Down Home 12 Year Batch 2

Peanut shell on the nose. Flambeed banana, honey, vanilla. The palate is much richer than the nose suggests to me. More along the lines of peanut brittle. Flambeed banana with caramel sauce. Orange peel, then cherry. Some nice oaky notes on the back end. Tobacco. Another thank you to @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington for the sample.

Continuing my little blind series is sample 3 that @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington was very generous to provide. The nose is rich with bold flavors starting vanilla cream cheese frosting, pancakes cooked in bacon drippings and freshly lit pipe tobacco then dark chocolate covered toasted marshmallow, pecans and honeysuckle followed by caramelized bananas, poached pears and mandarin orange that transitions to anise, spearmint and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The taste is a medium to full mouthfeel starting with sweet with fried banana, vanilla creme brûlée and freshly lit pipe tobacco before a moderate spice that slowly fades to dark chocolate covered candied pecans, toasted marshmallow and honeysuckle followed by sautéed apples, maraschino cherries and charred orange peel that transitions to anise, spearmint and polished mahogany with high ethanol burn. The finish is medium length with caramelized apples, orange zest, sweet pipe tobacco, anise, spearmint, leather and polished mahogany. This is likely a high proof bourbon that the flavors are rich and decadent with those traditional flavors coming through with a creamy sweetness with well-aged oak that provides polished oak and tobacco that runs throughout the experience along with light florals and mild rye spice. So, what is this tasty mystery bourbon……... Down Home 12-year Batch 2. Well, that’s a new brand that I’ve never heard of before, but they seem to know what they are doing and I’ll have to keep an eye out for any of their future releases. Thanks so much for sharing this one Lex as I doubt I ever would have known about this brand otherwise and I look forward to finding out what the next surprise will be.

I’m a huge fan of trying samples blind. You really rate things without a predefined bias. The last blind sample I had turned out to be an amazing Brora which was probably my pour of the year. This blind sample was courtesy of @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington , who sent over a generous pour. All that was mentioned on the vial was 133%, so knowing that, I had to dilute it a teaspoon of water. The color is mahogany, getting whiffs of oak and vanilla. Clearly a bourbon…and with some heft. Palette is classic bourbon…vanilla, oak, spice. Orange slices. This is as classic as you can get. It doesn’t have the weight of a Cowboy, Balcones or Booker’s, I’m guessing ECBP or a good quality MGP with some bravissimo craft label like “Young Guns” or “45mm”…something machismo. There’s a strong elegance to it too. Which makes me think 8 years at least. So…rules out Booker’s, Cowboy, or Balcones. I’m guessing ECBP. Really liking this——Okay…peeling back the label to see the sample… Down Home 12. Never heard of it…but it’s damn good quality if you like classic flavors. Thanks for the pour @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington !!

I’ll take shit I paid $120 for and don’t know much about Alex. Well, I believe it is MGP. How many barrels - I don’t know. How many bottles - I don’t know. What I do know is that I found it after a year of looking for it. The color is an orange-amber. The nose starts with vanilla frosting and then what I remember of the scent of my grandfathers pipe bowl - wood, smoke, tobacco. A little banana, a little cola. A little ethanol. A little anise or caraway. Medium, silky body that rolls in slowly with building but un-intrusive heat. A wave a sweet, woody vanilla rolls across the tongue. The anise anise and caraway are well balanced by rich sweetness and then into the sunset the spice and sweetness rejoin an earthy tobacco. For what it’s worth: 1) this is the initial neck pour, 2) I just downed 4 assorted street tacos, 3) I’m surrounded by the noise of my kids playing and collegiate basketball on TV. Do I like this? Yes, quite a bit. I would take this over many many things. That said, it’s not far from Remus reserve III (also 12y MGP but a few proof lower), Bardstown Discovery 3 (simile proof, $10-20 more), WT rare breed or a Larceny BP (neither MGP and both around $50-60) in my book. This has a bit more earth and vanilla frosting, less in your face spice than Remus or LBP, less powdered sugar than Bardstown and less fruit than Rare Breed. If you are longing for this but can’t find it then you will be happy in the company of those mentioned above. If you have more money or lust for bourbon than you can handle then find this. Cheers all. I’m gonna go peel my kids apart before they murder each other. ————— Visit #2 - that well seasoned pipe on the nose is lovely. Earthy tobacco, wood, perhaps a bit of amaretto. The tobacco and earth forward palate lands with soft heat, bit if dill, wood and then a chalky, tannic finish. So much tobacco. There aren’t as many sweet elements as I would like (thinking the strong vanilla kick of ECBP). Still, well worth the price paid for my likings. I’m a sucker for pipe tobacco and MGP.

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Shocked I'm not just the first review on batch 1 but on batch 2 and nobody has reviewed the younger batches. So....this is going to be a crazy review. Just get ready. Nose - intense! There is a lot of alcohol on this massive CS bourbon. It's sweet, fruity, rich, dark, and has some hints of chocolate. Taste - Rich and intense, drying, just a flavor bomb. You get a this amazing and layered caramel and fruits. Some dark chocolate. Some bitter oak, then some spice, then back to fruity characters. The finish is medium to long with all kinds of just over the top flavors. Yet there are smooth and subtle flavor, it's like you get a stream of sugary sweet notes under all the powerful alcohol and other notes. So I feel an obligation to bring this one way down in abv to see what I get. So my glass now smells like watered down buffalo trace almost, I added a LOT of water. So there's some bitter notes here. It's now giving me a bit of nutty flavor. it's got a lot of good bourbon notes. Clearly don't do this to your bourbon, 30% bourbon is stupid, but I wanted to bring this down to see what was there. It loses the sweetness which is funny, but now it's just filled with all kinds of cool bourbon elements. Anyway I'm going 3.75 and I'll be coming back to this as I bought 3 bottles. This has serious bourbon of the year potential if king of kentucky doesn't just blow me away again. A bit more harsh and unrefined than a btac but there's as much flavor and complexity.