Tastes

Nose is bold and spicy with cinnamon, clove, allspice, and nutmeg. There’s also some apple, pear, smoke, and peanut. Ethanol is disturbingly persistent. Mouthfeel is nuttier and less spicy than the nose would indicate. Notes of peanut brittle, cashew, vanilla, caramel flan, red apple, and dry oak. Very bright. Tastes a little young, with everything being slightly rough around the edges. Finish bring a ton of black pepper along with pleasant oak, barrel char, red hots candy, and clove. Mouthfeel is full bodied and nicely oily. Having reviewed a lot of these, I would say this release is very “on brand” for this whiskey, that being nutty and spicy. I think a little more age on these releases would work wonders; imagine what a 12-13 yr old Larceny BP would yield? Sadly, the world may never know. At 79.99, the value is solid, and I’ll probably keep buying them at the price point.

Nose is wholly unpleasant with burnt rubber, smoke, wet cardboard, grape must, earthy damp cellar, and root vegetables (turnip? beet?) But then something strange happened…the burnt rubber and cardboard aromas vanished to be replaced by overripe date, salted caramel, strawberry, and plum. I’ve never had anything like this happen before. Am I drunk? Ethanol is pronounced and spikey. Things improve on palate with prune juice, brown sugar, port wine, sherry, white grape, vanilla, fudge, clove, allspice, black cherry, coffee, and vegetal beet. While reading that back it sounds good, but it sounds better than it tastes. Hard to describe, but the flavors are unruly and over the place. Finish is long with creme brûlée, pencil eraser, barrel char, dark chocolate, toasted oak, leather, black pepper, mint, sulphur, and astringent iodine. Mouthfeel is full bodied, chewy, and slick. Maybe it’s me, but I just didn’t dig this whiskey; too many weird/off notes at every step. A hot mess express. At $119 that I paid for this bottle via mail order, I regret my life choices. Strange because I usually enjoy Balcones, but this one missed the mark for me big time.

Aroma opens with rye spice, vanilla creme, shortbread, white pepper, candy cane, apricot, fresh leather, grass, dried plum, tobacco, and oak. An inviting and complex nose for sure. Ethanol is low. Palate offers raisin, date, caramel, fig newton, smoke, prune, and macadamia nut. Flavors are rich but with some delicacy to them; kind of like a soufflé. Finish is delightful; on the longer side of medium with figgy pudding, chocolate, black,pepper, herbal mint, toasted oak and coconut, caraway seed, and dried black cherry. Mouthfeel is full bodied with a soft, velvety texture but does turn a bit dry at the end. Yeah, this is delicious. I will admit that for the first few drams after opening I felt this was a bit tight and that the sherry/rye flavors were a bit clashy, but as more air got to the bottle it opened up and became more cohesive. A bold, innovative, and weird whiskey that somehow still works. I paid $99.99 via mail order and while I’d always like to pay less, I feel this is appropriately priced for the quality. Nicely done, Sagamore.

The now famous C923. Big fan of the expression so let’s see how this highly regarded release stacks up. Nose is “dark” with well integrated notes of plum, caramel, date, French vanilla ice cream, fig, custard, nutmeg, tobacco and sweet oak. Complex and inviting. Ethanol is low given the proof. Palate brings the caramel and vanilla from the nose with less fruit than the aroma would indicate although I do get nice black cherry and berry notes. Add butterscotch, raisin, black pepper, hazelnut and toffee. Flavors are rich and decadent. Some heat is evident on the tongue. Finish is so damn long with a cinnamon/allspice/ginger bloom, brown sugar, old leather, and barrel char. Lingering wood note (which to me tastes more like bitter sandalwood than oak) after everything else fades away. Mouthfeel is full bodied and unctuous. A truly outstanding ECBP release. Just missed a 5.0 for being a wee bit hot, but it’s the most minor of flaws. At the $79.99 that I paid it’s highway robbery; if you find it at that price buy two and thank me later.

134.4 proof. I added just a splash of water to this, as I usually do with 130+ proofers. Nose is bold with cinnamon roll, banana bread, white pepper, lemon zest, maple, and a hint of charcoal. I like it, but it’s a bizarre nose for a rye. Ethanol is exceptionally low given the proof (water splash may have helped) Palate has a lot going on; butterscotch, rye, black pepper, baking spices (cinnamon, clove), tobacco, chocolate, and green apple. PUNCHY. Runs hot with spice throughout. Finish is insanely long with loads more spice/heat, cherry, fennel, wintergreen, barrel char, burnt caramel sugars, leather, and a hint of anise. Mouthfeel is oily but has a decent amount of graininess and dryness to it; could have used more smoothness given the intensity of the flavor profile. So it’s robust, flavorful, and complex but also kind of wild, unruly, and all over the place. Definitely doesn’t have the qualities that I would associate with or look for in a world class rye. I know there’s many that are in love with this expression but it just didn’t come together for me. At 74.99 that I paid, it’s hard to say it’s overpriced in today’s market but lots of bottles out there I’d rather have at a similar price point so falls short of rebuy status.

Nose is rich and full with pecan, nutmeg, caramel, vanilla, allspice, cinnamon. ginger, clove, Fuji apple, and oak. Ethanol is minimal. Palate offers all the spices in the nose (so as not to be redundant see above) along with some burnt sugars, cashew nut, tobacco, gooey caramel, bakers chocolate, and blackberry. Definitely punchy. Finish is extremely long featuring barrel char, leather, semi-astringent oak, fiery chili pepper, and a hint of peppermint. There’s some alcohol heat here and a sharp and prickly mouthfeel that doesn’t do this any favors. Ends very dry. So, I love these expressions. That said, there are desserty versions, fruity versions, and spicy versions, and this falls into the latter category with a good deal of hot baking spice notes. Very “autumn”. Finish was harsher than I would have wanted, although I admit it’s a minor flaw. At $80, these continue to be an insane value in todays market. Buy with no reservations, knowing that at worst (like this one) you’re still getting a 4 out of 5.

Aroma is interesting and unique, offering peach, white grape, honey, sugar cookie, banana, and pine. Ethanol is there if you huff too deeply, but diminishes with smaller sniffs. Palate offers vanilla, blood orange, honey glaze, butterscotch, burnt marshmallow, and banana bread. Flavors are rich and punchy. Lack of wood presence indicates younger whiskey. Finish is long and complex with Concord grape, caramel, orange slice candy, white pepper, and blackberry. Wow…you can still taste some elements minutes later. There is also unattenuated ethanol adding an unwelcome prickly heat. Mouthfeel is medium bodied but extremely oily and slick. Almost bordering on a dessert whiskey with many layers of complexity within the sweetness. Could have mored wood notes for balance. At 86.99, it’s slightly overpriced but yet still a fine whiskey that I would consider rebuying depending on what else is in my current stock.

Nose offers cedar, cotton candy, berry, vanilla, root beer, walnut, and butter. Unique for sure, but also a little wild. Ethanol is on the milder side, especially after five minutes in the glass. Palate is full of black cherry, cola, caramel, stewed pear, fig, tobacco, and a hint of peanut. Flavors are decently robust. Pleasantly long finish brings salted caramel, toasted oak, nutmeg, finely ground pepper, and leather. Cinnamon note lingers after everything else fades. Mouthfeel is full bodied and a little creamy, which elevates the experience. Nicely unique without any major flaws, I found this enjoyable. At $60, it is priced appropriately for the market and a viable rebuy option for the sake of variety when you’re tired of the same old same old.

Nose is relatively muted, but features popcorn, wintergreen, saltwater taffy, tangerine, new leather, honey, and oak tannins. A confusing mix for sure. Ethanol definitely a presence and makes you pay the price if you huff too deeply. Palate deviates from the nose in a positive way offering caramel, buttered corn, chocolate, brown sugar, and a hint of orange/citrus which was very welcome. Flavors are robust, but also center on the back of the tongue adding a hint of harshness. Finish is surprisingly long and brings a spice bloom of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cardamom along with black pepper, dried oak, and burnt sugars. There is a little astringent alcohol burn and root vegetable note after everything else fades. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and sufficiently oily and suits the profile well. Finishing better then it starts, this doesn’t suck but there are some flaws as there is kind of an astringency throughout which brings the overall experience down a peg. At the $79.99 that I paid (damn mail order, lol) it is pretty far from a rebuy and I’d even struggle to rebuy it at a lower price since I can think of a better whiskey at nearly every price point. Middle of the road.

63.9% ABV. Aroma explodes out of the glass with brown sugar, molasses, hay, oats, barnyard funk, rye crisp, baker’s chocolate, wet dirt, nutmeg, and sage. Bold and complex. Ethanol shockingly low…are we sure this nearly 128 proof? Palate continues the brown sugar/molasses/chocolate from the nose along with orange peel, almond, tobacco, and wood tannins. Warm hug builds over time. There’s a decent amount of unwelcome astringency to the profile. Finish is long and intense with caramel flan, spearmint, cinnamon sugar, black pepper, rye spice, leather, and mesquite wood. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and oily, but also a little on the grainy side. An interesting whiskey with much to like but also quite rough around the edges. Nowhere near what one would expect from a rye and while that’s not a crime, it’s not necessarily a win for me either. At $60 there’s no issue with value; I just wish it was a slightly softer, more cohesive overall experience. Falls short of rebuy at 3.75.