Regular readers know that come the weekend I like to enjoy a post-dinner Dunhill Peravia cigar with a relaxing adult beverage. In the winter months, the tipple of choice is Dow Tawny Port. Ten year old most nights, but I'll spring for 20 year old when I feel like pushing the boat right out. Forty year old for my birthday. When it gets hot out, however, port no longer refreshes. Instead, it cloys and tastes mainly of alcohol.
So I switch gears. Oddly enough, to a higher alcohol tipple. Since my college days, the summer month post-dinner drink of choice was Wild Turkey Liqueur on ice. (Lots of ice.) A few years ago they changed the name to American Honey, reflecting the fact that it is a blend of bourbon whiskey and honey liqueur. A bit hard to find, but well worth it.
The resurgence of interest in brown liquors and, especially, whiskey has been accompanied by new whiskey-based liqueurs. (The less said about Jim Beam's Red Stag cherry flavored bourbon, the better IMHO.)
Tonight, however, I tried one of Wild Turkey's main competitors: Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey liqueur.
As a preliminary matter, I must confess that straight whiskey is not my tipple of choice in this setting. As suggested by my love of Port, when it comes to a post-dinner drink with a smoke, my sweet tooth demands satisfaction. Hence, my preference for whiskey-honey blends.
Tasting the two side-by-side tonight as I enjoyed a Peravia , I concluded that I still prefer Wild Turkey's American Honey. The Wild Turkey liqueur is a bit more syrupy. The honey elements are less assertive, but the finish is still softer and sweeter.
The Tennessee Honey is thinner. It has a much longer finish, but a much less pleasant one. There is a mixture of nutty, vegetal, and smoky flavors on the finish that isn't very pleasant (to my palate).
The nutty/vegetal elements of the Tennessee Honey also don't mesh as well with the creamy vanilla, buttered toast, cedar flavors of the Peravia as do the citrus and sweet flavors of the American Honey.
In sum, American Honey is harder to find (at least in LA) than its newer competitor, but I still prefer it.
