Collier and McKeel Tennessee Whiskey

I believe this is what is sold as Rollins in Australia - Batch 15: Nose is green apples and rye…some toasted oak and vanilla. Taste in a glencairn is corn sweet with a hint of baked apples, burnt sugar moving to cinnamon and light oak spice. You don’t taste the barrels like better bourbon but there is some nice oak spice and toasted oak notes. The overall taste is balanced and wonderfully smooth. Its not super complex or long in finish but there is much to like and nothing to hate. This is obviously young spirits but quality is where it should be. In Australia this is around $45 and I think its top value. Compare this to Jack Daniels and shake your head in disbelief that Jack is usually a few dollars more but serves up so much less in everyway. Can be drunk straight in a glencairn where it is perfectly pleasant if a bit limited but rocks on the rocks where the char and toasted notes come out more prominently. My guess this is designed for making a great Old Fashioned. Solid 3 stars or 88. Please note this comes in batches and there is definitely batch variation going on here. (Word to the wise; batch 16 is coming through as I write this and is not as nice as batch 15, which is still in shops and the basis of this review.)

My bottle was labelled as 43% ABV/86 Proof. Distiller.com listed as 80 Proof. Aroma of cornflakes and dry roasted salted peanuts. This is a fairly sweet whiskey. Corn flavors predominate the taste. There are faint flavors of sorghum, cashews, honey, black cherry and light smoke in the background. Finish shows some rye spiciness. The spice in the finish is not hot, but not as mild as lower rye content bourbons; almost like the master distiller could not figure out whether to make a high rye or low rye whiskey. That leaves this whiskey in an odd middle ground as the spice notes are present, but not powerful and distinguished, nor mild and complimentary. Alcohol burn typical for the proof. Whiskey is smooth, perhaps a touch thinner than optimal. Definitely not as thin as Jack. A touch of water did not bring out additional flavors. Despite the shortcomings, this is the best Tennessee Whiskey I've tasted.

Very drinkable, strong brown sugar notes and maple undertones without being cloying, drop of water brings out the taste of the grain/corn

My absolute favorite. Very smooth. Sweet and balanced.

Needs to settle for a minute before drinking

Quite smooth, not much rye spice