Tastes

Jack Barrel proof is the simply Lynchburg’s flagship product straight from the barrel without any dilution or blending. It is the normal recipe of 80% corn, 12% rye and 8% malt and dripped through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal over sis days (the Lincoln County Process) to produce a dark caramel body. This bottle was from Rick L-21, Barrel 15-5671, bottled on 8 October 2015. The taste is a strong caramel followed by a bit of burnt toffee with vanilla. Jack has a sweet finish and doesn’t have the depth or complexity of over whiskeys, but remains smooth even with the barrel proof heat. It has a bold spicy finish with hints of burnt oak. Be prepared for more pronounced differences from bottle to bottle since this product goes straight from barrel to bottle, but if your goal is seriously calming after a rough day, this may be the best value Lynchburg has to offer.

Albert Bacon Blanton started working at the Old Fire Copper (O.F.C.) Distillery at the age of sixteen. He started as an office boy in 1897 and rose to distillery manager in 1912 until he retired in 1955. Master Distiller Elmer T Lee developed the “Original Single Barrel” bourbon and named it in honor of his former boss in 1984. Blanton’s comes from Buffalo Trace’s mash bill #2 with the higher rye content of 12-15% rye, corn and barley. It enters the #4 char white oak casks at 125 proof, ages for 6-8 years in metal-cladded Warehouse “H” then bottled at 93 proof. Each beautiful bottle is hand lettered with distilling date, barrel date, and other details. The stoppers feature eight Kentucky Thoroughbred horses and a letter, which spell BLANTONS, and when lined up in that order depict eight different moments from the beginning to end of a horse race. Since it is a single barrel bourbon, the taste varies from bottle to bottle. Blanton’s has a deep warm caramel color. The nose is soft and sweet with bourbon spice, vanilla and caramel, but fades into toffee, chocolate and orange. The palate is full and soft and sweet with caramel, cloves, peanuts, vanilla and citrus. There are also hints of mint, creamed corn and peppery rye spice. The medium finish trails with nutmeg, caramel and corn with a hint of spice. It is an excellent bourbon that is beautifully bottled and quite a challenge to find

Yellowstone started in 1872 and Luxco eventually purchased the brand, but the brand’s quality started to decline. In 2015, Luxco purchased a 50% share in the young Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon, KY. Stephen and Paul Beam founded Limestone in 2010 but did not have enough mature bourbon for Yellowstone. They used up to seven sourced 7-year-old bourbons for Yellowstone, but by the end of the decade introduced Limestone’s own 4-year-old distillate into the blend. The sources and proportions are confidential, but Heaven Hill is a probable contributor based on their past relationship with Luxco. Yellowstone bourbon has a roasted chestnut appearance. The nose is brown sugar, caramel, licorice and some rye spice followed by toasted almonds and cinnamon. The taste is complex and reveals the diverse blend of bourbons that comprise the final product. Caramel, honey and butterscotch dominate with hints of toffee, orange and cinnamon. It trails with a medium fruity finish followed by oak and sugar.

New Riff Distillery started in 2014 in the Cincinnati-area Newport Kentucky with a cadre of veterans from bourbon production and the spirits business. A single family owns the distillery and trumpets their independent spirit and quality production. New Riff features non-GMO 5% corn,30% rye, and 5% malted barley and is Bottled In Bond after at least 4 years without chill filtration. New Riff’s straight bourbon whiskey has a deep amber color and has a nose of caramel, fresh oak and rye spice. The taste starts with a hint of its young age and a lack of complexity, but transitions to a full and rich caramel, sweet vanilla and fruit. New Riff has a rye-dominated finish with spice and clove.

Dave Pickerell designed Piggyback for bartenders and cocktails in 2018 shortly before his passing. The pig in the logo on the bottle wears a Stetson rather than the typical top hat in honor of Dave. The bottle design is also different from most of the WhistlePig line to make it easier to pour. It has a 100% rye mash bill sourced from WhistlePig’s original source, Alberta Distillery in Calgary. It is aged for 6 years and bottled at 96.56 proof. PiggyBack has an amber tone and a cinnamon and peppercorn nose. The rye produces a powerful spicy flavor with hints of cocoa. Some woody notes intermingle with the smooth rye as the finish trails with vanilla and spices.

Woodford is Kentucky’s oldest distillery, though it was not continuously operated. The elder Pepper passed his farm to his son while crated the Old Oscar Pepper distillery [1812-1878] until Labrot & Graham purchased it and ran it from 1878-1941. Brown & Forman bought the distillery in 1941 and ran it thru the late 1960s before Labrot & Graham repurchased it, then sold it again to Brown & Forman in 1993. The current mash bill is 72% corn, 18% Rye and 10% Barley joined with iron-free limestone filtered water in a post still, triple distilled process. It is a close cousin too Old Forester and the product enters #4 charred barrels at 125 proof and is aged for 6-7 years (but bears no age statement). Brown-Forman produces Woodford at multiple distilleries, but appears to age it all at Woodford. Woodford Reserve has a nice nose of oak and caramel and has smooth legs on the swirl. It is a smooth bourbon with no burn and an oaky taste with cinnamon and citrus with notes of toffee and caramel. The mellow and light finish is good, but unremarkable. Woodford Reserve is a classic and should be in every bourbon drinker’s collection and an everyday bourbon. It is not complex or particularly unique, but it is an affordable quality bourbon that should be within arm’s reach to decompress from a hectic workday.

Contemporary research (or re-writing history, depending on your viewpoint) indicates that Jack Daniel learned to distil whiskey from a Lynchburg preacher’s slave, Nathan Green. Fawn Weaver, an African-American woman who is an investor and author (“Happy Wives Club”) purchased the preacher’s former home in Lynchburg and started Uncle Nearest, Inc. Since, in 2019, it is too soon for a quality whiskey distillery started in 2017. Uncle Nearest markets product from distillers in Nashville under the Uncle Nearest brand name until they build their own distillery in Shelbyville. The distillers use Tennessee grains, a special yeast strain, double distillation, the exclusive Lincoln County process, and new American oak barrels with no age statement. Uncle Nearest 1856 has a bronze or dark amber appearance with a hint of red. The nose is rich followed by charcoal and sweetness of maple. Nearest has a smooth palate with caramel, corn, and apple. The sweetness transitions to a spicy oak blend. The spice flow through the finish and mixes with caramel.  Unclear Nearest 1856 is a quality Tennessee whiskey, but is priced higher than comparable whiskies. I will wait to purchase another until the price drops about $20/bottle because the lore is compelling but not worth that premium.

Master Distiller Charles L Beam created Eagle Rare Bourbon and introduced it in 1975. Numerous companies acquired it prior to the current owner, Buffalo Trace distillery. Eagle Rare was a single barrel bourbon, but when bottling switched from hand to machine-bottled the Distillery dropped that label. The mash is from Buffalo Trace’s “Mashbill #1,” a low-rye mash common to Benchmark, Stagg, and Buffalo Trace that may be 75% corn, 15% barley and 10% rye. If true, Eagle Rare is essentially a selected and extra-aged version of Buffalo Trace Bourbon in a wine bottle. Eagle Rare 10 Year’s appearance is a Chestnut gold. The nose is complex with oak, toffee and honey. The taste is bold and the 90 proof is evident in the balance taste of wood, vanilla, and char. The dry and spicy finish lingers. Eagle Rare is very good but I’m not quite sure it is worth the price premium over Buffalo Trace just because of the wine bottle casing.