Early Times Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

Neat. Neck pour. Immediately greeted with a dark pumpernickel bread and baking spices. Around the edges I get vanilla and caramel and cinnamon. Very light apple and cherry. Really nice and balance, no ethanol or detection of its cheapness. Creamy, light on the tongue. The notes upfront are lighter than I was expecting. Simple syrup sweetness on the tongue, gives way to the vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon. The dark notes on the nose don’t come back on the legs and leaves you with those baking spices. Slight Kentucky hug to remind you of the proof. Dries out the mouth and leaves you with more oak on subsequent sips. What an amazing value. This is good whiskey through and through. It’s creamy and light as air texture is probably my favorite and most surprising quality. The drying and bitterness that I am getting over time is the only fault.

A more muted Woodford. Much of the same flavor profile is there without the sweet presence.

Nose: caramel, root beer, chocolate, cherry Taste: really not getting much other than peanuts. Bottle was sitting in a cold car for a couple hours so that could be dulling the flavor. Finish: peanuts, pretty dry After reading reviews: I didn’t really get any of the notes listed by Distiller and couldn’t find many reviews beyond that. Really nice nose but fell flat on the palate, so I’m hoping that’s just a function of it being left in the cold and me burning my mouth earlier in the night.

Very sweet slightly leathery nose. Super sweet and oaky palate turning to maple syrup and finishing hot in the chest. Adding ice brings caramel apples and mellows the finish. Distinctly Brown Forman, reminiscent of Old Forester. I like it. $22 on sale/$27 regular for a 1L bottle, a top notch bargain if you like oaky bourbons.

BACKGROUND: Long considered a lower-shelf offering, Brown-Forman decided to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Early Times bourbon by releasing a bottled-in-bond version in 2017. It quickly became a cult favorite within the bourbon community and is routinely selected among the best products of its kind in blind tastings conducted by podcasters and YouTubers. The Early Times BiB is manufactured pursuant to the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, which was passed by the U.S. Congress (hence the "I'm Just A Bill" figure in the photo) to ensure the highest standards in whiskey production and mandates the following requirements: The bourbon must be made at a single distillery, The bourbon must be produced by one distiller in one distillation season. The bourbon must be aged for at least four years in a federally bonded and supervised warehouse. The bourbon must be bottled at 100 proof. According to the Early Times website, this BiB bourbon is made with a mash bill of 79% corn, 11% rye and 10% malted barley. The bourbon's distribution is somewhat limited, and its popularity has made it rather difficult to find, but after due diligence, I got my hands on a bottle and had the following reactions. NOSE: The Early Times BiB has a rather sweet nose with the usual bourbon scent of caramel, but there is also a definite maple syrup foundation, as well. Despite the fact that the bourbon is aged only four years, there is a strong oak presence. I also detect just a hint of straw or hay. PALATE: Much like the nose, the palate is a sweet one with the overwhelming flavors of children's cherry cough syrup and oak. Try as I might, I cannot get beyond those two predominate tastes. . .but I enjoy them. FINISH: The flavor finish is medium in length, but there is no real burn or hug despite its 100 proof. The flavors turn from very sweet in the front of the mouth to slightly bitter on the finish, but not in an unpleasant way. FINAL ASSESSMENT: The Early Times BiB is an easy sipper when consumed neat in a glencairn, but its affordable $23 (average) price for a one liter bottle won't stop you from using it in cocktails. I understand why this great value bourbon is getting more and more difficult to obtain. If it were easier to acquire in my area, I'd definitely add it to my daily drinker rotation. I give it four out of five cork pops.

NOTE: fresh cracked bottle. Will probably open up a bit once it breathes. Nose: big vanilla notes. Caramel, slight smoke, green apple. Palate: bit on the thin side, caramel apple, oak, grass. No sweetness at all. Finish: very smoke forward, slight char, very short finish. Not bad, but in the price range, there are better.