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Glyph Molecular Whiskey Review
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Apr 13, 2025
Glyph 85H from Endless West is labelled as a "spirit whiskey with natural flavors" according to the bottle. It's supposedly flavored based on the molecular structure of whiskey. We'll see how the science holds up in this review? Watch the new Live Stream where I try Glyph "Royal" and Glyph "Spice": https://youtu.be/no7uS0fiKFY #WhiskeyTube
View Video Transcript
0:00
They've gone mad, I tell you. Mad
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What's up, you guys? I know it's been a little while since I've done one of these produced videos
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I've just been doing a lot of live streams lately. But I could not resist after seeing a bottle of this on the shelf
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So, as you probably guessed by the title, this is a little bit different than my typical whiskey reviews
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That's because we are reviewing Glyph Molecular Whiskey. So I left a price sticker on there to show you that I only picked this up because it was half price
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It's normally $40 MSRP. Now, if you're not aware of what Glyph is, don't worry
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Most people aren't. They are from a small distillery, question mark? I don't even know if you would call them a distillery
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They're called Endless West, and they're based in San Francisco, California. And what they did with this whiskey is something that I don't think has been done at a scientific level
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In this situation, they created a spirit whiskey, note the word spirit whiskey, that is molecularly the same as whiskey, but it was created and flavored in a lab
1:10
Yes, you heard that right. This has not been aged. It is a basically medical grade alcohol that they combined a bunch of different flavors with to get the molecular equivalent of whiskey
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Let me read what they describe it as just to hopefully make a little bit more sense
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So they claim that we've studied the world's best whiskeys and challenged our team to understand what makes them great at a molecular level
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With that knowledge, we've identified key molecules that we use to create our own unique products that are biochemically equivalent
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They are made from the same molecular components. So from a non Bachelor of the Arts Communication major that basically means that they identified certain flavor characteristics and matched them up chemically to what is in an aged whiskey But it completely
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unaged. This has never touched oak. In fact, they created this product in 24 hours basically in the
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lab. So this is something I'm excited to try, but also very, very skeptical and cautious to try
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They did include a couple tasting notes on the back of the bottle here. So they say it's not very smoky, a little smoky
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Lots of sherry, lots of vanilla, and medium amount of spice. I like at the bottom they said made and bottled at Endless West
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Again, it doesn't say distillery. San Francisco, California, USA, Earth, Milky Way, known universe
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I appreciate the humor, the science nerdy humor there. And this is 43% alcohol
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They didn't go the bare minimum with the proof. So props to them for that
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But like, let's see if this is any good. You wouldn't think a non-natural whiskey would be natural cork
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But let's see. Let's do a cork pop here. That was a cork pop
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Synthetic cork makes sense. I mean, did you really expect a real cork in synthetic whiskey
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I don't know if I want to call it synthetic whiskey. I don't know if that's like offensive to them to call it synthetic whiskey
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It's spirit whiskey, which basically means they can't call it a whiskey because it hasn't been aged
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So first thing I'm noticing is this is really light. Like it's almost like a Jameson level
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Now it doesn't say naturally or artificially colored. So this actually might be the actual color it comes out as
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I have no idea. But let's go ahead and nose this. That smells like a mixed drink
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That doesn't really smell like a neat whiskey. It's like a strawberry like daiquiri almost
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Like I'm getting like a weird like strawberry fruitiness on it. So based on the nose alone I have no idea if this is going to taste like a bourbon or scotch or neither of the above So let go ahead and drink this There are a lot more whiskey notes on the taste than on the nose
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For a 40, what is it, 43% alcohol, there's a lot of burn on that
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I mean, it's still super, super fruit forward. I'm still trying to, there's no finish
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I mean, the finish is alcohol burn. Maybe some butterscotch there. Maybe, I guess it could be vanilla, but I'm getting a lot of alcohol burn
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Let's go in for a second sip. It's very, very thin in the mouth. Oily, I would say, but not like in a good way, more in like a vodka way
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They claim they base this recipe on the finest whiskeys out there
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But I don't know what they're using as their finest whiskeys out there. I mean, if this is based on the finest whiskey out there, I'm okay with my cheaper whiskey
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I think what I'm gonna have to do is go grab a bottle of my least expensive whiskey I own
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So I'm talking about Rebel Yell Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. I got this bottle for $7.99
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It's regularly on sale for $10. I just got it when it was $7.99 because I was like
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I can't pass it up for $7.99. Let's just compare it to the Rebel Yell and see how it fares
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Color-wise, though, I just poured this. Color-wise, this Rebel Yell is literally the same. So the one
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on my left, so your right, is the Rebel Yell. The one on the other side is the Glyph. These are
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literally the same color, so maybe I shouldn't diss the color so much. There are whiskeys out
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there that are that color. Pardon me. Not much on the nose. There is not the alcohol burn that the
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Glyph has. There's a lot more oak. There's a lot of woodiness on it. I'll give them that. The Rebel
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Yell smells like a pretty decent bourbon. Like I said, I haven't had this, but let's go ahead and
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give it a try You know it not that bad especially when you talking at the like eight to I don know it a little expensive in some other places eight to price point I would much rather have the Evan Williams 1783 but it tastes like a bourbon
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It's oaky. It's like a little musty. There is like a grain note, like a grain quality to it
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And there's sweetness on the palate for sure. But it's not that fake fruity
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I don't, I guess they were trying to, I guess it's to share that they were trying to recreate this one, but it does not bode well for it being whiskey flavored. I mean, if this actually matches
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the molecular structure of whiskey, then that's pretty much proof that molecules and science
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cannot replicate the distilling process, the mash, the aging, all of the different elements that go
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into making fine whiskey or cheap whiskey, in the case of Rebel Yell, it just can't, it can't
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replicate. I mean, I would be a lot more appreciative if they tested the science of whiskey and they
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realized, hey, we can't recreate these products. We cannot recreate the flavor, the fullness
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the richness of whiskey. But instead they put this out and they just compare it to the finest
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whiskeys out there. I think it's a little debatable. So even at half price, it's in my
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opinion, I think it's a pass. When you compare it to the cheapest whiskey I own, the cheapest whiskey
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is significantly better. So hopefully this helps you save some money or at least satisfy some of
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your curiosity about spirit whiskey and molecularly non-aged whiskey. I would love if you guys could
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hit the like button and if you're new here please subscribe. I promise I try much better whiskeys
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than this. I go live on Thursday nights and until next time I'm here to help you drink good whiskey
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and rebel yell straight whiskey is good-ish whiskey but skip the glyph. Bye
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