Whiskey Mini-Mania: Paddys, Black Velvet, Seagrams, Crown Royal, Jim Beam, Bulleit, Woodford Reserve
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2024
- If you're attending a wedding in Boise and you're the one stuck with stocking the bar at the last minute, man do I have the video for you: a bunch of whiskies, all with enormous production numbers and basically universal market penetration, reviewed in a single flight! We did tequilas last time ( • Tequila Mini-Mania: Sa... ) and they... weren't very good, with the main problem - beyond the the Casamigos being offensively fake - being that the expensive stuff just wasn't much better than the cheaper options. Let's see if distilled cereals from Ireland, Canada, and Kentucky can do any better:
- Paddy's Blended Irish Whisky (Cork; bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 74/100
- Black Velvet Blended Canadian Whisky (Black Velvet Distillery, Lethbridge, Alberta; 3 years old, bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 61/100
- Seagram's VO blended Canadian Whisky (bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 66/100
- Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky (Toronto, Ontario; bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 74/100
- Benchmark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Buffalo Trace, Frankfort, KY; bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 75/100
- Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Clermont, KY; bottled circa 2023; 40% ABV), 75/100
- Jim Beam Black Extra-Aged Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Clermont, KY; bottled circa 2023; 43% ABV), 79/100
- Bulleit Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Shelbyville, KY; bottled circa 2023; 45% ABV), 79/100
- Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Versailles, KY; circa 2023; 45.2% ABV), 82/100
Let's walk through these. Paddy's is okay - it's very grain-forward, but damned if I don't like it more than the last Jameson I had (cf • Budget Barley: Glen Mo... ). And then, not gonna lie, the Canadians were a step down: Black Velvet, while cheap and not fake, is very very marker-driven, and the Seagrams is not much better. The Crown Royal is... fine, I guess, which is better than I was expecting from past experiences.
As an entire category, the bourbons fare a lot better. I thought better of Beam White before I actually checked the price and realized it's like $18 now - it's still fine, but either save the money and buy Benchmark (or Evan Williams: • Tom the Whiskey Fund M... ) or spend the extra couple of bucks for Black. Bulleit is fruitier and leaner and bottled at higher strength than the Black, but it's a touch pricier and not actually better. Meanwhile the Woodford Reserve, the most expensive thing here, wins - which is justice of a sort.
And there you go! Go out and stock that wedding bar with confidence.
Extra special thanks to my Different Spirits on Patreon ( / differentspirits ) -
Eric Amig
Jamie Brown
Kingsbury bushcraft
Rob D
Liam Davitt
Joe Devine
Stephen Eckert
Steve Frazee
Ian Gendler
John Halliday
Jason Newquist
Kyaru
No Thanks
Matthew Ruiz
RumSquirrel
Dallas Shatel
Chris Sherman
Gordon W
Zach W
Another great video! It's very helpful to see you apply your palate and reviewing style to these more pedestrian and affordable options. Awesome!
And these results seem pretty consistent with your ride or die brand preferences--after Wild Turkey, you tend to like some Beam, both being a bit denser, grungier and more distillate-driven than others.
You make a great point that bourbons are pretty good for QPR aside from the premiumized offerings.
I took a look back through your bourbon scores, and it seems like there are a couple of sweet spots for QPR for you. These are one or more notches above the minis but still in the highly available and (relatively) affordable categories:
$25-$32: Wild Turkey 101--83 points; Old Tub--84 points; Old Grand Dad 114--86 points
$45-$52: Russell's 10--84; Four Roses SiB--85+; Rare Breed--87
I would love to see you do a comparison tasting among these available bourbon QPR leaders of yours at some point. Some of these might also be strong contenders for what to grab at the suburban Cleveland liquor store or for the Idaho wedding!
Thank you for the channel and for today's great video!
Nice! Thank you for bringing the analytics and exposing my biases. 😂 Given my thing for Beam I guess there's some Knob Creek in my future at some point.
A bourbon battle to the death sounds like fun, I'll see if I can slot it in somewhere...
Bourbon represents very good value even in Canada. I know you're a big proponent of unaged overproof rum but we only get wray and nephew at the lcbo (thank god its still cheap). In terms of selection quality and price its hard to do better than some Turkey or Four roses and Pierre Ferrands Gin.
I was in east africa a year ago and
finding a bottle of Jim Beam was sich a repreive from the indian and scotch blends that were available.
I like this series a lot. These basic spirits give a good baseline and understanding of your palate
Yikes, I am so sorry for the scores I handed the products of your nation in this video. 🥲
@@differentspirits4157 my gosh they deserve it! I do have to make it to some more distilleries in Ontario. Try to find to find some decent stuff in the category. So much wasted potential
With the Whiskey Explosion in the US this would be the easiest to fill a bar with. Even out in the Sticks there will be one or two serviceable if not good expressions. Rum on the other hand should be interesting.
Man I don't even think I can do a rum mini-mania in good conscience.
@@differentspirits4157 please! I must see you wince at Captain Morgan
Where is your Great House 2023 and the Pagos ? I thought I raised you better ? I have heard to pass on the new HLCF Overproof because it's not nearly as good as the old Overproof and I have a stock pile of the second bottling of the old Overproof that is 8 to 9 year stuff even though it says 7. Only the first bottling was 7 year. I can't complain about getting Great House for $110 and Pagos for $75 and no tax. I want the new Worthy Park unaged Overproof but it still hasn't landed and it's only $30-ish. the Mount Gay Eclipse Overproof for $29 seems like a steal and it has some older stuff in it and not just Eclipse at high ABV
Working on getting the new Hampdens!! What, y'all aren't tired of Hampden reviews yet?
@@differentspirits4157 My bottles of Pagos and Great House 2023 are on their way here. $75 for Pagos and $110 for Great House. I passed on the HLCF. I have a ton of the old Overproof bottlings and I have 12 Stolen Overproof half bottles