Evan Williams White Label Bottled in Bond Bourbon

Solid value pick

Good EV

Not a huge fan personally. Has a very oaky taste to me a bit heavy for my pallet

In searching for the mash bill on this whisky, I found two. The most common was 78% corn, 12% rye, and 10% barley; the other was 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% barley. I presume the one that came up most often is the correct one - but it may be that at some point Heaven Hill changed the mash bill a bit, though none of the differences are major. A fifth cost me $19.99 at Kelly Liquors here in Albuquerque - the Mountain Run store, specifically. There's no age statement, though since it's a bonded whisky it's at least four years old; the bonded status also means it's 100 proof. The color in the glass is copper gold. NOSE: The first note I got was just something metallic. Then it smelled hot, which I don't believe the nose has ever given me - of course when I stick my nose in too far and sniff too vigorously I get a scorch, but even gently nosing it this whisky smelled hot. Then I got some sort of sour grain, a musty note, corn pops, vanilla, acetone (an odor I like), and malted milk. MOUTHFEEL: Smooth and viscous. TASTE: It was indeed hot, hotter than I've come to expect from a 100 proof whisky. But there were also notes of caramel, malted milk, clover honey, strawberries, and milk chocolate. FINISH: Oak, honey, and red pepper, with a medium length. SUMMARY: I'm glad I've adopted the practice of not reviewing a whisky till the second glass at least, because my first glass of this was a bit disappointing. But on this second glass, it was considerably better than I expected. It's not a terribly complex whisky, but it's not bad at all, especially when you consider it's a $20 bottle. RATING: Good, which equates to 3.125 stars, or 62.5/100, or 6.25/10.