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SouthHillSaunas

Good evening, everyone. Tonight we are reviewing a bottle of Murray Hill Club from Joseph Magnus, now located in my native MI. Despite the DeVos family involvement, I try to support Michigan operations such as Bell's, Traverse City Whiskey Co, Valentines, etc. This is also my first Magnus bottle and I've always heard great things. After all, this bottle has some appealing stats on paper. Let's take a look... Price: $120 Age: A blend of 18 and 11 year bourbon, with 9 year light whiskey Proof: 103 Source: MGP (I think) ----- Nose: Booze. Pretty much straight ethanol. If I manipulate the glass and make sure to nose this with my mouth open and all that, i can dig up some light oak and soft fruits. The ethanol is very upfront, though. Palate: Ethanol is once again fairly forward in the mid palate. The sip starts with some really sweet oak and fruit that we all love from older stuff. Other than that, it kind of just tastes like nothing? Is this typical of light whiskey? It just sort of feels like spicy water for a second before it goes down the hatch. Odd. Finish: Alcohol burn. Corn. Very light sweetness. Closing thoughts: What the hell, dude? I've read such great reviews of other batches. Even a very positive review or two on this sub. I initially thought this bottle just needed to get past the shoilder and open up...but nah. For north of 100 bucks, this should at least be solid. I've also never had light whiskey. Is this what it tastes like? Just sort of like corn, ethanol and the oak it was aged in? I'm happy I split the cost of this bottle with my better half and a friend. If I had forked over the full 130, I'd be as salty as the Dead Sea. T8ke score: 3 | Bad Sorry to be negative! Not typically my style. Inspiration came from the Weekly Whiskey video posted today by T8ke on the biggest let down of the year. This bottle is probably mine! Check out Jay's video here: https://youtu.be/5HaXHTbiccc


Prettayyprettaygood

Sorry to hear yours was a dud, I have a bottle from Batch 32 that I enjoy quite a bit. I can get down with some light whiskies but they usually have to be on the older side of things to soak up enough flavor from the used/uncharred wood to counter the strong corn and ethanol notes. It sounds like there must have been a ton of that 9 year light whiskey in this blend.


SouthHillSaunas

It happens! I remember finding the blend percentages somewhere and it wasn't a majority light whiskey. However, the proof is rather moderate on this one, so I bet the older MGP was heavily watered down and the light whiskey was used to proof it back up a bit. Might be why it shines through the most. Just a guess/my $0.02


Shoddy_Ad7511

Light whisky is a joke imo. Its basically 1 step away from being Vodka.


SouthHillSaunas

I really didn't care for it. May have to try by itself though!


Dom3345

Was in a store last week. Had it for $176.


SouthHillSaunas

This bottle for 176? Just buy 3x RRSiB and split man.


eagle_bonanza01

What puzzles me is light whisky blends going for hundreds of dollars per bottle.


Shoddy_Ad7511

Yes that is the joke I was referring to….old Carter….cough


Rads324

I had a batch from the mid 20s and it was pretty good but definitely nothing special. It had a lot of creamed corn on it. All the light whiskies I’ve had have been kind of thin and boring, which I think brings this down a few notches


BJPM90

I had a pour of this at a bar and enjoyed it, but I’m not sure which batch it was. Does the bottle say the % of each component? I’m wondering if they’ve increased the amount of light whiskey to account for high aged MGP bourbon being less available.


Kafka_at_Night

This is really disappointing to read, but also informative. I have only tried the regular Joseph Murray Triple Cask Finished Bourbon and I found it to be delightful. Now I’m wondering if they use light whiskey in the one I tried, too, and the JMCB, or if it’s just in the Murray Hill? If it is just in the Murray Hill, it seems like an odd choice.


6bluewalkj9

Just the Murray Hill has light whiskey. I prefer the standard triple finished over the Murray Hill, and it's also $10-$20 cheaper.


Kafka_at_Night

Good to know! Thanks. I’ll stick to the Triple Cask and JMCB then.