Tastes

Nice pour, with pleasant high rye spiciness. This is a good 90 proof sipper.

Raymond Chandler once said, “There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.” I’ll just say I’m glad I bought this one in the 50 ml bottle. Revisited this because it comes fairly highly recommended. My first impression was a bit on the kind side. I’ve had actual cough syrup that tasted less medicinally alcoholic than this. Won’t make this mistake again.

Isopropyl nose with a surprisingly sweet initial taste. That initial sweetness fades quickly into a 103 proof medicinal burn. This one is a hard pass.

Pours light and smells honey sweet. The initial taste matched the nose, but it degrades quickly to an alcohol burn that belies the low proof. Finished with an odd, though not totally unpleasant aftertaste. This one would be better in a mixed drink, but I prefer my bourbon neat.

A little above bottom shelf pricing, but my recommendation is to stick with several cheaper, so called bottom shelf bourbons.

Smooth and easy drinking. Better than many bourbons at double the price. Revisited this one and didn’t find it quite as good, but still a good dram for the money,

One of my 4 favorite bottom shelf bourbons. Higher percentage of rye than most similarly priced bourbons. This is supposed to be based on Basil “Old Grand Dad” Hayden’s recipe. It may be true, but as good as this one is it is not “poor man’s” Basil Hayden’s.

Smooth sipper, but a bit overpriced. Availability is a bit sketchy.

At the upper level of what I’m willing to pay for bourbon. That being said, I can’t imagine much better at any price. Hard to come by, but worth both the wait and the price.

Rye spice forward that finishes smooth. Very good sippin’ whiskey for the price. Better buy a bottle of this when you find it. Stock up as it can be a little hard to find. This is a touch “hotter” than the 86 proof version, but not unpleasantly so. May be my favorite 100 proof bourbon.