Tastes

I got a pint of this, since I'm experimenting with rye, for $21.99 at Total Wine. There's no age statement, the whisky's a blend of two different mash bills, and in the glass the color is copper. It's only 83 proof. NOSE: I'd only gotten a couple of notes on my first glass, but after sitting for a few days after opening the nose really opened up. I got notes of mineral or salt, perhaps both together; alfalfa hay, milk chocolate and caramel; red berries (perhaps raspberries or thimbleberries); something that was both meaty and buttery; a note that made me think of sunshine on a meadow; another reminder, this time of a summer lawn; honey; and pine lumber. This is definitely not a bourbon nose. MOUTHFEEL: Thin, which makes sense at 83 proof, but creamy nevertheless. TASTE: Spring water, spiced honey, a little oak, and mingled salt and sugar. FINISH: Grass and hay, faint honey - short. SUMMARY: After waiting for a few days the whisky opened up considerably. The nose became very promising - but the rest of the whisky doesn't measure up. Overall this whisky turned out to be unimpressive. RATING: On my hick scale, it's 4th out of 8, counting from the bottom - what I call Okay. This is the same as 2.5 stars, 50/100, or 5/10.

I have a sample only, so I don't know what it actually cost, but the Total Wine site tells me that here in Albuquerque a fifth would run $85.99. The mash bill is 80% corn, 12% rye, and 8% barley. It's 107 proof, if there's an age statement I don't know because I don't have the bottle, and it's a dark gold in the glass. NOSE: On the nose I get vanilla, caramel, corn sweetness, butterscotch pudding, ambrosia, maple syrup, waffles, whipped cream, and mandarin oranges. Overall the nose is soft, sweet, and warm, and it includes notes I've never gotten before anywhere. MOUTHFEEL: Oily. TASTE: Brown sugar, Red Hots, oak, char, buttered waffles, and sugar syrup - again, some notes I've never gotten before. FINISH: Long, beginning with honey and then going to sweet oak. SUMMARY: This is DELICIOUS whisky. It's sweet and sunny, with just enough dark notes. I wish I could afford to buy it myself, because there's more to it than I can sort out from just a sample. I would love to spend a while working through a bottle, and sorting out all the notes in the nose and taste that I could tease out tonight. RATING: I give it the highest of eight possible ratings on my hick scale - Mighty Fine. That of course is the same as five stars, 100/100, or 10/10.

This bottle was a gift, and I don't know what the individual who gave it to me paid, but the Total Wine site lists it at $45.99. All I could learn about the mash bill is it's Buffalo Trace's Mash Bill #1 - for some reason which I've never been able to fathom, they don't want anyone to know what their mash bills are, even though no one, with that information, could ever replicate their whisky, and releasing that information has never hurt other distillers. It's 100 proof, of course, since it's bottled in bond, and there's no age statement. NOSE: On the nose I got bananas, vanilla, caramel, butter, butterscotch, creamed corn, and niblets. MOUTHFEEL: Soft. TASTE: Honey, oak, cinnamon, and brown sugar. FINISH: Medium, with oak, honey, and a brief citrus note. SUMMARY: Just looking at the notes I got from this whisky you'd think it's simple, but I don't believe it is. There's more to the whisky than the individual notes I got. I think that over time I'll be able to get more out of the juice than I've gotten for this review, but of course that'll require going on through the bottle. At any rate, it is good whisky even if I'm having trouble sorting it out, and I think the price for it is fair. RATING: My hick rating system puts this one at #6, counting from the bottom and going all the way up to 8 - I call it Fine whisky. This equates to 3.75 stars, 75/100, or 7.5/10.

This was a sample, so I don't know what it cost the person who gave it to me, but here in Albuquerque Total Wine lists it for $87.99. The mash bill is 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% barley. It's 110 proof, and in the glass the color is copper. If there's an age statement on the bottle I don't know it, of course, since it was a sample. NOSE: Butter! right off the bat, like I was actually smelling a stick of butter. Then came vanilla, roasting ears, birthday cake (I couldn't be more specific than that, though I tried to determine what flavor of cake and icing the note was indicating), and something else warm and sweet that I couldn't identify. Perhaps over time I could sort the nose out better. MOUTHFEEL: Thick and creamy. TASTE: Cinnamon, brown sugar, oak, red pepper, and a faint honey note. FINISH: Medium, beginning with oak and a little honey, just plain alcohol heat, and finally lingering oak. SUMMARY: This strikes me as being less complex than I expected, but it's definitely good bourbon. I'm not sure that it's better than some standard whiskies - that is, not single barrels or other special expressions - but it is good, and of course single barrels do vary, so another bottle might be better (or worse) than this. I will say that though I like it, I wouldn't pay nearly $90 for it, but at $50 I'd call it a good deal. RATING: On my hick scale, it's the fifth (counting from the bottom), which is Good. That translates to 3.125 stars, or 62.5/100, or 6.25/10, if you prefer those kinds of ratings.

I'm a Texan, and so I want to try, eventually, everything from Texas I can get my hands on. This was my first chance at this bourbon, so I took it. A fifth cost me $54.99 at the Mountain Run location of Kelly Liquors. All I could find about the mash bill is that it's a wheated bourbon - the mash bill is corn, wheat, and barley. The color in the glass is old copper. NOSE: Something that's musty or dusty or both starts things off. Then come vanilla, grass hay, a hint of honey, melted butter, and a touch of spice - cinnamon, and then other things in the background of the spice. MOUTHFEEL: Thick and buttery - this is the best part of the whisky. TASTE: Honey, butter, and a very faint grass note. FINISH: Medium long, with nothing but oak. SUMMARY: I found this very disappointing. It's a moderately good bourbon, but not more. The most is fairly complex, but it's simple on the palate. At $20 I'd buy it again, but not at the actual price. RATING: I give it the fourth level of my hick scale, which is merely Okay. That translates to, 2.5 stars 50/100 5/10

This whisky has a mash bill of 63% corn, 27% rye, and 10% barley, so it's a high rye mash bill. I paid $32.99 for a fifth at the Uptown Total Wine store here in Albuquerque - and I waited months, nearly a year I think, for it to return to the shelves; when I started looking, it was already out of stock, so it might have been missing for long than the nine or 10 months I think I looked. It's 114 proof, of course, and there's no age statement. In the glass it's a copper color. NOSE: Honey, caramel, corn sweetness, creamed corn, pine lumber (I suspect that the occurrence of such vegetable and fruit notes has to do with the high rye content - it's nearly a third of the total mash bill), spice - cinnamon and red pepper?, fruit - grapes and oranges?, wood smoke, a hint of pickled jalapeños, a little bit of grass, Baker's chocolate, and a slight grain note that might have been puffed wheat. MOUTHFEEL: Buttery. TASTE: Honey!, black pepper, dark chocolate, rye bread. I never get as much on the palate as I do on the nose, so the disparity in the number of notes between the two shouldn't put anyone off. FINISH: Long, beginning with dark chocolate, bringing in a note of sweet tea, then honey and orange, and an oak that stays and stays. SUMMARY: I waited for months to buy this, and it was worth the wait (though the wait was very frustrating). It's considerably more complex than I expected it to be, and there's not a thing about it I don't like. I'll absolutely buy it again...assuming it remains available. RATING: On my hick scale, it's Fine, which if you're counting from the bottom is the sixth rating out of eight. That converts to 3.75 stars, or 75/100 or 7.5/10 depending on which way you want to use those numbers.

This review is a testimony to the deceitfulness of memory. I remember not particularly liking Larceny, but wanted to try it again to see if my palate had changed any. Well, when I looked at my review of this bourbon just over a year ago, on June 21, 2022, I found that I gave it the same number of stars, and liked it about as much as I did tonight. If my memory had served me better, I'd've bought my second bottle long ago, instead of waiting a year. The price at Kelly Liquors hasn't gone up so much as a penny in the intervening year - it still costs $28.99 for a fifth. It's 92 proof whisky, with no age statement. Heaven Hill hasn't released the mash bill, but a couple of online sources give it as 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% barley. NOSE: Honey with cinnamon, something nutty that might be almonds, meringue, musty corn, something floral, puffed wheat, creamed corn, ambrosia - specifically the marshmallow component, and pancakes. MOUTHFEEL: Buttery TASTE: Honey with oak, peaches and bananas together, black pepper, and butter. FINISH: Medium, with a very emphatic oak note and some black pepper. SUMMARY: This bourbon isn't as great as the hype I've encountered makes it out to be, but it's nowhere near as undistinguished as my memory told me it was. It's actually a good bourbon, though not the best. I was getting notes tonight on both the nose and the palate that surprised me - some I don't often get, and others I've never gotten before. What I got tonight was very different from what I got a year ago, and while some of that is surely a more educated palate, some of it is...well, it beats the living daylights out of me. But I do have one really good thing to say - though the finish isn't spectacular, it leads into a very long and enjoyable Kentucky hug. RATING: Good 3.125 stars 62.5/100 6.25/10

SOMEHOW, THE REVIEW THAT I WROTE HERE BACK ON THE 11TH DISAPPEARED - OR THE TEXT DID, ANYWAY. NOW THAT I'VE REALIZED THAT I'M COPYING AND PASTING THE TEXT OF THE REVIEW I DID IN THE BOURBON AFICIONADOS GROUP ON MEWE, WHICH ISN'T TOO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I WROTE HERE ORIGINALLY. This is a store pick from the Kelly Liquors store in the Mountain Run Shopping Center here in Albuquerque. It's 120 proof (the manager told me that they tempered it down from 124 proof), just slightly over 9 years old (going by the dates on the strip at the bottom of the bottle), and cost me $56.99. In the glass the color is a deep copper. The mash bill is, of course, the standard Knob Creek - 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% sprouted barley. NOSE: Honey - this is the first thing you notice, even in a plastic sample cup. Next comes oak, which I don't believe I've ever gotten on the nose before, and which I really enjoy there, I find. There are also notes of butter, caramel, a faint note of barrel char, autumn leaves, something earthy, sweet corn, a little cinnamon, and pecan pie. MOUTHFEEL: Viscous, oily, buttery. TASTE: Honey again, butter, cinnamon, black pepper, sweet corn, and brown sugar. FINISH: A very definite note of oak, the strongest I've ever encountered, and right at the edge, perhaps, of being too much. Then come black pepper, butter, and barrel char. It's a long finish, which thoroughly coats the mouth. SUMMARY: Though this whisky isn't as complex as I'd expected it to be, it's fantastic stuff. The aromas and flavors are deep, dark, and intense, and the proof sustains them wonderfully well. This just may be my favorite whisky of all time, which is saying something, since its competition for the spot is Balcones Texas Pot Still Bourbon - another deep, dark, and intense whisky. Since this is a store pick it'll eventually run out, and it's beyond what I can usually afford, but if it were a regular shelf whisky within my range, I absolutely would buy it over and over and over again. RATING: Mighty fine = 5 stars = 100/100 = 10/10

Since this is a single malt, the mash bill is 100% sprouted barley. It's an 86 proof whisky, it's 10 years old, and a fifth cost me $39.99 at the Uptown location of Total Wine. NOSE: Immediately there's a strong dose of citrus, which sorts itself out into orange marmalade, navel orange peel, lemons, and kumquats. Then there's a sour note, which surprises me by being, if not pleasant, at least not disgusting (I hate sour whisky). After this comes a faint apple note, a slight saltiness, and a hint of smoke (no doubt from the used bourbon barrels this whisky ages in). MOUTHFEEL: Silky. TASTE: Orange slices (the candy, not the actual fruit), sweet tea, lemonade, table salt, table sugar, and oak. FINISH: Medium, with notes of orange slices and oak. SUMMARY: This is good stuff. I expect barley whisky to be fruity, but the definite citrus notes in this juice are a surprise. This is worthy every penny I paid, and perhaps more. RATING: 7 (of 8) mighty fine 4.375 stars 87.5/100 8.75/10

I reviewed this once before, on April 7 of last year, but I have more experience now than I did then, and I'm better qualified to evaluate the stuff. One thing is the same - I liked it then, and I like it now. For reasons that I can't understand, Buffalo Trace doesn't release their mash bills, so all I know is that this stuff comes from Mash Bill #1, which apparently has 10% rye or less in it. This certainly isn't a spicy whisky, so that makes sense. It's 90 proof, and has no age statement. I came away from Kelly Liquors without a receipt, so I can't be sure how much I paid, but MSRP is $25, and that sounds about right. NOSE: The first note was a combination - it was like smelling butter mixed with honey and cinnamon (when I was young, we used to put honey butter on toast, and it wouldn't be hard to mix the spice in with that). Then came brown sugar, vanilla, caramel, creamed corn, buttered toast, and some sort of stone fruit - either peaches, apricots, or nectarines, but I couldn't figure it out. MOUTHFEEL: Silky, if a bit thin. TASTE: Honey, peaches, cinnamon, bananas, and a tinge of oak. FINISH: Short, with the two notes of honey and cinnamon. SUMMARY: This is apparently a junior version of Eagle Rare (or the Eagle is a senior version of this), but this Buffalo Trace bourbon is the more flavorful of the two. Especially considering that Eagle Rare costs a bit more, I definitely prefer this juice. Buffalo Trace is a sweet, pleasant bourbon, and I'll buy it whenever I get a chance - which, in Albuquerque, won't be often. I'll more often buy Bluff Springs, which is a good alternative to this one. RATING: I use an eight level rating scale which comes from my Texas hick English. I've recently revamped it, assigning numbers, stars, and X/Y ratings to the core, which is in words. This bourbon is: 7 right fine 4.375 stars 87.5/100 8.75/10