Tastes

Batch 1, bottle 107. Nose not surprisingly dominated by charred oak, with cinnamon, apple, ethanol, toasted caramel, and vanilla. Sweet and pretty smooth; charred oak, caramel, vanilla, cherry, apple and cinnamon. Shortish charcoal finish. Overall good, but not particularly special. After some time in the air, I have decided to bump it up a notch. I’m getting increased richness, bright fruit, and oaky caramel complexity. Give it some time…

Bottle #2,149. Mine is actually 133.34 proof, so per their website, this is the fall 2022 release. I’ve had my eye on this. Pulled the trigger on the last one at Total Wine. The nose: rich, with vanilla, crème brûlée, apricot, rye, fresh cut grass, pecans, lemon, flowers, mint, cantaloupe, salt air, oak, pear and char. On the palate very floral, some rye spice, apricot, oak, vanilla, caramel, mint and other herbs, cinnamon, charcoal and cherry. Spicy, lingering finish, peppery and fruity and slightly sweet. Distinct apricot. Holy shit this is good; rich, complex, etc. etc. and shockingly drinkable for 133.34 proof. I started this at 4.75, which means it challenged Willett rye for my sole 5.0…because I’ll always have a “best” so far. Well, it’s now my 5.0.

Nose: oak, caramel, vanilla, charcoal, apple, grain. Very woody and smooth palate, some pepper, caramel. Relatively short and lightly spicy finish. Not the most complex, but a really nice bourbon.

Caramel and rye, leather. Sweet with mild spice.

Nose: char, caramel, pear, cherry, sour mash, vanilla and oak. On the palate sweet cherry and caramel, char, vanilla and a little spice. Sweet and spicy finish. Nothing fancy, but quite useful for $15. @twostal

Smoky, peaty nose with pear, wood, lemon peel, leather, bourbon, umami, honey and brine. Unbelievably smooth palate, smoothly and somewhat lightly peaty, fruity and a little sweet, smoke, wood, pear, pepper and a touch of vanilla. Peppery and peaty finish.

Toasted caramel, vanilla, oak, dark chocolate, char and umami nose. On the palate toasty and lightly sweet, with flavors of charred oak, caramel, apple. Woody finish. Rich nose, not so rich elsewhere.

Beautiful presentation. No points for that, but it needed to be said. It’s rich and bold on the nose; burnt caramel, cherry, vanilla, oak, white pepper, roasted tomato, corn, charcoal and apple. On the palate pretty smooth for the proof, sweet, oaky, peppery, slightly bitter; flavors of vanilla, char, apple, burnt caramel, pepper. Lingering peppery finish.