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George Dickel No. 12

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4.1
(2)€50United States, Tennessee, Tennessee

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George A. Dickel opened his whisky business in Nashville in the 1850s. He wanted a spirit as smooth as the best Scotch he sold. That obsession still shapes the recipe at Cascade Hollow today. Distillate is chilled to 40 degrees, then steeped for days in vats packed with sugar maple charcoal. That is a slower cousin of the mellowing every whisky here must use by law. No. 12 carries a bit more proof than the brand's entry expression. That extra strength lets the corn-heavy mash show through. Vanilla and warm oak build alongside it. Sip it neat and let that patient filtering speak for itself.

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About the distillery

Distillery

George Dickel

George Dickel started out as a wholesale liquor merchant in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1850s. By the 1870s his company was selling whisky made at Cascade Hollow, near Normandy. Prohibition shut the operation down, and it did not reopen at Cascade Hollow until 1958. What makes George Dickel distinctive is the mellowing step. Before charcoal filtering, the new whisky is chilled to 40 degrees, a step most Tennessee distillers skip. It then filters slowly through deep vats of sugar maple charcoal for several days before going into the barrel. Dickel also insisted on spelling it "whisky," dropping the e, because he believed his product matched the best Scotch whiskies. Diageo owns the brand today, and the whisky is still made at Cascade Hollow, near Tullahoma, in Coffee County.

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About the George Dickel No. 12

George Dickel No. 12 is a Tennessee whisky made at the Cascade Hollow Distillery in Tennessee, United States. It carries the George Dickel name at a firmer 90 proof than the brand's standard No. 8 bottling. The mash runs heavy on corn, close to 84 percent. That gives the spirit natural sweetness before ageing even starts. Search for a genuine Tennessee whisky and George Dickel No. 12 usually sits near the top. George A. Dickel was a Nashville merchant who began selling whisky in the 1860s. He believed his liquor was as smooth as the finest Scotch. So he used the old Scottish spelling on the label. The original Cascade Hollow operation dates back to the 1870s, though prohibition shut it down for decades. Schenley rebuilt the distillery in Coffee County in 1958, and the first new mash ran on July 4, 1959. George Dickel Tennessee Whisky reached bottles again in 1964. What makes George Dickel distinctive is its own chill mellowing process. It is the brand's take on the filtering every legal Tennessee whisky requires. The spirit is chilled to 40 degrees before it ever meets charcoal. It then sits in vats packed with ten to twelve feet of sugar maple charcoal for several days. That is deeper and colder than most Tennessee producers use. George Dickel has followed this method since Schenley revived the brand decades ago. No. 12 pours with a sweet, corn-forward nose that softens quickly into vanilla and toasted oak. On the palate, that corn sweetness carries through, joined by a woody backbone from years in charred barrels. The extra proof compared to No. 8 gives it more grip without turning harsh. Enjoy it neat in a simple glass and let the layers show themselves. It finishes warm, a little woody, and never bitter. George Dickel No. 12 remains one of the clearest expressions of what Cascade Hollow set out to do. It is a Tennessee whisky built on corn, shaped by cold charcoal, and finished with real vanilla warmth. Anyone curious about American whisky beyond the most famous label should look here. George Dickel offers a genuine, well-made place to start. Pour it neat and give it a slow, patient glass.