Blanton's Straight From the Barrel

To finish up my Blanton’s series, I got a sample from TWE of the Blanton’s SFTB that has a hefty 64.8%. These appear to be costing $150 at retail but the secondary has jumped that price up to $300+. The nose starts with a thick dense caramel with high oak spice followed by pecan covered cinnamon rolls along with fruits of fresh baked apples, Morello cherry jam and freshly peeled blood orange then vanilla gelato that transition to a Mexican spiced hot chocolate along with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, vintage leather and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The taste is a viscous mouthfeel starting with a thick dense caramel with high oak spice followed by pecan covered cinnamon rolls along with fruits of fresh baked apples, pears, cherries jubilee and blood orange juice then vanilla gelato with dark Hershey’s chocolate syrup that transitions to a high and drying spice that fades to barrel spices of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, sage, leather and tannic oak with high ethanol burn. The finish is long with thick caramel-covered candy apples, cherries jubilee, dark chocolate, mandarin orange peel, burnt marshmallow, ginger, cloves, sage, over-steeped black tea and drying tannic oak. The nose on this is incredible with all those traditional bourbon flavors ramped up to a 10 with some spicy hot chocolate which carries over to the taste but unfortunately brings in a high spice and dryness on the mid-palate that fades slightly to barrel spices before the long finish that starts fruity with those traditional notes but quickly veers towards a tannic high spice that overpowers those fruit flavors. I tried adding water which sometimes lowers those spice elements but it didn’t matter how much water I added as that spice on the mid-palate and dry finish remained for me. Side by side with the Gold and SFTB, for me the Gold is the better whiskey that has a better balance without those tannic dry flavors that I’ve found on the Original, Black and the SFTB. Shockingly, I thought this would be my favorite out of the Blanton’s lineup but it turns out that this will finish second place. The final rankings are Blanton’s Gold (4.0), SFTB (3.75), Original (3.0) and Black (2.5).

Fancy because of the name, a little strong

Kentucky is an odd land filled with lovely people. Being a transplant I found it odd initially that I could look people in the eye and not feel like someone would pick a fight with me. Nowadays (a word that seems apropos for KY) I’m accustom to conversing with complete strangers over bourbon, my belt or whatever. I’ve also learned that tracking down great bottles is a giant pain in the ass and often a waste of time if you can find the right bar. Enter a 1oz pour if this SFTB Blanton’s for $26. Most places in town would charge 5x that but tonight I got lucky. Out with friends, in the open air and a glass in my hand. Actually part of a dream flight - paired with a 2019 GTS and a 2019 WLW, the nose (comparatively and unfairly) was next to nothing. With time my senses returned (nosing WLW first ruined things a bit). Soft aromas of candy cigarettes, honey, sawdust/oak, apricot, marshmallow, bubblegum, cinnamon, allspice, cola, and lastly some faint spearmint. The palate was light and not as hot as expected for 129.2 proof. Flavors of sawdust, honey, apple pie, allspice, a bit if black walnut, marshmallow, clove, toffee, buttered rye bread all roll in and out slowly. This is so much better than standard Blanton’s it’s not even funny. It also has the most rye of any of these three pours and aside from that faint spearmint giveaway from the empty glass I would never have know. As far as bourbon hysteria goes - just don’t. It is probably as tasty or complex as an array of $100 to $200 bottles that are more readily available, which is a compliment. I have to believe that a handful of non-mashbill 2 products for around $60-80 can match or beat this but tonight is for tall tales and unicorns.

Heavy oak on the nose. Smooth palate. Cherry BOMB on the finish. Too easy to drink. Dangerous pour!