Tastes

N: Peppermint, seasoned oak, baking spices, toffee. P: Butterscotch, cocoa, mixed nuts, caramel topped strawberry cake, apples. F: Primarily caramel and chocolate with a touch of apples. By the nose, I would not necessarily anticipate what is to come on the palate - which is unusual. A little more spicy on the nose, but no so much on the palate. Pretty “appley” the more you get through the bottle, but maintains those nice sweet notes. It’s a pretty good bourbon, but maybe not worth the price.

46% ABV N: Lightly baked bread, light sherry and cranberry, strawberry frosting and graham crackers. P: Honey, lemon, chocolate, figs, toffee, strawberry cake backed with sherry. F: Sherried chocolate mingles with strawberry cake. I enjoyed this bottle quit a bit. A nice balance of sweet, sour, and sherry. Multiple fruits could be noted if you took more time with it. It has many elements in play from start to finish. It’s nicely done, and it was a pleasure working through the bottle.

90 proof - Buffalo Trace says it’s at least 8 years old, but it has no age statement. N: Mint, vanilla, baked apples and brown sugar. P: Creamy caramel, mint, brown sugar covered marshmallows, seasoned oak, and a touch licorice. F: Light seasoned oak with baking spices. I’ve had this bottle for a few years. It’s laser coded from December 22, 2015. I’ve reviewed another bottle of this several years ago on the Barreled app, but I figured I’d give it another go here. There is really nothing fancy here. It’s fairly easy to find and at a reasonable price.

109.6 Proof. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Maker’s 46. Usually only available at the distillery. N: Loads of assorted spices, vanilla, toffee, and leather seats. P: Cinnamon, vanilla, licorice, baking spices, cocoa and cherry cola. F: Baking spices stand out with trailing hints of cocoa. Spice forward with hints of sweetness and a splash of cocoa. The potpourri of spices is quite enjoyable in this and tempered sweetness. This is quite the contrast to the normal Maker’s Mark. Pretty enjoyable. I’ve been drinking a lot of sub-par whiskey lately, so 4.25 maybe a little generous - maybe not. Cheers!

86 Proof. At least 4 years old. Part of the Benchmark Series from Buffalo Trace (Single Barrel, Small Batch, Full Proof, Bonded, and Top Floor). Currently only available in Indiana, but will be expanded to other States when supplies are sufficient- per Buffalo Trace. N: A light nose of brown sugar, oak, mixed citrus, and baking spices. P: A dusting of cinnamon, assorted baking spices, and brown sugar on burnt buttered popcorn. Also, cherries and touch of malt. F: Barrel char, buttery, and bit of cherries. Tannic and unpleasant. Very buttery mouth feel with a lot “burnt” notes. I expected this to be an oak monster, but it was not quite as overpowering as I thought it might be. Maybe the low proof helped it there, but I doubt it impacted it that much. I expected this to be the worst out of the Benchmark Series, and it was. It was the cheapest at $15.99 a bottle as well. I wouldn’t recommend this other than out of curiosity.

94 proof. The 8 to 12 year (probably closer to 8) small batch finished in toasted oak barrels for another 18 months. N: Mint, lemongrass, oak, cinnamon, ginger, a hint of malt at times. P: Vanilla cream, mint, lemon meringue with marshmallows, cinnamon, and a dash of ginger. F: Slightly oily mouth feel with a vanilla creme coating. Initially this comes off spicy on the nose, but the pallet is more lemon meringue and vanilla creme - as the bottle gets emptied. I found this one quite interesting. Kind of a unique profile. Sometimes I even got some malt notes out of this. Not uncommon for Scotch, but I don’t get this from bourbon much. I found this enjoyable and a nice little change of pace - but with the barrel proof version only $10 and so readily available where I live, I would definitely buy that over this. The ECBP does set the bar pretty high though. Cheers!

100 proof - a 6 year old Bottled in Bond. Discontinued by Heaven Hill back around the Summer of 2018. “Replaced” by a 7 year BIB that’s much more expensive. N: Oranges, pralines, seasoned oak, cinnamon rolls, allspice. P: Oranges and pralines, candy corn, marshmallows, cinnamon, licorice. F: Oranges and pralines die off and are replaced by barrel char. Dominated by oranges and pralines with some cinnamon on the side. This is a decent bourbon, and it’s fantastic if you consider the price. You used to see this for about $10 a bottle in Kentucky until it was discontinued. You used to see this all over Kentucky until it was discontinued back 2018. This is not complicated at all. It has some nice sweet candied notes balanced with some citrus (oranges). It has the praline thing going on with it as well, like some other lower end Heaven Hill products (i.e. JW Dant Bonded). The finish is the least appealing aspect with this - short and tannic. All in all, this WAS one of the best bourbon values around.

100 proof. Bottled in Bond - at least 4 years old. Non-chill filtered. N: Cherry cola, nutmeg, a bit floral with a touch of spearmint. P: Cherry cola (very dominant through the 1st 1/3 of the bottle), cinnamon, figs, peanut oil, spearmint, caramel. F: Mildly astringent, spearmint, chocolate tart cherries. This is way different than the Old Tub from the distillery! The distillery version sold in the pints is very cornbread forward. This is certainly not. This is cherry cola forward. I don’t know what they changed on this from the distillery version, although the distillery version does not mention anything about being non-chill filtered. Maybe that’s the only difference? If it is, it’s makes a huge difference in taste profile! I prefer the distillery version. I was disappointed in this release; I personally didn’t care for the cherry cola thing this has in abundance - especially before the bottle airs out some.

125 proof. At least 4 years old. Part of the Benchmark Series (Single barrel, Small Batch, Bonded, Full Proof, and Top Floor). Currently only available in Indiana, but will be expanding to other States eventually - per Buffalo Trace. N: Crème brûlée, brown sugar, and a mix of baking spices. P: Brown sugar with molasses, pumpkin spice, and maple syrup. F: Molasses morphs into chocolate with some creme brûlée. I was expecting to like this a little more than I did. I thought the proof would make this a little more vibrant. It actually drinks pretty easy for 125 proof. It’s still a good drinker, especially considering the price. So far, this Benchmark series has a definite brown sugar motif throughout. This is no exception, but the molasses component is pretty evident in this one as well. I have one left to go in the 5 bottle series. I believe the prices paid for this bottle was around $20.

Uncut, unfiltered, at 127.2 proof. My local liquor store has been getting a ton of these batches over the last couple of years, so I guess Heaven Hill was right when they said pulling the 12 year age statement from the small batch (back in 2016) would allow them to produce more barrel proof product as well as keep it at 12 years old. It took a couple of years, but I have definitely noticed an uptick in it’s availability. N: Chocolatey cherries, maple creme, fresh ground nutmeg, anise, a dusting of cinnamon. P: chocolate covered cherries, maple syrup, heavily iced cinnamon rolls, a touch of licorice and cornbread. F: Nice cinnamon and cherry action trail off slowly. The candied barrel notes mix well with a bit of spice here. Tilting more to the sweet side. These barrel proof versions are always great. Sure, some people have their favorites, but they are all fairly similiar - and well put together. I could easily drink this bourbon as my only bourbon, if I had to be held to just one bourbon. I was interested to know how many barrels goes into a barrel proof batch, so I called Heaven Hill. They told me it’s about 100 barrels per barrel proof batch vs. about 200 barrels that typically go into the normal Elijah Craig 94 proof small batch. I would have thought they pulled more barrels for these, judging by how many of these are out there and the fact these are bottled at barrel proof and not 94. I’m trying to double check this info from another source at Heaven Hill, but I have not heard back yet. Cheers!