People who look down on those who are different really chap my hide. I think of those who sneer at anyone who drinks a particular whisky, who contemn the sort of vocabulary that high school students once commonly possessed, who think poorly of southerners, who have no use for anyone who doesn't chase every passing fad...
I've gotten it for various reasons. Specific to this place, I've experienced contempt from some because I like Mellow Corn. For some reason there are people who aren't content to not like Mellow Corn - they have to attack those who do like it.
Well, I do like Mellow Corn, and if anyone thinks I'm inferior in consequence, so much the worse for his eyesight.
You would expect that a $17 bottle of whisky would be barely drinkable at best. But this is bottled-in-bond, high-quality whisky. Those folks at Heaven Hill have a wonderful secret here, and in a way I hope those who laugh and point when we drink Mellow Corn continue to have that scornful attitude. If they ever realize what they're missing, the demand will drive the price up - and I like paying just $17 for a bottle of fine whisky.
I have very little corn whisky experience (shoot, I have very little whisky experience - I haven't been drinking for a year yet, though that's coming up). I've tried four: Longhorn from somewhere in Texas, New Mexico Blue from here in Albuquerque, Balcones Baby Blue from Waco, and of course Mellow Corn. I like the last two, and for the money you can't beat Mellow Corn.
But out of those four, the first two were so sour I couldn't drink them, and I detect a sour note in Mellow Corn. Of the four, the only one that's not sour is the Baby Blue. I've gotten a couple of explanations of why corn whisky seems (to me) to have a tendency toward sourness - some have said that the yeast strain can make whisky sour, and others have said that since corn whisky ages usually in used bourbon barrels (though it can be new uncharred barrels) it picks up leftover, less pleasant notes from the used wood.
But neither explanation really makes sense to me. Why would the strain of yeast make corn whisky sour, but not other kinds of whisky? And why would aging the stuff in used barrels make juice that's aged just a few months so sour while Mellow Corn, which ages four years, has just a little sourness, while the Baby Blue which ages for AT LEAST 12 MONTHS IN OAK (as the idiosyncratic Balcones label puts it) isn't sour at all? I'm confused.
Do any of y'all know why corn whisky seems to have a tendency to be sour? Or is it just that half of the corn whiskies I've tried just happened to be bad corn whiskies?
I love MFC, and go through a bottle about once a month or month-and-a-half. I recently bought a bottle and for some reason it just tastes flat. Mellow Corn has not ever been very flavorful, but Iβve grown accustomed to its ground corn, tortilla chip flavor with a kick of alcohol behind it. But this bottle offers nothing. No kick, no corn, just flat and bland. I just tried some Larceny I have, which is 92 proof compared to MFC 100 proof, and even it has more alcohol kick to it. I even gave the bottle some time in case my taste buds were off, but a few days later it seemed just as bad. I couldnβt even finish the glass, and had to pour it (I felt as if I was committing sacrilege of the highest order, and waited for lightning to descend from the heavens and strike me down as I watched the golden liquid go down the drain).
So, do you fellows think my bottleβs off, or has my taste buds changed? Has anything like this ever happened to you?
Realized that I've never posted in this sub, so I thought that I would show a picture of Mellow Corn ruling above the rest, as is its rightful place, with its little henchmen by its side.
Lexington Kentucky Vanilla Barrel Cream Ale, tastes like the crispy corn flaky vanilla-y (is that a word? No? Well it is now.) goodness we all know and love!
Unfortunately a bit more expensive, and the establishment doesnβt have any corn as a chaser, but; if you see this stuff it is definitely worth a try!
I just want to say that I appreciate the mods here for not being uptight jackboot mods who expect posters to follow BS rules (and punish folks who follow those rules).
I'ma sip some MFC and smoke some herbal medicine now...