Tastes

Neck pour, rocks. Light nose of vanilla and caramel. Taste follows the nose. Thin finish of rye spice. Completely inoffensive. Works for just sitting around and shooting the bull during a family happy hour without drinking yourself under the table, and the price is right.

Date coded Jan 18, 2021. Neck pour, neat, and didn’t let it sit. Much lighter nose than I expected for the 116.8 proof with spearmint and egg nog and a hint of tobacco. Taste is vanilla and crepes forward with pear, dark fruit (more prune than cherry), and licorice. Medium finish of spice and a punch of char. The proof brings a balanced flavor party without a lot of heat, so this is a very nice sipper, and I understand why it gets lots of raves, especially for the price.

Neat. Long thick legs. Nose of Mexican fried ice cream. Vanilla forward taste with oak and cinnamon. Long finish with more baking spice and lingering pepper.

L&B Barrel Select #1: Warehouse 1, Rick B, Level 1, Barrel 72278. 119.1 proof. Neck pour, neat. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Nose of caramel with hints of savory and brown spice. Taste is butterscotch and honey forward with a floral note. Clove and tobacco with mint overtake the mid-palate. Short-medium finish of cinnamon rye spice and anise. There’s a lot going on with this pour, and it is a well integrated sipper. Adding a drop of water brought some medicinal cherry and more tobacco to the nose. The taste was rounded, but didn’t open any new notes. The back end was a longer finish with more traditional rye spice. I prefer it neat, but I wouldn’t hesitate to take it with a rock, or in an Old Fashioned, or a Manhattan.

My first time trying this. Doing it as a part of of an online tasting class. Neck pour, neat, sitting for maybe 10 minutes. Egg nog nose with cinnamon & ginger and a hint of leather. Taste brought Wild Turkey cherry with more cinnamon. Fairly short dry oak finish. Less oily mouthfeel than I expected given its spider legs. Adding water brought dark fruit to the nose and a forward tasting vanilla pop, with more baking spice in the finish. The complexity and value puts it in my regular rotation.

Neck pour, neat, did not let it sit before tasting. Nose is vanilla cream and freshly split wood. Taste is vanilla forward with cinnamon. Mid-palate starts with cherry cordial before switching over to classic spice. Finish of spicy tobacco and leather feels a bit thin despite the length. The proof brings a nice warming hug.

Neck pour, neat, didn’t sit long. Batch No. 21D1104. Long legs. Bing cherry nose bomb with caramel, vanillla, and astringent with a hint of burning leaves. Taste is vanilla and caramel forward with light cherry and then a crisp switchover to rye spice. Oily mouthfeel. Fairly short finish of cinnamon and nutmeg. In my rotation for dailies, and I expect it to stand up well as a mixer.

Neck pour, neat. Leather and apple nose with some heat and a hint of peanuts and caramel. Taste starts with vanilla and apple, but then all the toasted seasonal spices kick in (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice) and stick around through the clean medium-long finish. Full bodied with a cascading hug. Unironically, this is a proper pumpkin spice bourbon. A drop of water didn’t bring out new notes, but the taste got more crisp and the finish rounded out some. Very enjoyable sipper.

Batch no. 395, 46% ABV. Neck pour, neat, sat for 20+ minutes. Maraschino cherry and vanilla on the nose, once you get by the first ethanol blast. Taste is rich with vanilla forward, then a floral note with cinnamon. Medium-to-long finish. Oak char and rye spice very evident on back end with black pepper. Hug starts early and hangs on for awhile. For contradictory mash bills of high rye vs. wheat, all that is going on is quite balanced, if rough around the edges. Adding a drop of water brought out caramel and brown sugar on the nose, opened the taste up for the vanilla & cinnamon, and rounded out the finish. At under $40, I could put this in the rotation as a sipper that way.

Small bottle neck pour, neat, did not let it sit. Vanilla and brown sugar nose with ethanol. Corn forward and cinnamon. Finish is fairly short and dry with oak and char. Fairly long hug that brings back warming spice after you think the finish is done.