Tastes

This is amazing stuff. Rich, deep, and jam packed with flavor. Sweet, but not a sugar bomb. Spicy but with almost no burn. Woody but without tasting like you're sucking on a barrel. I'd give it a 6 if I could. Perfection. Edit: This was an earlier review for me and I considered going back and making more elaborate tasting notes, but after re-reading it I think the simplicity works and decided to let it stand. :)

Signature JD banana nut scent along with oak, maraschino cherry, musty barrel funk, and a hint of clove. Palate is like a mix between Bananas Foster and rocket fuel. Proof definitely comes through in a big way and overpowers everything. There’s some good stuff in the finish; sour cherry, cola, cinnamon, and charcoal but the flavors struggle to get through the heat. Heavy, syrupy mouth feel, coating the palate and throat and then finishes dry as the Sahara. Just when you think it’s settled it comes back with a big Kentucky hug. I wanted to like this more than I did. Too unbalanced and too alcohol forward even for a barrel proof. Not worthy of a rebuy.

Kind of a weird bird. Clove, cinnamon and honey on the nose. Some upfront sweetness like a bourbon, with notes of black cherry and vanilla but then the herbals come out in the mid-palate hitting you with eucalyptus, clove, and lemongrass. Spicy peppermint finish of decent length. Little too herbaceous and medicinal for my palate. Great value for $19, but I’d probably rather pay the extra for High West Double Rye or Rittenhouse so not a rebuy for me.

Palate opens with peanut butter sweetness. Additional notes of buttered corn, nutmeg, golden raisin, clove, butterscotch, and a light vegetal note of celery. Pink peppercorns in the finish which is more of a "bite" than “heat” followed by a pleasant, oaky bitterness. Oily and fully coats the mouth. A really solid high proof bourbon for the cost.

Sweet corn and butter on the nose but worrisome ethanol fumes as well. Sure enough, there was a acrid nail polish remover taste on the palate. Oak forward and spicy with the heat primarily coming from the poorly attenuated alcohol. Some cake frosting and banana in there as well, but jaggedly sharp and lingering harsh astringency in the finish. Not a fan.

Cinnamon bun, gingerbread, and fresh ground black pepper on the nose, but some ethanol sneaks in there also. Nice vanilla cream and light oak on the palate. Finishes with a blast of baking spices (particularly nutmeg and allspice) and Red Hots candy. Medium length finish. Thin bodied. Less spicy than the single barrel version, but still too much of a spice bloom in the finish for my palate which overshadows it's other fine qualities.

Deep rich nose of molasses, oak, brown sugar, marzipan, candied orange, chocolate, and shoe leather. Palate pretty much follows suit and matches the nose but with a little less complexity; lots of brown sugar, toffee, pipe tobacco, cherry, and oak. Very sweet and VERY rich; like drinking a really good piece of cake. Medium length cinnamon finish. Tasty and unique but have to be in the mood for dessert.

The good: Pleasant flavors of the “fruity and spicy” variety; green apple, cherry, caramel, and cinnamon (ever had Cinnamon Gummy Bears? This tastes very similar); decent oily mouthfeel, no off flavors or ethanol. The bad: somewhat muted, short-to-medium length finish, not complex or deep in flavor profile. Verdict: A nice sipper hence the rating, and what’s here is presented really well. If this was $30 I would buy it all day, but just not deep or layered enough to justify a rebuy at $50.

GCM store pick in Gilbert AZ. Lots of toffee and butterscotch in the nose. Super bright and fruity on the palate. Notes of clove, lemon zest, caramel apple, honey, and juicy pear. No real burn until the finish after the other flavors have been presented but then hits you with some building (not unpleasant) alcohol heat. PUNCHY. Lingering finish. A lot of reviews I have read have labeled this one a mess. While it is kind of disjointed and has a non-traditional flavor profile, I found it strangely appealing as well. The flavors became more cohesive about halfway through the bottle. Overall a funky and unique bourbon.

Oh this stuff is dangerous. Like alcoholic vanilla cream water. French toast and caramel as well. Creamy silky feel. Not even a trace of bite. Feel like I could easily drink half a bottle at a sitting. Not particularly bold or rich, but the notes that are present are sublime. Does suffer a bit from a lack of complexity. Definitely in a category of it's own.