Bull Run American Whiskey 12 Year Pinot Noir Finish

Pinot made for nice sweetness. Cool unique bottle.

Berries up front from the wine cast strong finish needs a drop of distilled water to open up and get past the alcohol content. Had to learn how to enjoy this,

Neat. Neck pour. About two months ago I won a Bull Run Cab finished from Nasa Liquors called “Mars Attack!” Coolest stick, it looks like one of the hologram cards I would collect as a kid. This is the next in the series - this time finished in Pinot and called “Earth Fights Back.” The neck pour of the Cab didn’t blow me a away, but I couldn’t resist this just for the sticker. It’s a cool sticker, don’t judge. One thing I learned since the last tasting is that this is 12 year MGP aged in used barrels. So that is good context going in. Okay, right off the nose this is striking me better than the Cab. The wine influence is tremendous but balance. Strikes me more as a dessert wine due to the immense amount of sweetness surrounding everything. Getting many characteristics of creme brûlée on this. Not just a charred caramel, but the vanilla pudding underneath and even some raspberry jam on top. It’s interesting how bright the nose it. I was expecting darker leaning notes. Mmm, nice and creamy. I feel like the last couple whiskeys I have sat down with were a bit thin. Nice to enjoy the thick coating mouth feel here. Flavor bomb right off the bat, overwhelmed with grape and sweetness. Transitions straight in the creme brûlée experience with the charred caramel and vanilla pudding. I’ll even add in the little waffle cookie to complete the dish. Then the finish caps it off with the wine as if I am washing the dessert down. Geez, this is great! I will need to go back to the Cab finished one now. Top of mind, I like the Pinot finished better. This is a great finished Whiskey because the finishing so perfectly complements the whiskey. It takes you on such a nice, complete ride. Well done NASA and Bullrun.

Nose is MGP, and oak, definitely smell the age, then comes the Pinot. Taste is more oak, baking spice, tobacco, and dry Pinot. The finish is where the Pinot hangs around the most. I preferred it when I just got a hint on the nose and early when drinking. Still pretty good and definitely interesting.

Drinking this neat. Okay, so I bought this bottle last year before I knew anything much about bourbon makers and collector bottles and pretty much instantly wrote it off. It was an impulse buy at the time but little did I know a year later what was sitting on my shelf. When I realize I had 12 yr MGP, I got pretty excited to try it again! But alas, even though my knowledge changed, my pallet stayed true. The finish in Pinot noir barrels did something to the 12 yr, but I’ll do my best to sum it up. You get the caramel, vanilla, and oak as you might expect with MGP, however the oak is over powering. Finish is weaker than expect but the saving grace is a nice tobacco tone. What I’m not a huge fan of is the oak and there is an artificial flavor in there that comes off like fungus which doesn’t jive right for the aforementioned profile.. may be more a personal preference. Product of the finish? Probably. It was a fun buy and an even more fun story when my Cousin saw this sitting on my shelf. I told him I’d save the rest for him.

Fantastic!