Kings County Bourbon (Discontinued)

Sweet up front. Cinnamon. Strong. Maybe a little apple.

Nothing too special, here. A decent bourbon; probably wouldn’t buy again at the price.

Rating: 13/23 N: I get sawdust. It's lightly sweet with a hint of shaved chocolate. A little bit of the grain comes through. This reminds me a bit of Garrison Brothers Single Barrel Cask Strength, but a lot lighter, less rich, less sweet, and with more of a bitter. There is a little bit of fresh and maybe toasted graininess to this too. It has a bolder, woodier scent than Elijah Craig Small Batch (which also has a bit of teabag character to it). There's surprisingly little spice here and no fruit whatsoever. P: Sawdust, with sort of a corn sweetness (though it isn't terribly sweet). Some minerals. I get a fair impression of the raw alcohol here, suggesting little aging. It's fairly dusty and quite tannic. It isn't terribly harsh, but it does kind of numb my tongue and I do get a bit of a burn without a whole lot of discernible spices (though maybe there's some allspice and cinnamon). I eventually get a bit of chocolate, sort of more like cacao nibs though. It tastes a lot like knock-off Garrison Brothers. It also reminds me of some of my experiments with aging bourbon where I left wood chips in the bourbon for too long. F: The bitterness increases as the sawdust and especially teabags become more pronounced. This isn't a great finish, but honestly I can't imagine what it would need to be like to really make this particular palate work through to the end. - Conclusion - I kind of like the style here. The Garrison Brothers sawdust style isn't really my favorite, but it's fun now and then. During the palate, I thought that this had a pretty good shot at a 14. When the finish hit though and the tannins took over, it lost me. This is also (I presume) a sweet mash bourbon, which is often not what one would be looking for. Thinking back on what all I've given 12s, that seems too low for this. I think it's pushing up against 14 quality, but is probably stuck at 13.

Very smooth and sweet. It has a citrus taste at the beginning and a slight smokiness on the back end. Very solid overall