Tastes

This is nice from a smaller producer. It has brown sugar, oak and cherries on the nose. The subtle fruit flavors and cognac shine through in sipping. There is a slight alcohol astringency to this that I cannot place my finger on. I like it and will buy more the next time I am in rural WI!

This tastes like its name...it’s over oaked. Due to the oak, this tastes like a much higher alcohol content bourbon—something I noticed with Rhetoric 25. Yet, this bourbon has a certain smoothness to it, and the flavors still have brown sugar, maple and light baking spice that follow the initial oak burn. It’s priced right and good, if you prefer an oak forward bourbon.

Bold rye with heavy vanilla, oak and molasses. I feel like this is a vestige of what a rye used to taste like. This is a dark brown rye, not amber colored and lighter in taste like many of the current offerings (e.g. Sazerac). It tastes above its price point, but not by a lot. It wasn’t my favorite, but it’s not bad.

I have allowed this bottle to sit for about a year after opening. The initial banana flavor is still present, but not overpowering. The bourbon now has a focused expression of brown sugar, honey and light bananas. It tastes like banana bread.

ZVAUGHN’s post is spot on. I recommend trying this bourbon if you can find it. This is a truly limited production (supposedly 2000 bottles annually). It is priced on the high side, likely due to the limited production run. Ultimately, the question of ‘is it worth it?’ is subjective. If you are looking for the best bourbon at a reasonable cost...this probably isn’t your purchase. If you want an interesting bottle on the shelf with really good bourbon inside, and you can part with 2 bills...this is one to try.

Alcohol, brown sugar, baking spices and maple on the nose. This initially has lots of heat and alcohol, but at 91 proof....this is likely the 25 years of oak shining through. A little water lets the maple syrup flavor, spice and cinnamon/ nutmeg flavors come out. This is not a Bourbon for everyone, but it is a interesting try. For the money, there are better Bourbons on the market....but there is some history in this bottle with the Bernheim distilling and Stitzel-Weller storage. As the purported final bottling of this series, this bottle shows what 25 years in a barrel can do in comparison to the prior bottlings - as this one seemed oakier. An interesting comparison is a taste test between this bottle and Entrapment (25 years in Canada, which was sweeter and less oak forward).

Still sitting in my collection. After 3 years and 1/2 bottle gone, this expression still carries heavy alcohol on the nose, with leather and oak. Wonderful golden brown hue. Flavor profile is still overpowered with alcohol, but there is a caramel flavor, slight hazelnut, al atop a lasting oak and lasting burn.

This is a decent rye, has some spice—but not worth the price. I have a dozen ryes in the cabinet that outshine this bottle, all of which were half the cost. If you need a bottle of Whistlepig in your cabinet, shop up market and get the Old World Cask (or Boss Hog).