Boondocks 8 Year Port Finished Bourbon

Very smooth. Nice port finish up front.

This is the port finish section of my barrel finished bourbon bracket. This is a blind taste test of Boondocks vs Breckenridge. Winner to face against Isaac Bowman, which beat out the OG barrel finisher, Angel’s Envy. My tasting of Boondocks: The nose is very fruity. There’s cherry, grape, caramel. It smells like a sangria. It is really good. This is where it starts to fall apart a bit. There is honestly not much left to say about this whiskey. It tastes like a very well made port. Finish is mild, low burn, and porty. If you poured this for someone and told them it was port, they’d probably believe you and get confused why there were getting drunk so fast. Even attempting to split up body and finish is complicated, but if I had to try, I’d say there’s a vanilla flavor that is more prevalent in the body and a brown sugar that pops up slightly in the finish. The scents you get on the nose really are the stars here, and attempting to judge the underlying whiskey proved futile for me. I find this interesting given that this is an 8-year aged bourbon. I’d expect it to have enough self-identity that a port finish would be more like a haircut and less like a nose job, but here we are. At 8 years, either the base juice just got overpowered by a delicious port, or the distiller found a blend that really delivered on the port at the expense of the bourbon’s natural identity. Best comparison I can think of: this whiskey feels very much like smothering bread with a really delicious cheese and then trying to judge the merits of the bread. That said, I love what they did here, because I love sangria and I love port. It is genuinely a delicious drink, and given that I paid $20 for a 375mL from an online retailer in CA, I’d never hesitate to buy this one locally on a shelf should it show up. Hell, it may be close to $15 normally. Are there more complex port finished bourbons out there? For sure. But this is a fair contribution to that whiskey space from Boondocks. However, in this blind taste test, I give the win to Breckenridge. Equally good, but more interesting. I look forward to pairing Breckenridge vs Isaac Bowman in the near future. I went back and compared this to AE (think consolation match), and AE wins decidedly. If Boondocks is normally $15-20 for a 375mL, then it has a place in the market. If they are (or will be) out there for $40 for a 750, I’d never buy another one. Worth a try, worth a buy at $15-20, but at dead last in this port-finished competition, not worth a buy at $40.

This is not for me. It's somewhat spicy and firey but not in a good way. There is an off-note acetone flavor with sour to unripe fruit flavor that dominates. It doesn't seem like this is possibly an 8 year port finished product. I just don't get this pour. I do not recommend.

Nice smooth bourbon. Has a little bit of sweetness on the finish from the port finish. Very good and I will buy again.

Nose: Vanilla, Luxardo cherries, molasses, oak. Well integrated front to back. Raw flour. Cream. Faint whisps of char. Bananas, apricots, persimmons, plums. Baked pears with cinnamon and the smallest pinch of nutmeg. Dusty corn buried deep. Palate: Vanilla, oak, molasses, and port cask - the port is on display with more of that Luxardo cherry syrupy sweetness. Apricots, persimmons, and pears coming through, with a dash of hot cinnamon now. Tannin and barrel bitter join the party. Finish starts off with plums and caramel apples with baking spices. There's definitely some rye in this mash - getting some dried basil, thyme, and dill while the denser flavors slowly evaporate. Tail end leaves some bitterness with vanilla bean ice cream, figs, and slight nuttiness. Other notes: I've always like this stuff. It's not perfect by any stretch - I'd personally love to see a longer initial maturation with maybe a touch more char on the barrels, but what's on display in this glass is quite good. Also a good example of a lower proof not being a bad thing. While this might be interesting at 100+, I don't think I'd be able to do more than a glass or two. Maybe not something I always have in my bar, but a fun one to revisit from time to time.

Light on the tongue. Hint of sweetness . Very smooth