Horse Soldier Reserve Barrel Strength Bourbon

Brown Sugar Vanilla Plumb Butterscotch

This bourbon is a pleasure to drink neat or accompanied with a small cube. A fully proofed-robust nose is followed by a spicy and toasty finish. Too proud to be a mixer, this bourbon is an excellent sip over a war story.

The Horse Soldier line needs to be addressed by the moderators. There are three current offerings; straight, small batch, and single barrel. This is in reference to the Small Batch. There is a separate listing on Distiller for Single Barrel. Small Batch is 47.5 ABV or 95 proof. Putting aside marketing stories and concentrating on the contents, this is an average pour. I keep trying to get excited about it. Today's tasting is with a single large cube in a rocks glass. Even chilled and diluted it's obvious this is a young bourbon. The nose is more sophisticated than Very Old Barton BiB, but a step down from Knob Creek or WT 101. This tastes like a high rye whiskey and with a 60/30/10 mash bill, it is. This reminds me a lot of Old Grand Dad (which I like a lot). All told, this is a bit brash, young and hot but it has a good taste foundation. I'm sure a little more age will elevate it, as will an NCF Single Barrel at full proof. But... This doesn't work on the taste-value matrix. This tastes like an okay $30 bottle, but it sells for more than double that. There is NO WAY I'm selecting this over a KC single barrel at under $50, or OGD114 under $40, or any number of others. Hard pass on another bottle... Maybe have other expressions at a bar, but I don't see Small Batch in my rotation.

This whiskey pours a light amber and shows thin sheeting with quick, thin legs on the swirl. The nose offers up fresh cut wood, slight vanilla and ethanol notes. The flavor is thin, subtle and grain & wood oriented. There's not a lot of fruit, sweetness, or complexity. It's actually kind of boring.