Tastes

Cinnamon and nutmeg lurk in a fruity and floral mix of aromas. The palate adds leather and oak to the above, with a prickly burn that persists through the finish. I get the suggestion of peach pie in there somewhere.

The aroma skews very strongly to peanut brittle/peanut butter crème with some brown sugar. Contrasting Beam’s dark, deep nuttiness, this is bright and pastry-like. The palate is much the same, adding baking spice. I’ll have to get more. One of the best ~$20 bourbons I’ve had.

First bourbon post-Covid. Getting back at it with some good stuff. I get a nose full of delightful fresh-sawn wood, cornmeal, and butter toffee in equal measures with hints of powdered sugar wafting about. The palate follows with tobacco and leather joining buttery cornbread flavors, finishing pleasantly with a touch of char.

Easily one of my all time favorite bourbons since the first pour from this, my first bottle. Leathery oak and cherry pie waft gently into the nose accompanied by custard and vanilla cream aromas that are soon subsumed by more leather and cherry. The palate follows, offering a wave of vanilla frosting and peanut butter that stay their welcome before a friendly rush of wood and earth usher in a mild and concise finish.

My avoidance of this (and any “craft” bourbon, really, until trying Tom’s Foolery for the first time (and loving it)) goes back to the time OYO was populating the shelves at my local. Then Little Fish dropped one of my top 10 imperial stouts (and #1 most revisited) of 2020, Barrel Aged Batch 300, which was aged in barrels that held this bourbon. I couldn’t ignore this bottle any longer. I lament my previous dismissal. The nose is both layered and concise. It’s velvety (if a collection of smells can even have a texture, but it’s already a point in a bourbon’s favor to induce synesthesia), exuding aromas of cream pie, shoe leather, Cracker Jacks, and cedar in fragrantly harmonious proportions. Cedar notes come forward on the palate, supported by caramel nougat and a light, softly smoky char that rides itself out into a (I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna say the forbidden word) smooth finish. A promising first impression has deepened into a lasting affinity as I’ve sat with this bourbon over the past week. There will be a bottle of this on my shelf for as long as I can find it and I won’t be glossing over Middle West in the future.

Fairly anemic, sawdust and oak are the predominant notes, with some white pepper and the suggestion of rye. Not really doing it for me.

Caramel, leather, vanilla frosting, cream horns in the aroma. The palate continues the vanilla and flaky pastry/phyllo dough, adding honey and oak char. Finishes sweet and slightly fusel.

The nose on this!! Malted milk ball, cherry coke, banana nut bread, brown sugar. The palate measures up to the aroma pound for pound: Banana nut muffins, slightly overdone cornbread, wafts of oak, sweet wheat, a fleeting dash of mint, a specter of grape must. The mouthfeel is sticky, a little syrupy. The finish is a velvety and warming fade of chewy grain. This is phenomenal.