Tastes

Excellent color to be expected from a 12 year in bourbon barrels, but still great to stare upon nonetheless. It is such an immediate slap to the face with the sweet smell off this glass, but after you pull your nose away, you can tell that the oak is not forgotten or lost. The scent can enter raisin territory, but I feel that that could be due to the age. The entry is very light and smooth, and the raisin homage does return at the beginning, but, as expected, the long oak age rounds things out to a familiar bourbon burn finish.

Initial scent is citrus and a wee bit of chocolate coated in the familiar vanilla and oak. The first bit of flavor is familiar Basil Hayden's, with the rye making a tiny appearance, and then quickly the flavor continues to mellow out into delicious wood notes. If you keep your mouth closed, that higher age keeps that wood taste all the way through to the finish. If, however, you decide to breathe it all in, the bright rye hitches a ride with grain, citrus, and floral notes alongside the road of aged oak.

It seems that the rye is winning the battle for the nose, but is also seems to be a bit sugary, so perhaps this may be as balanced out as they say. For the taste, it seems to be a bit of a sandwich experience for me; rye enters the palate as grain spice, then is flattened and smoothed out by the wheat. This truly does blend together pretty well, but unfortunately, it also seems to cancel parts of each other out in the process. Thankfully for me, the finish almost comes out of nowhere with potent rye spice lingering around for a bit before calming back down.

So, one thing I expect from my Booker's bottles is that, whatever flavor they are, they are potent when they provide it. The nose is a little dull, which feels a bit sacrilege, especially in the Glencarin. The initial taste starts as a bit of a needle effect; that is, the flavor begins very concentrated on the tongue, even if you swish it, and then it absolutely explodes everywhere with no regard. I specifically use the word "flavor" because it's actually quite hard to distinguish it before the aforementioned explosion. Smooth, perhaps even a bit citrus. This hardly matters, however, because the entire mouth opens to such powerful fire and spice that it's actually hard to contain. Sure, part of it tastes like rye, but much more of it tastes like if you ate a full tablespoon of all the spices that go into a pumpkin pie. I feel like the finish on this one (and my breath included) could absolutely melt fresh snow on the ground. This is beneficial, because this would make an amazing deep winter night sipper.

Nothing has smelled more like a freshly mowed, recently rained yard than this whiskey. It even goes a bit deeper to resemble wet earth, but I dig it, pun intended, as always. The initial taste is not as powerful as I had thought it would be (although I don't know why I had thought that), but the rye flavor is very obvious and up front. The ever so popular sweetness does develop over time, but it does take a while and certainly doesn't have a "bourbon feeling" to it. It is a little bit underwhelming, and would benefit from more age, as most ryes would.

The scent seems to be a domination of oak and spice, but the very finish as you take your nose away reveals a buttery, almost savory whiff. The initial taste further supports the oak/spice combo, but as the proof begins to burn, so too does any other chance of the flavor transforming. I presume rye is the choice here, and combined with the bonded 100 proof, the finish is simply hot in the mouth, and nothing else. The hype for this bourbon seems misunderstood; so many more choices have a better rye burn and flavor development than this one.

Very deep color, perhaps a bit darker than expected for a 7 year. Surprisingly, there is a grain forward nose, which is odd for the age. Perhaps that's a wheat scent coming through that still resides in the flavor profile. The initial flavor moves around a lot, so it not only tastes oily, but almost acts oily. A large spice bomb drops right as the oil subsides, which I thought was the proof kicking in, but it also could be mistaken for rye, which I don't believe is in this bourbon's mashbill. The finish opens up a warm, caramel, fall feeling. For all the ridiculous hype that this bourbon is getting, it is pretty fantastic. I would never buy this on the secondary market or head hunt for it, but buying it for the extremely cheap price that the distillery recommends is a no-brainer if I ever see it.

The nose leads into tough whiskey, like rye and bourbon, but then you can smell some sweetness, likely from the brandy. The taste is mellow and a tad harsh at the same time, and is kind of like a choose your own adventure; swallow it without air and you get a heated, smooth finish, but inhale after the finish, and all of a sudden a sweet, friendly whiskey appears.

What rye should be, all the time. Unfortunately, time is the big factor here. The initial smell from the glass is instant wood, and misleadingly sweet and reminiscent of a bourbon. First taste contact gives way to that sweet, marinated oak, but very easily (yet still quickly) moves into the very familiar Bulleit rye mash bill. Finally, one of the best budget ryes on the market has been properly amplified into the spicy, wooden finish that at least I am always on the hunt for with rye whiskeys. This is hard to put down, so forgive me, wallet.