Blanton's Single Barrel Black Edition

Light, corn and caramel. Not worth the price tag but fun to try none the less!

Watery Blanton's. The Buffalo Trace sweetness sticks out. A little barrel char. Not a lot of flavor. It's in the same ballpark as Basil Hayden, although it seems like the BH was maybe a little better.

Straw, lightly viscous with whispy legs. First whiff is grain - corn would be my guess? Very light. Bourbon? Very nontraditional - no way is this bourbon. Light whiskey? There’s a big ethanol component and no light whiskey is a young whiskey in todays market. There could be some barrel finishing here. Sweetness abounds - almost cloying and slightly musty. Floral notes, almond extract, muddled clove, pepper, shoe polish, green apple, prickly (French?) oak. Slight old library book that gets buried in the mix. Based on nose and color I’m going with grain whisky rather than bourbon or malt. Wow. Wow that doesn’t burn. I was afraid this would be some crazy 130+ proof light whiskey but I’m going with no. This is a non-US, single grain whisky of some sort… I think. Light feel, clean. Bits of corn syrup, white wine, French oak, vanilla, lavender, stewed apples. There might be some white pepper, maybe faint German licorice but there’s not a lot of spice to speak of. The finish is like the rest of the dram - light but pungently sweet with a distinct mustiness. I’m spinning my wheels a bit here. If this is finished then I’m thinking new French oak or some sort of desert wine (ice wine, Tojaki, etc) and less likely cognac but I’ve been fooled by cognac finishes in the past. Age? This could be 17-22 years (ie 20+/-), especially if it’s a single grain whisky. Time to see if @pkingmartin can help me out since he was kind enough to let me try this odd ball. No. No, no, no. This - is unsurprising and disappointing at the same time. For a fleeting moment in the beginning I thought to myself “this is sweet and fruity enough to be a watered down Buffalo Trace product” but couldn’t think of one that was this corn forward. Remind me never to water down bourbon again. Also - Japan we love you. I don’t know who sent you this but I promise we can do better. Seriously, we owe you one.

The nose is pretty soft with caramel and a bit of gingerbread and immediately it drops off on the taste with a watered down taste and then slightly picks back up with some caramel that is a bit brighter than the nose. The finish is short and all charred caramel. Very one noted. If you can't find this, don't worry because, you're not missing anything. If it was priced at like $25 and readily available it would be good to introduce someone to bourbon with this.

Nose - cherry, menthol, caramel, vanilla, buttery cinnamon, cocoa, black pepper, mint, barrel char, orange zest, anise, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - salted caramel, vanilla, cherry, orange zest, black pepper, cocoa, cinnamon, menthol, sour apple, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing short with cherry, caramel, and sour barrel spice flavors. Well I don’t have anymore Japanese whiskies to review, so I figured Blanton’s Japan-only release would be the next best thing. And what better way for Blanton’s to make this more like a Japanese whisky than to dilute all the character out of it. The nose is light compared to its standard-strength big brother. There’s caramel, that ubiquitous Blanton’s cherry note, some cinnamon, and a hefty dose of menthol. The palate is unpleasantly thin and mentholated with more cherry, sour oak spice, and a citrusy orange zest flavor. Unfortunately when cherry and menthol notes coexist, I always think of cough syrup, and nobody wants cough syrup in their Blanton’s. So this is exactly how I’d expect your bottle of Blanton’s to taste if you left your teenager home alone for a weekend. Fortunately, there’s a quality distillate underpinning this tragedy, but it’s a tragedy nonetheless. If you find yourself in Japan one day, pick up a bottle for $60 and make your thirsty friends thirstier. But please don’t spend $250 to procure one of these on the secondary market. The third option is to have an extremely generous friend gift you a bottle. A huge shout out to @pkingmartin for being that friend for me. At least it looks pretty on the shelf.

Luck seems to be on my side for Blanton’s lately as my brother was kind enough to bring back a bottle of the Blanton’s Black from Japan after a trip which is bottled at very low proof of 40%, but has a very nice black label with Japanese writing on it. These appear to be selling for above $250 online, but he was able to procure one for around $63 in Japan. Time to crack this one open and see if this is better than the original. The nose starts with a very light caramel with a hint of oak spice followed by fruits of Motts apple juice and orange zest that transitions to a very light spice along with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, leather and light oak with no ethanol burn. The taste is almost a water thin mouthfeel that starts with a light caramel with light oak spice followed by fruits of Motts apple juice and orange zest followed by a vanilla seeds then a light pepper spice that fades to faint barrel spices of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, leather and light oak with light ethanol burn. The finish is short with caramel apple, chocolate, orange zest, vanilla seeds, ginger, cloves, and light oak spice. I thought Blanton’s original single barrel was muted on the notes, but this is even worse. The nose is so light that the notes are difficult to pick out besides some light citrus and barrel char and the palate doesn’t improve things with tasting more like caramel water with a dash of fruit juices, some kitchen spices and a piece of wood on top that finishes short with light fruit, chocolate and barrel spices that turns spicier and drying than the original. No surprise this isn’t worth the secondary prices as I doubt anything actually is, but I wouldn’t even want another one of these for $63. It’s as if BT decided to take a lesson from Jim Beam and go Basil Haydenize their Blanton’s whiskey for the Japanese market.

The taste of oak and notes of caramel