Tastes

I had heard good things about the now discontinued white label 6yr bottled in bond (now replaces with a 7yr bib), so I thought I’d give it a taste. The Nose has soft banana and vanilla, a little bit of rye. I get some baking spices on nosings after the 1st sip. Palate has banana, very light leather/rye, corn and light oak. It has a nice creamy mouthfeel. The finish is on the longer side of short, but I was expecting it to be fairly short at 80 proof. Overall, this one is fantastic for the price! I picked upa 750ml bottle for $8.99, unreal for what you get. Even though it’s only 80 proof, it still has decent pleasant flavor and not harsh at all.

The nose on this one immediately reminded me of jelly bellies popcorn flavored jellybeans! So it has an artificial buttered popcorn thing going on (which I like) as well as raisins. The palate has sweet corn, caramel, cola and oak. It has a nice thicker coating mouthfeel The finish is medium in length with lingering sweet corn and cola. I’m really enjoying this. The corny-ness takes center-stage throughout. It’s very nice and unique.

Tasting at a bar in a tumbler. The nose has brown sugar and dark fruit and some baking spices. The palate has brown sugar, a little corn, and rye and and some nice leather and cola. There is some ethanol on the backend. The finish is medium in length with a little bitterness on the back end. Overall, not bad. It hit some nice spots for me. Didn’t really like the ethanol part, but other than that it’s decent.

I’ve had the Evan Williams Single Barrel and wanted to do a comparison since this one runs about half as much $ at the same proof. So the 1783 is a little on the watery side in the glass, though ever so slightly darker that the Single Barrel. The nose has cola, a little rye, roasted peanuts. With a sweet oaky vanilla note coming through. And a light corn note on further nosings. The mouthfeel is thicker than it looks in the glass. Almost creamy. The palate has some cola, and light oak notes with a little bit of peanut. There is a nice spice on the back of the palate right before you swallow. The finish is on the shorter side of medium or longer side of short. A very slight bitterness pops up immediately after swallowing but so does the spice, which I think takes over any bitterness. Not much lingering after about 8 seconds, but you know you just drank some whiskey. Overall not a bad whiskey at all, especially for the price! I found the Single Barrel being a little thicker, but a lot sweeter than the 1783 with a few different notes like banana that were not present in the 1783. They’re similar but I think the 1783’s darker notes are a little more in line with what I like.

I was excited to find this in KY (I live in Nashville) since this is not available in TN yet. The nose is nice and sweet with baking spices, some rye, cola, brown sugar and a hint of leather. The palate has a nice mouthfeel with rye, vanilla, some sweetness, and a touch of oak. The finish is long and has some lingering spiciness. Though I haven’t had the normal Small Batch offering, I’ve had the single barrel and Barrel strength store pick single barrels. This one stands on its own and is just a good all around bourbon.

I’ve tried their rye which was ok and looked like the cork was rotting (some white residue and floaters in bottle) I’m noticing this one also has a discolored cork, but not as bad. Anyway, onto the tasting... The nose has brown sugar, slight vanilla, some cinnamon and baking spices and some leather. It has a nice amber color. The palate has some oiliness to it. I get some baking spices, a little rye, ever so slight leather. The mouth gets a little dried out on this one. The finish is long. A little spice comes back here that is pleasant. All in all, very solid. I would not pay the reta lil price tag. I found a 200ml bottle for $20 to try it out. I would spend more like $50-60 for a full bottle.

On the nose I get some smokiness, corn, some soft wheat notes and hints of bread and a slight smell of a rickhouse. Its fairly light and juicy on the palate. It has some corn sweetness. Some light leather/musty notes and a slight smokiness. The finish is medium in length. Not hot, I get some corn as delayed aftertaste. I like this one, but I’m somewhat biased because I have been waiting for this release for a while. So this one is aged a minimum of 2yrs. I’m sure there are some 4yr or so barrels blended in there. But all in all, it shows it’s youth. As their stock gets older, future releases of older aged whiskey will be very good. I was really excited to try this fully aged in normal sized barrels variety after having their short run of First 108 which were aged in smaller barrels for a shorter period of time to “accelerate aging”. They are definitely related, but I think I like their First 108 a little better, it’s also a good bit darker than this new one. Probably because it had more surface area with the wood in the smaller barrel? Anyway, it’s good and different, and would recommend it.

I’ve had this one for a few months and forgot to review it. Now that I’m on my last pour, I thought I’d do it. This one is. Whatehouse JE. Barrel No. 4-1C I remember really liking this one. Now that it’s the last pour it’s a bit muted. The nose has brown sugar sweetness, dark cherries and leather. There’s a little ethenol bite that will get you if you’re not careful. The palate has some corn, leather and cherries. The finish is medium long, with some ethanol vapors creeping up. But you eventually get used to it. One thing I remember about this bottle is that I loved the depth of the leather notes, but I get strong ethanol/rubbing alcohol at first. Eventually I forgot about it after a few sips. And then when I pour it for someone else, they’re like “oh, rubbing alcohol”. It’s weird. But I remember liking it.

After reading up on this one and seeing how this distillery is know owned by Sazerac (Buffalo Trace) and uses a combo of two of their mash bills, I thought I’d see how it compares to their other products. Right away it reminds me of Blanton’s. So I poured one of that as well to compare The nose has sweet vanilla, some light baking spices, and a hint of plumb. The palate sweet and has a continuation of the nose with a little leather and oak. The finish is on the shorter side of long. Nothing really harsh about this one, except maybe a little ethanol vapor at first, but it subsides and is not noticed in the rest of the dram. This is definitely in the same family as Blanton’s. Slightly higher proof makes it stand out. I would say the Bowman has a little more oak and blanton’s has more leather.

Wow, this is definitely a Willett. The nose has that hallmark Willett spice to it. It has cinnamon, freshly baked bread and of course rye spice. The palate has an explosion of flavor. Mainly rye, but I also get cola, and some anise. The finish is long and very nice. This is definitely the loudest and most unique ryes I’ve had. Very good.