Rabbit Hole Cavehill Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Sometimes we drink whiskey to taste whiskey, and sometimes we drink whiskey for other reasons. You know the reasons. I opened this bottle on a day where I did not care to notice whether the flavor on the front of my tongue differed when holding this juice against the roof of my mouth. I did not care if water or ice made any pleasant changes to the finish. In short: I did not give this bottle the respect it deserved. I did not like this whiskey, and at the time I was a pretty big fan of Rabbit Hole. Heigold was impressive, Boxergrail was a solid rye, and Daringer was good, although not even top 5 in the sherry-finished space from a “bang for your buck” perspective. Nonetheless, I labeled this product as “whiskey to drink after I’ve had a few.” It wasn’t until today, near the bottle’s end, that I gave it a true chance. It’s delicious. Nose is sugar, leather, cedar, blackberries. Grape jam. Body is raspberry, jam, sugar, caramel apples, tea leaves. Finish is cinnamon, praline, more caramel apples. This is lovely, and I regret that I did not give this the time it deserved. My only guess to how this misconception happened is that this whiskey is very flavor dense. I genuinely get all those flavors, and I often don’t detect that much variance on a single pour. I can definitely see how drinking this quickly and recklessly could make you merge a lot of these flavors into a palate that occupies the “generic bourbon” zone. I have learned my lesson, and will be sipping the rest of this bottle slowly and respectfully.

Dusty corn and apples. Palate is soft and coating. Browned cornbread. Surprising spice for no rye. Fleeting finish.

Rating: 10/23 I've heard good things about Rabbit Hole, but I've never tried any of their offerings. This seems like an interesting one seeing as it's a four grain with malted wheat and 2 variations on barley making up the 3 grains that aren't corn. N: Uh oh. This smells light and very young. There's sort of a green grassy tartness (is there really no rye?) along with some honey. I get a faint dustiness, but also a blast of alcohol and a little meatiness. Eventually a bit of apple emerges. Compared with Buffalo Trace, this is less rich and mature without being obviously more complex. Wild Turkey 101 is certainly more complex than this is. P: Light with a heck of a burn! I get some of that grassiness mixed with a lot of sweet grains and some burning spices. That grassiness quickly dissolves into an herbal character that is largely mint. Out of the spices, I get white pepper, ginger, and clove. No sweet cinnamon here. Deep underneath it all, there's some rich, slightly bitter vanilla, but there isn't much of it. A bit harsh, though not overwhelmingly so. There's some light honey sweetness, richness and bitterness at points. I really do taste the bitterness from the alcohol in here. There's apple and also a light orange zest here and there. Sadly, I really don't get that dustiness from the nose. F: The finish is actually where this dram shines the brightest. It gets richer and that honeyed flavor stands out a but more. - Conclusion - Reading the back of the bottle, I now see that this is only 2 years old. I didn't think that it was going to be very old, but prior to opening the bottle, I would have guessed 3 at the absolutely lowest, but more likely 4 to 6. Unfortunately, I don't see what appeals to people in this bottle. It's a young bourbon that isn't smooth, complex, or rich. I would take Buffalo Trace any day of the week and I'm not even a fan of it. Wild Turkey 101 has a more robust and complex flavor. It's more bitter, but it's also fuller and more enjoyable. Even putting this side by side with Proper No. Twelve, which I thought tasted quite young, this tastes more youthful. Tragically, I don't see how this could be better than an 11, seeing as that's what I gave Buffalo Trace, which is clearly superior. This is more in the ballpark of Proper No. Twelve (9). An 8 is vaguely plausible, but not too likely. I'm currently thinking of a 10. It never crossed my mind that Rabbit Hole might be such a bad bourbon. What an utter disappointment.

Harsh and Spicy at beginning, but after the initial shock I found it nice and easier sipping. Drank on the Rocks.

Neat..sweet fruit aroma, vanilla, toasted. Longer finish.