Tastes

The nose is immediately a punch of baked apples, cloves, a bit of toffee, and just a hint of rye grassiness in the background. The palate starts out like it’s going to be sweet and friendly. This is immediately followed by a backhand to the face as the friendly notes of apple, caramel, and rye spice are superseded by a deep fiery burn, and unfortunately a strong ethanol note. Overall extremely tasty, extremely hot, and extremely overpriced. I’d pay $125-150 for a bottle, but certainly not $400-600.

In a nutshell, this is what the Rhetoric bourbons wish they tasted like. Tremendously oaky, yet somehow still balanced. The nose and the palate are pretty much identical with strong oak, toasted pecans, honey, vanilla, rich caramel, brown sugar, and straight up butter. The finish is a bit short, but leaves traces of wood sugars, vanilla, and, you guessed it, more delicious oak.

Well damn. The nose is like pralines and cream ice cream, with toffee, caramel, freshly baked blondies, oak, oak, and more delicious oak. There’s also a note something like leaves in the Fall. Incredibly balanced and somehow not too oaky. The palate brings toasted candied pecans into focus, with a rich caramel, and a heavy toasted oak presence. The oaky tones almost remind me of the Rhetoric 24, but without the notes of the lumber department at Home Depot. There’s also a pleasant spice balancing out a modest sweetness. Much like the nose, the palate shows incredible balance and complexity. One flavor just flows into the next. The finish, which goes on for ages, is straight dark caramel, vanilla, and more oaky oakness. Oak. Damn this is good. $50 USD for a 1 oz pour

Wow. The nose on this one is like baked apples and walnuts, covered in maple syrup. Not super complex, but decadent and delicious. The palate introduces quite a bit more complexity, with further notes of honey, cinnamon pastries, apple candies, and a prevailing, though quite pleasant bit of barrel bitterness. The finish comes in with more bitterness, oak spice, cinnamon apple candy, tobacco leaf, and something like candied almonds. This one has a surprising burn for its low proof. Seriously delicious stuff. $40 USD for a 2 oz. pour

What an utter disappointment. I had high hopes going into this one, having been a fan of the Stranahan’s Sherry Cask and having heard many complimentary things about the standard bottling of the Stranahan’s yellow label. The nose rolls out with a little bit of honey and strong notes of what I can really only describe as candy hearts and spearmint. The palate starts out cloyingly sweet, with overripe pears, some barley sugar notes, more candy hearts, and something falling between toothpaste and mouthwash. The extremely short finish is straight mint, powdered sugar, old leather, and something chemical forward; almost like a minty sunscreen. I genuinely wonder if I got a bad bottle. This is very nearly undrinkable.

This is really an odd one. The nose is dominated by an intense minerality, with piney notes, hints of damp soil, decomposing plant matter, wet rocks (for lack of a better description), and just a hint of something kind of like mint tea with honey. Things look a little like they’re going to push in the direction of gin, but they don’t go so far as to be off putting. The taste really hones in on those notes of tea and honey, bringing in a light note of lemon, and a pervasive grassiness. The mid palate starts to bring out more in the way of light barrel char and smoke, but only ever hints at the classic vanilla-caramel wood sugars. The finish brings out strange reminiscences of a strong, cool breeze over a damp forest floor. It sounds strange, but you’ll know what I mean if you taste this. A truly odd and unique bourbon, it shies away from all of the classic sweet, dessert-like notes of a classic bourbon, instead landing solidly in the space of light, mineral-forward herbaceous honey. This is a whiskey I would reach for on a crisp, damp autumn day. Not my favorite, but a unique journey nonetheless.

The nose on this one is extremely inviting. It pushes hard with notes of butterscotch, buttered popcorn, musty oak, and a bit of spearmint. The palate, while a bit tame and thin for a 100 proof rye, is quite complex. Heavy baking spices like cinnamon, cloves, ginger, , allspice, and even a bit of cardamom start things off. Things then develop into a rich buttery sweetness full of toffee, burnt caramel, maple syrup, orange zest, and an odd, but not off putting note of tarragon. The finish is all baking spices and toasted sugars, with a pleasant, rolling warmth in the chest. Overall an extremely pleasant whiskey and a fantastic rye for the money. $14 USD for a pour at SFO

This is easily one of the most amazing whiskey I’ve ever tried. The nose is like golden delicious apples, creme caramel, vanilla ice cream, rich buttery notes, and a light wood spice, with hints of grassiness. The high proof is only barely noticeable. The palate starts out with mildly toasted sugars, honey roasted pecans, and a bit of apple, before exploding into toffee, vanilla, creme brûlée, some truly beautiful pastry notes, and a mild bit of fudge and apple. The mid palate to the finish shows a transition from the sweet dessert-filled notes on the front towards a mild and almost unreasonably delicious wood spice, trailing off into rich caramels, baked apples, and a warm Kentucky hug. I’ve never been so sad to see an empty glass. This was a bit steep at $70 USD for a pour, but truly amazing stuff.

I approached this whiskey with a heavy dose of skepticism given the juxtaposition of its high cost and low (2 year) age statement. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised and now count myself a Peerless convert. With a few minutes in the glass, the nose unfolds from an initial hit of ethanol into rich vanilla, dried apricots, orange oil, roasted peanuts, toffee, a light note of mint, and balanced with a bit of sweet coffee. The palate is immediately sweet and rich with vanilla, graham crackers, toasted sugars, allspice, a light grassy-herbal note, a very light caramel, honey roasted peanuts, and a very pleasant malty note, before transitioning to a warm, slightly herbal, vanilla-laden exhale. Further sips bring out more rich sweetness with a stronger note of dried apricots, powdered sugar, and an extremely pleasant bit of spice and fiery burn. Not a super complex whiskey, but an extremely pleasant and all around impressive offering from Peerless. I look forward to continuing to try their rye as it ages.

A whiskey of beautiful extremes, Booker’s 2018-01 greets the nose with ripe red apples, cooked pears, buttery toffee, butterscotch, buttered toast, coffee candies, shelled peanuts, and a beautiful rye spice with cinnamon, cloves, and a bit of black tea. Like an almond roca dipped in fire. The palate hits hard with sweet caramel, dried apples, toasted peanuts, dark dusty oak, roasted corn, and a rich fiery spice of black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. A long deep burn in the chest follows with an exhale of toasted walnuts, almond butter, burnt sugar, and a pleasant bitterness akin to a strong black coffee. A spicy, sweet explosion in a glass.