Tastes

Dark amber Nose: ethanol and vanilla First sip: caramel sweetness- very little burn. A hint of baking spices that quickly fade. So smooth and pleasant. There’s far more going on than the nose would lead you to believe. After sitting: All the ethanol burns off the nose, leaving fruity berries and caramel. Still super smooth, but not much flavor change. With water: Washes it out completely. Don’t. Long, sweet finish. I loved this. Easy sipper. I like it best as an overall experience once it has sat for a few minutes.

Dark amber Nose: ethanol and cherries First sip: Cherries, caramel, smoky vanilla. Sweet. Easy- very little burn. After sitting: not much change. Maybe a little more cinnamon spice on the back end. With water: nose becomes heavy vanilla, and ethanol disappears. Notes of black pepper, black tea and oak with a slight floral quality appear. I thought water would ruin it because it’s not spicy to begin with, but it opens up a whole new set of notes. Less sweet with water. Medium finish with slight toffee notes. For $35, this drinks like a much more expensive, older bourbon. A steal at this price point. A good everyday sipper. If you like spicier high ABV bourbons, you might find this one a little weak- but I feel like it has just enough spice without overwhelming you with burn.

Random store pick because I couldn’t decide on something- so I just grabbed one. Color: a dark amber Nose: bourbon-soaked cherries, honey, a little ethanol First sip after pour: definite fruity notes. Stone fruits like plum. Baking spices are strong- cloves, some cinnamon spice. There’s some heat to it that gets stronger as you sip- a mouth burn that slowly intensifies. Adding water: it becomes more “traditional” in the sense that caramel and vanilla become very evident. It becomes sweeter, although the spice is still very present. Finish: Medium. Notes of apple and honey, but without being overpoweringly sweet. A slight oaky bitterness. After sitting for awhile: the ethanol burns off and a vanilla caramel comes to the forefront. It smells exactly like a caramel apple when the caramel is still warm. Taste doesn’t change much- it still tastes like dark fruits like raisins and plums. Almost like Woodford, but spicier and less “dark”. Woodford with a cask-strength kick. I liked it so much that I couldn’t even originally do a tasting note after it sits… because I finished it. Whoops. I had to do a second pour and let that one sit. All in all, I really like it a lot! I’d say my favorite way to drink it is with a few drops of water, but only because I don’t love super spicy whiskeys.

Color: orange-toned honey I poured two, and let one sit for about 15 minutes to compare the two. Fresh pour: Nose- heavy ethanol and vanilla First sip- ethanol that burns of quickly, leaving some traditional vanilla and caramel without a lot of burn (surprising, given the ethanol) and without the sweetness that usually comes with vanilla and caramel. There is a weird plastic-y taste. I’m not sure if it’s the unfamiliar grain or not. Finish- medium, a little bitter like extremely dark chocolate. Still plastic-y. With a few drops of water- It gets sweeter, and that plastic quality is mitigated a bit. My sister, a wine drinker, pulled out a “woodsy quality, like damp fallen leaves.” Sitting pour: Nose- fruit and vanilla with hints of butterscotch. Definitely improved with sitting. First sip: sweeter. There’s more of a butterscotch quality as opposed to the caramel from the first pour. There’s also more of a spicy burn to it. Few drops of water- tones down the spice, except on the finish. Makes it more buttery. After a couple of sips of water, there’s almost a hint of cheap pink bubblegum from childhood. Finish- medium, tongue-tingling cinnamon spice. Final thoughts: I think that sitting for a bit and adding water is the way I most enjoyed it. The plastic taste is a big turn-off for me. Perhaps it’s the unfamiliar grain, perhaps it’s just from a newly-opened bottle and will disappear further down. I’m willing to investigate further.

I visited some different GA distilleries, did some tours and whiskey flights, and came home with a few (ahem) new bottles. I enjoyed my trip to this distillery. I like the vibe of the place, and I love what they are doing there. Locally-owned small business with an interesting distilling process. For this particular bourbon: Color: light gold Nose: peanuts and corn, slight vanilla. First sip: peanuts, grass, dusty hay, corn. Kind of an earthy Irish whisky vibe. Not sweet at all. Really smooth- no burn whatsoever. Not to wax too poetic, but the taste of it brings to mind an image of a day spent mowing tall grass in the Georgia heat. I didn’t try it with water. I need to. Finish: medium length. The earthy quality really shines. I generally prefer sweeter bourbons, and I don’t generally like earthy scotch or Irish whisky. I don’t immediately despise this one, however. It’s like Knob Creek meets Jameson. I don’t know that this is necessarily one that I would reach for to drink neat (again, I prefer sweeter bourbons), but I would use it in a cocktail that called for a scotch or Irish whisky.

Nose: Really nice. I was excited to taste it based on the nose alone. Sweet cherries and vanilla with some caramel corn. Smelled like it would be a fruit- heavy, sweet bourbon. Not so much. Corn and plastic. That’s all I could pull out. Corn and plastic with some heat. I was in a nice restaurant, drinking it neat out of a nice heavy glass, before food. Yet, corn and plastic (heavy on the plastic). So disappointed. Added a couple of drops of water. Made it less-spicy corn and plastic. Kept sniffing, trying to reconcile the two, to no avail. It does have a decently long finish, which is great when the finish isn’t, you know, corn and plastic. Couldn’t finish, and I HATE not finishing the bourbon I pay for.

Appearance: raw honey Nose: a little citrus, vanilla, and maple syrup First sip: Cinnamon-sugar and maple syrup. Like French toast. Sweet, but not overpoweringly so. A little peppery burn, but only a little. Finish: long. Those creme brûlée notes show the most on the finish. I really like this one. It’s satisfying from the first moment to the last. I never did add water to it like I usually do while writing a review, because I didn’t need to. I would buy a bottle of this.

Tried at a restaurant, picked at random. Nose: sweet, caramel with a hint of plastic. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it, based on the smell. SIL: Totally different experience. Corn and brown sugar with some vanilla. Very smooth. A hint of baking spices. Finish: where it shines. While the finish is only medium length, you are breathing baking spices and vanilla and maple syrup. No burn at all. Very satisfying. Pleasantly surprised by the tasting notes and the smoothness.

I’ve never tried a spiced whiskey before, but I’m curious. Nose: Christmas. It smells like a Christmas candle. All cinnamon and clove. Appearance: amber with medium legs. Kind of oily. First sip neat: tastes kind of like a Christmas candle might taste. Overwhelming clove and cinnamon, but not a lot of sweetness to balance it. It’s like if you soaked a handful of cloves and a cinnamon stick in some alcohol overnight. Maybe a bit of orange peel in there. But it’s bitter- like a cinnamon stick. Man, I wish this had some sweetness to it. It wouldn’t taste like bourbon, but it would taste like childhood Christmas nostalgia. With water: like an unsweetened holiday-flavored hot tea that’s sipped through a cinnamon stick. Finish: medium, bitter. I feel like I’ve been drinking the contents of a Bath and Body Works on Black Friday, condensed into liquid form. What a disappointment. This could’ve been so good. However, that being said, I think where it would really shine is in fall-themed cocktails, like a holiday Old Fashioned with orange bitters and garnished with a cinnamon stick. I’m not willing to write it off completely- I just won’t be drinking it neat. There’s lots of unique cocktail potential, though!

Tried this on the recommendation of a nice gentleman at Total Wine. Redemption has long been on my “try list” and wheated bourbons are my favorite. Nose: corn and honey, a bit of ethanol. Typical bourbon smell. Appearance: orangey-auburn with thin legs First sip neat: citrus hits me right away, almost the way WhistlePig does. So does the spice, which is surprising for a wheated bourbon. It gives way to corn and honey with some baking spices on the end. After sitting for about 5 minutes, a bit of the heat has burned off. I’m getting more of a cornbread with an oaky bitterness. I’m not finding it as sweet as I usually find wheated bourbons to be. With water: Cuts the spice pretty well, brings forth some fruit and caramel, but still not a lot of sweetness that you would associate with fruit and caramel. A hint of black tea and hay. Finish: before water it’s medium length and tongue-tingling spicy. I think it may be even more spicy on the finish than while drinking. The finish after adding water is still shortish but more pleasant. This one is a little hard to rate. It’s not bad, but it’s not what I would look for in a wheated bourbon. It’s spicy like a high-rye. All in all, it’s not going to replace Weller for me. It’s leaps and bounds above Makers, though. It’s an ok middle-of-the-road bourbon. I’ve had better ones at the price point, so I’d reserve this for cocktails or for when I don’t want to drink my Weller. (Although if I’m feeling like Weller I’m really wanting something smooth and not spicy, and this doesn’t exactly fit the bill). It would benefit from a few more years of maturing.