Tastes

Nose: pleasant with applewood and spice. Some salty brine cashews. Palate: interesting cherry pie with a pleasant lingering spice. Burnt brown sugar to finish.

Little pungent on the nose. Almost like a slightly peated scotch. Palate: starchy... bitter...

Kentucky Owl Confiscated. 96.4 proof. Neat, heavy glencairn pour. Nose: inviting, initially chocolate and marshmallow. Small fruity / hint of cherry. The oaky grainy bit comes across more as a sweet buttered crescent roll. Palate: non existent heat index at the front, so again inviting. Fruit grabbing closer to a white grape or a plum. Even at the lower proof and initial friendliness it sits around for a nice moderately long finish. Teddy Graham’s are there for the primary sugar content. Cost: $125 (bit overpriced... but I enjoyed it regardless!) Music: Queens of the Stone Age vinyl Rating: 4/5 for the palate, 3.25/5 for the value.

Willett Pot Still Reserve, the tall boy 💪🏼. 94 proof, nice and neat. $99 for the large guy A bottle worthy of... someone fancier than I am probably. But it looks quite regal and robust on the shelf though! Nostrils: I get this intriguing mix of like a cherry pie 🍒 🥧 simultaneous to a chocolate cream pie. Unless someone has made a chocolate cherry cream pie and hasn’t told me it exists. Any other fruit and I would be reaching. Hell, I will throw coconut in the mix but can’t get away from the cherry / cream combination. After a few sips, I could pick out the Big Red cinnamon gum spice a touch as well. Palate buds: I wasted my initial sip because I was thinking about how smooth it was. Super easy at this proof. Initially grabbing onto more of the Big Red gum spice, but having a hard time following it after that. I think I lack the taste buds that some people get leather taste from maybe? But there’s a nice level of sweetness to it that is not like artificial syrup but more enjoyable. Maybe a layer of burnt caramel / marshmallow would characterize it best, as long as you left a nice wood chip on it for rustic character. Idk but it’s a fun drink for sure! And any water or ice would probably do it an injustice. Gonna try to find another one of these to keep - not just for the display either. Rating: 4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 Music: Smashing Pumpkins Vinyl

One of my consistently favorite bourbons, pretty much regardless of the season: ECBP series. This is the B520 at 127 proof, $70 retail. Neat or the smallest piece of crushed ice I find in the drawer. Nose: Heat heat and tingles initially, unless you are backing down from something with even higher proof. Once it settles in, it goes to a nice cinnamon raisin chocolate swirl Bundt cake undeniably and consistently. Palate: nice lengthy finish with the heat coming on the front end. After the main coat, it packs some complexity with Dark chocolate walnuts, some pepper for the spice. Added the smallest crushed ice cube I could find to the 2+oz pour and came back to it to get more of the baked cinnamon spices along with the initial darker chocolate. It certainly bested the ECBP A120 which I had to proof down, and unfairly had more complexity than the new EC Toasted Barrel. Rating: 4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

No Ice, breathe for 5-10+ minutes, 101 proof. Nose: nutty spicy and rich initially. Orange or cherry after breathing for a few minutes. Smallest hint of sweet leather and sweet tobacco. Really like the nose, smells how the Orphan Barrell Rhetoric 24 year tastes! Palate: light spice. Less obvious flavors and more obvious EtOH. More of the tobacco than the fruit profile, but got sweeter with time. Hard to pick out exactly, and I don’t want to default to cherry apricot or raisin, but really enjoyed it!

Nose: Nice warm wheaty vanilla nose. Maybe hint of apricot or raisin. Palate Smooth and short finish. Hint of green apple 🍏 , hint of pear. Small amount of red cinnamon spice or more raisin. 3.25 / 5