BourbonEnthusiast.com

Hi everyone,
I'm here with a question. I got a bottle of whiskey a while back and it was pretty weird. Nothing like anything I had ever had before, and not particularly in a good way. It smelled REALLY earthy, like old beets, or moss and that was basically all you could taste in it. I figured it was just the way it was supposed to taste and I didn't really care for it, but then I was gifted another bottle of the same whiskey, and it was totally different, it smelled like carmel, and tobacco, and tasted delicious. I then found a similar moss/beet character in an old rye I was given. Is this a normal flavor/aroma characteristic? I don't want to just think that it is cork taint because of all of the stuff i've seen about that being really uncommon, but it tastes pretty rank and I want to know if I am justified in bringing the first bottle back.
Thanks!
Elijah

I have had similar tastes in old bottles of Old Fitzgerald circa 1960's. It was a slight taste and I could drink thru it.
Joe

Cork taint, bacterial infection, who knows. Had the bottle been opened before you got it? Did anyone drink directly from the bottle at some time in the past? That would introduce bacteria into the bottle.

My rule is if it smells and taste bad it is bad and I won't drink it.