George Dickel 17 Year Reserve Cask Strength is a Tennessee whisky made at Cascade Hollow Distillery in Tullahoma, Tennessee. It uses a mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye and 8% malted barley and undergoes the Lincoln County Process charcoal mellowing before aging. This 2022 release is bottled at cask strength 46% ABV and retails for around $250.
Oak, dried dark fruit, vanilla, sour cherry candy, leather, dried corn, citrus peels, baking spice, slight yeastiness. Equally heavy and bright, this complex delivery is a joy to taste.
Tons of mellow oak, dark caramel, and blood orange. Surprisingly light – intensity is about a four out of 10 – but it still presents a good amount of tannic structure. Finish is long and reminds me of Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops, which I love, plus sweet herbs like anise and mint – verging on menthol/camphor – finishing with beeswax.
Sure enough, the palate has the same overall presentation, showcasing a sweet tea quality that’s heavily laden with red fruit, moving from there into a maple syrup note — one of the few connecting threads to the 2016 bottling. The whiskey pings back to tea again for the finish, with the lightest overtone of leather and spice lingering on the sweet and lengthy back-end.