Tastes

It was 7-8 years ago that I first experienced Stagg Jr.  Cost me $90 for the bottle and I just could not believe how rich it was.  Vanilla-cherry pie and cotton candy that you could smell across the room.  Won't ever forget that. A year later I happened into a liquor store in Florida that had recently changed hands.  The new owner found two cases of Stagg Jr. amongst the acquired inventory. Didn't know what he had and put it on the shelf.  1st release 134.4 proof.  I got six bottles at $45 each.  This is the last one.  I learned early on that the last half of the bottle is way better than the first, so I saved an empty to pour it up into two half bottles and let it sit, two or three months.  This one got poured up in December 2021. Still get that vanilla cherry pie across the room when I pour a dram.  Mostly I enjoy it neat after dinner.  Took a half bottle to Florida last month and a friend told me that an unopened bottle of the first release was currently going for a grand.  I love it but really?  Maybe that made it taste better, maybe not. I love to nose my bourbon and this has my absolute favorite nose.  There's creme brulee, cherry pie and cotton candy.  Maybe it's cherries jubilee and hot buttered popcorn?  Naw it's vanilla custard, fresh bing cherries on buttered Belgian waffles with caramel. It's a bit hot but not like you would expect from 134.4 proof.  1/2 oz goes a long way. Oh the texture in the mouth, it's thick and chewy, really coats the mouth and tongue.  It's a bit hotter on the tongue than anticipated by the nose.  The flavors are intense.  Kinda cherry, apple bread pudding with a caramel bourbon sauce.  The caramel holds on and goes woody on the finish.  A touch of pecan in there too. This is my favorite bourbon, I absolutely love it.  Still have a stash of later releases and I am always on the lookout.  But I haven't seen any for less than $200 in the last couple years so maybe the bottles I have will be all I get.  Can you spell r-a-t-i-o-n?

It's been really hot here for the last few days and I have switched to lighter spirits and beer. But Frank comes over with a bottle of Booker's. Bookers on a hot day can be a dangerous combination so maybe a quarter ounce. Can't turn down a taste of Bookers!! Wow! Bottle is off the shoulder and been open for a couple weeks. The nose is powerful. Caramel apple pie right off and I am only getting close to the glass. There's cinnamon, nutmeg and butter too. Very little alcohol on the nose. It amazes me that 125+ proof and just over six years can tame the alcohol so well. The palate is flavorful as well but much more of simple basic bourbon. That's OK cause the nose makes up for it. Great mouth feel at least until the tip of my tongue and lips go numb. Roof of mouth too! There's a nice long finish of cinnamon apple red hot that goes and goes. I really like this one and find it to be fairly priced at 90. Not as hard to get as some either.

Mythology is an NDP company that blends and finishes whiskeys as well as producing other spirits. Website shows noting about this special release but the label shows 103 proof blended straight whiskies finished in a Rhum barrel and only 120 bottles were produced. Not much to go on. Dark brown in the bottle and this baby's got legs. Powerful nose with burnt brown sugar leading the way. There's a sweet bread element and some citrus and vanilla icing, kinda like the king cake from last week. I'm gonna nose this one a while and say the whiskies are likely wheated bourbon and a rye. The nose seems to take on more of the Rhum. It's 103 proof but the nose nor the palate give that away. This is liquid Crème Brûlée where the brown sugar slightly burned. Cherries on top. Really coats the palate and gives a sweet oak finish that lasts. This is not on my typical style list but these guys have done a nice job. I like it. Nobody knows how much it cost as this was a present, so it's even easier to like.

This was our fourth taste of the evening and the highest proof. Hope this is a fair review as our first one was a stellar offering and I am always concerned as to whether my palate has been sufficiently cleansed after three. I, like @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington wonder about the source of this one. There is another off-beat pot still operation in KY. Copper and Kings distill brandy in pot stills. Might they have contract distilled this? Boone County is a pot still operation but not sure if they were actually distilling 7 years ago. This one is very grainy and hot on the nose. There are other fragrances looming but hard to get past the primary. Vanilla and caramel are there but not as much as would be expected from a seven year bourbon. The nose on this one vaguely reminds me of the Boone County 5 year I just tasted but with a hotter nose. The palate is once again very grainy, powered by hot rye new make. Hard to believe it's seven years old and I am having difficulty getting the hotness to pick out any flavors. This one is an enigma to me. Wonderful color and texture but the graininess overwhelms other properties. As you hold it in your mouth the heat dissipates and the finish bleeds to sweet oak. For me, it's got no balance and I expected something spectacular for my friends $150

This is the third tasting of our Bourbon marathon. Kentucky Par has a bit of strange story to it. The namesake Kentucky Parfay Co was created in 1913 By Frank Stitzel to produce a soft drink. The company was sold to the Bradford family in 1917 and the Kentucky Par name got attached to bourbon at the end of prohibition. Seems that Beth Radford saw the end prohibition well before others and bought up receipts for some 300 confiscated barrels in government warehouses. At prohibitions end she was sitting on 300 barrels of 12 yo bourbon. After WWII the company was renamed the Radford Company and they became liquor distributors. A couple generations hence and now we see the Kentucky Par name again. So how's the bourbon. Pretty good. Likely sourced from Barton, 74c 18r 8mb. Non chill filtered and proofed at 100. Medium brown color and slight viscosity. First nosing gives brown sugar caramel. Very sticky toffee pudding like. A bit of apple and nuts, just a hint of cinnamon. No ethanol! Taste is true and it's chewier than expected judging from the swirl. This one has a great finish with sweet oak evolving to hot cinnamon. I find this superior to any Barton product I've tried but similar, lacking the banana on the nose. I really like this one but at 130 a botte it's one and done.

This was our second tasting in our afternoon bourbon marathon. This is a five year high rye, pot stilled, aged and bottled by Boone County. It's dark in color but very thin almost water like in the glass. This is highly anticipated by me as I am a fan of BC. First whiff: did I just step into the distillery? Not the rick house the distillery. There is a high degree of raw grain and mash on the nose. Not necessarily bad just unexpected. Let it sit a while and some of the barrel starts to come through but not much. When I visited the distillery for a tour a couple years back, I remember that they had a most unconventional rick house. More of a warehouse with wide aisles to facilitate movement of the lift truck. Lots of open doors and ventilation. Made me wonder what impact it would have on the bourbon as temperature swings were more restricted? This is five year juice but it drinks much younger. At 90 proof, the alcohol is tame as expected for 5 year stuff but the barrel flavors leave a lot to be desired for me. One of our crowd stated it's rough but would be great on a cold night around a campfire. Maybe, but I prefer a more refined style. The bottle is set back in the cabinet and will be revisited in a couple months.

First up in our bourbon tasting marathon is J Mattingly "If the Mitten Fits" NAS but suspect at least ten years. J Mattingly is the guy behind Bourbon 30 and obviously has good sources, likely MGP. I've been by the distillery but not toured it, it's tiny. Haven't tried Bourbon 30. 74C 21R 5MB mash bill. Dark amber in color and it's viscous. Powerful nose leads with butterscotch, there's candied green apple and a touch of nutmeg. Way down in the glass is a bit of pecan. This 108 proof but drinks more like 90 with tons of flavor and Crème Brulee leads the way. The long finish is a blend of peppery cinnamon with caramel. I really like this one, it's got a great nose, wonderful flavor and mouth feel. It reminds me of Boone County 1833 12 year single barrel. It's expensive but delivers. Only problem is that this one is first up and the bar is set very high.

Never have I experienced such a tight whiskey. Nothing on the nose but I could smell the baked beans and smoked pork at dinner. The taste is nondiscript as well but I can tell it's whiskey

Our second tasting at the super bowl party. This one is very dark brown in color. Takes a few minutes to open up with lots of caramel and nutmeg, more like high rye bourbon than a rye. Guessing that's due to the toasted barrel. The palate is confusing. It's sweet caramel and cinnamon red hots, corn sweetener and black pepper. It's got a nice mouth feel but the flavors move all over the place and lack balance. Glad I didn't buy this one

Doing a little bourbon tasting on Super Bowl Sunday and this one is on the list. Tried it a few years ago and remember liking it so I am anxious to try this release before the party truly begins. The nose is powerful and I like that, heavy on sweet caramel and apples. There is a nuttiness' to it, I go back and forth between hazel and pecan. Almost no alcohol. This is decadent. The palate follows the nose but the apple drops out and the sweetness intensifies. Great mouthfeel and some bitter oak develops as you chew it. This one finishes sweet with long lasting caramel corn.