Tastes

GAAAAMMMEEEE...... I get vanilla and powdered sugar notes on a very mild nose. Body is syrupy sweet with a hit of cinnamon on the finish. Simple, clean, and good for the price.

Is it good? Hell yes. Is it 140% as good as small batch? Probably not. You get the same sweetness, the same apple flavor, the same caramel flavor. This particular barrel might be smoother than your standard small batch, but that doesn’t mean they all would be. It’s a great drink! But I’d probably rather have 7 small batches than 5 of these. It’s close. So close that I bet that less-handsome but wiser friend of mine that he couldn’t tell the difference in a blind taste test. Stay tuned.

This one is interesting. It deviates more from standard blantons than I expected. I get licorice and powdered sugar on the nose. Not being a dousche, that’s actually what I got. Body has licorice and cinnamon, and I get a very oily, sugary, nutty finish. I can’t get over how sweet this guy is from start to finish, and this is the first bourbon I’ve had where the sweetness doesn’t come with a fruity flavor. Just syrupy, sugary sweet. After a few pours, I also began getting milk chocolate on the finish. I think I prefer this to standard Blanton’s, and I hope there’s more to that opinion than the pretty golden horsie. No promises.

The most amazing part about this bourbon is how smooth it tastes for its proof. In a blind taste test, I wouldn’t believe you that this guy is over 120 proof. The nose does give you a warning: very astringent, with a hint of caramel. Body has faint vanilla, but mostly caramel. Finish has aged wood flavors and pepper on it. I appreciate what they were able to do here, and I’d reach for this one if I wanted a quick buzz without a ton of burn.

I dedicate this bottle to my gramma. The sherry barrels come through in the entire drink, in a very good way. It’s the dominant scent on the nose, and it hits in the body, along with a deep cherry flavor. I get a corn flavor on the finish, along with the sherry of course. Fantastic flavor profile. If you’ve had diamond anniversary, the flavor profile is similar, just amplified by the sherry barrel finish. I actually prefer the diamond. I’d call it a cleaner flavor profile, but this drink is still phenomenal.

While whiskey-smart folks may mock me for thinking there could be something similar between this guy and Sazerac, I could not have been more wrong. Very different, yet not a bad thing. To me, a lot of ryes have a briny, pickle juice flavor as the dominant taste (Sazerac included), but this guy has an aged-wood nose and a corresponding sawdust taste punching through the body. Honestly, it’s growing on me over time in a way that most ryes don’t. It’s unique in that way. There’s a mild citrus flavor on the body too, and that carries through to the finish. And this may be the power of suggestion, but I think I can taste the E.H. Taylor influence. Over time I’ve come to taste a hint of the green apple flavor that is characteristic to small batch. Not bad, and I think I prefer this to most ryes. However, for the price point, I can think of dozens of whiskeys and whiskies I’d rather have in my collection. Probably won’t be a permanent member on my shelf.

This turned out to be so much better than I expected. Not that Buffalo Trace makes anything that’s a huge miss for me; it’s just that there was a lot of hype to live up to for this little guy. Thankfully, he lives up to it. A wiser and far-less-handsome friend of mine told me that this was a poor-mans Rock Hill Farms, and I have to agree. Although the recipes are different, the apple flavor is undeniable. There is a sweetness on the nose that blends in with the apple to make a caramel apple flavor, less tart than RHF. There is also a slight fresh wood flavor on the finish. A great everyday bourbon!

I get hints of caramel and cinnamon on the nose, with a body that’s similar to Russell’s Reserve insofar as that it has an unpleasant industrial flavor. Unlike Russel’s Reserve, the fig and cinnamon flavors balance it out in a pleasant way. Cinnamon flavor carries through to the finish. It’s Autumn themes in my mouth, and I like this one. Dear Wild Turkey: I said some shit about Russell’s Reserve 10 year. I am not sorry. However, after seeing this improvement to a similar flavor, you are... FORGIVEN.

The initial floral profile hits your tongue smoothly, with little heat throughout the taste. I like that part. It’s what I look for in a good scotch. The flavor transitions pleasantly into a sweet caramel flavor with hints of citrus. Enjoying the complexity so far. BUT THEN... on the backend of every sip, this whisky runs the risk of turning my stomach with a mad rush of syrupy sweetness, like poorly made sweet tea. Combine this with the oily mouthfeel that I get from start to finish and we have a thoroughly unpleasant scotch. I can say this: I have not found a whisky this complex yet that was also this cheap. So perhaps there’s an audience out there for this little guy. But if you’ve already got good scotches on your shelf, I can see absolutely no reason to buy this whisky. And BONUS crappiness: if you burp while tasting this whisky, your burp feels oily and sickeningly sweet. Awesome.