Tastes

Got a gift sample of the standard Michters Rye and finding it a difficult dram to pin down. The nose leads with some hints of sweet florals and red berries with some minty cinnamon and sassafras tucked in creating intense expectation that is never quite fullfilled. The oily feel and warmth are quite good and mild toast sweet cinnamon burn are present but the full body of the nose never develops as the rye spice cuts through the promise of a more complex and hearty dram. To be sure this is not a disappointing rye as standard ryes go and is entirely drinkable yet the adverstised fullness does not quite come to fruition which lead to the small disappointment after the promise from such a lusty nose. The finish heat is notable and the final tapering of dry spice is as expected. As long as it can be had in the low median range price point I would recommend this bottle without hesitation, as the spicy natural earth tones of this basic rye are still entirely pleasing. The 3.8ish stars are fair and as long as you don't go in with massive expectation you won't come away with much disappointment.

Theres an old rule you don't judge a man on his fathers sins or merits well you can apply that same rule here, Special Reserve may be a good bottle but it isn't really that special. It pains me a bit to review the special reserve or as i refer to it "the green label" Weller. Why? Because it simply isn't anything special at all, in fact it's downright ordinary. With all due respect to the folks at Distiller who wrote the tag on this entry, this is not a "close second" for Pappy, or for Weller 12 or Antique 107, I'm sorry but it just isn't. So what is it? Well it's a very simple and uncomplex, smooth yes, bland (almost) bourbon, wheated, sure but that in of itself simply doesn't make anything special. Want an inexpensive wheat mash bill bourbon that isn't bland and has character? Try the other guys down the road with the big Key hole on the bottle. Now does any of this make Weller Special Reserve bad? Again no. Nothing wrong with it for what it is, a good basic no frills not very interesting but acceptable drinking bourbon, and thats ok. The thing to NOT DO is associate this w/ Pappy, or the BTAC William Larue Weller or even the 12 year and 107, because it isn't ALMOST any of those, it isn't close to being any of them, it just isnt. The Weller name on the bottle doesn't mean something more than that it came out of the BT house. A bottle of Eagle Rare or even Buffaloe Trace is an upgrade and certinaly not a difficult upgrade to achieve. That said the recent trend is for Weller SR to be less available due to mystique buying and a price trending upward toward the mid 20's in city liquor stores. As there are happy substitutes in this price range, Larceny, the HH BIBs etc, a "shortage" really should not affect anyones quality of drink. Blending a poor mans pappy and other bourbons is an art and blending Weller SR w/ some headier drams can certianly yeild a nice result. The only way Weller SR will ever be like Weller Antique is to blend a very liberal portion of the 107 to your green label. That is reality my friends. Weller Special Reserve, smooth, consistent, unremarkable .... 2.5 stars. Cheers!

The only real problem for Bird Dog Apple is that you can name any other apple flavored whiskey or bourbon, from Crown, JimBeam Evan and esp the apple pie old smokey, and they are all BETTER than poor ole birdey.

Not very good, Bird dog alone isn't all that but putting peach flavored syrup in it is not a way to improve it. Simply another bad idea in the current craze of "flavoring" whiskey.

A hearty nose that is slightly milder than you would expect, taking a good wiff it is smooth with only a trace of alchol burn. All the pleasantness and sweet unassuming nature of a "Weller" with no downside. On the palate is exceptionally warm (107) but still absent of any crude ethyl flavorings, the warm cinnamon spice and clove is apparent, but the massive sweetness is most notable. A hint of vanilla and wood sugars but small honey and the notable bread dough sweetness we can expect from the distillery renown for an array of wheated bourbons. Finish with just a touch of burn and final citrus spice reminder. Not overly complex just overly good, if you can find the 107 Antique you would be wise to stock up. This bottle is becoming harder to find by the day. This is a truly fantastic bourbon that even outclasses its older, 12 year, black label brother. If you can't find this bottle or are being asked a ridiculous price of 70$$ or more, just grab a bottle of Maker 46,,, you can thank me later.

-07 stamp @ 24$ Single barrel EW has a rich nose and hearty profile on the palate. Finish is moderate heat with some spicey after taste. Standard vaniallas and caramels and oak in abundance give it a good traditional bourbon character. This comes as no surprise considering it's heritage and pedigree. Finding such a bourbon below the 25$ price point is ALWAYS a good thing and EWSB is no exception. The 2007 seems to have developed something of a rep so if you can find that one all the better. You could easily pay twice as much to get a bourbon of this calibre, but why would you? The 2007 has a great bold flavor: Nose: Sour candy apple small oak and assorted citrus. On the palate you get the citrus mango orange and lemon peel and then loads of the sour apple., this is the sweet green jolly rancher sour apple that almost says "Im an apple flavoured bourbon" yet it is clearly just a ester fruit flavor coming through. There is nothing flavored here, just a fantastic bourbon that stands out as unique. Finish is smooth with little heat and more of that great jolly rancher sour apple. I've also acquired a bottle of the 2006 and will add that update soon.

I've had this bottle for a few weeks now and just been holding off on the "notes" as I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to sit down and enjoy doing the taste sample of it, uncompromised. As noted elsewhere I picked this one up at the same price Bookers sells for in my woods (75$) and would consider that a bargain. The nose stands out as pure and true bourbon at full strength, with just enough alcohol to make your nose hairs salute. A thimble of water in the glencairn encourages it to break open a bit but the sweet, spice warmth does not yield. The advertised chestnut and rye are perfectly balanced with a cinnamon carmalized candy corn and while it may not "classify" as bourbon on a technicality, at no time are we led to believe this hails from anywhere other than straight from the old kentucky home. On the tongue Little Book is a reminder that, as in all in life, there is a "right way" for bourbon as well, the dark sweet sugars, the earthy woods, the spices are all right here, and 13 years of mellowing gives credence to the notion of why you can't hurry perfection. The combined warmth, taste and smoothness all come together in Freddies concoction, as the familiar "this is why we do it" thought prys its way into your brain. One side note, if you just opened the bottle, give it some time to breath and you may avoid sweat pouring off your brow. Whatever notes of cherries jubilee, blackberry jam or cinder soot you take away are yours to own but however you enjoy it, you will find something to take away, if you don't then clearly vodka(or turpentine) are your drink, and not bourbon whiskey. The beauty of the sweet warmth that finishes with just mildy peppered cinnamon as it makes a completely smooth exit reassures that what you are enjoying is a "work of art". Forget all the fancy silly bottles and slogans the latest fad marketers are throwing at you and remember there is no compromising the taste and with Little Book, you don't have to compromise. A hearty well done to Freddie Little Book Noe.

Sadly this gets advertised as "Kentucky bourbon" when it is sourced from and bottled not in Kentucky. This is the worst of the current "designer bourbon" craze, massively hyped in gaudy packaging and sold to the unwitting rubes as a "genuine traditional" bourbon. They could have just as well added "small batch" as another meaningless hype term or "extra aged" as well. My info tells me it is sourced from MGP, making it majority or entirely "Indiana" and not Kentucky juice and bottled in a rum plant in Florida. Apparently "passing through" Kentucky is enough now to make claim of being from Kentucky. Don't be fooled. Typically this will be massively overpriced for what it is and a single star may still be too generous.

This bottle showed up at a recent party and I was fortunate to get a nice taste, the owner was saving it for a tasting event so we only had a couple of shots to judge on but so be it. This was the first "tall" Stagg(not junior) I've gotten to sample, so my expectation wasn't remarkable based on what Junior both is and ISN'T. Like the baby-daddy it is 127ish proof and not for the faint of heart as this may be too powerful for an immature drinkers palate. The nose was quite familiar, "junior like" but brings an additional array of sugars, a Booker-like richness that is missing in the short bottle (jr). Very warm up front, heat that is "in your face"(literally) but still surprisingly smooth and absent of harshness, again reminded of the best characteristics of junior without some of the overbearing wallop to the nose you get with the short bottle. Daddy is smooth! On the tongue, George T Stagg is heavy. This is where you really start noting the amazing difference in the George T over the Junior label, the flavor profile has a big beefy middle of sugars, (deep woods, vanilla, aged red fruit) like something Fred Noe himself would keep tucked away from strangers. The richness of often missing notes in the short bottle are all filled in here, present and accounted for, slight variations of fruit and spices linger into the finish and the heat slowly dissipates allowing for a much anticipated followup sip. I sprinkled a thimble of water in my mini glencairn for the 2nd round and found it did "break open" the weight of the rich middle to reveal some hidden spice notes. I expected better than Stagg Jr, but I didn't expect THIS KIND of better. Fantastically good, just amazing, it's everything you wanted but isn't in Stagg Jr. making for one of the best bourbons of the year. If this isn't a 5 star bourbon then THERE ARE NO 5 star bourbons on the market today. I believe it sold at well over 200$. Given the rarity of BTACs you won't stumble over this on the street anywhere, but if you can find a way to try this or snag a bottle.. DO IT! For the true bourbon connoisseur, you won't regret!