Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Single Barrel Bourbon

Nose has some honey, almond, and pear. Palette is sweet with some banana and brown sugar notes. Roll it around a bit and some black pepper and cinnamon come through. Heat but not a burn on the finish. Enjoyable. Tasty.

Trying three Single Barrels, from 2015-17, and comparing to the Small Batch. In short, I liked the B17 the most, but if I were going to buy one and knew how it would taste, I would go for the B16 bottle I had. But ultimately, the Small Batch is great and certainly a better value than the Single Barrels. As we know, single barrel offerings vary, so here, I do think think the year matters as much, I probably could have gotten 3 from the same year and still had the variation. Good stuff, absolutely, but for my money the Small Batch stands strong. B15. Smells great, like good bourbon, but nothing different. Just solid. Taste is similar to the Small Batch, but not as sweet and this barrel has a strong damp wood taste at the end, and a bit more bitterness. Not bad, but I wouldn't reach for this, would rather have the Small Batch. B16. Smells like paper, softer than the B15. Sweet tones. But doesn't taste as sweet. Feels a bit like soda. Has more rye floral notes, a bit thinner than the B15 bottle. Some vanilla, some cough syrup. But pleasant. B17. Often three, the most similar nose to the Small Batch. The palate is also the most similar to the Small Batch. Maybe a but thinner, slightly more bitterness. 9/25/17 I had a different bottling of the B16. It was much better than the other ones, more flavorful and vibrant. I would give it a 4 rating. Shows the inherent variability when dealing with single barrels. This is a good product, but given the variability I think I like the safety of the Small Batch at a better price. 11/14/17