By
George Brozowski
I
would
like to start off this column with an outright lie:
whiskey is whiskey is whiskey. That just ain't so. Well, maybe
there was a time, way back when, during the wild, wild west
that it was truer, but even back then every saloon had the
rot gut they served to strangers and the good stuff they held
back for regulars. Let me explain my lie.
First
of all whiskey can be made from barley, malted barley, rye,
malted rye, wheat and corn and any combination of some or
all of those ingredients. It can be distilled in numerous
ways, filtered in various other ways, and then aged utilizing
different techniques. All of those variables can produce malt
whiskey, and grain whiskey that can be further combined to
produce single malt whiskey, blended malt whiskey, blended
whiskey (a combination of malt and grain whiskeys), cask strength
whiskey and single cask whiskey.
Then
of course different countries produce their own unique whiskeys.
America is known for its bourbon whiskey while Scotland is
known for its scotch whisky. America is also renowned for
its moonshine whiskey or white lightning. At least 13 countries
produce whiskeys with taste profiles unique to their borders.
So you see whiskey is not just whiskey it is an adventure
waiting to happen to your taste buds.
This
brings us to our current taste drive, Alibi whiskey. Alibi
is a corn-based whiskey with elements of rye and malted barley
aged in first-fill American oak casks and is distilled in
Indiana and blended in Florida. And that just about covers
most of the above mentioned possibilities.
OK, let's see what's under the hood. The bottle has an old
world motif with a nice tree outline taking up the entire
back of the bottle. The Alibi lettering is done in gold letters
and inserted into a western themed logo. The nose is very
laid back with almost no alcohol vapors. I get faint traces
of oak and vanilla with a hint of spice. This is one very
gentle nose for any whiskey.
On
the palate, I finally get a bit of the whiskey burn I was
expecting but not so much as to make it uncomfortable. The
grains come forward backed by spicy sweet notes and of course
the vanilla and oak in the rear. This is a very straightforward
and uncomplicated whiskey that is very gentle and yet interesting
enough to make me want to sip it. It is also smooth enough
to be sippable straight up. It most closely reminds me of
Canadian whiskeys but is a bit sweeter. The finish is slightly
spicy, slightly sweet and nice and smooth and short and to
the point. On the rocks, the taste profile acquires more depth
and roundness and all the separate palate notes combine more
completely.
For
anyone venturing into the wild, wild world of whiskey for
the first time, I would recommend Alibi as a good starting
point that won't overwhelm you and will definitely welcome
you. (Check out some great Alibi Whiskey cocktails, too.)
Besides, at only $24.00 per 750ml bottle the price of admission
is pretty low.
Click
Here for Cocktails
For
more Rants & Raves click
here.
http://alibiwhiskey.com/vvv
