Welcome to Taste Test, where every week our critic Jonah Flicker explores the most buzzworthy and interesting whiskeys in the world. Check back each Sunday for his latest whiskey review.

Sometimes the celebrity behind a celebrity brand is a curse and not a blessing; an annoyance that can drag down the reputation of whatever product they are endorsing. Of course, even the worst famous people still have their legions of fans, and such is the case with MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who has been accused of racism, punching old men in pubs, and sexual assault. Fortunately, he’s no longer involved with the Irish whiskey brand he founded, Proper No. Twelve, which just launched a brand-new expression. Unfortunately, this upgrade to the original is still just not that good.

Proper No. Twelve quickly became a huge success after it launched in 2018, even though it did not get great reviews and was considered by many to be a subpar whiskey. The blend consists of grain and malt components, the latter of which comes from Bushmills, that are aged in various types of casks. Now Bushmills is a reputable distillery that makes some very good single malt, but apparently that whiskey is not in the barrels it sells to Proper No. Twelve. The original blend had a sort of weird and unpleasant earthiness to it, and didn’t really supply the simple pleasures that you get from drinking a similarly priced whiskey like Jameson.

In 2021, McGregor and his partners sold a majority stake in Proper No. Twelve for a reported $600 million to Proximo Spirits, the company that owns major brands like Jose Cuervo. And in 2024, after McGregor was found liable in a civil rape case, Proximo stopped using his name or likeness to promote the whiskey. Good riddance. Last year, Proper No. Twelve launched its first single malt, a 13-year-old expression that was a hell of a lot better than the core blend. And earlier this month, it introduced another innovation called Black Reserve, which one cannot help but compare to Jameson Black Barrel, and not just because of the name.

Jameson Black Barrel is blend of grain and pot still whiskey that is matured in re-charred bourbon barrels and has a higher percentage of pot still in the blend than the original. Proper No. Twelve Black Cask is a blend of grain and single malt whiskey that is matured in level 3 heavily charred first and second fill bourbon barrels. That’s not exactly the same, of course, but both use a similar maturation method to coax extra flavors out of the liquid, specifically notes of vanilla, maple, butterscotch, and spice. And while that mission has been accomplished here, Black Cask is still just kind of an average Irish whiskey that lacks complexity and character. It’s marginally better than the original, but it doesn’t feel quite distinctive enough to matter.

Of course, perhaps that’s entirely the point. This whiskey is priced to sell, and someone who is grabbing a bottle of Black Cask, or Black Barrel for that matter, isn’t necessarily looking to go on some gustatory journey. They are looking for a workaday sipper that will get the job done. Black Barrel surprises many who try it because it really does go above and beyond the original in terms of flavor, but Proper No. Twelve Black Cask falls short in that regard. If you’re looking for an affordable Irish blend to sip this St. Patrick’s Day—or any day—there are plenty of better options out there to consider.

Score: 82