Tastes

First taste of this expression from a fresh bottle. This is a neck pour. I tasted this neat in a glencairn glass. The whiskey was given a solid 10 minutes to rest after the pour. On the nose I get hints of butterscotch, nut brittle candy (but not peanuts), dried fruits, and maybe even a ghostly wisp of Juicy Fruit gum. While I get a lot of impressions from it's aroma, it is quite delicate. Almost reticent. The mouth feel is a bit thin. A swirl shows thin sheeting and fast small tears. It tastes like a toasted marbled rye bread, with just a touch of white pepper and a bit of clove. There is a hint of a hint of menthol on the finish. The finish is fast and dry. There's a bit of barrel bitterness left. This rye avoids any traces of ethanol or other chemical flavors. It's pretty benign. In fact it's actually boring. I think I'd take Jack Daniels rye over this 7 days a week. 1= drain pour & 5= perfection and 2.5 is the peak of the bell curve. This rye is as ordinary as it gets. I don't think I'm being stingy at 2.5. I don't think this is worth the asking price and I doubt another bottle will end up in my cabinet. I think I'd like to do a side by side with the JD, Ezra Brooks, and Old Forester, Dickel, etc. It seems like there are a lot of inexpensive ryes on the market all of a sudden; some surprising and some not so much.

I just loaded up on Woodford Bourbon, Rye, and this Double Oak expression. This is my first taste of the Double Oak, a neck pour. It was tasted neat from a glencairn and allowed to rest for about 15 minutes after the pour. Visually this is a dark walnut brown. A swirl indicates a lot of sheating and clearly defined tears running down into the bowl of the glass. I expect this to have a viscous mouth feel. My first impression of the nose are notes freshly baked cinnamon sugar cookies, buttered cornbread, raisin bread toast, cherries in syrup and wet oak. It's a sweet confectioner's nose, and it's quite pleasing. It is moderately complex. On the palate this doesn't present nearly as sweet. As I anticipated, there's a nice creamy mouth feel but the jolt of sugar I was expecting never came. There is a lot of barrel oak, some char, and a hint of maple syrup. There are no sharp edges. I also get browned butter, some brown sugar, a reflection of vanilla, overripe cherries, and maybe a bit of dark roasted nuts. There's a hint of lemon in the background. The finish is quick, with very little spice and no hang time. It's actually the least satisfying part of this bourbon. This is good. It's not crazy good, but it's solid. I'm enjoying it, but I really don't think another bottle is in my future. I rate on a scale of 1 to 5, where a 1 is a drain pour and a 5 is a perfect example of the expression. A competently made whiskey should score on the bell curve between a 2 and a 3, with a peak at 2.5. This deserves to be just above that curve. At $55 I don't think it offers a great value.

Tasted neat at a restaurant. Never had a Jack Daniel's rye before so this is an interesting experiment. I am most definitely a rye fan. Served neat in a tasting glass, a swirl shows good sheeting and multiple small tears running down into the bowl. This should have good mouthfeel. The nose is fruit cake and christmasy spices. Very little ethanol. Very pleasant nose. On the palate it's delicious, soft, sweet and really approachable. It actually reminds me of Templeton The Good Stuff only better. Don't get me wrong, Templeton has its own faults but I like it. I like this one more! I think I'd want a bit more horsepower for serious cocktails, but this one is quite nice neat and would translate well into something like a Manhattan or Old Fashioned. Recommended.

I'd heard that this was a sleeper, and I finally decided to pick up a bottle and find out for myself. This was tasted neat from a glencairn. The nose is classic rye whiskey. It's reminiscent of a Christmas fruit cake. There's a bit of cherry, a little bit of pine, a touch of dill, the slightest tint of mint, and a faint note of ethanol. On the taste buds this is quite tame, but has a number of discreet flavors discernible, typical of a rye. They can be very fruity and this one follows suit. There is the aforementioned dill, rye, a bit of spice, some cherry, a little touch of menthol. This is a 90 proof whiskey, so it's pretty approachable. It drinks actually less than that. This is quite tame but nicely flavored. I am astonished at how good it is considering its price is under $13 a bottle in my local market. I'm going to recommend it based on value for money alone, but this could stand as a reasonably good rye against almost any of the popular mixers out there that sell for nearly twice the price. I made a Butchertown cocktail with this and it was quite tasty. The rye stood up to the Amontillado and Cointreau quite well. This is a bargain mixer and is good enough to enjoy by itself as a sipper.

Oh how I wish I'd kept a bottle of the original 9yo age stated from the 1990's, another from the very end of the age stated run, and one from the NAS offering. What an interesting tasting that would make against today's sample, the new 9 year old. I'm no stranger to KC. It's been my regular since it was first offered on the market. I can't specifically say why, since I really didn't log my tastings until recently, when or why I stopped drinking the NAS. I guess it just got boring. That's not true at all for the 120 proof KCSiB. That bottle is always on the shelf in my bar! Let's dive into this offering and see if it can reclaim its past glories. The pour is fresh penny copper in the fading light of the cocktail hour. The nose is cherry and char, carmel and vanilla, oak and creamed corn. There's a certain level of ethanol that doesn't fade even after 10 minutes unmolested in the glencairn. There is ample sheeting on a swirl and some slow, small tears as the liquor descends to the bowl of the glass. This isn't extraordinarily thick, but I expect a reasonable mouthfeel. On the palate this is slightly hot with cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, nougat, peanuts and unsalted roasted peanut shells, creamed corn, cherries in syrup, and a touch of a medicinal note. The finish is moderate and warming. There's a bit of lip tingling, some heat at the back of the throat. It doesn't offer the massive Kentucky hug of its single-barrel brother, but not much does. This is a solid bourbon. Full stop. I prefer the SiB expression, and at this price point I'll pick WT101 as my regular pour for about 25% less in price (in my local market), but KC9yo will continue to make appearances in my line-up.