Tastes

Tasted in a Glencairn spirits nosing glass. Aroma - Neat - Sherry to start, refined sap, mild roasted pecan, sour cherry, tart apple, bubble gum, mild tobacco and notable old leather as it opens up. Adding a teaspoon of water and . . . The tart apple is brought forward with the other notes remaining intact. Brown sugar syrup and mild cinnamon stick. Taste - Neat - Immediately reminded of a high end VSOP / XO Cognac / Brandy, mild sophisticated leather, toasted Demerara sugar and very mild cinnamon stick. Remarkably smooth at 45% drank neat, but let’s add a teaspoon of water and see what happens . . . This rightly increases the cognac / brandy impression. With the softening of the burn, it drinks much gentler as you’d expect from a good cognac or brandy. Final Thoughts - Absolutely incredible. This one earns a place in my top 3 bourbons without a doubt. I’ve encountered bourbons that mimicked notes found in aged dark rums before, but never cognac or brandy. As a fan of those, I find this to be very interesting and engaging, tasting flavors from both the bourbon and brandy spectrums. I do prefer the flavor just a touch better drank neat. Definitely worth buying if you can find it!

Tasted in a Glencairn spirits nosing glass. Aroma - Neat - Cherry, lightly ashy, some typical Speyside scotch notes, very woody and resinous. Adding a teaspoon of water. . . Cocoa nibs, Wood sap, a certain metallic quality, rock quarry Taste - Neat - Quite hot as to be expected being at true barrel strength. Extremely rich vanilla Custard and Sophisticated wood. Adding a teaspoon of water . . . Buttery, Cherry. Final thoughts - While this is a quite tasty Bourbon, I find it to be a bit lacking in its complexity for being full cask strength. The notes it has, it delivers on very powerfully, but those flavors are also typical and expected.

Tasted in a Glencairn spirits nosing glass. Aroma - Neat - Immediately getting an aged rum impression, browned butter, a certain fatty, waxy impression and a small amount of brown sugar. Adding a teaspoon of water . . . This has simplified the smell a bit. Mainly just getting brown sugar now. Taste - Neat - Very buttery, light almond/marzipan/cherry note, figs, heavy date and raisin and aged rum. Adding a teaspoon of water . . . This has thinned the flavor out a bit. Not recommended. Final thoughts - I understand why this is referred to as the “Poor man’s Pappy” and revered so highly. It’s got a lot of the same notes I found in Old Rip Van Winkle 10, particularly in the rum characteristics. I’ve quickly found that none of the Weller expressions benefit from water and are best drank neat. All in all, a fantastic offering and highly recommended.

Tasted in a Glencairn spirits nosing glass. Aroma - Neat - Immediately hit with ripe banana, banana bread, pink bubble gum, bittered honey and mint leaf - Adding a teaspoon of water . . . This has brought the aroma down, im only able to detect vanilla and a very distant rye bread note. Taste - Neat - vanilla, strong cordial cherry. Not too terrible complex but quite tasty as it is. Adding a teaspoon of water . . . A mistake. This whiskey becomes quite flat, thin and one dimensional once water is added. I’m only able to detect sweet vanilla with the addition of water. Final thoughts : A quite tasty and decently interesting bourbon when drank neat. This one does not need any water. I was expecting something a bit more deep / developed for being aged 12 years, but, I digress, it is quite good. I WILL say that the hype, price tag and scarcity surrounding it DEFINITELY doesn’t equate to what you’re getting in the bottle, however. 3.75 / 5.00 from me. Worth trying if you aren’t getting scalped on the price!

Absolutely horrid. While I realize some choose to pick on budget spirits inherently, I have no problem giving kudos and commendations to cheap spirits that deserve. This is not the case. Extremely chemically, superglue and hot, burning sawdust. This actually ruins a cocktail as well. Absolutely steer clear. Spend a few dollars more, get yourself a bottle of Pig’s Nose, Dewar’s or Dimple Pinch and have an infinitely better experience.

Tasted on Christmas Day, 2020 in a Glencairn spirits nosing glass. Aroma - Nosing neat - Immediately the first impression I get is an insanely rich, Demerara rum. I’m picking up on absolutely gargantuan amounts of brown sugar, dark rum cake, dates, stewed dark fruits, very sophisticated oak (think like the smell of a woodworkers shop, rather than raw wood), mild cinnamon stick, peach tea and butter. Adding two teaspoons of water . . . This has only amplified the nose, as the ethanol vapors are no longer hindering any smell. Huge tawny port wine smells, cognac and rum. Continues to develop, picked up peach cobbler after 15 minutes or so in the glass. Taste - Neat - Maduro cigar tobacco, old leather, heavy yet refined oak, lots of date. Has a finish that goes on forever. Quite hot at 53.5%. Adding two teaspoons of water . . . Marzipan, German stollen (Holiday rum fruit cake), browned butter and a very distant and raw Granny Smith apple. Final thoughts - I consider myself beyond lucky to have won a drawing to purchase this bottle for under $100.00. I expected to be underwhelmed, because how can something live up to a reputation like a Van Winkle bourbon? Alas, this absolutely does. This goes toe-to-toe with a fine Speyside scotch all day. I kept being reminded of the likes of Macallan 18 when I drank this bourbon and continually found myself dumbfounded that a bourbon could taste and smell this way. It goes without saying that I absolutely recommend this whiskey. Easy 5 stars from me.

Aroma - Nosing neat, the aroma is very complex and remarkable. I’m picking up on tart blueberry cobbler, green apple, mild sherry notes. As it breathes in the glass, a bit of an earthy cola vibe enters, not unlike root beer. A touch of vanilla is present as well in the form of cream soda. After adding a teaspoon of water, the sherry wine, green apple and tart blueberry notes are brought forward strongly. Very interesting nose on this one. Taste - tasting neat - Rich, brown sugar, mild honey, rum cake. A bit hot. Adding a teaspoon of water . . . Bittered honey, butter and vanilla. Final Thoughts : Quite an interesting bourbon, especially for the price (30.00 at my store). The nose might be the best part of this bourbon. I found that the addition of water made the aroma more interesting, but the flavor less so. Try this one neat and with water side by side and see what your preference is.

Tasting in a Glencairn glass with about a teaspoon of water. Aroma : Definitely getting the port cask influence here. Plenty of date, fig, raisin and brown sugar. Very mild black tea leaf, vanilla, rum cake, cordial cherries and medium sweet chocolate. Taste : Darker chocolate, cacao nibs, stronger tea leaf flavors here than in the smell, bordering closer to an English breakfast tea. As I exhale, I catch some sugary date. Final thoughts : What a characterful bourbon. It truly does live up to its reputation in its complexity. I find this as engaging as a nice young Speyside scotch. Real delivery of the port cask influences as advertised. All around very pleased with this one!

Tasting in a Glencairn glass with 1 teaspoon of water. Aroma : The first immediate note here is a beef-stew quality, wood sap, light vanilla and a nearly undetectable hint of green apple. Taste : A bit hard to pinpoint any one single flavor going on here. Icing, light brown sugar, a fleeting hint of dark fruit and perhaps mild honeycomb. Final Thoughts : A decent bourbon. The aroma isn’t the best and the flavor is tasty enough, but nothing to write home about. For the price point you could do a lot worse. While I can’t say I’d necessarily buy this one again, I’m decently pleased with it.

1 teaspoon of water in a Glencairn glass: Aroma : Perhaps I’m being swayed by the name “Basil” but the first aroma I’m picking up is an herbaceous, vegetal one. Grassy, very faint and fleeting peat moss smokiness. Young corn, corn syrup, light marzipan and a touch of yellow cake. Blindfolded, I might mistake this for a Campbell Town scotch by the aroma. Taste : Quite complex, upfront I get a bit of a cherry cough syrup, marzipan, English breakfast tea. The increased Rye bill here is noticeable, it lends way to a slightly hotter / more peppery finish than one might expect from a Bourbon. Final thoughts : I really am impressed by how complex this is. It really does drink almost like a Campbell Town or maybe even a Lowland Scotch. I don’t know that this would the fit bill of an everyday bourbon because it tastes so different for BEING a bourbon. That being said, bourbon drinkers looking for something interesting and complex would do well to give Basil Hayden’s a shot.