I’m not sure when I had my first drink of whisk(e)y but I know it wasn’t my first taste. How good or bad never really crossed my mind for a long time and I’m not sure I could really tell the difference other than maybe good or not. Over the years I’ve learned more about “tasting” not drinking, tried more and treated it as a passion, not a game. I don’t have the best palate and if I’m lucky, it’s average.

It gets a bit harder for a good friend or bartender to offer me a glass of something “good” only to find out it’s just average to me. I may be a bit of a whiskey snob and perhaps too critical of someone saying its a Green light when it’s really Yellow or Red in Whiskey Traffic school. It’s really that simple. It’s good, it’s not or it’s not really good or bad.

The Smooth Ambler discussion on twitter got me thinking. Have we started to “Settle” on the Yellow light? Has lack of and a shortage of a real Green light caused a shift? Have we stepped on the gas blasting through a Yellow light whiskey intersection that’s really Red and telling ourselves the light was Green?

I did a blog post last year where I questioned if the movement to take the cream off the top (best barrels) and put it into special releases has caused the standard stuff to take a step back. What happens when you take the cream off the top for too many years? Even the best stuff starts being average. Whiskey years are like dog years as a follower said and it flys by. Five years ago the chase for the best hardly existed. Great Rye could easily be found. Old Black Maple Hill, Pappy, AH Hirsch, GT Stagg weren’t that hard to find in stores. In 10-20 years American Whiskey has gone from forgotten to furor. There are lots of new Whiskey fans. 6-12 years ago distilleries didn’t see this coming. There just isn’t enough great stuff ready for a bottle so THEY settle too. Yellow is the new green for many of them. It could be much worse. If it wasn’t for Honey and Cinnamon flavored whiskey the truly bad stuff wouldn’t have a place to hide.

I keep drinking booze that’s “supposed” to be good. Disagreeing with others ratings/reviews are just my opinion. Maybe it rightfully makes me look pompous at times, it isn’t my fault. It’s simple—Does it smell like something I want to sip immediately? Does it taste good enough that I anticipate my next sip? Does it finish with a nice long pleasant taste? It’s that simple unless you “settle”. Maybe the nose is just “nice”, taste is “good enough” and finish is a bit shorter and that little subtle bitterness or astringency isn’t that bad. I hear “what else are we supposed to do”, “it’s not bad”, “it’s pretty good”, “it’s better than the 2013”, “I hear its good”, “if I don’t get it now someone else will”, settle, settle, and more settling.

Nasty young Craft stuff—settle

Rushed not peaked big name stuff-settle

Fancy bottle LTD release with average quality—settle

The two guys from the their blog with no clue say its good-settle

The store’s whiskey guy or owner picked the barrel so he says it’s great so it must be-settle

Trust your own taste and struggle to find a good nose, great taste and finish.

I guess I gotta take a step back and ask if its me? Then I try a Old Heavan Hill Gold Bottled in Bond for $12 and it’s damn good and better than that stuff the store owner picked out selling for $70. Maybe I have some $25 Four Roses Small Batch and it’s better than the 12 year Van Winkle that’s not close to the brands nose, taste, finish of a couple years ago. It reminds me I don’t have to settle, the answers right there.

Green isn’t Yellow and don’t get use to anything else or it’s like being bit by a Whiskey Zombie and your a goner!

Don’t Settle!