Tastes

I previously wrote this is was the best batch I've had in some time. In a direct comparison with 2018-04 and 2019-03, more floral notes come out that really reflects how layered this bourbon is. Compared to my notes, I'm still getting peanut brittle but not fried apple fritters or candied orange. Still brown sugar and still tons of complexity. Some bills wafer and biscuits notes this time, too.

Drinking this in direct comparison to 2018-04 and 2020-01. This presents as the smoothest and least complex of the three: slightly thinner, sweet and bright, and I'm getting a spearmint note that I've never gotten before. Still very nice. It actually drinks faster than the others.

It's fine. Reminds me a little bit of Smoke Wagon Small Batch, but clocks in at a higher proof. Less char than the Smoke Wagon, but otherwise oak, barrel, and char dominant. I don't rate it as low as the reviewer below me, but I do agree with the cigar allusion. Maybe I would have appreciated this more with an ice cube, but ice is not my style, and I only had one pour. It definitely could have used a little bit more sweetness and roundness to it, because I did not get more than a faint touch of brown sugar, caramel, and toffee. Low burn, low spice profile.

Well, I pulled the trigger to try it so you all would not have to. Luckily, I got it to share, so I feel less bad about this $25 purchase. Here goes: I don't know how to rate this. Do I compare it to whiskey? Do I compare it to flavored whiskey, of which I know nothing? This tastes like liquid candy, and is very much like a liquor version of Pumking beer. Just, too sweet. This tastes like how I would imagine the spiced rum version of corn whiskey would be. Sweet, almost cloying, low ABV, low burn, the spices are the main flavor component of this pour, with a medium long finish of cinnamon candy. Do with that as you will.

The label on my bottle says 120 pf, Barrel 30, Age 4yrs. Nose is full of youth and there's a lot here I don't normally associate with bourbon. Almonds, toasted oak but in a burning green wood kind of way, Ovaltine. As it opens up, it becomes more and more Ovaltine, then chocolate breakfast cereal. Reminds me of Corsair Ryemageddon on the nose. Tastewise: this is weird. I don't hate it, but... I don't like it. Pros: low burn for proof with a long finish and gentle heat that lasts. It does have a Nesquick or Ovaltine quality, like many of the whiskeys with chocolate rye malt do, despite the lack of rye. Cons: tastes young, a bit thin, and really strange. I know rye is replaced with oat in the mashbill. I don't know if oat is to blame for this artificial quality or if it's the youth. I think it's the youth. This needs more time. I can't recommend anyone buy this as a bottle before trying it. But I've had worse for $35

The paritcular barrel I tasted was 122.8 proof. Very smooth, with a melted hard candy, butterscotch, and caramel quality. Really very nice, drinking smoother than the proof with a finish that could lull you into thinking you were drinking something other than high proof bourbon. My favorite characteristic that revealed itself over time was a demerara rum like quality that I've never associated with a bourbon before: dark, pungent molasses. Very cool pour

A low burn rye (which makes sense because this is probably 51% rye) with a Kentucky rye character - less spice, less grass, more smooth. I like this for it's creamy, milk chocolate notes, almost non-existent burn, and long, peppery, stinging finish. Some bright sweetness upfront that fades and transitions into creaminess with a burn tingle. Not super complex, but very drinkable. You could end up sipping on dangerous amounts of this before you notice how much you've had.

I'm reminded intensely of Red Hots Cinnamon Candy, both in the nose and on the palate. Tastes pretty much just like it smells. The following notes essentially apply both to aroma and taste. Once you get past the initial cinnamon candy burst, there is a peanut undercurrent - classic Jim Beam profile. A bit of a candy sweetness going on, such that it tastes artificial. Finish is short and cinnamon-y.