Hillrock Solera Aged Bourbon

Tasted OK but couldn’t get past the smell of nail polish remover.

Disclaimer: Based on the official review, I do not believe this is the correct bottle, but I am unsure. My bottle looks identical to this one, and there is a label that states it was finished in sherry casks. However, written by hand on “barrel no:” is “Sauternes-23”. Not a wine guy, but I’m pretty sure Sauternes does not equal sherry. This bottle was marketed to me as a Sauternes finish, and after having a handful of these, I am convinced this is in fact a Sauternes and not a sherry influence in my mouth hole. End disclaimer. Hillrock versus Boone County 1833. Sauternes Cask Finish Bracket. Winner to face Jefferson’s. Full competition recap: In Sherry finish bracket, Wild Turkey Revival beat out Joseph Magnus, Noble Oak, and Rabbit Hole to be in the final 5. Port, Rum, and Red Wine brackets still TBD. I literally had to turn down the lights to do this blind taste test. There’s a drastic difference in color between BC and Hillrock, Hillrock being more in line with the other Sauternes cask finishes I’ve tried. Flavor-wise, it wasn’t hard to pick out BC. That is one delicious cask finish. Ultimately, BC had more to offer, and progressed on to the next round. Hillrock needs some work, to be sure. The nose on Hillrock does not give away its cask finish. It’s very plain, and I mean that is a bad way. I did not come here to drink a plain bourbon. Where did the Sauternes go? For lack of better descriptors, Hillrock smells like young whiskey. There’s an industrial smell (I’ll go with rubber gloves tonight) that is reminiscent of the Journeyman line. I didn’t know what Solera aging meant, so I looked it up. Now this nose makes sense. It’s not as harsh as a lot of young whiskies, because it’s mixed with sourced MGP. In my opinion, that’s kind of like pissing in lemonade and trying to take credit for how sweet your piss tastes. There’s a hint of raisin behind the industrial scent, but it’s almost impossible to suss out. Body hits smoothly, before the harshness sets in. That first hit is the only place you’re going to find your Sauternes influence. There green grapes, sugar, raisin, and vanilla. It’s a nice touch that, unfortunately, is far too fleeting. Finish hits early with the harsh, acidic bite of a young whiskey. It’s hard to get much in the way of flavor, because I’m honestly more in survival mode. If I had to toss out something, I’d say licorice and tea leaves. But then something awesome happens. The harshness fades away, and on your molars and sides of mouth, a pure sweetness comes back. I get tangerine, lemon, cane sugar, and more grapes. So the Sauternes was there after all, amidst the harshness introduced by the Solera “aging” process. Not of fan of that on principle, but I understand the practical value there. This entry wasn’t enough to make me never try Hillrock again, and for young whiskey, I think they’ve accomplished something far better than Journeymen, Cleveland, and many of the other young distilleries that charge you three times the cost of a WT101 for an inferior product. I will likely let Hillrock earn it’s stripes on someone else’s tongue, and check back when they’ve switched to actually aging, the good old fashioned way. Will not rebuy at this time.