Cheap Shot Dept: Frozen One crosses the border...

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Capn Jimbo
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Cheap Shot Dept: Frozen One crosses the border...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

Where's Donald Trump when we need him?


Look, I'd rather completely ignore blustery, self-appointed reviewers: particularly those who depend on a conveyor belt full of freebies, whose average score is 87, and whose industrial output in reviews is matched only by that of Bacardi. But try as I might, this particular reviewer - IMLTHO - crossed the border to dump on an American classic. Now mind you, when it comes to whisky I defer to the Bear, but I do like and appreciate our fine American pure and unadulterated bourbons, in this case Evan Williams Black Label (43%).
"This company refers to its entry-level whiskey as a ‘black label brand’, and as such it is meant to be the flag bearer of the Evan Williams line-up... The whiskey has no age statement; however the Evan Williams website tells us that it is aged longer than required by law. (Straight whiskeys must by law be aged for 2 years in new oak barrels)...

...The presentation is fairly standard. The black label with the white lettering works well for a ‘no frills’ entry level bourbon. As indicated above the labeling makes a claim of being ‘extra aged’, however the term is left ambiguous making it more of a marketing ploy...

...The whiskey is lighter than I expected, and it carries a light bite of astringency when sipped neat. (I am thinking that the age of the whiskey is much closer to 2 years than the Evan Williams Distillery cares to admit.)...

...The spirit is a mixer, although it is on that threshold where we can begin to sip the spirit with ice if we choose...The spirit mixes very easily with cola and is a very good choice for a Buckeroo....

...The whiskey is somewhat bitter in the exit with woody sappy flavours lingering in the throat. There is a nice bit of caramel that pushes through, unfortunately so does a thin burn which is what forced me to add the ice earlier. With only a little more age to ease the astringency, the whiskey would have scored higher...

...My [relatively low] score of 82.5/100 represents a very solid high ball mixer..."
God forgive him, please, for he apparently knows not what he has done. Or knows but doesn't care. Or perhaps pretends to know, because it's just too damn hard to really find out. In sum the Frozen One seemed determined to cast this bourbon as very young, and close to the minimum legal age of two years. His entire review and findings seems a critique based on this wrongheaded view. The bottle is ordinary, the taste is ordinary, the score is ordinary. Why?

Well, what do expect for a borderline two year bourbon, eh? We should surely be in awe of this master taster who - thank the godz - has revealed the truth and ordinariness of this alleged young rum, based on his vast belly, er experience, and keen tongue.


Only one problem. He's appears to be dead wrong.

It would have taken him about a minute to actually research the Evan Williams Black and he'd have learned that until the early 2000's it was honestly labeled as 7 years old. It is commonly accepted that though now presented as NAS, it is still 5 to 7 years old.

Speaking of labels, does the Wolfboy not understand or respect tradition? Jack Daniels and Evan Williams have been using the same presentation for over a hundred years and why? So has Johnny Walker. They are all American institutions. Changing these historic, traditional and venerable bottles and labels would hurt sales, not help them.

Further, our frostbitten exspurt would have learned that Black Label is NOT their entry level product. That goes to William's 40% Green Label. Or move on up to bonded, 4 year old, IBIB 100 proof White Label. Or even further up to the instant subject, the 5 to 7 year, 86 proof Black Label. Even a monkey would've learned those facts in very short order.

Yet, the FO seemingly tied every negative comment in visual, aroma, taste, finish and/or rating to what he incorrectly "reveals" as its alleged minimum age. He seems to gloat in nailing an American classic - bourbon - that he does not appear to understand. Let's not forget that this reviewer demonstrated a likely "bitter" palate and like many Canadians, tends to mix everything with Coke.

I'm disgusted.




*******
http://therumhowlerblog.com/2016/02/02/ ... t-bourbon/
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