Tastes
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Nose: spicy vanilla, oak, some ethanol (which a few drops of water tames) & light citrus fruits Palate: more citrus, hints of toffee & cinnamon Finish: decent for a bottom shelf bourbon, more spice and hints of cherry A sweet and spicy bourbon standard. This is as good to me as Elijah Craig Small Batch and much cheaper (although barrel picks of EC are often better). Since Elijah Craig is no longer 12-years-old, this is a fantastic value and is much closer in quality as the current small batch of that line. This is a step below the fantastic EW single barrel but otherwise is the best Evan Williams bottle you can buy.
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Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Small Batch Bottled in Bond Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed April 13, 2019 (edited May 25, 2019)EH Taylor Small Batch continues to be my favorite of the distillery’s mashbill no. 1. Eagle Rare has become more close to the quality level of standard Buffalo Trace in recent years so I look to this bourbon as my best buy for that line. If you find it at msrp of course. Nose: brown sugar, raisins, cherries, cereal, toast, leather, oak Palate: rich and oily, vanilla, toffee and butterscotch, more dense and complex than Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare but still bright Finish: medium and smooth, more vanilla in there too, some warmth from the low rye spice comes in at the end At $39 msrp buy, buy, buy. It’s quite an upgrade from BT/Eagle Rare. I’d spend up to $50 on this bourbon and generally buy on sight when I see it.40.0 USD per BottleBuffalo Trace Distillery -
This pour was better than when I opened this bottle a couple weeks ago. Nose: vanilla, pepper, hints of toffee Palate: more vanilla, butterscotch, baking spices Finish: medium, some from the rye some from the 100 proof points. To me this is a lighter and less in-your-face Knob Creek Single Barrel or Bakers. It’s definitely an upgrade over Jim Beam white label.
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Heaven Hill Green Label 6 Year
Bourbon — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed April 7, 2019 (edited May 23, 2019)This oft-ignored bottom shelf is better than Evan Williams in my opinion. Its availability is questionable. But it carries a 6-year age statement. And after the nixing of Heaven Hill Bonded I highly recommend this inexpensive bourbon. Nose: dusty corn, toffee, a little bit of ethanol but nothing out of the ordinary Palate: rich but brittle, toasted nuts, hints of barley and more sweet corn but not quite butterscotch Finish: medium with baking spices, orange citrus Easy to buy at below $15. Should be explored. It’s my belief that more of this (and the discontinued HH bonded) are what go into Elijah Craig in the older barrels as opposed to Evan Williams. And it shows here. Although the EW single barrel is fantastic in its own right.13.95 USD per BottleLiquor Barn -
Nose: ethanol is louder than I expected for an expensive blended bourbon. Some corn, slight oak, earthy Palate: soapy, briny, bitter but muted traditional bourbon notes Finish: best of the three, some sweetness and less bitter at the end Somehow this bottle got worse over time. Definitely not the best batch of Barrell Bourbon.
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This is another barrel pick (Cox & Evergreen, Louisville, Barrel Pick #1, 2019) Nose: while the last pick was bright and reminded me of nosing Buffalo Trace, this barrel is a bit more like standard Elijah Craig: oak, a little briny, buttered biscuits Palate: the last barrel pick was also sweeter on the palate, with some leather; this pick has more spicy vanilla and the sweetest has been turned down Finish: short but still rich, with a little cola, a little more spice The last barrel pick is a four-star bourbon but this one fell a bit below that. Flavors are a bit more subtle than the last pick I reviewed of Elijah Craig but will come back in a week or two to see how the bottle is shaping up.
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Nose: candied nuts, peppercorn, oak Palate: rich, baking spices, hints of gingerbread and candy apple Finish: medium warmth but not too hot, very balanced Lovers of Elmer T Lee, Very Old Barton, Russell’s Reserve or Old Grandad might enjoy this a lot. A few drops of water smooths over the hotter rye bits but leaves a lot of the rest intact.
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Russell's Reserve Single Barrel Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed April 2, 2019 (edited April 21, 2019)Nose: candy corn, dusty oak, dark fruits Palate: rich, sweet up front then becomes drier, nutmeg and clove, citrus and a little iced tea underneath the spices Finish: medium and a bit warm, rye shines more on this than standard Wild Turkey offerings Delicate and rich, this is a creamier and more complex Wild Turkey that I think most bourbon lovers can appreciate. -
Nose: honey, oak, candy corn, slight toast or biscuits Palate: richer and less bitter than standard Beam, mint, baking spices Finish: medium, more spice, and even less bitter than the standard white label I’m imagining in my mind before the bourbon hype (and the stocks were stretched thin) that this is more like what white label used to taste like even if it was lower proof. This is nice and even lacks some of that Beam funk some people detect (including me) that I usually don’t like.
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Batch: C918 Age: 12 Year: 2018 Proof: 131 Nose: toffee, biscuits, candied nuts Palate: rich with hints of baking spices, and vanilla Finish: very smooth for the high proof. Probably the smoothest bourbon above 125 I’ve ever had. The only bite comes from the proof level and definitely not the recipe; this is a 10% rye mashbill. Slightly bitter at the end. Overall excellent.
Results 171-180 of 291 Reviews