Basil Hayden 10 Year Bourbon

Smooth nose without ethanol notes. Vanilla on nose. First sip is delicious!! Vanilla and char is great tasting. Smooth delivery and great sipping. No ice needed.

I recently reviewed the standard Basil Hayden's, which was very disappointing. I've read that this and the standard BH are very close in age, so I'm not expecting a huge difference based on that. I'll go into this with an open mind. Nose: Fresh-baked apple pie, black cherry, black licorice, caramel, black tea, wintergreen, and spearmint. Pumpkin spice and pine. Clove, nutmeg, and heaps of oak. Very rich and unique nose. Awesome. Palate: Caramel, gala apple, peanut brittle, black cherry, walnut, and almond. Apricot. Cocoa. Cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, clove, and oak. Thin-bodied. It's a big step down from the nose. It's good in its own right, but drinks like a watered down version of the other JB Small Batch series products--which is exactly what this is. Finish: Apricot, cocoa, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, cinnamon, and oak. Short-to-medium length. Bumped up a full star from the standard BH. The nose is the best part of this whiskey; it's truly one of the most intriguing noses I've found in a bourbon. The rest is good but not great. I gave this a 3.5 because of the nose; otherwise this would've been around a half-star lower. I believe this is an annual release from Jim Beam. If you're a big fan of the distillery and can find this for a good price, I say give it a go. Don't go out of your way to grab this otherwise. It's a respectable whiskey, and a welcome surprise after reviewing the marginal Basil Hayden's standard release, but not one worth hunting.

I was honestly expecting to dislike this based on all the hate Basil Hayden’s gets. I was pretty surprised. It’s not super complex, but it’s good. Pretty on par for something like Eagle Rare.