Alright, buckle up, because I’m about to spill the beans on my little adventure with “connor mcgregor liquor”. Now, before you get any fancy ideas, I’m not talking about becoming a whiskey connoisseur overnight. This was more of a “can I actually recreate something decent at home?” kind of experiment.
So, first things first, I did some digging. Obviously, Proper No. Twelve was the name that kept popping up. I saw some rumblings online about the brand changing hands and McGregor not being directly involved anymore, but honestly, I was more interested in the flavor profile than the business drama.
Phase 1: Research and Recon
- I started by trying to figure out what exactly Proper No. Twelve tasted like. A lot of folks online said it was a pretty smooth, easy-drinking blend. Honey and vanilla were the descriptors that kept coming up.
- Then, I had to figure out the base. Since it’s an Irish whiskey, I knew I was looking at a blend of grain and malt whiskey.
- I read a bunch of blogs and articles trying to find out some information about the types of barrels used to age the whiskey.
Phase 2: The Bootleg Blend
Okay, I’m not a distiller, and I don’t have access to fancy equipment, so this was all about getting creative with what I had. Here’s what I did:
- I grabbed a bottle of inexpensive blended Irish whiskey. Nothing fancy, just something that wouldn’t break the bank if the experiment went south.
- I found some oak chips online that were meant for aging spirits. I toasted them lightly in the oven to bring out some of the flavor.
- I made a simple syrup and infused it with a vanilla bean.
Phase 3: The Waiting Game (and Multiple Taste Tests)
I combined the whiskey with the toasted oak chips and a small amount of the vanilla syrup in a sealed jar. The idea was to let the oak chips impart some of that barrel-aged flavor and the vanilla syrup to add a touch of sweetness. And I waited… and waited… and tasted.
It took about two weeks of fiddling with it, adding tiny amounts of vanilla syrup and letting it sit before I felt that I was close to a flavor that I could enjoy. It tasted nothing like Proper No. 12, but it also wasn’t awful.
Final Thoughts
Was it an exact replica? Nope. Was it a fun experiment? Absolutely.
Could I actually recreate Proper No. Twelve at home? Not really. But I learned a heck of a lot about the flavors that go into Irish whiskey, and I ended up with a pretty decent homemade blend that I actually enjoyed. So, all in all, a successful failure!
The moral of the story? Don’t be afraid to experiment, and don’t expect perfection. Sometimes the journey is more rewarding than the destination. Cheers!
