George Dickel Tabasco Brand Barrel Finish Whisky* Review

Thomas Fondano -

BOTTLE DETAILS

  • DISTILLER: Cascade Hollow Distillery
  • MASH BILL: Tennessee whisky (the standard Dickel mash bill is 84% corn, 8% rye, 8% malted barley) blended with aged Tabasco pepper mash and the Essence of Tabasco brand pepper sauce
  • AGE: NAS – No Age Statement
  • YEAR: 2018
  • PROOF: 70 (35% ABV)
  • MSRP: $24.95
  • BUY ONLINE: Wine-Searcher.com

THOMAS' NOTES

Nose: Vinegar, peppers, hot sauce (surprise!), sugar

Taste: Children’s fruit-flavored cough syrup, hot sauce

Finish: A short to medium finish with restrained heat and maybe a hint of whiskey? The finish builds and lengthens the more you drink.

Share with: Folks who say “we should do shots.”

Worth the Price: No. Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said, “worth the pride.” Also, no.

Bottle, Bar or Bust: Bar if you must, preferably one you never plan to return to.

Overall: If you’re looking for a rich, complex whiskey to sip from your Glencairn, this is not it. If you approach this as the novelty product it is, you’ll be less disappointed. It’s made for shots and the Dickel website says so: “Best enjoyed as a shot with celery salt on the rim, pickle juice, or an ice chaser.” (I’m not sure what an ice chaser is either.)

You may have noticed the * next to “Whiskey” at the top of this review. Technically this isn’t a whiskey because of the addition of “aged Tabasco pepper mash and the Essence of Tabasco brand pepper sauce”. I can understand why the flavor wizards at Dickel or Diageo thought this was a good concept. Tabasco is aged in used oak barrels which are stripped of all the char, so let’s put some whiskey back in those barrels. If the result of that was good enough, it would be the product, but they had to add the other stuff, so this is more of a liqueur.

New Dickel Distiller Nicole Austin has written that this product –developed without her– is “not 100% in line with [her] vision for Cascade Hollow Distilling Co.” That’s good to hear. I’ve had some good Dickel-sourced whiskeys that I would love to enjoy more regularly.

I cannot say in good faith that you should buy this. However, if you should be stuck with a bottle…

Hot Dickel Tickle

  • 2 parts George Dickel Tabasco Barrel Finish
  • 1 part lemon juice
  • 1 part triple sec or orange cuaraçao (I used Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao)
  • 1 dash Tabasco per serving

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake, strain, consume.

I say parts here because you could scale this from a shot to a round of shots or a cocktail. For a shot, 1 part = ½ oz. Good luck and don’t think about tomorrow’s hangover.

Disclaimer: George Dickel provided Bourbon & Banter with a sample of their product for this review. We appreciate their willingness to allow us to review their products with no strings attached. Thank you.