Tastes

This was my first cask strength purchase, and I was eager to try this after thoroughly enjoying Maker's 46. This retails for $50 in NC and is widely available, making it one of the few cask/high proof bourbons regularly found on ABC store shelves. The only notes I get in line with the expert review are hints of hay and eucalyptus, but I smell no banana or tobacco. Up front you get a big alcohol burn on the nose after a swirl. This alcohol burn is stronger than other bourbons I've had recently at higher proofs. The other dominant smell is cherry oak, which is expected with Maker's. On the taste that alcohol continues and coats the mouth, with cherries and other dark or dried fruits. I get little of the spices noted in reviews. The oak I'm tasting does not have that sweet spiced dessert flavor, more of a woody vanilla sans cinnamon and nutmeg. The finish is medium-long, still fruit and oak and plenty of alcohol. I splashed a little water in this and it barely changed anything, so it holds up well if you wish to dilute it. Considering the relatively low proof of this cask strength, it packs a ton of flavor because it is distilled at a lower proof. I'm having a hard time deciding whether this is better than Maker's 46. But since they're both much better than Maker's Mark and widely available, I highly recommend trying both. My bottle is from batch #18-02 and is 55.45% abv (110.9 proof).

When I purchased EW 1783 I decided to also buy the BiB and Single Barrel for comparison of EW "premium" products. I neglected to buy the standard Green or Black, but maybe in the future I'll try those again for posterity. I had them enough in college to know their pluses and minuses. EW Single Barrel was one of the first "nice" whiskey purchases I made out of college. And I thought it was great, always recommended it to my friends when they were looking for an affordable bourbon that seemed classy and tasted great. I still think this is hard to beat for a name brand under $35. But now I wish the proof was between 90-100 considering the BiB is half the price. The nose is heavy with caramel and oak, much stronger than the proof suggests. However, the taste is beautiful and somewhat light. That nose continues to the taste, with more cinnamon and caramel sweetness. The finish is moderate to light, mostly oak and spices and does not linger too long. If this was 95 proof then I think the Distiller rating of 96 would be justified, but I think the rating is closer to 90 at this proof. Either way, this is a great starter bourbon that should never disappoint. But if you have graduated to higher proof bourbons, the ratings you can find for this may seem over hyped. I am very appreciative of the transparency of EW compared to other large brands. They give you far more information than other single barrels. This bottle was barreled on 03-29-11 in barrel #274 and bottled on 01-10-19, a 7.75 year age statement. Hopefully other distilleries will provide this minimal information.

I picked up a 375 mL plastic bottle of this for $12.95 in preparation for trying the new BiB offering. I haven't had GD 12 since college, so I could not remember how it tasted. I was pleasantly surprised how different this was from Jack Daniel's offerings, and how much cheaper all of GD products are compared to their TN rival. This is unlike most bourbons I've tried recently. When I've heard people describe cereal and corn dust for other whiskeys, I wasn't quite sure what they meant. Now I do. The corn dust jumps out of the glass for GD 12, with little hint of sweetness or fruit. I smell heavy corn with some oak. I may get a little butterscotch, but that could be because I've read numerous reviews. The taste is a little bit smoother and lighter than the nose, it goes down nicely. More bread/cereal on the taste. I get a medium oak finish that lingers but is not unpleasant. This is a really good budget whiskey, and the plastic bottle is great for camping trips.

The combination of a possible shortage of Nikka whiskey, Whiskey Vault's love for Nikka, and $4 sale overwhelmed my typical restraint for buying whiskey in this price range. The normal bottle was $70, I purchased for $66, still expensive. Before I talk about the whiskey, I do have to complement the bottle. It is elegant and beautiful, one of the best bottles I've held. The glass is an opaque blueish gray. I love the hearty screw top. Note to every other major whiskey company that they won't read, this is the type of screw top you should use on your mass-produced bottles. The nose is floral and sweet with notes of corn, it smells like a sherry finished Scotch. Incredibly pungent for 90 proof, I really like it. If you didn't pick up the wine notes on the nose, you will definitely taste it. For me, it tastes like sherry or port finished Irish whiskey with more corn grain than what you may find in Jameson. I actually think if you finish George Dickel in a sherry barrel, you may get something really similar to this. (George Dickel please pay me for this idea.) I can imagine the dusty corn being rounded out by the wine barrel quite nicely. The finish is dry, reminding me of wine-finished Scotches from the Highlands region. I honestly don't get any of the dark fruit notes I've seen in other reviews, I mainly taste honeyed corn finished with red wine barrels. Overall this is a really interesting whiskey that I've enjoyed but is certainly not worth $70. You can get wine-finished Highland Scotches for less that taste similar. I should also note, Distiller lists this as 40% when my bottle is 45%. I'm confident they're getting this wrong or Nikka dilutes it for other countries.

I remember having Eagle Rare a few times many years ago and liking it a lot, but never thought it would blow up in popularity like it has. In preparation for the possible barrel pick our local stores are getting this summer, I picked up the regular version for $34.95. Oddly enough I still frequently see Eagle Rare on the shelves but have not seen Buffalo Trace in multiple years. The nose is full of sugary dark fruits, what I commonly see referred to as a stewed fruit nose by more knowledgeable enthusiasts. I also get a strong hint of oak that certainly comes from the 10Y age. For a 90 proof bourbon the nose is much richer than others in this proof range. It tastes as syrupy as it smells, with more dried dark fruit flavor that probably is influenced by barrel tannins. The oily syrup is moderate on the finish, longer than you'd expect with this proof. In 2019 I've had a run of sweet bourbons that I've enjoyed, and I would say this is one of the sweetest I've had. I am a sugar addict, but I can only drink 2 glasses of this in a row before I have to switch it up. A few years ago I may have rated this a 4.0 or 4.25, but now I like something with a little more bite and a little less sweet. However, this is still a fantastic bourbon for the price and definitely a great starter mid-tier bourbon or gift for those getting into better whiskey. It's hard to see how anyone wouldn't enjoy a glass of this.

I've been drinking EW since starting college, so now that I'm fully into whiskey tasting I thought I'd buy all of EW's major expressions to taste against each other. Unfortunately I didn't do this blind because I had no one to set it up. I bought the plastic 375 mL of this for $7.50. It is light and smooth. I mainly get fruit and sugary caramel on the nose and taste, and the finish is short. This is easier to drink than similarly priced EW BiB but less complex. I do love that EW Black and 1783 have 375 mL plastic bottles, because these are absolutely perfect to pick up for camping trips or outdoor concerts with no extra steps needed. I've been buying EW plastic for camping trips almost exclusively for a decade and it never fails. However, the EW BiB and Single Barrel are both better options than this, and the EW Black is pretty even. Did not try EW Green for this series.

I was mildly disappointed with the 1792 Small Batch, so I picked this up a week after that purchase based on a conversation with an ABC employee. I definitely agree with his assessment, this is a great single barrel bourbon in this price range. For reference, the Small Batch is $30 in NC and the Single Barrel is $40. There are not many bourbons in my state that have generic and single barrel at affordable prices. The ones that pop in my mind are Evan Williams, Knob Creek, Four Roses, Jim Beam, and Bowman Brothers. I have not had the Knob Creek or Bowman Brothers Single Barrels, but so far the difference between the 1792 offerings has been the most drastic. I would say that the Elijah Craig Single Barrel Select was even more pronounced, but that was a store pick. I thought the Small Batch was hot on the taste, with mild notes of banana, oak, and caramel. The Single Barrel, with a slightly higher abv, is so much fruitier on nose and taste. This is like a boozy banana dessert, maybe bananas foster or fried cinnamon bananas you'll get at some Mexican and Brazilian restaurants. I tolerate bananas, I don't seek them out. But man does this flavor pair well with spicy caramel oak flavors in whiskey. Unfortunately the bottle provides ZERO information on the barrel, but it's affordable and worth picking up.

Given the prices of standard offerings for Islay, I thought I'd try this since some whiskey somms do appreciate it as a budget offering. Supposedly it is young Bowmore, which I've never had. The only Islay I've had besides this is Ardbeg 10. The McClelland hits you immediately with smoke on the nose and I get nothing else. It is surprisingly light on the taste/mid-palate. But the finish tastes kind of like cheap artificial smoke you'll find in food, not nearly as tasty as Ardbeg 10. I don't get that meatiness you would get from the older peat. If you really like smoke this could be a good budget purchase, it is about half the price of your 10Y malts. This has taken me a while to get through this bottle, and I'm very hesitant to try another McClelland. However, I do not think this whiskey is nearly as bad as the expert review on here, it's fine but it's just one-note smoke.

I was looking to try another ~$30 small batch but spotted this, and an ABC employee said they just got it in that day. I couldn't exactly remember reviews of this, but I knew it was not a bourbon we normally see in North Carolina so I impulsively picked it up due to the small quantity available. I usually wait to do reviews until I'm almost finished with the bottle but I think my opinion is settled after a few days. This is unlike a lot of bourbons I've had recently. It hits you hard with floral oak notes, smelling like it is over 100 proof. It initially is light on the palate but then a strong oak and nut flavor takes over. The finish however lingers with a more spicy dessert flavor mixed with nuts and cloves. To me this is floral, oak, and nutty. It lacks sweetness that many other bourbons have, which could be due to age since the mash bill is similar to many big bourbons I've had recently. If you like more rye/malt influence in your bourbon you may like this a lot. A unique bourbon that is a good change of pace, but not something that I'd consider a good daily sipper. By the way, adding a little water only dulled the nose and flavor. And I really like the bottle design. It pours easily with no dribbling. And the boxy shape has dimples on the side making it comfortable to grab. More bottles should include dimples. Barrel information - #4696 and bottled on 05-06-19. I wish they included the cask date, I'm confident it is under 6 years given the taste.

I picked this up on recommendation from an employee who said he was a Scotch drinker but this is one of the bourbons he really likes. Plus it was $3 normal price, so why not. I had no idea it was a Stitzel-Weller product when I bought it, and looking back it's the only Weller adjacent bourbon I can find in NC. The clear superlative of this bourbon is the nose. It is truly great for a 91 proof bourbon. The fruit notes jump right out of the glass, no swirling necessary. You also get a burst of spicy oak, I'm guessing it's mostly oak because of the low proof. The taste is lighter than expected given the nose and I get more oak than fruit by contrast. The finish is shorter than average, especially for this price. I'd rate the aspects of the whiskey chronologically in descending order: nose - great; taste - very good; finish - average. You can't go wrong with this bottle despite the price close to $50, especially given its availability compared to other Buffalo Trace/Weller products. I don't understand negative reviews that focused on Diageo heavily advertising this based on the Weller name, because if they did that then they would make the Weller font size the same as Blade & Bow on the bottle. But it's tiny font in all locations, so to me that's downplaying the distillery. Additionally, this bottle design is fantastic. It's one I'm going to save for blending.