times hard to palate.
For now, where I come down on it, is this is a good whiskey. It’s also a very difficult whiskey. It’s not traditional sweet and dessert flavors. It’s deep and rough. It’s not something you’re going to want all the time, or even all that often. But it will expand your palate, and your whiskey experience. It’s something that is worth exploring.
Final Rating: 76 of 100
Cost per 50 ml: $7.33
Whiskey Repartee 