Sampling a Fake Chinese Whiskey
It’s not quite Old №7, but it’ll do
Fake products in China are an art form unto themselves, as is navigating them. When dealing with fakes, there is a world of difference between a product that is bad and one that is merely questionable. Both lie to you, but the former do so in a harmful way, while the latter are laughing along with you.
As to the second, witness Jacor Black, a product that is imitating a well-known whiskey brand. The name escapes me for the moment — Jim Beam, perhaps.
I’ve become a connoisseur of these kinds of products over the last few years, and dodgy alcoholic products are a personal favorite. Where I used to live, there was a particular brand of very cheap brandy (less than $5 per bottle) that was actually pretty good and was a helpful companion through those long winter months. But that item isn’t for sale where I live now, so I’ve turned my attention to this lovingly wrought fake.
My assumption is that, despite the product it’s brazenly knocking off, Jacor Black is going to be closer to Scotch than bourbon. That’s typical of dark liquor in China — such spirits are often associated with wealth, so the most common ones are rich people beverages such as Scotch and brandy. Those also happen to be the ones most commonly duplicated, so it’s a safe bet.
But why don’t we find out together?
First, a closer look at that label
As you might have gleaned, this is a product that really wants to look like Jack Daniels — not just with the name, but with the general shape of the bottle, the color and design of the label, and various other little touches. But let’s take a closer look at that label, because there’s some minor magic there.
You’ve seen the front, but how about the sides:
…Sour mash? Is this actually meant to be bourbon? Well, probably not. Given that these descriptions are entirely in English, they aren’t really meant to be read at all.
You may have taken note of the lack of Chinese on this bottle. You can find some hanzi here, but only on the rear label, i.e. the part no one is meant to see. As with many Chinese products of dubious provenance, it is meant first and foremost to be seen and to give an impression of the exotic.
In short, this is a product meant primarily to be put on display, not consumed. So how about we open ‘er up?
And now, a sampling
Aroma
The first joy of whiskey is the bouquet. For bourborn and other American-style spirits, that’s a headstrong and masculine aroma — sweet and a little heavy. Jacor Black, on the other hand, has a bouquet that’s much sharper and spicier. This doesn’t preclude it from being a bourbon knockoff, but it would make it closer to a mixing bourbon like Maker’s Mark or Basil Hayden, as opposed to Buffalo Trace or Woodford Reserve.
When I say things like this, it almost sounds like I know what I’m talking about, huh?
Color
Bourbon has a wide spectrum of color, but the kind I favor is a darker, almost mahogany tone that lets little light through. Jacor Black, on the other hand, is a translucent amber. That was apparent when it was in the bottle, but it’s even more obvious in the glass. This thinness is very characteristic of Chinese dark spirits and certainly nothing like the almost opaque Jack Daniel’s.
Flavor
Much to my surprise, Jacor Black does not resemble Scotch. It ain’t bourbon either, though, being sort of an in-between whiskey best compared to a blend. The foretaste is very spicy and fades quickly, leaving a faint, odd aftertaste — something to be expected given China’s questionable quality control. However, that’s not to say that it is wholly unpleasant. I’ve had cheap bourbons that are considerably worse than this.
Mouthfeel
Here’s where I really have to shovel it and pretend that I know what I’m talking about.
Jacor Black is predictably thin, much more so than Jack Daniel’s. It doesn’t sting, though, and leaves a tingling sensation on the tongue and palate that isn’t too bad. Imbibed slowly over an evening, this could actually be quite respectable.
Mixability
Surprisingly, I didn’t have any mixers lying around when I cracked the bottle open — that is, except for plain distilled water. In Japan, it’s common practice to water down whiskey before drinking it, and many Japanese whiskies have a different (and, to my palate, much better) flavor with a bit of water mixed in. So I gave it a shot here, adding about one part water to two parts liquor. It took the edge off that foretaste, making it a bit sweeter and mellower, and muted that aftertaste.
As with many a cheap whiskey, it may be that Jacor Black is made to be mixed. A sensible mixer here is Coca-Cola, so I went out and got some.
Looks almost refreshing, huh? Well, not so fast.
Jacor Black blends even worse with cola than I thought — that spicy note just cuts right through the sweetness, leaving a weird chemical flavor. More cola dampens that, but really now, what kind of whiskey doesn’t blend with Coke? Heavens.
Of course, it’s possible that it might blend quite nicely with something else — lemon juice and simple syrup, for instance, or a nice bit of dry vermouth. Am I ever going to find out? Probably not. If I can’t find orange peel to flavor my tea, then the odds of me finding vermouth are profoundly remote.
In conclusion
It’s a cheap whiskey meant to imitate some kind of blend, pretty good given what I paid for it but you aren’t missing out on anything. As I said above, this is a show-off product. Think of it like a bottle of wine that someone might dramatically overpay for — it’s meant to be bought by people who don’t know anything who then serve it to people who know less.
Given the choice, I’d rather have had a bottle of my favorite cheap Chinese brandy, but I think I got my money’s worth. If nothing else, the story is worth a few bucks.
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