Ironroot Harbinger (115 Proof)

Decent whiskey, but a little disappointing when I had bourbon on the mind. Good nose, with strong notes of maple syrup, but the pallette and mouth feel leave much to be desired. I'm looking forward to trying longer aged whiskies from Ironroot as I'm certain this will benefit from more time in the barrel.

After sampling much better bourbons I'm bringing this one down .5 point and also will not buy again. Much better bourbons out there for the price. Notable alcohol burn after watering down to 92 proof and being open for many months.

Nose: sweet and fruity: maple, apple with cinnamon Palate: rich spicy with cinnamon and rye Finish: long cinnamon and rye with mouth dryness Edition 2019B, aged 27 months, 57.5% ABV Good to have on the shelf for the high proof and interesting flavor

Ooooh weee. That burn on the throat.

Ironroot Republic is a distillery in Denison, TX opened in 2013 by two brothers, Robert and Jonathan Likarish. The name Ironroot pays tribute to Texas "iron" grape roots that were used to save the French wine industry from an invasive insect that was killing the vines in 1800's. The brothers found it inspirational in adapting the process of distilling to unique climate of Texas instead of attempting to copy a specific flavor profile. The Likarish brothers are constantly experimenting with different barrel sizes, different barrel entry proofs, as well as using heirloom grains. Earlier releases I've seen were 18 months old and 118.5 proof. This particular bottle is aged 27 months and 115 proof. The mash bill supposedly contains 4 different types of corn, including purple and Bloody Butcher heirloom varieties, as well as rye. This is definitely not your average bourbon. While it does have some telltale notes that give away its relatively young age, it's easily forgivable due to the bomb of flavors it packs. On the nose there's maple syrup, baked cinnamon apple, toasted oak, and some ethanol burn. On the palate you get hit with molasses, cinnamon brown sugar, maple syrup, coffee, more oak, fresh cut grass notes and orchard fruit flavors. Finish is fairly long with cinnamon spice and heat, more oak, brown sugar, and grassy notes which is probably from the rye in mash bill. The mouthfeel ends very dry and tannic which is a quality I tend to pick up in whiskey aged in smaller barrels. However, I'm not certain what size of barrels are used here and it could very well be the result of Texas climate. I was told by the spirit manager at a Total Wine that this bottle will soon be extremely hard to find, not sure what that means but I'm glad I picked it up!

Been open for 4 months now and has opened to a much nicer flavor profile! Its tasty now!

Been wanting to try an Ironroot for a while, they hype on these is beyond words. Nose - Oh god....clay putty, please don't like this be another turd like Garrison Brothers! Ok a bit more nosing and there's some sweet notes, its' way better than Garrison brothers. Overall still the nose on this sucks and frankly it smells nothing like bourbon. taste - So I brought the abv way down for this review as I want to get into the notes. There's that clay funk that I get in Garrisons which is simply off putting and frankly if Texas bourbon wants to be a quality product long term they need to get rid of it. I get maple notes which is unique. some red hots, and there's a good nice sweetness. At the end of the day this tastes like younger whisky. It has off notes. It does have some redeeming quality elements. It's complex, actually really complex, and I think there's some real quality going into this one. I personally can't get past the nose or that clay flavor to give this a high score but once again I can tell they're on their way. Over priced for the flavor, absolutely. But for a startup distillery trying to find their grounds and for how unique it is, I'm pretty happy with the price. For bourbon drinkers this is a 0 out of 100. It doesn't taste like bourbon. For people who love whisky this is a 50 out of 100, it's really interesting but you'll likely not enjoy it. For whisky geeks looking to explore, this is a 75. For a distillers score I don't know. Calling it bourbon is really a problem for me as there is no bourbon note in this bottle. I don't see this going in coke well. OK I'm adding ice - the way bourbon drinkers drink their stuff normally anyway. OK I'm getting waxy corn and vanilla. This is starting to taste like bourbon. Oddly enough I don't get the oak notes of a bourbon. That's what's killing this for me. One would think massive oak in that heat but instead I don't get the oak. I think that's the issue. This isn't bourbon tasting because I don't get the first charred oak. As you can clearly tell I really want to give this a high score. I don't think that texas heat works with grain whisky. Going 1.5. There's quality here, there really is but this isn't bourbon and it isn't one I'll ever buy again. A 1.5 isn't bad though, it's a good fair score for a whisky that frankly for me isn't good but I can see the quality and realize there is a niche for this.