Breckenridge Distillers High Proof Blend

Strong caramel notes on the nose, very smooth with burnt vanilla finish.

NOTE: I did not drink this, I drank the Reserve Blend”. Placing the review here because the Reserve Blend wasn’t available on the app. If I could give a brand new drinker a bourbon to sample, this might be it. It had a nice round flavor profile and tasted like corn bread. Easy finish.

American whiskey tasting evening, Sydney, 21 September 18. Whiskey #3 Nose: Oak, caramel toffee, treacle, raisins, soft musk – a powerfully hefty and fragrant nose. There’s a thread of resinous honey that keeps surfacing and just a hint of wintergreen. Very nice. Palate: A warm, sweet and spicy arrival that has a powerful heat from the spices, tannins and alcohol. However, it never veers towards being burning. As it develops, a lot of deep fruity flavours appear – plums, dates, raisins and currents – and a nice vanilla note becomes apparent. The addition of water brings out some orange but also makes the palate a little flat. The high proof is carrying all the flavor and once it is diluted even a little it loses its punch. Not that the flavor changes that much, it just loses heft, and you miss it. I recommend taking this one neat. Finish: Medium/long. There is a rich but soft sweet-spice character that slowly fades away. This is a well-made, pleasant whiskey. I’m not exactly sure what “blended” means in this case, but I believe it is a re-racked bourbon finished in port casks, and you can certainly sense the presence of a wine cask at play. There is a buttery, fruity quality to it and it is very smooth, but certainly not lacking character. This particular whiskey was not available for purchase on the night as the bottle was donated by a friend of the tasting presenter. It seems to sell for around US$60 which means it would probably be about AUS$120 and at that price it is OK value, but outclassed by other similarly priced bourbons. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)