Whiskey of the Month #16: Old Crow

Before we plunge into the business at hand, we've got to take a detour to one of the coolest Christmas gifts I got this year:  101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die.  (I also got some goodies to sample, which you'll get to see over the course of the next two months!)  You can find whiskey (or whisky) guides a plenty in your local bookstore, but this one stands out.  It's easy to read, relaxed about the topic of whiskey (some people can take it very, very seriously) and it's fun and more to the point, sets the reader up for a challenge:  can you try all one hundred and one?

Well, you know what, kids?  Game on.  (As of right now, I've got 10 of their 101 sampled which puts me 9.9% of the way there!  This is such a fun idea I think I'll update periodically just to keep track.)

As for this month's whiskey, Old Crow, well, rest assured that this isn't one of those 101 whiskies, but really, it's got the heritage and the history (and yeah, I think the taste is decent enough) and the way I figure it, Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant can't be wrong, can they?

That's right!  This was the poison of choice for Twain and Grant- you know that story they tell from the Civil War about a bunch of Generals going to Lincoln and complaining that Grant was a drunk?  And how Lincoln said, 'well, send him a case of whatever he's drinking then, because this guy wins battles!' This was the stuff he sent with a cherry on top.

How did I find out about it?  Randomly, I saw a list of the best budget bourbons, ranked on Deadspin and number one?  Old Crow.   Serious Eats agreed with them.   So, one trip to the Waterfront Hy-Vee later and I was surprised to find that a bottle of Old Crow- and a decently sized one at that will run you about seven, eight bucks a pop- a perfect way to tickle your craving for bourbon without breaking the bank.

Color: Pale yellow, straw colored.

Body:  Smells smooth and slightly buttery- I'm thinking butterscotch or caramel- it's not strong enough to be straight up toffee.  But there's also some underlying sweetness to it that's hard to pin down-- I ended up going with brown sugar and candy of some kind.  (Some of the reviews describe the general notes as buttered toast and candy corn, which is awfully close to the mark, I think.)  The Quiet Man sniffed this and said it smelled like 'college.'  He was less than enthusiastic.

Palate: This, to me is where Old Crow comes into it's own.  It sits on the tongue beautifully- light, easy and smooth.  It doesn't burn, it doesn't irritate- it's not too thick and not too watery.

Finish:   If there's a note of criticism about Old Crow, it's that the finish is awfully weak.  To me, the perfect finish is a gradual warming sensation without an unduly harsh burning sensation and that's just not present here.  The finish is fleeting, fast and gone too soon.

Overall:  Best budget buy I've come across thus far.  If you want to satisfy your taste for bourbon and don't have a lot of cash, you could do a lot worse than Old Crow.