Tastes

This is exactly what it sounds like: Maker's Mark, undiluted with water. One of the unique features of Maker's Mark is that they barrel their whiskey at a relatively low ABV -- bourbon often goes into the barrel in the 60-plus percent range -- and so their "cask strength" juice is not going to blow your face open in quite the same way that an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (regularly 65%+) will. Maker's Mark Cask Strength generally weighs in at a svelte 55% or so, which is a near-ideal proof point. Oddly enough, although I'm not the biggest fan of the baseline Maker's Mark because it sometimes has a strong ethanol aroma, that spirit-like character is left evident in this much more potent version. Instead, a pure hit of vanilla greets the nose, along with cherries. The latter is a signature wheated bourbon note, so it's unsurprisingly strong here. The palate is more of the same, along with a prickle of cinnamon spice that's partially from the bite of the higher proof. In a shocker of the year, this bourbon tastes a lot like Maker's Mark -- just better. The pricing on this bottle seems to vary widely from place to place, but it's a fair value anywhere in the $50-60 range.

In a world where age statements are becoming increasingly scarce, Heaven Hill sticks to solid numbers for many of their whiskies. This one is a 7-year product. Notice how I haven't called it a bourbon? It's not. It's a whiskey composed largely of wheat, breaking the rule that bourbon must be 51% corn. To its credit, that big change in mash bill produces a dramatic difference in its flavors. It's incredibly sweet and filled with "high-register" flavors, if that makes any sense. It's almost icy in its profile, with a chilled citrus flavor that's reminiscent of orange popsicles and ice cream. The age comes through in a wood-cabinet varnish accent that helps give this some tannic grip. There aren't many dark, brooding bourbon flavors here, but it works pretty well.

Back in the day (to be fair, meaning just three or four years ago), there were a few batches of this seasonal release that weighed in very close to 70% ABV, which is so high it's almost unbearable. We tried one of these mashers, from 2016, and it was tough to chew through at times, although very rewarding on some (tiny) sips. This early 2019 release is the strongest Elijah Craig Barrel Proof to come out in years, but it's much better balanced and quite an accomplishment. If there are two immutable characteristics in every Elijah Craig, it's a heavy-metal chord of vanilla and a lumberyard worth of oak. That's exactly what we're dealing with here, along with bushels of black cherries, sweet tea, and sage. This is more of a dessert dram than recent releases, with a little less char and smoke, but these differences are marginal between batches at a certain point. Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is instantly recognizable, with a character possessed by no other bourbon that I've encountered. It's also my favorite bourbon, bar none, and this one just further confirms it.

This is one of those expressions that'd be very hard to explain to an outsider unfamiliar with the extravagant, skyrocketing prices of the hobby and increasingly byzantine distinctions between different bourbons from the same distillery. This costs $250. It's 12 years old. Yesterday, I complained about Evan Williams 12 costing $129, but this takes it to the next level. Compare this expression to the distillery's own Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, and it's really hard to convince yourself of the value proposition. Both have the same age statement, come from the same distillery stock, and they're sometimes separated by less than a single proof point (see, e.g., ECBP A119). And the ECBP costs $75-80. With all that being said . . . I have to give some credit to these guys because Heavenhill is a stunning dram. On the nose: fresh florals, heady perfumes, ripe plums, and blackberry pie. Each sip combines those Elijah Craig flavors of cherry and dry oak, but there's also so much hazelnut and chocolate in its profile that the lawyers at Nutella need to think about suing. The tannins are so powerful that this bourbon almost glues my teeth to my lips. That extra Nutella note is what distinguishes this from the lesser expressions in Heaven Hill's lineup. Is that worth a $170 premium? Not for us, but to each their own.

I hadn't heard of New Riff until this year and then, all of a sudden, it was everywhere. Dedicated bourbon fan groups were making sojourns to this northern Kentucky-Cincinnati area distillery to do single barrel picks. These guys have not been around for long and finally reached the critical 4-year age point where they could start releasing their product as a bottled-in-bond bottle. To their tremendous credit, they waited that long to do it and insisted on their basic release being bottled-in-bond. It really pays off. If this is what a 4-year old New Riff tastes like . . . these guys are the Kilchoman of the American whiskey world. There's nothing unusual about it yet, but it's just really good bourbon, with all of the expected caramel, heavy hitting vanilla, and mellow spice that one would expect from their high-rye mash bill. I'm already a fan and looking forward with tremendous excitement to what this distillery can accomplish in the next decade.

The gift shop was providing free samples of the distillery's brand-new "Fusion" release, which melds together some of their first barrels of two-year-old juice (60%) with a much older, sourced 11-year, 7-month old bourbon (40%). The detail level of my notes drops off late in the day, particularly after trying so many excellent whiskies, but I did note that this new release exhibited a surprisingly creamy texture with mature, rich flavors, and a mule kick's worth of rye spice at the tail end. The older bourbon in this release melded beautifully with the youthful, vibrant, barely-there bourbon that makes up the majority of the blend. I liked it a lot! At $60, the price is a little steep, but it offers a chance to try one of the first efforts from one of bourbon country's most promising newcomers.

This is the bourbon to have someone try if they want to understand what bourbon obsessives mean when they endlessly cite "rye spice" as a note. Bulleit sources high-rye bourbons for its entire lineup, and this uncut, undiluted version is the spiciest yet, as if infused with anise, cardamom, fennel, and black pepper. It's also decadently sweet with some good acidity for balance, like an orange marmalade or spiced honey. This is not a particularly old bourbon, so it doesn't feature many oak or wood notes, but it's a winner. Let it sit for a few minutes before sipping, as that heavy alcohol punch needs some time to dissipate. $52 in the gift shop is a great price nowadays for a cask-strength bourbon, so the extra value premium bumps this bottle up in my ratings. I'm not sure what batch this was, but it was 62.7% ABV.

This was one of the most pleasant surprises of our recent three-day trip to the Bourbon Trail. Old Forester 100 Proof is a very affordable bourbon, going for as little as $20 in some places and widely available for under $25 -- right around, if not slightly under, the price point of Wild Turkey 101. To be honest, it may have supplanted Wild Turkey 101 as my favorite bourbon at this price point. Although Old Forester bottles its bourbons at a younger age than most distilleries (even its more expensive expressions may be 5 or 6 years old), they taste almost double that age, with loads of brown sugar, rich, slightly oily cornbread, sweet buttered corn, and a healthy dollop of spice.

The flavor notes on this one are pretty simple because it is a classic exemplar of the sweet side of the bourbon spectrum: vanilla, Hershey's chocolate sauce, spice, and cherry cola. It's pleasurable, if not overly complex. Its profile feels younger than expected, with relatively little oak. But, holy crap, they sell this bourbon for $125 (or was it $129?). That is a lot of money for a bourbon that isn't a limited annual release or special edition. Actually, that's a lot of money for any bourbon. Spoiler: I don't think it's worth it. It's a very solid bourbon, but the price just blows my mind. This same distillery, Heaven Hill, releases its powerhouse Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, also with a 12-year age statement, for about $70 to $80. It's stellar. Until a few months ago, its 10-year Henry McKenna Single Barrel was widely available for $40 (then it won Whiskey of the Year and became impossible to find). McKenna's not quite in my wheelhouse, but it's an impressive and award-winning bottle. What makes this one worth the premium, aside from the artificial scarcity produced by selling it only at the Evan Williams Experience? To add some bizarre insult to injury, Heaven Hill apparently exports this to Japan and sells it for $30 over there. Go figure. Try it at the Evan Williams Speakeasy Tour, where $20 gets you a taste of this, Evan Williams BIB, Pikesville Rye, and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof.

This bottle is one of the best value picks or bottom-shelf standouts in the market. That being said, it's still a $15 bottle so, at the end of the day, punching above its weight class means that it drinks more like a $20-30 bottle rather than Kentucky's finest. Evan Williams releases are good "teaching bourbons" in the sense that they can introduce newcomers into some of the basic bourbon flavors. This one features a light, creamy vanilla, a small helping of caramel, and some light honey and spice reminiscent of Four Roses Small Batch. For a 50% ABV whiskey, it has a lickety-split finish. To be honest, if I'd known about this in college, I would have had it all the time. But, happily, I can extend the liquor budget a little further nowadays.