Heaven Hill: Mellow Corn (USA: Straight Corn Whiskey: 50% ABV)
Visual: Clear gold. Thick fast streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Vanilla. Buttery popcorn. Gentle alcohol presence. Soft lime. Shredded Wheat. Slight caramel.
Body: Alcohol warmth. Shredded Wheat. Toffee. Vanilla. Lime. Water smooths the alcohol. Crumpets. Soft apple and honey come out.
Finish: Honey. Shredded wheat. Pepper. Alcohol air. Lime. Water adds crumpets and soft apple.
Conclusion: Ok, let’s get this out of the way first. This is fairly simple. It has a fairly basic set of flavor notes, and it shows the same notes from the aroma through to the finish. This is not a whiskey to use for close examination, attempts to dissect and analyse, or even one to do an overly long set of tasting notes on.
So, does that mean it is bad? Fuck no.
It is a really a stripped down smooth version of what people first think of when they think American whiskey. It has the vanilla, the caramel, the cereal notes and – on the outer edges of expectations, a light peppery note. The notes are clear, bright and, especially considering it is 50% abv – fairly easy to drink.
There is a slight alcohol burn, but if that worries you, a little water helps get rid of that, and it just makes all the other flavours even more clear. Even more than that the water adds just the slightest crumpet style savoury note and pushes the lime touch just slightly stronger – just a few tiny rounding notes that is all this needed to be solidly satisfying.
Its main strength is that it is so easy to drink – yet feels like it has a slight weight behind it, like a weightier take on the Irish whiskey style – it is smooth, but nowhere near as light as the average Irish character. It is sweet and honeyed in that slight extra weight. It is a great one for just relaxing with and completely different to what I usually enjoy. Simple and stripped down, normally that would put me off, but is is so enjoyable that I am glad I have a bottle.
The quality whisky to have while relaxing with friends and pouring freely. Not complex, but I guess not everything has to be.
Background: Holy shit how ugly is this bottle? It looks like artificial mass produces squeeze bottle mustard. And that is the most polite description that came to mind. However, I’ve never tried a straight corn whiskey before, and the more I find out about American whiskey, the more I realize there is a huge range there I have only started to tap. So I grabbed a bottle from independent Spirit to give it a go. Expected some fun, party times when drinking, so put on Andrew W.K. – I Get Wet. Time to PARTY HARD!
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