We like cheap hair. Whoa. What is that? Hi, I'm Terrence. I'm the beverage director here at Manuela in the Arch District of downtown Los Angeles. I am Nikki and I used to have Terren's job. Gets me every time. And today we are blind tasting 10 grocery store whisies to see which ones taste the best. We're tasting blind to keep it unbiased. But there is also a challenge. One of these bottles is Mallen 12, which retails at $150.

Whoever can identify the bottle of Macallen first wins a bottle of one of my favorite whisies. It's going to be me. Oh yeah. Let's take a crack. Cheers. Number one. Light colored. Dry on the nose. Let's see what happens. American whiskey. Yeah, slightly sweet. bourbon only because I'm getting a lot of sweetness. So, I'd say it's a high corn bourbon. Little on the drier side, but I think it is bourbon. I feel like I'm getting a hint of smoke, too, which is really throwing me off right now.

I think it might ride. One thing I'm going to say before I get into all the rating is that I'm a big believer that there are no bad whisies. My ratings will tend to be a little bit higher across the board here because there's a level of care with whisies, all whisies, with their aging process. This one's not completely in my favorite profile. It is on the sweeter side. So, I would say there's a fair amount of corn in this mash. This one for me personally is like a six.

I was going to say like a six 65. Ah, it's bellbenny. Is it Wow. Interesting. The bell benny's specifically tend to be a little bit delicate. This one is sweeter than I remembered. This scotch in particular I love as a giftgiver for like an intro scotch drinker because they are a little bit more delicate. That's a great whiskey. God, I'm worried that I'm going to be embarrassed today. Okay. I'm not getting smoke on this one for sure. Lot of not like in the Scotch. That is bizarre. Like weirdly fruity, but nice and dry.

I disagree. You don't think so? No. I feel like this is like a young whiskey that's in some sort of weird situation. This to me is American whiskey for sure. You get stone fruit. There's like some weird but like not nice stone fruit. Like it's definitely not in season. Well, it's full on. Yeah, it's like unripened cherry. I want to know what this is. But I'm going to rate this uh a five. I think it's a 6.5 for me. Let's go. Let's see it. Oh my.

WOW. NO FREAKING WAY. It's definitely American. High corn bourbon. Makers is a bourbon. So, in order to be a bourbon, you have to be at least 51% corn. Corn being the sweetest thing that's going into this whiskey, right? It is a high corn mash on the Makers. So, it is very sweet. I am shocked. This is number three. Super light in color. I 2 to four years I would say at best on this. Flavor is really soft on it. The longer you cast something, the more flavor from the wood you get. More oils and the tannins. Weirdly light vanilla. This is I feel like this is definitely an oak only situation and not much else after that. It's like it's a

little sweet, but there's a fair amount of spice to it. I think whatever this is will be fine in cocktails. It doesn't taste expensive. It's fine. Six. Six. Six feels good. Six feels It is red breast. Wow. Oh, good Irish whiskey. You get a lot of vanilla and kind of honey flavors as it is an Irish whiskey. 12 years age. Why doesn't it taste like it? That's crazy. 12 year. How much does a 12-year red breast cost? This costs 30 something.

59 crazy. This is number four, folks. Oh god. Has a nice nose. Sweet. Very sweet. A high corn American bourbon. Dare I say a high corn young American bourbon. I was The red breast was 12 years. Yeah, I think this is like kind of young and vibrant. It does taste like a cheaper bourbon. like something even lesser than makers mark. And then I'm also just because it's not for me. It's not completely my flavor profile. Five and a half. I'll do a 6'5 on that by the way. 65. It's a sugar bomb. Try not to look. It's Evan Williams. Look at that. High corn bourbon. nailed it.

I'm getting better at this. I love Evan Williams. Can I tell you why? It was my well whiskey for 15 years. It's great. Great in Manhattan's. Great in old fashions. I stand by everyone. If you're if you just want a cocktail bourbon at home, this is great. Yo. All right, T. This one does. This one tastes very similar to the last one. Like sweet vanilla. It's lighter in body, though. It's not as viscous on the palette. I mean, look at it. It's like definitely lighter the way it swishes around. This one's like weirdly sweet.

I think it's weird. It's It's got a syrupy thing to it. It's got to be bourbon. This one's really throwing me off. Well, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if this one cost a little bit more, like a nicer mid tier, but it doesn't taste good to me. But maybe it's super cheap. But I don't know. There's something about it where I'm like, eh, what if it's Jameson? I'm going to give this one a six because it's it's not offending me in any way, but it also is like it's also kind of not that great and flat. I was going to say six, too. Six. You were right. It is, Jamus. Dude, hell yeah. There's something there's something about when you like black out on something enough that you really ingrain it into your memory.

Jameson guys, it's fine. Number six. So, based on color, I feel like this is Macallen 12. Look at that. The color is It's 20. Mallen definitely cares about the color of their bottle on the shelf. And this is definitely something that I don't see being Look at that. Just oak. Let's see how she does, folks. Ooh, this tastes like Macallen 12 to me. Unless it's another scotch that tastes exactly like that.

It's scotch, folks. This finally something that makes sense in this whole scheme. Color is a huge deal. It used to be anyways from marketing with whisies on the back bar. U, that's where you see things like caramel color. They would add it to make it look which isn't always a bad thing. I don't think it affects the flavor that much. Like Obin, people associate the deep color with like high aging and it is. It's a real thing. You think this is the McCullen? I think this is a count of 12. Yeah. Yeah, I do. They could be tricking us with another whiskey. Like another scotch.

They're full of tricks today. They're full of tricks. Something like 85. I think we're 85. Both of us. Yeah. Handle it. Hey, look at you. Yes, Nikki. You get it. Wow. Two. 110 proof. Oh, this is a special one. There's so much flavor that it bypasses any hard alcohol flavoring. If you want to get really drunk on a like a nicer scotch, this is a good option. Should I give her a nice like handshake? Thank you, Terrence. Hey, you deserve it. Thank you so much. Yeah. Wow. You know what I feel like I'm getting here? Ry like 100% overholds or something along because it also tastes high in ABV.

In my mind, American 51% wine. I like this profile. Like this. This to me is a whiskey that 18 you should have at all times in your house. Whatever this is. Yeah, this is great. Like this is like I can make a Manhattan by myself. Lost my job. Black Manhattan. My girlfriend broke up with me. I'm sad. I not definitely not drinking the nicer whisies. This is that this is like it's got the perfect amount of spice and dryness. There's a lot of like rye whisies that you can have that are going to be like super dry and it's just like

hot and you're like for what? Like this is not that enjoyable. This you can enjoy. You could sip on it if you want, but like in a cocktail it would be perfect. I'm gonna give a seven and a half. I was going to say it's for me. This is like This is what Yeah, I like this. This is It's a good flavor profile. It's a good balance. It knows what it wants and what it's going for. 75 feels really good. It knows what it is. Buffalo Trace. Okay. High Ry bourbon. It is high bourbon. So, we weren't that far off. It's not a rye whiskey, but it is American. We're on track. So, to be clear, there is rye in this.

Uh, some bourbons are higher rye than others. This is a good one, guys. Honestly, good for Buffalo Trace. It almost looks like it has head to it, right? It does like a Coors Light beer. She's real light. This is light. The color is very Rocky Mountain Champagne, baby. I don't hate it. Could be Glen Morangi, man. I know. I'm not getting scotch on this. No. Yeah. Did I destroy my palette? I don't know. It's just cuz it's a little on the sweeter side. I'm getting like a light fruity scotch.

Do you get all that vanilla but in a way where it wasn't in the barrel that long? I mean, it's not even You're going scotch on this. I'm going scotch. I'm going young rye. Young Ry part, too. I think I actually don't hate this, honestly. It just feels like a nice mixing. Five, seven year. I don't know. I don't know what the hell. Young rye. And I'm going to give it a six and a half cuz it actually tastes pretty good. Like I could do this between seven and seven five. out. All right, you went higher on that one.

Let's see it. All right, my ego is taking it up. Uh freaking sneaky. See, I got scotch vibes. This is wild. So, the Japanese Harmony specifically, they age it in plum lor barrel. So, that's that's the finisher. This one I'm not getting a lot of fruit on this. This is one thing about the habiki harmony. You have multiple blends of scotch coming together for this. Hence the name harmony. Maybe this is probably in the supermarket. It's probably higher, right? It's what this cost $8. Not worth it. I actually used to suggest this bottle as a gift. Well, back I don't Something's different. It's the plum barrel is not there. $80. We're not doing anything special here.

All right. This is number nine. Looks a little darker. Like a little bit. Whoa. This one's interesting. There's definitely some Bam. Boom. B. Some weird barrel at play on this one. You think so? A lot of barrel. Getting all those tins. All that wood grain. My pallet's getting fried. You're right. Super dry on the back end. I want to say American. And also, this one's quite This one feels hot to me. I feel like the ABV is a little bit more substantial. I want to say bourbon.

It could be. If it is, again, I think that ABV is really coming into play. I think this is one of the hotter ones. Maybe like 46%. I don't think she's cheap, though, because to the ABV feels high here, but I think there's still a fair amount of finesse and balance to it. I like this. Yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'm I'm going to go 8.5 on this one. Yeah, there's something about this I really like. But it could be 75 for me. But I'm I'm enjoying it. And I do think it's American for sure.

Yeah. 100%. Oh my gosh. It's going to be a surprise. Really? Brussels. So it's American. 10 year makes sense. It's been in the barrel longer. And we're looking at 90 proof. Yeah. So that just a touch. I said 46, right? It's 45%. If you want something just a little bit nicer, better like drink on the rocks or in a really nice oldfashioned, this is your ticket. That's a great one. I really I'm really happy about this one. I really like this. Cheers. There we go. Cheers. Nice nose. Yeah, I was going to say the nose is good. Cherry vanilla right away. Yeah, there's something fruity and delicate about it.

A little bit of leather, a little saddle. It's vanilla and fruit. So, I She good. This one also feels American to me and hotter. Yeah, like mid-40s. And the color's got red notes to it, which I find interesting. I feel like there's a little bit of a level of care here. I also feel like this one's not an ultra cheap one, but I'm I'm guessing that maybe it's been in the barrel a little longer. I'm ready to be surprised in this one cuz it's it's good. I think this is a nicer one. Higher ABV American secondary barrel 8.5. It's It's cool.

I'm riding 758. What? Woodford. Oh, it's Woodford. Double Od. You were right. Two barrels. So, two barrels. This is very well thought out. Yeah. This also looks like 70. 37. No way. That was fun. Yeah. I think the second half was better than the first. We I had to get warmed up. I was surprised by how many American whisies we got. But then we're here, you know. Happy to share Leafrog with you guys. One of my favorites. Learn to drink this. This is what adults drink. I'm going to have a little more.

Honestly, revvelatory. Humbling. Let's put it that way. We are humbled. Drink what you like. That like Yeah. Figure out what you like. Drink it and come on down to Manuela. We'll happily enjoy a toast with you. Cheers. And cheers to Nikki.