Recently I held a blind tasting that included four whiskies with a bottle price of under $20. The goal was to identify a good whisky that someone could use as their inexpensive Table Whisky that would not cause the owner to cringe if a guest mixed it with.soda. My go-to in this category has, for years, been the Jim Beam Black label.
Here were the four tasted and the order of the tasting:
1-Crown Royal, $19, 40% ALC. A blend of 50 different whiskies
2-Four Roses Yellow Label, $15, 40% ALC.
Average age was 5.5 yrs. This is a blend of two mashbills 75% Corn, 20% Rye, 5% Malted Barley and 60% Corn, 35% Rye, 5% Malted Barley.
3-Jim Beam Black, $17, 43% ALC.
Aged about 6yrs with a mashbill of 77% Corn, 13% Rye, 10% Malted Barley.
4-George Dickel No. 8, $16, 40% ALC.
This is 4 to 6 yrs old with a mashbill of 84% Corn, 8% Rye & 8% Malted Barley.
There were six tasters and all settled on the same winner..making it clearly the best of the bunch..for these six guys..who have questionable taste.
The clear winner was Four Roses followed by Jim Beam. The George Dickel and the Crown Royal were each either third or fourth.
There you go, science in action!
Doug