Tastes

I’m on a bachelor party in Key West with my neighbor. Decided to try and find something at the local Winn Dixie. I found Stranahans on clearance for $28 after tax I’m out the door for $30. Normally this is a $55 before tax bottle at home for me, so score, yay!! Now I’ve had this once before but was a virgin to whiskey so I don’t remember it much except it “tasted like whiskey”. So now with my experienced palette I’m here to give my discerning opinion. Here we go..... Opening the bottle and Whoa?!?! What is that smell? Oh right, this is a single malt, not bourbon, not rye. It’s surprising if you’re expecting bourbon or rye (like I was). Not bad once you realize it’s malt only but certainly a unique scent. Taste is certainly more in line with a scotch. A very nice scotch but very malty. Sweet but not overly sweet. Wow, am I drinking a scotch? Almost zero burn to this single malt whiskey and it goes down nicely. I’m impressed. To say i was surprised would be an understatement. In my head I was expecting a bourbon so initially it was shock. Once I put it together and realized I was drinking a single malt I respect what they’ve done. This is a beautiful drink that is easily attainable and somewhat affordable. In my case it was the perfect price. If you like a non-peated, richly flavored scotch I highly suggest you give this a try. I’m glad I found this to try once again. 12/3/20

So i finally found this sucker after holding on to a couple other batches until i could do a 3 batch comparison. I've read tons of reviews saying this is the batch to get. I'm comparing to A120 and B519. I loved B519 so really hoping that this is going to be THAT much better as all the reviews say it is. So here we go. I'm tasting all three of these while opening them all at the same time so oxidation won't be a factor and it's a fair comparison. First i opened the B519 since I'm familiar with it and it is the lowest proof at 122. Taste is as i remembered and again i really like this batch, wish i had a 3rd one hidden away. Next up is the B520 initial taste is not as impressive as i was hoping and B519 is ahead. Finally sip the A120 and at 136 proof it drinks as easy as the B519 but there's a bit of a "bite" to it. Initial taste from neck pours goes to 1) A120 2) B519 3)B520 so a bit of a surprise to me. A few weeks later and I came back to these and the order has changed 1)B520 2)B519 3)A120. The open bottle let the B520 turn into a completely different bourbon after about 2-1/2 weeks. It's now a smoother, sweeter, well rounded barrel proof EC like everyone says it is. I've never experienced such a change in a bottle in just a couple weeks. Wow. Regardless of how they rank in order I'm a happy camper with some ECBP in my cabinet. This was just the icing on the cake to have the B520 change profiles so quickly. Update 9/11/21 The longer this sits and the more I go back to it the better it gets. This is hands down the best ECBP that I’ve had. Soooo good! Update 1/16/22 The last of my B520 bottles keeps staring at me with puppy dog eyes begging to be opened but I will not give in to its temptation. I have so many bottles ahead of it to enjoy though I know none will be as good as it. 😞

Really? People pay $200 for this stuff? I mean yea, sure, it’s good but it’s really not much more than what a $30 should be. This is why I’ve contemplated to stop drinking bourbon. This is hype at its greatest extreme. Man I hope this dumb bourbon bubble bursts. FYI I paid $29.99 through ABC Fine Wine & Spirits here in Florida. “Lucky” enough to get 2 bottles for that much. Update 2/17/21 Okay I remember when I first opened this bottle. I was like whoa that’s smooth and somewhat flavorful hence the original 4 star rating. I’ve since gone back to this bottle over and over and no matter how I drink it I cannot like it like the first time I had it. I sold the second bottle I was “lucky” enough to get for an obscene amount of money for what this stuff is. I now use it as a showpiece to impress bourbon friends who drool over Weller products. Just not that good to me. Sorry if I hurt anyone’s feeling here but this is an “average at best” bottle of whiskey.

One of my favs. Long review to come. Hint - I added a little sumpin’ to my bottle before drinking. It’s Mmmmmmmmmm

So first off this is a store pick and apparently that makes a big difference from what the interwebs are saying (at least that's what the dumb whiskey groups i follow on FB are saying). I was in the mood for some high proof tonight since i'm writing a Master's paper for my business class and i needed something to help free up my inner author skills. So here i am at 12:30am drinking and writing while being somewhat dehydrated from my run earlier this evening also. Long intro sory. Here we go. Store pick from Party Liquors here in Florida near Tampa. It's a beauty pouring her into my glass. Nice and dark with some viscous legs that hang down like a tarantula? Sure okay that can be a descriptor, "tarantula", it is the month of Halloween here so I'm taking full advantage of Halloween since everything since March has been complete crap. Back to my review.... Okay so nice dark and viscous so far. I'm getting a wonderful banana and vanilla smell out of this. No complaints on the nose. Let's see what she's got for us going down the gullet.... Wow this doesn't burn as much as i expected going down the the hatch. Has some wonderful oak flavoring to it. Not much of the banana but some vanilla. I get some heat but not nearly as much as the proof would suggest there would be. Man i missed having some barrel proofs. I've been staying low abv lately since i'm being healthier running and cycling. This is certainly not the best BP, nor the worst I've had, but it's great for the $45 dollars i paid a while ago for it. I'm a diehard ECBP fanboy but this is a very good BP. The regular 1792 is very nice as well but for most others i think the BP may be a bit too much heat. Again this is all subjective and keep in mind this is based on a store pick so it may vary from barrel to barrel. Cheers. Good night. 10/10/20

An older “dusty” bottle I found on the bottom shelf of a Winn Dixie (supermarket). Yes it had a bunch of dust on it. I believe it is from 2014 according to the stamping in the bottom of the bottle?? Anyways...... I absolutely love this stuff. I liked the Dickel BIB, Dickel Rye, & Barrel select in the past so I guess I’m just a Dickel fan overall. I’m okay with that because it seems the Taters love Buffalo Trace products. I scored an Elmer T Lee at MSRP so if you wanna buy it for secondary prices, let me know I’ll be happy to sell it and buy a lot more Elijah Craig and Dickel products 🤣🤣. During my debate within myself to open this bottle or one of the others I have unopened on the bookshelf I found a BDanner review of Dickel from back in 2017/18 and that review was the final kick in the ass to open this bottle up. I’m very glad I did, especially now that I drank about 1/4 of it in one sitting. Yea it’s that good to me. Dickel is one of the most underrated products in my opinion and I’m okay with that. 9/30/20

Upon opening this one I smelled the normal uneventful Woodford smell but the flavor made up for that. This is a very nice addition to the Woodford family and at its price point is well worth having in the home bar. I enjoyed this neat and also put a 1/4 cube in to open it up a bit and it was really tasteful. Though it has some flavor to it the finish is pretty quick. Solid everyday pour for the money.

Not bad, very smooth. Almost too smooth for a rye. To me it tastes like an overpriced Canadian whiskey. Oh wait, it is an overpriced Canadian whiskey.