Tastes

Barrel No. 489, Warehouse A, Rick 4 Bottled on 07-27-18 Open 4 months Nose - Caramel, burnt sugar, black pepper, vanilla, baking spices, fresh leather, corn dust, light oak and ethanol. Palate - Up front it is vanilla, butterscotch, and baking spices, a little hint of caramel and dark fruits. Finish is medium length with stronger than expected oak tannins, medium ethanol, dry baking spices and black pepper, sugary notes disappear. I've always avoided Kentucky Spirit due to its price, but Durham ABC was clearing out the old version of the bottles for $34.95. A $25 discount, so I figured why not? This is about what I expected, a perfectly serviceable bourbon that I would be happier with if it was the only Wild Turkey option. It isn't, and it isn't an improvement over WT101. I tried this blind against WT101, which I'll post as a separate review. Spoiler alert - I couldn't tell the difference.

Open 4 months Nose - Faint peanut brittle, faint butterscotch and caramel, bubble gum, artificial fruit, no ethanol or oak present. Palate - Watery, young oak, little to no sugar or fruit. The finish is short, a little more oak and tannins, first hint of ethanol. For me this is the most overrated cheap bourbon on the market. It is priced correctly, I just don't understand its scarcity. It is almost impossible to find in ABC stores in larger cities, and when it's available it moves very fast. This tastes kind of like 1792 after it has been poured on the rocks, ice has melted, and it sat at room temperature for months. I would take Evan Williams or Jim Beam over this any day of the week. It makes sense why this is scarce because the same people who hunt Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and Blanton's hunt for this (Facebook group references). They love simple, sweet, overrated low proof bourbon with little complexity.

Open 1 month Nose - Spiced orange vanilla similar to a chai tea, brown sugar, strong rye spice (clove, cinnamon, dill, and light anise), medium ethanol and oak. Palate - Orange molasses compote, pumpkin bread and gingerbread cookies, medium ethanol. Bold, medium to long finish with strong dill, rye spice, citrus rind, cinnamon sugar, lightly tannic. I was hesitant to grab a Rabbit Hole due to its price, but the reviews swayed me to buy their cheapest whiskey available in NC. I'm no longer a skeptic, this is good stuff. In the past I've mostly avoided the MGP 95/5 due to strong floral and anise notes. This amps up the rye citrus combination with strong dill notes but barely a hint of anise, and is so much better than your typical MGP rye. Highly recommend this, plus the bottle is fantastic. Love the cork and the feel of the glass when you pour, it doesn't dribble.

Open 4 weeks Nose - Dense, rich brown sugar and cinnamon, dark chocolate, artificial cherry, snickerdoodles and gingerbread, light corn dust, surprisingly light oak and ethanol. Palate - This is dense sugary syrup on the tongue. Maple cinnamon candy, crème brulee, chocolate covered cherries, almost no hint of ethanol. Finish is long and oily, sweet oak, light cherry mint (cough drops), and finally the proof rears its head. This is another outstanding ECBP batch, tied with B520 as my favorite ECBP releases so far (I've had 5 at this point). There may not be a better buy in high proof bourbon. I've never had any BTAC product, but it's increasingly more exasperating and hilarious the depths people go to find and pay for BTAC when this is widely available. Is barrel proof Stagg, Weller, or EH Taylor that much better? I'll probably never know at this rate, but I think I'll be satisfied grabbing 3 ECBPs per year.

Barrel No. 7220853, picked by OC Bourbon Club Filled on 11-02-15, approximate age 4.25-4.75 years Open 1 month Nose - Caramel and butterscotch, nutmeg, corn dust and toasted grain, light citrus, light oak, medium-strong ethanol. Palate - Begins light and sweet, honey, caramel apples, buttered corn on the cob, cinnamon candy, oak and ethanol almost disappear on front of palate. Finish is medium-short, harsher oak, red hots, ethanol is astringent. This is where you can tell it is a youthful whiskey. Rounding out the newly released Distiller's Collection line, I purchased this locally. I point that out because I got the Ezra Brooks from a different county, and the pick was from a different bourbon club. This is a solid wheated bourbon, but I prefer Ezra Brooks Distiller's Collection. I haven't had Rebel Yell 100 in a while, but I'm not sure this is worth double the price. That's partially because RY100 is a tremendous value at $20. The better comparison is to Maker's Mark Cask Strength given it is just a hair above almost all MMCS releases at 113 proof. If you're a fan of MMCS this is a solid alternative for $10 less. Even if this isn't great, I think Luxco does a much better job with the Larceny mashbill than Heaven Hill. I would buy this and RY100 over Larceny and its barrel proof version any day of the week.

Barrel No. 1-B3-0584 Picked by North Carolina ABC Open 5 weeks Nose - Rye spices, oolong or light black tea, white grapes, orange peel, honey, medium oak and ethanol. Palate - Light, delicate wildflower honey, hints of orange and grapes, black pepper, allspice, light oak and ethanol. Medium finish with sweet oak, baking spices, honey, and a slightly peppery or minty aftertaste. I don't like the base Bulleit products, so I've avoided purchasing any premium Bulleit offerings for fear they are wildly overpriced for what I'm getting. I think I bought this out of boredom/intrigue, but also because I haven't had a bad store pick yet in NC. Needless to say I am blown away how much better this is than standard Bulleit Bourbon. It is rich and flavorful and maybe at the perfect proof point, without being overly tannic or drying from the high rye content. This obviously resembles Four Roses Single Barrel, but also resembles a 1792 Single Barrel that I had last year and OGD 114. I think this is better than all of those, but is it $15, $20, or $30 better than those three? I don't think so, which is why I dropped it from 4.5 to 4.25. But, if you can find this around $50 I recommend giving it a shot. At $60 you probably won't be mad at yourself, but there are a lot of things around $60 that are amazing. Overall, I'm really impressed with this bottle and now I'm open to trying more Bulleit products.

Open 1 month Nose - Charred oak, salted caramel and honey, toffee, rye spices, light berries and stone fruits, medium ethanol. Palate - Burst of honey and caramel sweetness, apples and melons, toasted oak, light ethanol. The medium-long finish builds with strong rye spices, oak, burnt caramel, and cinnamon apples. This is a delightful bourbon, and it's awesome to see this regularly on ABC shelves. I thought the Belle Meade Bourbon was one of the best low proof bourbons I've ever had, so I grabbed this as soon as it was available. It is excellent, but is it an upgrade over the standard 90.4 proof? In my opinion, they're pretty damn similar despite being 8.95% abv different. The question is, is this worth the upgrade? That is tricky because NC recently lowered the MSRP from $50 to $45, so I would've said yes at $50 and no at its current price. (I picked this up in SC for $41.) Either way, you can't go wrong with Belle Meade. But if you see the 108.3 proof Reserve priced $15+ more, then I would just pick up the 90.4 proof.

Bull City Bourbon Club pick dubbed "Knobbin' on Heaven's Door" Warehouse E, Floor 4, Rick 050 Barreled 01-28-14, Bottled 03-27-20 Age 6 years and 3 months Open 1 month Nose - Strong oak and ethanol, dry baking spices, black pepper, oiled leather, vanilla, corn dust. Palate - Big oak and rye spice, burnt vanilla, pepper, light berry compote and herbs. Long finish but surprisingly, not very tannic or dry. The rye flavors mixed with the corn and vanilla sweetness meld together well. This was my first pick from the relatively new Bull City Bourbon Club and my first time trying the high proof Knob Creek ryes. It is fantastic for the price. I'm having a hard time identifying a better rye value than this, unless you look at the BiBs around $25. Because this is a low rye mashbill, I assumed I would like it based on my experience with Pikesville. If you're hesitant to buy high rye whiskey, then definitely try this or the regular Knob Creek Rye after trying Old Overholt and Rittenhouse. In general, Knob Creek offers some of the best value on the shelf. The exception may be the bewildering $20 markup for the cask strength that is only 1% abv more than the single barrel. I'll probably never buy that, just stick to the $50 115 proof rye offering.

Open 2 months Nose - Hot ethanol and ketones overwhelm the nostrils, it's hard to pick out other flavors with this chemical burn. Burnt caramel, strong oak, powdery baking spices, dusty grains are underneath if you take small whiffs. Palate - Front- and mid-palate have more classic ECBP flavors of dense vanilla and caramel sugars, hints of berry compote, and toasted nuts. But the burn returns on the long finish. Very dry, tannic oak and strong ethanol burn with grain dust, toasted bread, and burnt caramel. I lucked into this at the newest Durham ABC, which apparently had been hoarding ECBPs for its grand opening. Maybe it was actually unlucky, because this is easily the worst ECBP I've had (A119, A120, B520, and C920 all were better). Despite this being the lowest proof ECBP I've had, it drinks the hottest by far. Usually I kill these bottles too fast because they're so damn good, but this will last a while. The oak and chemical flavors dominate what you expect from ECBP. You're unlikely to still find this on the shelves, but if you do I recommend avoiding it.

Open 6 weeks Nose - Toasted nuts, corn dust and grain, cinnamon and nutmeg powder, campfire ash, medium oak, medium ethanol. Palate - Toasted caramel corn, salted peanuts, nutmeg, maple charcoal. The oak dryness and ethanol build on the finish. It is oily, medium-long with nutmeg, clove, corn, toast, and charcoal. This has been a disappointing purchase. It is not because the whiskey is bad, it's an enjoyable sipper. It is because this is heavily marked up George Dickel and I was hoping Uncle Nearest would bring something a little different to the table. It is a dead ringer for GD BiB and Hand Selected Barrel, which are $24 and $10 cheaper, respectively. It is also similar to Ezra Brooks Distiller's Collection which is $25 cheaper. It could be similar to GD 12 but I haven't had that in a while. My overall point is this is a good whiskey that tastes 90-99% similar to charcoal filtered whiskeys you can find for significantly cheaper prices.