Tastes

Faint huitlacoche nose, all corn from there out. A solid corn whiskey.

Picked up a couple of $17 fifths of no age statement on a recent trip to Alabama. I much prefer the previously available 7 year old to the current NAS. Like, muchly. The NAS finishes with a pronounced iron-rust note that is unpleasant. The 7 was decent neat plus a few drops of water, but the NAS begs for a couple of drips of orange bitters at a minimum, better with a spoon or two of Curaçao or Amaro Montenegro instead, and it’s even happier in a Revolver cocktail. A Boulevardier’s sweet vermouth & Campari are a yet more effective cover-up. I detect a continuum. Still, all this seems more like “Porky, meet lipstick” rather than making the most delicious drink that one can; I prefer a Revolver made with the traditional Bulleit orange label to the NAS. Bourbon, to me, is most enjoyable neat w/ 3 or 4 drops of distilled water. The NAS is not that one; it is handy - and cheap - for some cocktails (bourbon & Coca-Cola?) I suppose. Too bad the 7 is done. I keep the last half-bottle I have of that specifically for “A or B?” tastings against the NAS for friends, like I do with a few previously delicious but now not so much mass-market handmade cigars. Entropy, I guess.

Licorice on the tongue, lingering cinnamon. Perfect amber color.

Halfway through the last fifth of the $19 each special case sale from Total - Paddock Shops in L’ville about 15 months ago. For that money there’s no better standard KY bourbon anywhere, hands down. I’ll get 2 cases next time. Prominent sweetness, then vanilla & mild cinnamon; easy neat - easier with one small ice cube - and great as the secret sauce in apple pie. There’s some kind of mysterious chemistry compared to other bourbons in a Chambord-instead-of-red-vermouth Manhattan according to my first wife.

Rye rye rye, maple-y vanilla up front with a woody cinnamon finish. Where does the barrel proof (referenced in other posts) for a 45 abv figure? Delicious and certainly a best-value.