Boone County Eighteen 33 10 Year Sauternes Barrel Select

Rating: 16/23 I don't think I've ever tried a sauternes-finished bourbon before. In fact, I may have only previously tried one sauternes-finished dram at all. E: This is surprisingly a bit darker than Boon County Oloroso Finish. I guess oloroso isn't a dark sherry, but I'm still surprised. N: Super sweet, but still bourbon. A bit of kind of rough youthful meatiness mixes in with vegetal and kind of herbal backing. Then a big citrus smell with sugar and caramel. It's like lemon and caramel, I guess. A bit of nutty richness, as is to be expected with this kind of finishing. Fairly strong minerality. Some dry barrel spices that have a bit of nuance to them. I want to say that there is a touch of orange too. Possibly a dash of anise. P: There's a bold oakiness with lots of tannins. It kind of tastes over-oaked, but it's not so far gone that it's a big problem. Moving past that, I find a spicy bite that lacks complexity and a slightly watery minerality. But then it develops peanuts and the strong flavors start to fade into each other and rich, decadent sultanas come out. Also, the tannins aren't totally bad. Although they don't deliver a pure leather flavor, they move past the over-steeped teabag realm and land somewhere between the two. I also do gradually start to detect some more spicy nuance, with ginger and cinnamon being the most evident, though some clove definitely coming in as well. F: The sultanas from the palate grow into the dominant flavor, making this a decadent finish. Bits of wood and spice and faint herbs surround them, but it's really all about the sultanas here. - Conclusion - This doesn't totally stick the landing, but the peanut and sultana flavors, as well as the well-integrated finish, really signal to me that sauternes is a totally viable finishing option for bourbon. The more I have this, the more I appreciate this. It's kind of out there and it has its problems, but it's quite enjoyable overall. I'm finding this to be competitive with Russell's Reserve 10 (15-16/23) or slightly better. I'm thinking that this is looking like a 16, but it could be a 17. An 18 would probably be pushing it. Considering the (present but not at all excessive) amount of teabag character to the tannins, I'm thinking that this is most likely a 16. Could be a 17 though. Coming back to this, I can't imagine it being under a 15, but a 17 is a little bit of a stretch. It's not at all impossible, but this will be a low 17 if it is one. Thank you, @Milliardo , for sharing this fascinating whiskey! It was a lot of fun to try and had some really nice decadence to it.

Nose- Vanilla, a bit of cherry, and pineapple Body- Is that cherry coke? There are also notes of raisin, blackberry and red licorice. The sweet wine finish is certainly present throughout but not cloyingly so. This is a wonderfully easy sipper. There is zero backburn. None. Finish- This is weird. I’m really not sure what I am tasting. The Sauternes comes through more here and is a little bit two white wine, juicy fruity. The pineapple comes through here that I had a hint of in the nose. This is the only shortcoming for me and it is a minor one for me. This is fantastic! Slainte Milliardo! Note- Truly unlike anything that I have had before. I really want a bottle now. Sad considering how few there are.

Smooth and complex. Fruity notes with a pleasant finish. Outstanding bourbon.

To the victor goes the spoils. This match was Boone County 1833 10 year Sauternes barrel select vs Jefferson’s grand selection (Sauternes). Winner of this is my favorite Sauternes cask finish bourbon, having beaten out Amador Double Barrel and Hillrock (Sauternes). There was no point in doing this blind. I would’ve had to do this in the dark, because after having seen what this Boone County looks like in a glass, it’s just noticeably darker. Both of these also have a signature taste, so I know what to expect. Also, I’ve already tried these before in depth on distiller, so this is just an abbreviated update. For the nose, I prefer BC. To sum up each one quickly, BC is raisin/cherry, Jefferson’s is gummy bears/jelly. The body of BC is seriously good. It wins hands down. BC = sangria, Jefferson’s = more damned gummy bears/grape jelly. The finishes are similar. They both have a dry raisin sendoff, and I believe this to be an inheritance from the Sauternes. The Jefferson’s is noticeably smoother, but the BC has some extra heat and cinnamon too, which I appreciate. I’d give this to BC, but slightly less confidently than in the other two categories. Takeaway 1: Guys & gals, this Boone County finish is seriously good. As a huge fan of bourbon, I can’t think of too many bottles I’d be more excited about getting a chance to grab another of. To the best of my knowledge, there were only 61 bottles of this produced. It is phenomenal, so that is unfortunate. If you happen to find one of these is out there in the wild, you owe it to yourself to grab it. I paid $130 for this bottle. I’d pay $250 for another. In all seriousness, I’d entertain trading a Stagg for another bottle of this. It’s truly special. Takeaway 2: I don’t get Jefferson’s. They definitely have a signature juice profile, I just don’t understand why they went with it. It’s definitely not my bag, but if you’re into the Jefferson’s flavor profile, I think you should grab this bottle. The Sauternes finish amplifies that signature Jefferson’s profile, which could be a good thing for some of you, but IMO when matched against something as stellar as this BC, its flaws become that much more conspicuous. —— Current results: Sherry Champion - WT Revival Sauternes Champion - BC 1833 10 year I think I’ll finish up the port bracket next.

This year for the holidays I’m going to try a brand new whiskey every day in December. #lifegoals Dec. 18 To my knowledge, this was a one time release back in 2017 that is no longer available. I paid $130, originally on sale at distillery for $85. You know how it goes. According to their announcement flyer, some ghosts took only 61 bottles worth of ten-year-old “Eighteen 33,” a name choice that has always bothered me in some deep but unknown way, and finished the batch in a Tonnellerie Sauternes wine barrel. I don’t know enough about wine for that to mean much, other than it’s a sweet white. Additionally, I’ve never had Boone County juice before, and I don’t understand the ghosts bit. Like at all. Only leg-up I have here is a decent exposure to barrel-finished bourbon, and as someone who is generally pro-barrel finishes when used as additional options from a given distillery (read: not the ONLY output of a given distillery, wagging my finger at you Angel’s Envy), I’m very excited to try this little guy. For a white wine finish, this drink is absurdly dark. It looks a lot like AE in color. I get a heavy load of raisin on the nose. Reminds me of Balvenie, but with the astringency of a higher-proof bourbon. There’s some vanilla and sugar there as well, but overall, raisin wins. It’s pretty interesting. I love it when there’s this much stuff going on in a body, regardless of how I feel about all the flavors. This one is very busy. The most obvious flavor is sweet wine. Fair amount of dust, oak, raisin. Cane sugar and citrus fade in and out around the more powerful wine flavor. It’s sweet and dry, and it’s actually quite good. Finish carries off with raisin, orange, and a bit of cinnamon. Very low heat, very dry, still sweet. This drink makes me very curious about the underlying bourbon. I don’t know what the ghosts are doing, but so far I’m a fan. If I had to guess, I’d say the standard 1833 is reminiscent of Wild Turkey juice, and the Sauternes does the rest. By WT juice, I mean I could see this fitting in with the 80/101/KY Spirit portfolio, not the Russels Reserve one. As a sincere WT fan, I mean that as a compliment. In 10 years, BC has accomplished some stuff I generally don’t expect until 15+ years, and them ghosts deserve a pat on the back. I still really want to know wtf is going on with the ghosts bit. Seriously. And yes, I do intend to start a resistance that henceforth calls this bourbon “1833.” I’ll be accepting applications for community organizers beginning March 2020. Edit: I just read a great review that explained the ghosts thing. So just go back and manually change all my consternation to mad respect. Edit 2: I just found out the ghost thing is explained in full on the label. You might be wondering if Milliardo is just a lazy drunkard. In my defense, the bottle is currently down a flight of steps. So yes. ‘Tis the season. I don’t know if I actually have 13 more new whiskeys lined up, so if you’re reading this and there’s something readily available out there you’d like me to enjoy/suffer through this holiday season, leave it in the comments. Don’t say WLW.