Tastes

Unbelievable value in 2018. No age statement but appearance is a golden brown, looks like a 6-8 year bourbon in a dark char level cask. Nose: butterscotch and toffee Palate: creamy vanilla spice Finish: short and to the point. This 100 proof bourbon has all the hints of traditional Heaven Hill juice, however the vanilla and butterscotch notes remind me of Buffalo Trace. Automatically a 4/5 for me due to its price for a fantastic daily sipper.

Sweet tobacco, toasted nuts, pleasant oak and baking spices on the nose; spicy vanilla on a rich and oily palate; smooth finish, pretty quick with some warmth.

Bottle finally opening up after a few weeks. This is the fourth or fifth pour. I previously rated this 3* Nose: toasted nuts, citrus sweets Palate: rich, slightly creamy with vanilla and spices, dark fruit Finish: no burn, even palate, goes down smooth with a little honey taste

Single barrel select (Liquor World, Louisville) bottled March 2018. Nose: toffee, citrus, oak, and slight spice Palate: honey, spices Finish: little burn, but flavor complexity lasts longer than many sub-100 proof bourbons

*Will come back to this one and try again. Single Barrel (Barrel Strength) store pick: Cox & Evergreen (Louisville) 9 years, bottled Sept. 2018 (OESV), 126 proof Nose: surprisingly weak nose - only ethanol, cream, maybe raisin (more water opened up oak, honey, citrus) Palate: cinnamon, slight citrus, heavy mouthfeel Finish: not terribly long considering the proof. And with a few drops of water the burn was nearly immediate but disappeared quickly. Seemed to fair better after 10 minutes in the glass.

Great daily sipper. Very smooth for a 100+ proof. A little spice on the palate but otherwise lots of butterscotch, honey, oak, tea, fruit on the nose, some bite on the finish but overall a value sipper. Many flavors pop in this bourbon, some say due to the lower proof it goes into the barrel at, leaving only slight down-proofing before bottling.

This is a WW&W (Louisville) store pick from 2018. Nose: vanilla, oak, dark fruit Palate: butterscotch, oak, honey, just a little burn Finish: orange, tea, smooth Basically a more balanced and enhanced Buffalo Trace. Excellent.

Three pours several weeks apart and either I have an off bottle or McKenna 10 is just not rising for me. It has some complexity but everything is muted. Definitely no more than a $30 bottle. But I wouldn’t buy more if this bottle is the standard.