Tastes

Taste is neat in glencairn, 2nd day pour, let glass sit for probably 20 minutes, heavy swirl. Bottle is 130.1 proof, barrel house 1-09, bottled 3-12-24, 2 small drops of water. Nose: sweet, comes across like a bourbon and has some of the common JD nose profiles banana nut, sweet cinnamon sugar, toffee, some smoke or barrel char. Palate: starts off again much like a bourbon, sweet brown sugar, little banana, little bit of nutiness, caramel, apples, mid palate the rye spice comes racing forward, clove, red hot cinnamon, smoky, she definitely turns into a spicy gal, tails off with a cooling effect like a spearmint. Finish: medium to long finish, not overly complex the spearmint and oak hang on the longest but it completely coats the tongue. Get hints of the apple and smokiness, but interesting the sweet to spicy to minty ride tongue goes on and again not really getting a lot of flavor but I could feel the effects on the tongue well after the last sip. These JD barrel proof ryes are becoming my favorite ryes. Depending on your go to rye this may not be your go to as its going to come off very bourbon forward and not necessarily a traditional rye. You’re gonna get some hints with the mint and spice, but nose and initial palate is sweet and delicious. I tried the neck pour straight no water and actually think the drops of water opened up the proof more than it was straight. For me at anywhere between $69-$89 I’m absolutely gonna buy it. If you like a sweeter bourbon then this will be right up your alley. If you like more of a Willet rye or a Whistle Pig rye then this wouldn’t be a good comparison. In terms of just whiskey fantastic.

Taste was neat in gleancairn, let sit out for about 15 minutes. Nose - Wow! Initial reaction was no way this is a straight bourbon whiskey, comes across as a flavored whiskey. STRONG cinnamon, apple, oatmeal, and vanilla; little bit of smokiness, raisin, pine. Think cinnamon roll with vanilla icing topped with raisins and cinnamon stewed apples or apple cinnamon oatmeal mixed with cinnamon toast crunch milk. This is maybe the most prominent nose that distinctly reminds me of a specific food flavor profile. Palate - dead on with the nose, apple, cinnamon, vanilla, rasins, mid palate does go slightly herbal/woodsy with a pine note, gets a touch waxy but very slight, rolls into a spiced cookie and then back comes the apple and cinnamon. Not much heat, if anything almost a ginger spice quality to it mixed with sugar and cinnamon. Finish - short, but its apple cinnamon oatmeal, balanced, not drying, do get a touch of the waxiness but for me its not detracting from anything I can just tell that its there, but not zapping any flavors. This is a knock it out the park fantastic bourbon. Don’t imagine this is going to be kept secret long. I’ve seen this run from $55-$69 and at that price unbelievable steal in todays bourbon market. I could easily see this becoming an allocated bourbon. The nose is outstanding and the palate a flavor bomb, finish is short but the other two make up for it. Yes this is a buy and buy again because it’s probably going to be hard to find soon.

Taste is neat in a glencairn, recently opened, long sit. Nose - sweet, vanilla, caramel, corn, little bit of tobacco, toffee, and maple, get almost like a candied pecan or peanuts, cherry, has an ever so slight earthiness to it but sweetness flavors by far stand out more than anything. Palate - to me feels thin, but a significant amount of flavor that coats the mouth better than you would think for a 95 proof. Nose and palate match vanilla, caramel, sweet corn, slight nuttiness, cherry, cinnamon. Some spice but not overpowering by any stretch and that sweetness holds throughout. Finish - I thought this finish for a 95 proof was pretty impressive, medium if not long, leather, little bit of oak, sweetness still holds on with brown sugar, and a hint of the candied nuts. Based upon the batch I have would have to respectfully disagree with the ratings I’ve seen under 4. This has a very limited distribution but if I found this at $35ish a bottle id probably buy a case. At $45 I’d still probably buy 3 bottles at a time. This is incredibly smooth and a very easy drinker, like sneaky smooth, and almost no signs of youth. It has a ton of flavor for a 4-6yr small batch, a better nose then some bourbons ive had at 8-12yrs. Best way i could describe it is like Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, and Wild Turkey had a love child. It has flavors that I would typically find in each of those brands. Is it a power house unicorn, no, but at $35-$45 thats not what I expect it to be. As a cheap everyday drinker with great flavor 100% yes. Ideally would like to see it at $35, think it competes better in that price range, but this is also a “craft” distiller with limited distribution so if you have to pay more online to get then understandable. 13th Colony keeps putting out stuff like this they’re gonna get real popular real quick.

Taste was neat in glencairn, fresh crack but let sit for 30+ minutes. Nose - brown sugar, maple, caramel, has a light tropical note of citrus and banana, oak, little bit of cinnamon. If you’re an avid whiskey drinker you can tell Dickel is lurking in the mix but subtle. Palate - brown sugar, maple, and caramel, decent amount of barrel char/oak, pick up hints of the rum, molasses, light almond and banana, mid palate goes to pepper and baking spice, get hints of the sweetness but this is very much a rye forward pour. Again the Dickel pops up but extremely light. Finish - spice hangs on pepper and cinnamon, oak, leather, hints of the brown sugar and molasses stay put. Finish is moderately long. This grew on me. Its well balanced, its got good flavor, little bit of complexity, but its not intense flavors. There’s a fair amount of spice but for 107 proof I thought this drank pretty easy. I enjoyed the finish on this more than I have a lot of others, its slightly drying but you can tell the rum is hanging around. The IN (MGP) rye is good but it’s the heavy hitter in this one. I would’ve rather seen this blend use the IN high rye bourbon as opposed to the rye. I’m assuming the theory was the bourbon with the rum would’ve been too sweet, the rye balances it out but I personally would’ve liked to seen the sweetness kicked up a notch. It’s good and I’m not sure what else on the market you’d get with this kind of rum influence amd this being a really good rum at that. With these collaboration series not uncommon they fall into the $130+ range. This would be a bordeline try before you buy or outright buy. Looking forward to see how this one opens up.

This is 4th pour in glencairn neat. Bottle been open about week and a half. Nose - subtle, has opened up as its sat. Main things pick up on are vanilla, butterscotch, and smokiness/barrel char. There’s some baking spice lingering in there. Little bit of citrus. Palate - this has been a ride. Sweet, savory, and spicy. This i imagine will drink hotter than 104 proof for a lot of people. Starts off sweet with vanilla, dont get so much butterscotch, but more crème brûlée with marshmallow, cherry coke, and citrus. At times even get a little bit of chocolate and nutiness. On my second pour even had a sweet bbq flavor. There are some underlying earthy tones not bad and not overpowering, but there. The mid palate goes to a spice bomb, legitimately pepper spice, cinnamon, hint of anise. After about the 4th sip that spiciness tames down a little bit. Finish - moderate if not long. This hits several taste points. Definitely pick up on the high rye get citrus and mint, leather, and more of a sweet oak, pepper still hangs around. For me a bourbon that is complex and still tastes good is my jam. Each pour of this 2XO has been unique and even changes as you drink it. I don’t know if this will appeal to every bourbon drinker, but I personally think this bottle is fantastic. I love the spice, love the back and forth sweet and spicy. The road block on this one might be price, its a non aged stated from undisclosed sources, at least we know they’re Kentucky. One is a high rye bourbon the other a low rye. Usually with these blends I have an idea this one is a bit of a stumper. For the high rye bourbon was leaning towards maybe Four Roses and any time I get any type of nutiness I think Heaven Hill or Jim Beam. I did also have something from upstart IJW that had a little bit of nutiness and spice to it. For the age range I’d guess this is probably in the 6-10yr range with the 2nd barreling included. I would 100% buy again and probably will.

Comes from the upstart IJW distillery. Nose - sweet, caramel, vanilla, smoky, oak, little bit of citrus and chocolate. Palate - still sweet on the front end bubble gum, little bit of vanilla, caramel, mid palate is slightly astringent, but moves to smoke and spicy. Theres a little but of nuttiness, kind of reminds me of heaven hill a little bit. Finish - short but spicy, I’m gonna guess this is a high rye bourbon. Oak, spice, citrus, hint of mint. It doesnt remind me of other traditional double oaked bourbons, but with it being on the lower price point of double oaked products its good. With the spice it kind of reminds me of 2XO but not as big a flavor profile but also about half the price. Flavor isnt going to blow you away but its good.

Tasting was a neck pour neat in glencairn, no water added. Don’t always like to review a neck pour, but this one is impressive. Fully expect it to open up more. Nose - is fantastic, heavy caramel and maple, little bit of butterscotch, apple, raisin, maybe a little cotton candy, and oak. I could smell it as I was pouring. There’s absolutely no ethanol coming off of it. I do get a breakfast vibe with a maple bacon, syrup and pancakes or waffles. Great nose! Palate - pretty impressed with the palate as well. Palate goes for a little bit of a ride, it went sweet to spicy back to sweet. Definitely caramel and maple on the front end. I do often pick up apple on Makers Mark products and I do here as well but not quite as prominent as other pours. Get a little bit of a sweet bread, and a dark fruit, keep going back to raisin, mid palate cinnamon red hot is standing out, get oak and some barrel char, then the maple starts to creep back in as it finishes. Finish - For me this hung on quite a bit. Not a super complex finish but I do get oak, little bit of leather, get hints of the maple and apple, and then drys out a little but not in an unpleasant way. Immensely enjoyed the first pour. That’s maybe a dangerously crushable 54.7%, little to no burn, nice viscosity. For some the palate may not pack the punch the nose is giving off, but as this opens up I could see that changing. By no means is the palate bad, but the nose is strong. No question this is a buy it if you see it. Not a fan of secondary prices, who is right? This I’d consider going up to a $100 for though. Cheers!

Tried this in a Barrell blind lineup with about 5 other Barrell products and this won. Decided to give it an individual rating. Taste was neat in glencairn with just a drop of water. Nose - vanilla, smoky, does have an earthiness to it, pick up on some oak, little bit of orange, has a dark fruit jam flavor, a nice complex nose. Palate - sweet, with vanilla the stand out up front, maybe even a vanilla frosting, but really well balanced, nice amount of oak and smokiness comes in behind it, really coats the mouth well, closes out with little bit of pepper and allspice, get hints of a dark fruit as well. Finish - relatively short, but again well balanced. A lot of bourbon or whiskey tends to go dry or dryer flavors, oak, leather, anise, etc. I do pickup a little bit of oak and leather, but still have a sweetness lingering. Some cinnamon. I remembered why this one won the blind after trying it again. It just kept evolving. One of those where you go back to it and you keep pulling out different flavors. The Barrell batches sometimes are hit or miss, not bad necessarily, but when price is usually around $80-$100 some hit better than others and batch 28 probably one of my favorites. Batch 25 was also in this blind and was a very close 2nd. These can be pricey, and as mentioned already some blends are better than others. Batch 28 definitely recommend, ideally if you get into the other batches it would be a try before you buy if possible.

Good ole Weller 12, one of those bottles where you have to know a guy who knows a guy to find, at least in my neck of the woods. Got this bottle last year, has been opened for about 2-3 weeks, pour was neat in glencairn. Nose - really good nose, vanilla, maple syrup, definitely some smokiness to it/barrel char, candied orange, and a fair amount of oak, tobacco, little bit of cherry. Palate - lot of oak and smokiness on this particular bottle, does not drink near as sweet as the nose would suggest, get a little bit of maple syrup, and a little bit vanilla, some orange, and a little bit of nuttiness, but this is heavy oaked and smoky more than anything, mid palate is pepper and oak. Very light texture as expected for a 90 proof. Finish - short to moderate, this hung on a little bit more than anything because of such a strong oak presence, got a little bit of cherry, sweet tobacco, but again the oak and smoke continue to be the standouts. This tasting was a pour from my bottle, but I also had a pour from a friends bottle 4 weeks prior and these pours were drastically different. His bottle was 3 or 4 years old and mine being from last year. His was sweet with heavy vanilla and cherry flavors, my batch as can tell heavy oaked. The big complaint about Weller 12 usually seems to be proof and based upon this bottle I’m not sure if this was a higher proof it would be any better. I think I’d be left with a even stronger oak flavor or maybe this has been proofed down so far it zapped all the other flavors, I’m not sure. My friends bottle fantastic and do think a higher proof is what it’s missing. This one not my favorite pour, don’t mind an oak flavor if it’s balanced with other flavors, but this was pretty one tracked as far as palate and finish went. It’s a rare hard to find bottle so would I pay a little extra for it sure, but about a $100 is my cap, and this bottle would really make me question even paying that. Think there are several better options out there, but it’s a Buffalo Trace product and will probably continue to be bought at stupid secondary prices but based upon this bottle not even close to being worth what stores are charging for this.

Tried this, as usual, neat in glencairn glass. Bottle has been open for about 3+ weeks. Have rarely ever had a bad MGP product, let’s see how this stacks up. Nose - candy in a glass, right off the bat very prominent caramel, candied orange, and a sweet oak maybe even a little bit of cedar, just a hint of rye spice, not something I normally get with MGP products but a slight hint of banana, little bit of a cherry note almost like a red licorice, and vanilla. If you like sweet then this definitely checks that box. This was a nose that the longer it set it just kept evolving and more scents were coming out. Palate - jumps all over in a good way, palate matches the nose with the caramel, orange, and oak, little bit of chocolate and cherry, pick up more of those high rye mash bills, allspice and a pleasant spiciness overall in the mid palate, pepper and cinnamon. For a 100 proof it has a fantastic buttery texture, coats the mouth well. This has complexity to it no question, there’s some sweetness, little bit of savory with a buttered popcorn, then finishes off with the spice. Finish - moderate to long, felt like it took over my taste buds, slightly drying but not to bad, oak mostly, the spiciness becomes much more muted, and back comes a little bit of sweetness almost like a chocolate mint. This would be a highly recommend if you can find it. For bourbon lovers I think Remus Repeals are a mystery no longer so might be hard now. This from initial open has just gotten better and better. It’s got a ton of flavor and one of those bourbons that evolves in the glass and will likely change from initial pour to the time you finish it (I guess depending on how big or small a glass you pour). Probably one of the best bourbons I’ve tasted for 2021.