Johnny Drum Private Stock Bourbon

Rating: 13/23 N: Kind of rich with some fruit in the apricot or tangerine range, sweet wood, a dash of corn, and a little bit of funk turning into minerals. It smells modestly mature and complex - maybe 4 to 6 years old. I like the nose, but it's nothing too exciting. P: Lighter than expected. It's sweet with a vanilla character and there's a big layer of spice (white pepper, mainly) that brings in some harshness. In terms of fruit, I do get a hint of apricot and I might even get a fainter hint of rose too. Some wood does gradually start coming through to build out the richness and add a bit of bitterness. There's a dash of oiliness too and a faint hint of peanut. The profile is decently full. I keep wanting to say that I taste caramel, but that flavor doesn't really come through. F: The vanilla flavor becomes more bitter as some oversteeped teabag notes come out of the wood. Some of the spice flavors remain, but the harshness disappears and so does the sweetness. - Conclusion - I really wanted this to be a hidden gem. Having tried it though, I can't help but feel that it's not terribly complex and has a somewhat unbalanced profile with not a ton going on. It isn't bad and its maturity compares favorably with that of Buffalo Trace and could even be on par with Old Tub, but neither of those comparisons are super flattering. My impression is roughly that this is better than Buffalo Trace, but worse than Old Tub. So I think I'm looking at a 13 here. I might go as high as a 14 though since this is closer in quality to Old Tub than it is to Buffalo Trace. This might be a 14, but I'm going with 13. It's not very interesting and isn't good value for the money, so I'll be passing in the future.

Odd. Black tea on the nose. Oak, lots of leather and sugar on the palate. We’ll see how this develops with some air and ice

Kind if watered down mouthfeel compared to Evan Williams BIB.

Sweet, almost like cough syrup on the aftertaste