Whiskey Run Down

My husband is a HUGE whiskey connoisseur. I try my husband’s picks and rate them!

If you are a familiar of the blog at all you know my go to is champagne, then wine, then vodka soda with lime or, every hot girl summer drink, the Selzer water!

Now my experience with whiskey is very limited. I mean I was a diet coke and jack drinker in college but, those days are long gone. Some people love a whiskey on the rocks. It's such a classic. I never considered myself among them. Did my thoughts change on the subject? Keep reading to find out!!

I want to preface this with, I am no connoisseur or taste master by any means…

Knobb Creek

Smoothness: 8/10 I am not 100% sure what they mean when they say smooth. I don't have a lot of things to compare smoothness against (1000% more smooth then a vodka shot?)

Taste: 8/10. A little bit like spicy, woody, pancakes if that makes any sense at all. Overall it hits in the beginning like maple syrup with an end taste of bitter cloves.

I can say one thing about this whiskey itself, it was pretty and smelled really good! Looked a bit like a glittery orange.

Angel's Envy

Smoothness: 5/10

Taste: 4/10. Peppery leather. Or at least how I imagine leather would taste if you took a bite out of a boot or something. Not very sweet. I didn't care for the taste of this one very much. It also seemed very dry. I felt like I needed a glass of water after drinking it.

Strength: 9/10. This seemed stronger but that might have been because I didn't care for the taste and it was hard to stomach in general for me.

The bottle is gorgeous, with iridescence angel wings on it!

Jack Daniels

Smoothness: 8/10. I didn’t really have any problem downing this one. I wouldn’t call it smooth but it was easy to drink down (maybe my body was just throwing it back to those college days)

Taste: 2/10. Everything about this seemed cheap. Almost sickly sweet.

Strength: 5/10. This did not seem as strong as the others.

I don't know if I was traumatized by collegiate experience but nothing about this was good.

Blanton’s

Smoothness: 8/10

Taste: 7/10. Honey, leather and oranges.

Strength: 8/10

Evidently this is a highly coveted whiskey in the whiskey world. My husband went all over town hunting this one. The Dom Perignon of whiskeys! Quite frankly, it tasted much the same as the others. I couldn’t figure out why it was so coveted but again, I am not a connoisseur.

Elijah Craig

Smoothness: 6/10

Taste: 7/10. Smokey caramels.

Nothing overly outstanding about this one. Average bottle, average smell, average look, average taste.

Toasted Barrell

Smoothness: 9/10. This made me feel all warm and cozy inside!

Taste: This tasted a lot like grandma butterscotch’s. You know the ones I am talking about, with the crinkly wrap that seemed to have no brand what-so-ever.

Best described as nostalgia.

Woodford Reserve

Smoothness: 5/10. A bit like rubbing alcohol. This is also the first one (other then Jake Daniel’s) where I thought ew, alcohol. It just had a really strong alcohol taste.

Taste: 6/10. This tasted like I imagine a tree wood or if you took a bite out of your oak dinning table.

To sum it up in two words…nail polish.

Maker's Mark

Smoothness: Eh, I’ll be generous…6/10.

Taste: This taste reminded me of a cheap knockoff of Knob Creek. It had that same sweet taste but the taste of alcohol was stronger. Like it hadn’t been distilled enough.

Strength:

I started rating the strength of each of these and then I realized I put the same thing for each. 9/10. They all seemed the same to me and they were all strong. Keep in mind I am not a hard liquor drinker at all!

Would I Try Any of Them Again?

In general, I preferred the sweater ones over the more peppery ones but is anyone really surprised by that?

Am I now a whiskey on the rocks gal? HA. Absolutely not. Would I have a mixed drink with whiskey in it? Sure! Would I do this again? Probably not!

Overall, whiskey has too much burn and bite. And quite frankly I was toasted by the end. I enjoy a slow day drink, I would have to sip on one glass of whiskey for hours and hours to ensure I wasn't blasted by 4 PM!

I will say this. I respect those who drink a whiskey on the rocks a hell of a lot more now!