Tastes

Caramel and sweet forward, clean finish with just enough burn to remind you that this is something that you should appreciate. I don't have the palate to say that the mineral water is what gives this such appeal to me (I grew up in South Jersey drinking hard water with a high iron content), but I will never turn this down. Tasted neat. Only neat. I would drink it with a straw if I wouldn't go through it too quickly.

This was something I'd been meaning to try for a while, but only found myself willing to drop the coin on the bottle recently. It certainly does have a full flavor (to say the least)! The nose is pleasantly sweet like I would seek out in my normal favorites. Not sure I'd want to make a room smell like it, but I certainly don't mind the scent of corn and leather being the last thing I experience before I taste. The sweetness on this bottle is subdued, but very fulfilling. The Booker's "Kentucky Chew," is a very high ABV (supposedly one of their, if not the, highest proof's they bottle), and if you're drinking it neat you're going to feel inch of it. I added some water to mine on the second taste to get it down to about 90-100 proof. The flavors are still well pronounced, but there remains a pervasive burn that is especially troublesome if you catch it in the back of your throat. That said the finish is clean and I find the total flavor profile (bittersweet, clinging to the tip and center of my tongue) to be very appealing. Since I can get my favorite for just a little bit less strain on the wallet, I'm not sure I'll pick up another bottle any time soon- but I certainly wouldn't turn it down if offered. Tasted neat and watered to approx 95 proof.

A gift from my brother. Very weak, almost diluted forward flavor. I only picked up on bitter apples on the finish, which oddly arrived before I had even swallowed my sip. I tried my best to get through the whole bottle, I really did, but eventually it went into a reduction for an extraordinarily tasty sausage and peppers dish that my wife prepared. That's where the 1.0 rating came from. Tasted neat. My brother? We're no longer on speaking terms.

How much is a scent worth? I love trying new bourbons and read an article that listed the Hudson Baby as one of the ten I have to try in 2018. Immediately upon cracking my bottle I was greeted by one of the best scents I've had the pleasure of sticking my (not unsubstantial) Italian schnoz into. Even my wife, who likens most whiskeys of any variety to an expensive substitute for gasoline, acknowledged the pleasant aroma and wanted to try (I was not kind enough to share). We agreed to contact the good people at Hudson to see about making a scented candle for this. Upon taking my first sip I noticed that this one was almost cloyingly sweet, but not bad by any stretch. This would be an acquired preference for me, and I feel as though if I drank more I'd come to enjoy it more. Keep in mind that I have a fairly strong sweet tooth, but all at once this was almost too much for me. Slowly sipped after a filling dinner, maybe with a coffee and a cheesecake, the Hudson Baby would be very welcome for me. As it stood, however, the sweetness was just a little much for me to be able to thoroughly enjoy. Tasted neat. The good people of Hudson are probably very busy, they have not yet responded to our letter.

The name scared me. I stopped by my usual liquor store to pick up a bottle to enjoy for the next week or so. Unfortunately, they appeared to have stopped carrying my favorite. Alas, I stood there for an embarrassingly long time reading the same labels over and over, looking for something new that stood out to me while using the Microsoft Word document that is my brain to find any mention of an interesting bourbon to try. Bear in mind that Microsoft Word is, by no means, an overtly intelligent program... I found Burning Chair, and was immediately both interested and anxious as to why a distillery would actively add the implication of fire to their brand, especially considering something would need to go terribly wrong for my chair to burn. That said, it turns out to be a very smooth bourbon- very nice for sipping. More subtle than what I usually like, but spicy with an oddly (and enjoyably) bitter cling in the mouth. The nose was about what you'd expect from a decent bourbon with sweet, subdued scents, but overall it did nicely in a pinch and I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up again. Tasted neat. I'm pleased to report that the burn experienced was well within acceptable ranges. My chair remains in excellent order.

Caramel and sweet forward, clean finish with just enough burn to remind you that this is something that you should appreciate. I don't have the palate to say that the mineral water is what gives this such appeal to me (I grew up in South Jersey drinking hard water with a high iron content), but I will never turn this down. Tasted neat. Only neat. I would drink it with a straw if I wouldn't go through it too quickly.