Tastes
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Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye (Fall 2020)
Rye — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed August 19, 2022 (edited August 20, 2022)Nose: soft rye, chocolate, faint oak. Body: medium Palate: so good cinnamon, rye but it’s very subtle and sweet Finish: medium to long Note my last taste from don. What a night stagg jr, GTS and this. My god whiskey jackpot. All so good -
George T. Stagg Bourbon (Fall 2016)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed August 19, 2022 (edited August 20, 2022)Nose: cherry, caramel, sweet oak in comparison to the stagg jr batch 9 I just tried this has much less of the sugary nose and more oak. Maybe a little red fruit maraschino cherry Body: full and wow another big banger Palate: sweet oak, caramels covered in cherry glaze and dipped in vanilla. Wow. Finish: long, smoky sweet Note: another ounce from don. Whoa as full bodied as the stagg jr batch 9 I just tried but has more depth of flavor, more refined and interesting. Holy shit this was good. -
Stagg Jr Barrel Proof Bourbon Batch 9
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed August 19, 2022 (edited August 20, 2022)Nose: caramel, cherry, vanilla, sugared Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Oak. Body: full, mouth coating. Palate: caramel and cinnamon. Finish: long and a wonderful Kentucky hug. Note: an taste from don. This is friggin delicious. What really sets this apart is how full bodied and flavorful this is. It’s not a complicated bourbon but what it does it does at a level ten. This is really good. -
King of Kentucky 14 Year Bourbon (2021 Release)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed July 25, 2022 (edited August 15, 2022)Nose: cherry, peanut, beeswax, caramel, there is an element in the nose I can’t pin down, at first I though crayon, then beeswax, but it comes in and out with cinnamon and Body: full. Palate: cherry caramel oak, back palate more burnt sugar. Has a creaminess and a cinnamon spiciness. Finish: long and smoky. Note: An ounce from don. I’ve wanted to try KoK so this made my day. This is 2021 B29. This is really nice. This did not disappoint. Lots of interesting aromas on the nose, has big bold flavor on the palate and a nice long warming finish. I love it. -
Elijah Craig single barrel private barrel 1010 Washington barrel proof pick 2022
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed July 16, 2022Nose: woody, oaky, caramel and peanut shells at a baseball game. Rich Body: full and mouth coating Palate: rich caramel and cinnamon spice. Dark cherry. It drinks at its proof but it’s not harsh just full bodied and muscular if drank neat. Finish: medium to long and smokey caramel the kind of finish I love Note: ANOTHER banger from 1010 Washington, this is frickin delicious. Shared it with a fellow cleveland baseball fan. -
Note: ok. So. I watched adhd whiskey. I saw Matt review this whiskey and I was thinking he say it’s garbage and laugh it all the way to the dump. Then he said it’s one of the best whiskies he’s ever tasted. So I thought, he drinks a lot of whiskey he must know, maybe I’ll take a flyer. My whisky buddy said don’t do it. Not worth it. Then I almost bought this after many drams and thought wait, learn more about it. It’s a commitment, wait until it comes to the stores. Then I got the itch. I though F it. I have an opportunity to try something. I can afford it. Let’s roll the dice. So I went for it. Then I realized it’s going to come by fedex from Florida… to minnesota. I had set my expectations that the bottle would arrive in one piece at about 1%. I was sure someone along the way would open it and take half. Then it arrived. While I was at work. My wife texted me and said the box got here and she signed for it. I asked if it was leaking. She said no. Ok. I worked all day wondering what is going to be wrong with this adventure, this leap of faith into the expensive unknown. I thought to myself sometimes in life you have to take a calculated risk. I took that risk and am now ready to see what I’ve done. The anticipation is incredible. This might be the stupidest whiskey purchase I’ve ever made but it might be the best. Let’s find out. Nose:gooey caramel, oak, I can distinctly nose the grape influence barrel influence, I’m a fan of cava brut and I can nose that in this, buts it’s more like champagne. Thick dark chocolate with vanilla sprinkles. But primarily chocolate caramel and champagne. Later pie crust I thought this smells like apple pie. After a few sips the nose took on a weird funk like the caramel and chocolate had morphed into a stronger bowl of stewed fruit. Sweet but musty. Not in a bad way but something I’ve not nosed in a bourbon before. Was more like a single malt nose like the benromach 15. And then the apple pie crust comes back. The flavors are just pouring out of the glass. It seems like no two noses are exactly the same. With a few sips in the candied fruit starts to shine on the nose but I don’t taste it until the back palate. Body: medium to full and mouth coating. It actually builds in the first few moments in your mouth like it crescendos and then very slowly fades. Palate: this first sip brought so many thoughts about flavors, like a burst of flavors that my initial impression was just wow. There’s a lot going on. Little cinnamon, chocolate, plum or aged grape. Reminds me of champagne in the grape department. Candied fruit on the back palate. Later gooey caramel. Finish: very long, smoky and spicy. Really good. Note #2) this is an excellent and distinctive bourbon. I think if a person likes whiskey with an aged profile like the stewed fruits, like the powerful caramel and a long finish this is a terrific dram. The cost is going to make it prohibitive to many that should taste it because it is a different take on standard bourbon. It succeeded. It met my expectations and I have no regrets with the emotional adventure buying this bottle took me on. I’ll share this with my discerning whiskey friends. Oh that nose is so good.
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Barrell Craft Spirits Gray Label Seagrass (2022 Release)
Canadian — (bottled in) Kentucky, Canada
Reviewed July 5, 2022 (edited July 30, 2022)Nose: first impression is this is similar but softer than the gold. Honey off the bat. Really a lot of honey and then caramel. Nosing sweeter than the gold. Instead of rose petals I’m getting more fresh cut grass and then lots of sugar cane, the rum component really stands out to me more than the gold. With time more caramel and grass. Definitely more caramel than fruit compared to gold. In total a very nice nose perhaps sweeter and more earthy than the gold, a little less going on but still very unique and delicious. After a couple sips I got wafts of oak and faint fruit. Body: very strange. Despite the higher abv and despite my anticipation that this was going to be huge it went the other way. It was light and soft and muted. It’s a light to medium bodied dram. Curious that it’s less full bodied than the gold but has a higher abv. Maybe my taster is off today or maybe it’s just not as full bodied. Definitely brought the Kentucky hug. Palate: caramel, vanilla, red fruits raspberry. Some of that fresh cut grass or hay came through on the palate. It’s missing the brandy part I liked so much in the gold. Finish: medium to short. Doesn’t have the same length as the gold which brought out a very drawn out lingering sweetness. This is more woody and short. Not bad just different. Note: ok so now I have seagrass, seagrass silver and gold. Somehow I’ve started with the gold and am working backwards which just seems backwards but what can I say. Let’s see how this 16 year old seagrass compares to its older brother. Well I like this version but I like the gold better. This is an interesting take on whiskey with the rye base and rum and brandy barrels. I definitely will enjoy this bottle along side the gold. But. But the gold has more going on, they rye sneaks out more there is the red hot cinnamon amounts the plums and honey rum. This is more honey rum and earthy. This is very good, no one should every turn down a dram of this BUT the gold is just more interesting. -
Buffalo Trace single barrel select 1010 Washington 2022
Bourbon — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed July 4, 2022 (edited July 5, 2022)Nose: very caramel forward. Little bit of oak, a little red fruit sweetness. Body: light to medium but more light than medium Palate: up front is the lightest the faintest of red fruit sweetness followed by the soft caramel that leads to the finish. Finish: short to medium with faint whisps of caramel and oak Note: The 2022 1010 BT SB pick. I’ve not had BT before and it’s the 4th of July and so why not try it. This is a nice straightforward basic bourbon. Nothing wrong with it. Strong with the caramel, super easy sipper, very soft on the palate and finish. Dangerous in that it goes down very easy and the sweet caramel is inviting. Mother Earth shattering but super solid. -
Barrell Craft Spirits Gold Label Seagrass
Canadian — (bottled in) Kentucky, Canada
Reviewed June 8, 2022 (edited April 6, 2023)Nose: this is a new nose to me. Different aromas than the single malts, bourbons and ryes I’m used to. I get airy thin honey. Also something floral like rose petals. There is a heavy raw sugar cane presence but it’s not there on every inhalation. There is faint plum and apricot but it’s a secondary or tertiary aroma. I don’t nose any rye but a lot fruitiness. The other thing I find interesting is that the nose is very very soft given the 64.06 abv. A few times I nose wet wood, not oak exactly more like what I would imagine apricot juice sitting in a wood barrel would taste like which makes sense since this rye spent some time in apricot brandy barrels. The nose is complex and tremendous and grew on me over the time I spent with this. Later I thought I nosed a little rye spice a little red hot but it was almost like a whisper and then it was gone. Also later a caramelly flavor emerged. Body: this is tasted neat. Huge. A strong Kentucky Canadian hug. Palate: sugary sweetness, high C, some darker fruity flavors I think the plum I nosed earlier. But it’s like a fresh juicy plum not an old fermented syrupy plum, this dram is alive with complex flavors all taking turns coming to the forefront. Caramel and I get more of the rye spiciness. Finish: long. Not smokey like I love my finishes but sweetness that lingers and just slowly ever so slowly fades away. 2-3 minutes later I’m still getting flavors wafting out. Sugary sweet fruity flavors. Note: another 1010 purchase. Not cheap, phew. But the last gold label was really amazing. This is really an interesting dram. So many flavors and aromas and they come in different combinations I feel like this is a whiskey Willy wonka would take great pride in creating. Complex and sweet. It feels like someone or lots of someone’s would have had to put a lot of TLC to get this all to blend together. This is really top not. -
Michter's 10 Year Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon (2021 Release)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed May 31, 2022 (edited September 28, 2022)Nose: caramel, cherry, water chestnut, whiffs of vanilla in the background. But it’s all tame bother in your face about it. Later a little rye and later wet oak. Body: medium Palate: caramel, chocolate, then the waves of barrel char and smoke that I love love love. Later I get the vanilla and cola flavors. Finish: medium to long. Much more smokey and caramel than the initial palate and nose would suggest. It’s like there is the initial wave of sweetness and then the slow to evolve finish. So good. Note: expectations are high for this. This was another great pick up from 1010 Washington the greatest liquor store on earth. This might be the best ten year old whiskey. The finish is much longer than I’d expect from the nose. Smokey and lingering for a minute or so. Tremendous. This punches way above its abv of 47.2. This is better than the first iteration I tried which I can’t remember what year it was but this is tremendous.
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