Tastes

This is my go to wedding gift. It looks nice, it isn't expensive and everybody knows crown royal. Whether they're a whiskey nerd or not, it looks fancy and the juice inside is complex enough to be enjoyed neat with the wedding party. Bonus points if you have a cigar and the wedding bands, it makes a great detail shot. (Image is not mine. Photo credit goes to John Branch IV Photography)

I bought this on a whim. Bottle #69 because i'm childish. Unexpectedly, this stuff is pretty damn good. I call this my "peanut butter bomb" because it gives a Reese's peanut butter cup aftertaste. While i'm not a fan of peanut butter, it's a nice change of pace from all the vanilla & caramel dominant bourbons on my shelves.

I really wanted to like this one. It's not hard to find, it's at a great price point and the juice inside sounds really promising. But what I experienced was Jim Beam white label with sherry notes and not much else. I'll have to revisit it in a couple years.

I like to call this my "party" bourbon. It's approachable enough to drink neat while also making a great cocktail. For my friends that aren't into whiskey like I am (their loss but more for me!) you can do shots of it without grimacing from an artificial cinnamon afterburn.

This was a unique one. I did a blind tasting between this, Cedar ridge single malt and JJ Neukomm cherrywood smoked single malt. It was obvious which one was which. This tastes like you dripped grease from your backyard bbq into the glass. It's so heavy and oily with the mesquite influence. It really is slow roasted bbq in a glass. The first sip is like homemade smoked beef jerky and then the olfactory senses kick in with heavy char, cherry, grass and salted butter. A single malt to remember. A welcome addition to the American single malt category.

For $10 it knocks plain jim beam out of the park. Not as widely available and not as dense as Evan Williams Bottled in bond but good enough to mix well with cocktails.

After reading an article suggesting this is a bigger and badder version of Jim Beam Distiller's Cut I decided to open it up. It noses young with a fair bit of alcohol. I get hints of a baking smells like brown sugar and frosting. Gooey butter cake comes to mind. Tastes big and buttery with apples lingering on the aftertaste. Doesn't have a dense flavor quality but it is fairly oily on the mouthfeel. I hoped for a more chewy and smokey quality like Jim Beam Black but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's not complex but it is good. Damn good for how cheap it is. If only Beam would switch this for their regular white label.

I've had some fantastic bourbons before but this packs so much complexity and flavor into a glass I'm surprised the glass doesn't shatter immediately. I compared it to my Stagg Jr and found the Stagg thinner with more vanilla but the Belle has a robust cinnamon note. Call the dos equis guy because this is the most interesting bourbon in the world.