Gold Cock Whisky 3 Year Old Blended 'Red Feathers'

Rudolf Jelinek Distillery is one of the key market players on the market of Slivovitz (a typical Czech drink), brandy and other spirits such as vodka, liqueur and, since recently whisky. Their whisky has the resounding if somewhat ridiculous name ‘Gold Cock’. My father brought me two bottles – the range has only two – when he went there on holiday. They have a 3 Years Old blend and a 12 Years Old single malt.

Using local barley, the drink is distilled in copper pot stills that look more like the Sputniks and distillation devices. Maturation was achieved on Czech oak in Vizovice (Moravia).

The liquid is quite oily and there is nothing wrong with the color, but the nose of this 3 Year Old blend (and I’m not exactly sure what this is a blend of) is immensely sweet and one-dimensional. I get only plums. Some vanilla is struggling, but failing, to break through.

On the palate, it’s quite creamy, but very flat. Again I get some plums and only a touch of oak. Quite a bit of bubblegum. This is whisky? Tastes more like a plum liqueur to me. Let me check the label again, because I can barely believe this is really whisky. It says, among other things, ‘original recipe’. Well…

The finish is – litteraly – short and sweet, and that’s for the best, I’m sure.

My expectations were admittedly very low, but this ‘Red Feathers’ succeeded in not meeting them. It’s one of the worst whiskies I’ve ever tasted, even worse than that Egyptian nightmare ‘The Auld Stag’.