Tastes

Big shout out to Trail Inn/Triangle for this store pick. I’ve never had the standard Backbone, which is admittedly a suboptimal scenario. This store pick comes in just under 5 years at 123.4 proof. I bought it because I was told by a store clerk that it was one of the purest chocolate flavors available in bourbon. Let’s see if that person was right. Don’t worry: not the same store where I was told that Rhetoric 23 tasted like Pappy 23-year. Tried Neat: I get heavy vanilla and powdered sugar on the nose. Hint of maple. Pretty standard, unremarkable nose. Sufficient. Body hit early with a surprised smoked meat flavor. Did not see that coming. Good though. Rich chocolate flavor as well. Mouth feel on the finish is awesome. It’s an intense lip buzz that doesn’t feel overpowering anywhere else. But damn, my bottom lip is tripping balls right now. More powdered sugar flavor here, and the chocolate fades away with a bit of dust. Finish is by far my favorite part of this drink. “Dust” usually presents itself to me as an undesirable impurity, but it holds its own here. It’s like I picked a chocolate bar up of the basement floor, but I’m not grossed out because it’s still delicious. On the rocks: Nose goes haywire. That shy-of-unpleasant dustiness is back. There’s a sweet cherry scent there too. So now I have chocolate covered cherries on the nose. Possibly dropped on the floor. Less than 5 seconds, still very cool. Ever sipped a new Powerade flavor and said, “Wow, that tastes just a margarita,” even though you haven’t had a margarita in years? There’s something iconic there that rings true. In the same sense, this body on the rocks = Elijah Craig Small Batch. Mic drop. Finish is identical to the neat finish, less buzz. So I’ve thrown some shade at Indiana distilleries before. They deserve it. No regrets there either. However... I believe my exact target-o’-shade-tossing was: “Any distillery north of Indianapolis.” I’m delighted to still be correct on that cartographical technicality. For two reasons: 1–being correct is awesome. 2–this bourbon is a surprise delight. (At least this store pick variant.) I prefer it neat, because life is too short to not have your bottom lip buzzing. That was awesome. Flavors were solid too. The more this guy watered down, the more it resembled Elijah Craig. So much so, that I felt the need to compare mash bills. This guy: 70 corn, 25 rye, 5 magic dust. EC: 78 corn, 10 rye, 12 unicorn tears. I’m impressed by this distillery. I prefer this to EC barrel proof, which is no small accolade. If you’re able to find this guy in your region, give it a shot. If the standard version sucks, come to Northwest Indiana, and I will happily greet you with an apology and a taste of this store pick, which is exemplary. Offer expires the moment my bottle runs dry.

When I was a young man, I believed that love had to be special. I was years behind my friends in romance, looking for the right one. I lost time and missed out on many opportunities due to this naive deference to sentimentality. My 100th tasting note is David Nicholson. Coming in at 100 proof (victory there), this hits my favorite ABV zone for bourbons. Nose straddles the line between tartness and astringency. I get apple, honey, lemon, and a bitter cedar hint. It’s good — would’ve been outstanding if it could’ve avoided the bitterness somehow and leaned fully toward tart/citrus. Body hits forcefully with cinnamon and apple. Tastes very much like a fall desert there. Very good combination. Overall, finish is both oily and spicy with pepper, more cinnamon, and powdered sugar. Lux Row is doing a great job in the under-appreciated value/dollar space. Held next to Heaven Hill (which obviously has a deeper portfolio) I couldn’t tell you which delivers a better bottom-shelf value package. With the upcoming expansion to include Rebel Yell 100, I’m keeping my eye on Lux Row. If I wasn’t such a bourbon slut, perhaps I could’ve saved this 100th review for the historic restoration of Rebel Yell to a ABV over 40%. /cry

A guy who works at a liquor store told me that this one tastes like 23-year old Pappy. I have not been lucky enough to determine whether or not he was correct. However, I do feel lucky to be trying this. I come into this drink with a very positive impression of the Orphan Barrel brands. Nose is tart, like a sour green apple or lemon. Bit of dustiness. I really like this nose. Body has some of the lemon, and tobacco. The finish really turns up the heat. Cinnamon, pepper, leather, smoke. The nose is by far my favorite part of this drink. That tobacco transitioning into heat is really fascinating. I’m not a cigar guy, but the body and finish really do take me back to a good cigar, late at night with a friend. Even though I don’t love the message, I can recognize that it was superbly delivered. A whiskey that costs this much should be complex and should tel a story. This one does both very well.

To quote a former US president: “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.” By the gods, I wish this saying were true. After overpaying for this bottle once, at the behest of a local liquor store (they did a store pick on this), I gave this one a second shot. And I was fooled again. Now, to its credit, this is one of the best whiskeys produced by Journeyman. Wait, what? This isn’t Journeyman? It has that same paint-thinner favor profile. Are you sure? Nose is promising. Sugary sweet. Bit of caramel. Body is the first hit of that undesirable flavor. It must be a barrel sourcing/water sourcing issue. Never had anything like this from Kentucky. Everything from Journeyman has it. Now this does too. Honestly, paint thinner really is the best way to describe it. I can’t get past it. Finish is a bit of reprieve from it. It’s still there, but I also get cinnamon and pepper. Dear people of Indiana: why do you like this crap? And by this crap I mean this and also all Journeyman bourbon and rye whiskey. Dear bourbon distillers north of Indianapolis: wtf are you doing? Htf are you getting that flavor? Ffs, please stop. Now for the good: this store pick is LEAGUES better than the first bottle I bought. That bottle was basically undrinkable. I intend to use it to degrease an engine this fall. Maybe remove some painted lines from the CVS parking lot, just to screw with them. Unlike that bottle, this bottle will probably be consumed at some point. However, I will never, ever, ever buy an Old 55 bottle again. And there are very few bourbons to date that have made me say that. As G-Dubs said, “You can’t get fooled again.” Let’s just pretend he meant time #3.

Okay, I’m either becoming a rye fan, or I’ve been on a streak of atypically good ryes. This one is right up there. I can tell that I have some room to grow on what I can detect on ryes. Particularly the nose. This one holds brown sugar and fresh cut flowers. Body is sweeter than I was expecting, and I taste lime juice and more sugar. Finish has a very acidic mouth feel, currently not something I’m into on a day-to-day basis, but I get how people (and perhaps me one day) could be into it. There’s a bit of leather and dark chocolate in the finish. Overall, this is not one iota overrated. It deserves its acclaim, and that’s coming from someone who still wouldn’t self-identify as a rye fan. I got brand new things in this rye that I’d never tasted before in a whiskey. Very happy to have these bottles on my shelf.

I did not want this bottle. If there is anything more immediate than instant buyers remorse, I had it. But I also had no choice. When you have a local liquor store that is really good to you, and the guy that always geeks out with you on bourbon says, “Hey, I think you’d really like this one.” It’s not actually an option; you’re buying that whiskey. And in this case, I’m really glad I did. Nose has a bit of brine, but there’s a sweetness there too. Honey and powdered sugar. Body is interesting. I was expecting a bit of that pickle juice from the briny smell, but it’s not there. I get honey, lemon, and orange peel. The weird part is, my mouth is tingling like I’m drinking a rye, but the flavors are bourbon flavors. I actually really dig that combo. Finish is more of the orange, and a little bit of brine, but it doesn’t detract from the citrus. This is one of the biggest surprises I’ve had in some time. “A blend of straight whiskeys.” “Utah.” All the words that should make me afraid, but this little guy delivers. I’m not sure what their exact blend is, but I’d love to see someone attempt this mash bill without blending. For science. Based on the fact that blending any bourbon with a 95% rye mash bill makes it unlikely that the end result has 51% corn or rye... because... math... if someone were to do this in the barrel, they’d get something entirely new. After enjoying this one so much, from this point forward, I’d be happy to call such concoctions: “Straight Bourye.”

Initial impression is that this is a nuttier bourbon than I typically care for, but I think it’s well done for those of us who like that kind of thing. To me, it also tastes like a higher ABV than it really is, which is once again something I typically don’t care for. End of disclaimers. Nose is not as astringent as I was expecting, given the body. It’s more true to 100 proof. I get sugar-crusted walnuts. I actually really dig that smell. Body delivers on that nutty flavor. Reminds me of Willett, with some dark chocolate in there too. Finish trails off with powdered sugar and cinnamon. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this drink. It’s very well done. For my money, this belongs in the conversation with Blanton’s Gold for a solid 100ish proof nutty bourbon. Unlike Blanton’s Gold, we Americans are worthy enough to buy this little guy on primary. And I think we all should. (Begin side-bar) Dear Ancient Age International: I get it. We Americans were stupid and thought that bourbon was bad for a bit. We’ve learned from our mistakes. Mostly. Don’t pay attention to the south on Sundays. Point is... we’re ready to feel the warm embrace of our Japanese overlords who thankfully helped prevent us from destroying much of our only native alcohol style. So... we cool brah? (End side-bar)

The nose is bitter. Tea leaves, wood, and honey. Body tastes of sweet tea and cinnamon. Good, clean, and simple. Finish is cinnamon and cedar. I like this bourbon. It’s basic, but it delivers value for money. Might be third place now in this category below BT and Four Roses.

Nose packs a punch, but delivers some quintessential bourbon flavors. There’s honey, caramel, and sugar. Body is softer and mellower when it first hits, then strikes with a good deal of heat. That transition of the mouth feel is interesting. Not sure how they did that. The flavor on the body is subtle. A tad of cinnamon, some tea leaves. A bit of lemon in the sharpest moments. Finish delivers on the citrus flavor, with heavy cinnamon. I’m always fascinated when a bourbon can surprise you. Nose has caramel? Screw you brah, body is gonna have citrus. The mouth feel transition during the body is also fascinating. Bookers has done some screwy stuff like this over the years, but this knob creek is something special. Very glad I got this bottle!

It’s been a while, but this bottle might have cost me less than it’s age statement. Definitely no more than $2/year, which is... interesting? Not a lot of stuff out there you can say that about. Nose gives off raisin, grape must, and fig. Very standard yet tasty scotch nose. Body is surprisingly complex. Not surprising because of 27 years, or blended... but the Kirkland bit. I get heavy initial raisin and fig, which takes a sharp turn on the backend toward a bitter, wood and leather finish. Though the body is smooth like a scotch, the bourbon tongue feel is there in the finish as well. I must admit, I had a very low set of expectations coming in. I’ve had Kirkland jeans. I’ve drank Kirkland beer. Let’s just say, you know what you’re getting into when you buy Kirkland. This was a true hidden gem for me. I’m not sure exactly how big an audience this guy will have. It’s more bourbon than I’d want when I really crave a scotch, and it’s not enough bourbon forward when I want a bourbon. But damn it’s interesting. And when having the value conversation... this is honestly dirt cheap given its complexity.