Tastes

I'm giving this 4 stars, not because it's a 4 star sipping bourbon, but because it finally ended my quest to find the perfect bourbon to mix with Coke. I have experimented with many: Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Buffalo Trace, 4 Roses (Yellow label), Redneck Riviera, Benchmark, 10 High, to name but a few. The verdicts on the above mentioned Bourbons ranged from delicious to literally ruining the Coke so badly that it was no longer drinkable. Using Old Grand Dad to mix with Coke allows me to taste both the Coke AND the bourbon in perfect harmony.

Who knew Montana knew how to make bourbon!? A fantastic offering from The Last Best Place. Cinnamon, vanilla, leather, and caramel. So good! Colonel E. H. Taylor is hard to come by these days, or at least where I live, this is certainly a worthy substitute. Pro tip: The top of this bottle is wrapped in leather. Make sure the bottle is about 12" from you on the counter while you sip the bourbon from the glass. The smell of the leather emanating from the leather wrapped bottle enhances the leather you taste from the bourbon even more...could be just in my head though.

I have on hand between 10-13 different bottles at all times in my personal bar at the house. They, at any given time, will range between Buffalo Trace and E. H. Taylor. I'm not a snob by any means, but I do love my whiskey. Most people can pick out way more things with their olfactory and taste buds than I can, an affliction I attribute to having had too many birthdays. Having said that, in my opinion I feel that this whiskey can hold it's own against whiskeys coming in at twice the price. In fact, as I was composing this review, I conducted a blind taste test between Traveller and Blantons and I'll be damned if I could honestly say that Blantons was better, and Blantons, around here, is at the $100 mark now. So, take a leap of faith, like I did, and buy a bottle of Traveller, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at its quality.

Wow, talk about sweet! Too sweet for my taste. Love the pecan flavor, but I mean, damn! Would go great with pancakes or waffles, so if you're looking for a breakfast eye opener, this is it. I blended it with about 2,000 ml of Buffalo Trace and it mellowed it out well enough.