Tastes

So… created this one because the sticker is awesome, and clever (liquor king… rebel yell…. Rebel king… yea I enjoyed that a lot). First time ever trying a Rebel store pick, and was thoroughly impressed. Was a huge fan of bottom shelf rebel yell in college, but never knew why. As the palate and education elevated, I learned it was originally created by the one and only William Larue Weller as Stitzel-Weller wheated. It’s been a long time since the brand has held that kind of merit, being held as an easy mixer from the very simplistic and low heritage “Luxco Brands”, but was still a fun whiskey for a young 22 year old to pound back with coke on Friday nights… and Saturday afternoons… and Monday through Thursday mornings before class… Moving on, this is an awesome revival of the brand. The development of cask strengths, 99 proof small batches, and the illustrious very customizable store picks energized the Luxco brand in all the right ways. Enter this guy. Big bold wheated 113 proof KSBW with all of the smooth easy going sweet corn, and caramel butterscotch toffee, but that nice lingering spice of a big beautiful bourbon that you can tell someone put a lot of time and effort into creating. So why do I like this so much? Because it shows redemption, pride, and consideration into a brand that has definitely fallen from grace to a bottom shelf and is now building itself back up, one shelf at a time. At under 50, I’m a buyer every time! Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

This is why I love stuff like this. It’s such a simple label, it’s such a low age, and it’s such an obvious story…. It’s 4 year MGP high rye mashbill bottled at cask strength and single barrel selected for a specific store/club…. But the juice is phenomenal. It’s rich, it’s spicy, it’s hot, it’s got caramel and butterscotch and insert generic bourbon flavor here. It’s got everything you want and more. And yet it doesn’t have some stupid fancy bottle or long winded story about a distilled who saved his last barrels from an old burning down church. Just classic well made bourbon for under $50… this is ALWAYS a buy.

Gave this a shot… because why not. I’ve had plenty of blue flame and the blackberry and peaches in the past… so this has to be about as good as those right? Wrong, it’s substantially better. This is a surprisingly pleasant bourbon. Sooo much burnt sugar, caramel, rich fun sweetness with a lasting candied sugar finish. This bourbon follows the Lincoln county process (Like JD, and a few other knockoffs), but still comes out to an impressive 94 proof. Like I said, very sweet yet well refined bourbon that actually stands pretty well from a distillery known for clear cheap party juice. Glad I got to try this.

Sweet and rich… honestly really interesting bottle. Glad to taste some non MGP Indy juice.

Does not drink like a traditional rye. Very sweet, spice lingers the entire way through, with a long drawn out cinnamon finish. I’m not a huge rye drinker, but love this as just a consistent vibrant whiskey.

Definitely one of the rarest bottles I ever found for retail… and I can understand why. It’s beautiful. Immaculate. Amazing texture of spice, nutmeg, vanilla, subtle orange cream on the finish. Such a good bottle. Sad I may never see it again.

Damn fine Kentucky bourbon for the price. Would definitely buy again!