Famous Grouse 18 Year

Blended Scotch
Purchase Price: Generally $60+
Place of Purchase: Received as gift
Rating: 8.8

This blend vaulted to the top of the list the second I took a sip after receiving a bottle for Christmas. If White Horse is my favorite everyday blend, this is easily my favorite "indulgence" blend. Benefiting from some strong but not overpowering sherry influence that matches the maroon label quite nicely, this stuff possesses a sweet smoothness that reminds me of Balvenie DoubleWood but in the end might even be better than that much heralded single malt. As full and rich an experience as you can ask of a "mere" blend. A great, great whisky and worth the money even if you are not fortunate enough to receive a bottle as a gift. Trust me, I wouldn't lie about this!

Clontarf Classic Blend

Irish Whiskey
Purchase Price: $16
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.6

Clontarf Single Malt is very nearly my all-time favorite Irish Whiskey so I had high hopes for its cheaper “Little Brother” blend. Well it didn’t live up to my expectations—this is pretty dull stuff. Somewhat paradoxically, it reminds me a bit of Brennan's in the way it makes me completely forget about it only five minutes after drinking it. It also appears that this brand has gotten a facelift in the labeling department (I’ve posted a picture of the old label since that was the bottle this review is based on) and a new ad campaign geared towards twentysomething binge drinkers. Their website actually stoops to utilizing a picture of two fetching coeds clinched in a lip-lock to get the pulses of potential consumers racing. How utterly puerile. I’m not sure what else to say except that the song "The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle" by Thin Lizzy is a pretty good song.

Lord Calvert

Canadian Whisky
Purchase Price: $10
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 7.9

I hadn’t given this brand so much as a stray though in decades and then, boom, there it is, sitting on the shelf in Warehouse going for the decidedly un-Lordly price of $9.99 per 750ml. With just one glance at a bottle shape and label that hasn’t changed in probably half a century, I was instantly transported back to a late-seventies era I spent thumbing through shoplifted copies of Penthouse and National Lampoon magazines. Lord Calvert always seemed to have a full page ad in these periodicals every month of the year. It’s worth noting that when I googled this to find a picture of the bottle, one of the first links I saw was an article about some vehicular miscreant who was found passed out in the front seat of his car with “four pint bottles of Lord Calvert scattered about.” There also appears to be a Lord Calvert bowling alley somewhere in Maryland. Rather fitting I think, although, I must admit, I actually like this. It’s got a touch of Juicy Fruit-type sweetness that reminds me a bit of an Irish whiskey but still plenty enough rye overtones to reassure that this is indeed a product of north North America. A pleasant surprise!!

Rittenhouse 100 Proof

Rye
Purchase Price: $15
Place of Purchase: Warehouse - New York, NY
Rating: 8.0

Along with flinging money into a black hole meant to bail out bankers and automobile manufacturers and insurance companies, the United States government is also charged with ensuring that certain liquors are “Bonded”--meaning they are bottled and sold at a certain minimum proof. Rittenhouse is a grand old name in rye, and is a serviceable example of this oft-overlooked category, but it suffers in comparison to the identically-priced Old Overholt. You’d think something that is 25% stronger than the normal 80 proof would have a bit more “oomph” but Rittenhouse just doesn’t bowl me over the way my favorite ryes do. Worth a try, though.