Blackened x Willett (Master of Whiskey Series)

My next few reviews are going to be blind to be unbiased based on any reviews, labels or age statements and hopefully I can determine what they are and most importantly, if they are delicious or not. A huge thanks to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for taking the time to set this up for me and now time to crack this first one open to find out what surprise Lex has in store for me. The nose is bold and rich starting with powdered sugar dusted strawberries, toasted pumpernickel bagel and sweet pipe tobacco then honeysuckle and wintergreen followed by cherries jubilee, caramelized pears, and orange blossom that transitions to spearmint, juniper berries, anise and leather with high ethanol burn. The taste is syrupy rich mouthfeel starting with powdered sugar dusted strawberries, toasted pumpernickel bagel and sweet pipe tobacco then honeysuckle and wintergreen followed by cherry pie, caramelized pears, and orange zest that transitions to spearmint, juniper berries, and slightly bitter black tea with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with anise, cherry pie, caramelized pears, sweet pipe tobacco, moderate black pepper spice, spearmint and mildly bitter black tea. Well, this is a fantastic start to this little blind series that is very delicious with bold and rich flavors of red berries, rye, florals and well-aged oak that leans a little more on the bitter and spicy flavors than I prefer, but it’s still an exceptional whiskey. Based off the red berries and rye flavors, I’m thinking this is either a MWND or possibly a Blackened X Willett as those are the only two ryes that I know that have aged in red wine barrels, but Lex could have thrown a surprise at me. Time to find out and pull that label off to find out that it turns out to be…….. Blackened X Willett. Haha, yes. I finally got one of these blinds right and would like to have one of these in my cabinet if I could find it for $150, but for the $200 I see online, I’ll probably pass on it for now.

The nose to me was almost s’mores. Chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker, with some fruity hints and oak. Palate was burnt brown sugar, oak, strawberry, fig, rye spice

I was afraid I might like this one. Afraid because I hate celebrity garbage. And this has the added distinction of whiskey pseudoscience, what with the playing of music for the barrels and all. I've avoided trying the regular Blackened for that reason. But then Willett had to partner with them and give them some respectability. So @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington generously obliged my interest in trying this one. The nose is full of cherry and vanilla, with the rye notes hanging out a layer or two below. The palate hits first with the sweet wine. Not sure how Madeira differs from Port, but it reminds a lot initially of Midwinter Night's Dram. Then the Willett rye flavors come in and swirl with the fruity wine notes. It's like a better version of MWND. When I had them on hand, I actually made a poorish man's version of this, using MWND and Willett 4 year rye. Not the same level of goodness, but it wasn't bad. This is really well done, and I'll be strongly tempted to buy this if I come across it. Thank you BOL for the opportunity to try this!