Tastes

Open 1 week Nose - Big toasted vanilla and oak, medium to strong ethanol, sweet corn, peanuts. Palate - Grainy peanut brittle, smooth vanilla and caramel, hints of cinnamon, a little grainy funk, ethanol light as first. The ethanol and oak build on the finish but never overwhelm the palate. It is creamy and oily, with lingering vanilla, caramel, and honey roasted peanuts. I was looking for something to bring on a backpacking trip this weekend, usually I go for under $30 high proof to repackage in a plastic bottle. Or skip that part and buy Evan Williams Black travel pack. This fit the bill as a BiB and let's me try a product that has great reviews from YouTube and mixed reviews on here. This exceeded all expectations, it is really good! I'm honestly shocked. It is easily 50x better than Jim Beam Bonded, and better than Evan Williams BiB. They could charge $35-40 for this and I'd still say it's a good deal. Highly recommend grabbing one before it's gone. It is without question one of the best under $25 bourbons I've had.

Open 2 months Nose - Dense caramel and toffee, strong ethanol and oak, snickerdoodle and gingerbread cookies, candied dates and raisins. Palate - Caramel drizzled over cheap dry pie crust, more shortbread than cookie, cinnamon and nutmeg, light caramel. The finish is super oily, it coats the mouth immediately. The tannic oak and ethanol completely dominate the palate, it is hot even with small sips. You need a minute to recover your sense of taste before taking another sip because it is hot, oily, and dry. Any hint of sugar or fruit vanishes quickly from the mid-palate. I was excited to pick this up in August because I thought I missed it. The new ABC store in Durham stockpiled hundreds of ECBP B519, A120, and B520. (They still have cases of these after being open more than 2 months.) However, I think this batch is clearly inferior to A119 and B520. It has all of those notes you want in ECBP, but the ethanol dominates the palate. This is the highest proof whiskey I've had, but I've had multiple above 130 proof that I prefer. So, I do not think the ethanol % is the issue. The flavors just don't mesh as well together compared to two previous ECBP batches I've purchased. After being open 2 months and splitting the bottle with a friend, I thought it would mellow out a bit, but it hasn't. People clearly like this more than I do, but for me the A119 was better and the B520 was in a different league altogether.

Open 1.5 months Nose - Banana bread, dark oak, baking spices, crème brulee, honey and brown sugar, lighter than expected ethanol burn Palate - Banana and stewed berries, crème brulee, cinnamon oak, light ethanol. Finishes with big burnt brown sugar, baking spices and oak, the ethanol finally comes out to play while the banana disappears. Medium-to-long finish, but it isn't drying or overly tannic. It is eminently sippable for 125 proof. This has been my white whale of bourbon hunting in the last 2 years, and suddenly I started to see it at multiple ABC stores in my area. I picked up 2 bottles at 2 different locations, every store limited to 1 per person. It is worth every penny in my opinion. When I first cracked it, the neck pour resembled Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. After it opened up, it is now closer to Old Forester 1920 with the banana notes emerging. The marriage of those two excellent high proof bourbons is the best way to describe this. As a bonus, this is $45 in NC and those two are $60. It is one of the best high proof, high value bourbons I've had.

Open 1 month Nose - Cherry bomb, mixture of cheap Maraschino cherry and cherry cough drops, sweet corn and brown sugar, cinnamon apple and red hot candy, light oak. Palate - Candied apple covered in red hot candy syrup, artificial cherries, oak and brown sugar, corn dust. Finishes medium with sweet cherry and tannic oak flavors lingering on the tongue. This is a really good release by Maker's Mark and should be a staple in their lineup. I don't see why this should be limited, it seemingly requires no special aging, barreling, or finishing. I was skeptical buying a 101 proof version for $42 when the cask strength was on sale for $40, but this may be the ideal proof for Maker's Mark. It is much better than 90 proof, and is equally as good or better than the two MM Cask Strength batches I've had. The Cask Strength drinks hot and needs oxygen to mellow out, this tastes like the best version of those cask strengths with more cherry and less red hot oak. If you like Maker's Mark and were skeptical of this release, my suggestion is buy it. Two other notes: I love the gold inlay on the clear bottle. It looks really nice and I prefer that to all of these paper iterations they've been using on the cask strengths recently. I don't understand the MSRP of $42 in NC, I think it should be $40 given the 90 proof is $30 and cask strength is $50. It's only $2 more than my ideal price point, just thought it was odd.

Batch No. 19-44 Open 4.5 months Nose - Hot ethanol, peanut funk, white grapes, citrus zest, cinnamon dust, light brown sugar, singes the nose Palate - Strong ethanol burn, stale mixed nuts, bright citrus, eucalyptus, light brown sugar, light black pepper. It finishes with increased ethanol burn and very dry oak tannins. This whiskey is hyped as a good, affordable high proof bourbon. I think a lot of those reviews were with an age statement based on Google searches. What I purchased was hot, hot, hot, with the ethanol burn dominating every facet of this whiskey. After 4+ months it still hasn't opened up, it drinks like it's 130 proof without any of the beautiful flavors you find in ECBP or Jack Daniel's. Imagine the hottest one-note Maker's Mark Cask Strength and amp that up a few notches. This tastes far too immature, it should have been in the barrel for at least a couple more years. I purchased Rowan's Creek with this, and think the Rowan's Creek is a superior product at a more affordable price. My recommendation is pass on this because in the $50-60 range you can find a lot of great high proof bourbons with much more complex flavors.

Bull City Bourbon Club pick, named "Honey Smack'd" Barrel No. 3306, Bottle No. 156 59.96% abv, 119.92 proof Open 1.5 months Nose - Bright honey, boozy mead, artificial cinnamon, young oak, apples and white grapes, bourbon cask strength version of pot-still Irish whiskey Palate - Honey, butterscotch, honey crisp apples, French toast, sweet oatmeal. Finishes with an ethanol punch that was disguised on the nose and tongue, then transforms to a light honey syrup with hints of cinnamon and oak. I took a chance on this expensive craft bourbon because I heard the Bull City Bourbon Club (BCBC) was a new group that has picked some good local stuff in 2020. This drastically exceeded my expectations. I've had a lot of cask strength bourbon in the last 2 years and this is wildly different. While most are spicy and dense in profile, this is light, bright, and sweet. I think the distillery location in Washington lends to a unique profile that is a nice addition to the bourbon category. The name Honey Smack'd by BCBC is appropriate, this tastes like the alcoholic version of Honey Smacks and is more like a strong mead than something like Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. I've been seeing a variety of store picks around NC and I doubt any of them are bad. I highly recommend picking one up, I guesstimate it'll be a welcome change to the typical Kentucky cask strength bourbon.

Open approximately 9.5 months Nose - Strong oak and rye spice, chocolate-covered cherries, black pepper, medium ethanol, orange peel, toffee Palate - Baking spices, charred malted barley, caramelized oak and toffee, minimal ethanol burn. It finishes with strong oak and tannins, much drier than I expected given the nose and taste. This is a great bargain rye and much better than most ryes that are in the $30-50 range, including almost all MGP-sourced ryes I've had. I think this hits the sweet spot between barely legal rye and 95/5 rye, with the high % of malted barley really balancing out the rye by adding those sweeter toffee flavors. It's never a go-to for me, but I have turned others onto this as one of the best cocktail mixers you can buy for the money. Highly recommend this for your bar shelf if you prefer rye over bourbon but don't want the noticeable bite of the 95/5 mashbill.

Purchased in SC, open 3.75 months Nose - Pungent, musty peanut butter funk, grapes, aged chardonnay, cheap cocktail cherries, menthol, corn dust, and powdered sugar. There's a lot going on with this nose, it's one of the most unusual bourbon noses I've had. My first impression was this is a finishing bourbon because they re-use wine bottles and it smells like they forgot to wash out the wine before bottling. Palate - Corn mixed with cherries, grapes, and peanuts. Minimal oak and ethanol influence initially. Finishes with a stronger oak and spice profile, some hints of cinnamon and brown sugar from the rye. I still can't decide if I love this bourbon or not, but it is certainly unique compared to the typical bourbon profiles I'm used to. It's sat on my shelf for a while because the first thing I gravitate towards is the more classic oak and caramel flavors. But every time I sip this, it is enjoyable. I also bought Noah's Mill on my trip to SC, and I definitely prefer this. With the unique flavor profile, price, and proof, this is a solid buy if you find it.

50 mL airplane bottle for $1.95 at NC ABC Nose - Spicy corn and freshly cut grass, honey and butterscotch, noticeable ethanol, light oak and light spice Palate - Surprisingly light on the tongue after the strong ethanol note, honey vanilla sweetness, barely ripe cherries, corn dust and grains, fresh bread. The finish is medium, which is long for a $20 bourbon. It is oily, coating the tongue with strong notes of oak, nuts, and grains. I wasn't a fan of David Nicholson so I've been avoiding other cheap Luxco products, but this is a winner at this price. As far as cheap wheated bourbons are concerned, this is miles better than Larceny. It is probably as good as Maker's but much grainier, while Maker's has that dominant sweet cherry cordial flavor. After tasting this I'm honestly perplexed why Larceny is considered a great value wheated bourbon, I think Maker's Mark and Rebel Yell are superior by a wide margin. I guess my taste buds are off.

Split purchase with a friend, open 8 weeks. Nose - Rich caramel and peanut brittle, strong oak and ethanol, baked apples, light baking spices and even some mint, light berries, hints of rye whiskey Palate - Up front it's sweet, dark caramel and peanuts, berry compote, rye spices. The mid-palate and finish are overtaken by oak, peanut brittle, and ethanol. It is a medium-long finish with a bite that dries the mouth. When it fades, you want another one because each sip takes you on a journey. This was my first ever Booker's purchase. I actually didn't buy it, my friend did and I gave him three whiskeys in the trade (Talisker Distiller's, ECBP A120, 1792 Single Barrel). I've seen Booker's go up in price in $10 increments over the decade, and I've always avoided it because of the cost. I understand the hype, this is really good stuff and much better than most Jim Beam offerings. But this falls flat when you compare it to its cousin, Knob Creek Single Barrel, which is $40 cheaper and can be found nearly twice its age as store picks. Even if you can't find a store pick, Knob Creek SiB is 2-3 years older than Booker's and I can't imagine the quality difference between the barrels justifies that price disparity. Additionally, you can buy what I consider the superior ECBPs for $30 less. I do think this is a very solid bourbon, but unless you live in a state where you can find this for $70 I suggest passing on this and use that money for something in the $60 range.