Davidson Reserve Four Grain Tennessee Bourbon

Batch #009 Bottle #1391 Aged at least 3 years 100 proof / 50% ABV Only a slightly incorrect posting here, score. Given to me as a gift, thank you, Jeromy. I promised to be unbiased and honest with my review as always, and with a young rye/wheat amalgam bourbon from Tennessee, this isn't off to a great start. I absolutely pray this was not charcoal filtered, as so many Tennessee whiskeys are, but since tiny craft distilleries hate giving up information about their products, we'll never know. This also gives us other sins in the form of unknown mash bill percentages and, worse of all, the bleakly hopeful "at least" aging statement. Anyway, with that out of the way, I do love free whiskey, so this is bound to still be an enjoyable tasting. The color is surprisingly very dark for only 3 years old, which is hopeful in the front of being unfiltered or non-chill filtered. There's only one thing I hate more than wheated bourbon, and that's bourbon with wheat AND rye added, as if the distillers didn't know what they wanted to make. Even without the mash bill percentages, there's no way either of these grains are present enough to cut through the corn, which is why the nose is all over the place. I definitely smell sweet corn, almost sickly sweet, with some cinnamon from the rye and some candy from the wheat. It seems balanced at first, but there's far too much fighting for attention, and then there's what I swear is the familiar scent of tang that comes from charcoal filtering, but again, it's hard to distinguish. Honestly, 3 years isn't as young as most craft American whiskeys are today, but the intense raw grain flavor I get up front tells me the age didn't do very much of anything here. From beginning to end, there's a metallic note that I swear is from charcoal, but this is far more intense, like I'm drinking this over rocks of grill briquettes. If this were a standard American whiskey with charcoal filtering disclosed on the label, this flavor, along with a decent ethanol for only 100 proof, would actually be quite enjoyable. But because it's a bourbon with wheat and rye, this flavor is very much out of place. As mentioned before, however, the proof is quite enjoyable, both strengthening the flavors present, and also helping this avoid an even deeper disappointment that would be watery, 80 proof whiskey. The rye is not tasted among the mess, but does stick in the gums a fair amount. After a burp, I realize the corn is also sticking out well, but is still too raw, and definitely needs more barrel time. The finish is hot (good), but also very sticky (bad, in this case), and elicits a face of regret-adjacent after each sip. Today, the sport of the review won out with it's unwavering honesty, as I would not dare waste my own time and rate this anything other than what I believe. Since I have not seen this in any stores, it's likely that this is a very small distillery that either does not distribute or only does so very little. Then I did a little research on them, and it actually appears like they offer quite a few products, which means they should be smart enough to avoid poor choices that lead to this bottle. However, I also realize that this could have easily been a fun experiment before they ever even had a DSP number, and this one just didn't happen to work out, as the fate of experiments very well succumb to sometimes. Normally I am an advocate for just keeping that stuff in the barrel LONGER, but nobody listens, and wants to make a quick buck. With the potent flavors that do not mesh together in this "four grain," however, I say it's probably a good idea to sell as many barrels and bottles of this as you can right now, because I don't predict this surprising anyone later down the road.