Rating: 18/23
I had this back near the beginning of my whiskey journey and found it to be OK, but not that exciting. I keep hearing amazing things about it, so I figured I'd get a bottle and give it another chance.
N: Spicy wood. Then some tartness leading into a hint of green banana and a little melon. The ethanol does come out, but it seems acceptable given the proof. Gradually, I get very faint chocolate notes. Mostly, it's tart, spicy wood. Oh, there's definitely a bit waft of vanilla in here too.
P: Spices (cinnamon with a bit of ginger, clove, and black pepper) lead into wood, but there's a spoonful of brown sugar on top of all of that. A bit of slightly underripe banana is the direction that the fruit goes in here. There is sort of a restraining tartness, but it's not really fruity. Then some smooth vanilla rolls through at points.
This makes me think a lot of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof. Less absolutely overflowing with flavor and less viscous, but still fairly well packed to the brim. Spicy, brown sugar, bananas. Less of that oily fusel funk, but really good.
F: Spicy, woody. More bitter than the palate. Some vanilla and banana come through. More pepper comes through in the spice now, as well as a little more clove.
- Conclusion -
This seems midway between the Maker's Mark Cask Strength (15/23) and Chattanooga 111 (14/23) group and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof (21-22/23). Maybe it's closer to the Jack Daniel's. I'm looking at an 18 or 19. This is very competitive with Wild Turkey Rare Breed (18-19/23).
Compared with the Jack Daniel's, this is light with floral minerality. The Jack Daniel's just blows this out of the water. This is still very competitive with Wild Turkey Rare Breed, but I am leaning slightly in favor of the Wild Turkey. I am also though inclined to place this a hair ahead of my bottle of Resilient 15 (18/23). Maybe.
After much side-by-siding, I'm going with an 18. Perhaps time and air will increase this rating, though this bottle has had over a month with decent air already.
48.0
USD
per
Bottle