Tastes

Neat. 5 year. DEPs pick. Hint of dill and very rye forward on the nose. Layers of vanilla and apple. Pepper notes. A tad darker notes than the 4 year off memory. Thick, syrupy, coating mouth feel. A bit vicious even. Brown sugar, maple and pepper on the tongue. Wow. Blast of honey with vanilla and rye on the taste. Fabulous legs. Maple and honey sweetness left lingering in the mouth surround by the rye spices. Oh my. The nose was a let down. Very pedestrian, basic rye. The taste and legs are amazing flavor bombs. Lights up all parts of the mouth with these amazing g flavors. Floored by these flavors. Great pick DEPs.

Neat. Neck pour. Store pick. Intense amount of fruit on the front of the nose. Cherry and strawberries. Intense vanilla and toffee. Very little oak but a good amount of spice on the tail end. Thinner feel than I was expecting for a barrel proof. Extremely alcohol forward on the tongue. I don’t typically feel that much burn. Working around the alcohol and those fruit flavors dominate the tongue with their sweetness in combination with the spice. Burnt caramel. Intense cherry and vanilla. This is potent stuff. Intense flavors. Getting a deep chocolate on the legs now. Essentially a cherry cordial linking these flavors together. This is my first WFE Bourbon experience. The nose struck me as a bit generic at first and the alcohol forward nature was disappointing me. But the intense flavors throughout won me over big time. Really delicious. Left my mouth numb though. Loses points for that aspect, but I now understand the hype on these bottles.

Neat. Neck pour. Great first impression on the nose. Deep bread notes and oak reign supreme. Cherries and vanilla. Burnt caramel. A really nice cherry pie all around. Buttery qualities. Hint of banana as it opens up. Nice creamy feel. Deep brown sugar and cinnamon on the tongue. Transitions to banana punch, into the burnt caramel. Ends on the cherries and vanilla. This is so so good. Hype on this release is real. This is overwhelmingly delicious.

Neat. Neck pour. Love the bottle design. On the nose, I get tons of peanut. I might mistake this for a Booker’s blind. Nuttiness and oak really dominate at first. It does subside as you spend more time with it. Burnt caramel and jam emerge. With that oak and barrel spice wrapped around the nuttiness and jam, I am getting flashes of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That is interesting. Feels thinner on the tongue than I was expecting. Not watery but thin. Can’t escape this peanut butter and jelly sandwich comparison. Don’t get much distinction off the tongue, sweetness. But it sways dark on the swallow. Nuts, jam, and oak. Decent legs mold into a nice vanilla. Really drying my mouth right now. I like it. If this opens up I will understand the positive reviews.

Neat. Neck pour. Immediately reminds me of Little Book Ch. 2 on the nose. There is this lemon Mr. Clean smell on the top. More time with the nose reveals this deep, intense rye. Most intense, pure rye smell on memory. Behind the spice is a nice vanilla that can find its way back to the citrus and lemon. Some barrel spice folded around the experience. Initial impression was odd, but 5 minutes with it has really opened it up. Zero licorice, but a hint of dill. Very thick and spicy on the tongue. Almost all spice and dark up front. Dark cocoa even. Gets brighter met on the taste. Kick of rye and dill, dominate. That dark cocoa lightens up into a smoother milk chocolate. Exits with the vanilla and barrel spice on the legs. Legs are moderate. It’ll come back in waves if you allow it. The experience becomes noticeably brighter as I spend more time with it. This won me over as the experience continued. Initial impression was “uh oh....” but now I am sitting here thinking “this is damn tasty.”

Neat. Neck pour. Deep honey and nectar. Vanilla and baking spice. Deep berries and cream. Cinnamon. More honey and nectar. Hint of oak but just a hint. Super thick and syrupy on the tongue. Really coats the mouth. Honey and nectar again come to mind on the tongue with a blast of sweetness. Waves of honey and vanilla fade to chocolate and back to honey. Subsequent sips were getting darker with these rich, burnt caramels. This is my first WLW experience. I was expecting something spicier versus this sweet honey, nectar. It’s impressive but the first impression puts it below the ‘19 GTS.

Neat. Bread, cinnamon, and vanilla. Burnt caramel. Pretty stereotypical bourbon. You can imagine standing in a damp rick house. Soft on the palate. Brown sugar and water. More brown sugar, baking spice, oak, with a hint of chocolate. Super smooth and inviting but not much to it.

Neat. Nose is very interesting. Deep oak, in some ways similar to a Woodford Double Oaked or 1910. It gives a charred marshmallow characteristic. Going deeper I get vanilla and caramelized banana. Super rich. Hint of mint and cinnamon. I could spend all day sniffing this on a cold day by a fire. Smooth, oily mouth feel. Really coats the tongue and mouth. Chocolate and maple on the tongue. On the swallow intense chocolate and oak. The oak really kicks you and I like it. Very tannic and drying immediately. Marshmallow and char come back and those vanilla really open up and linger on the legs. It’s so oily that the legs last quite awhile and you can feel it slowly running down your throat. The more it opens up and I adjust to it, the more the sugars and sweetness emerge over the oak elements. Let this open for 30 minutes and it gets better. I am impressed by this. The Wild Turkey 17 was the oldest bourbon I have tried before this. WT17 was a deeper experience but I really dig the sweetness coming from this as it opens up.

Neat. Neck pour. Wine influence is heavy upfront. Like a dark raspberry jam. Behind that is oak with a hint of peanut. Vanilla surfaces as I get used to the other flavors. Baking spices emerges upfront. Perfect bourbon to try right before Thanksgiving. I can imagine this going quite well with Turkey, gravy, cranberries. Rich, coating mouth but not creamy. Medium oil. The vanilla and wine influence is intense in the tongue from the start. Kicks you in the teeth with the raspberries and berries. Like biting into a berry and choose just explodes around the rest of your mouth. Vanilla, oak and a hint of chocolate stay behind on the medium-short legs. I am impressed by this. The Madeira leaves a stronger impression than the Sherry and Port finished whiskeys I have tried. Those deep fruit/jam flavors are overwhelming and intense but subside to let the whiskey shine too. Quite happy about this.

Neat. Neck pour. I really like this nose. Had this at a restaurant and was impressed. First impression at home is strong too. Deep vanilla and pepper up front. Wet oak in the fall. Deep caramel. Decent amount of alcohol presence which comes across as spearmint. Baking spices. The riches, deepest Makers nose I have ever had. Far exceeds any Private Select I can recall. Once again, rich mouth feel. Really creamy and smooth. Sugar and pepper on the tongue. Rich raspberry. Hits you with the pepper, vanilla and caramel all at once with a kick in the mouth. Oak lingers like a dark chocolate on the legs. Blown away by this Maker’s release. I think this is their best release ever. People are going to shamefully over look this because it is Maker’s.