Remus Repeal Reserve Series V (2021 Medley)

The oldest....? Remus yet! A blend of 2005-2008 laid barrels and bottled in 2021, from the undisputed best distillery in America, MGP. Nose - My first though is that it's a bit muted. There's a waxy oily and very sweet note here, with caramel and apple sweetness. And then you get some of those distinct MGP rye notes. It's wonderful MGP goodness but it's a bit closed off as if the oils from the sweetness are holding it back. What I'm not really finding here are older MGP bourbon notes. Actually, going to pour a 14 year pick to compare. I'll do a side by side to end this. Anyway sweet and almost classic remus notes with a bit of butter and oily notes that kinda bring it together but mute it a bit. Still really nice mix of candies and fruits and vanillas and caramels and spiced baked goods. Maybe some apple and dates and even maybe a dry leather touch there at the end. There is age here but I guess I was hoping for more of an evolution and it isn't that. Water - brings out more spice and makes thins bolder but not really better or worse. I am getting this now lemon meringue meets crème brulee Taste - Just like the nose there's a muted upfront flavor here. It's oily and waxy and a bit buttery....and THEN you start to get flavor. The sweetness up front is just oddly tame and dulled. Vanilla, generic pie filling, cinnamon forward pie crust, good bit of rye spice, nutty elements (almonds?), touch of toffee, touch of leather, dusty books and that's about it. It doesn't get into the heavy oak elements at all. Water - ok water opens it up and adds some more sweet up front, it also brings more spice, it also kinda killed the mouth feel as the 100 proof didn't actually have much room. The overall experience now oddly feels lighter and thinner but I'm actually getting an alcohol kick at the end and it's much more fruit. I'm completely at a loss for what's going on with water. OK so the vs. I'm using a boone county 14 year store pick that wasn't well regarded but it was a 14 year store pick at CS and it was still good. The 14 year is this vanilla bomb vs this. Just glorious nose and as you dig in you get that rye apple note I got on the remus and some lovely vanilla oil soaked leather. It might even have some krispy creme custard filling going on. On the taste you get serious oak and distinct oak, it's in contrast to that big vanilla bomb nose, but it's also met with good rye and bourbon elements. So 90 dollar vs 250 dollar bottles are never really fair, but the 14 single is distinctly older bourbon in profile while honestly this blend is at worst just under 13 years old with bourbons much older than 14 in it (33%). But does that matter? i've added water to the CS 14 and I've mixed them up and frankly, I think I know which is which but with water...I'm struggling to honestly be sure and the reason is that they both finish so similarly with bold spice and with water a good oak element. Extremely rich and complex finishes on both. I scored this boone county a 2.75 but that was reviewed September 17th 2019, same bottle almost 2 years open and this is about the last pour before the bottle kill. I think it's grown up a bit and improved (I just re-read my review and I think I'd adjust a few comments about youth to say sharp oak, but distinctly older whisky oak and I'm not sure if that was the result of oxidation or 2 years of refining my bourbon and scotch drinking). Bottom line, I think I was being overly critical with that score and that was earlier on in my attempts to get a feel for scoring. I've scored the other remus bottles in the 3.25 and 3.5 range. So I don't have a remus III to compare this to....opened. I did however finish that bottle just a week ago, shoulda saved some for this but man that was a nice night just going through 3 oz of that amazing bottle. Wait...I don't have a back up...umm ISO? Crap! This I have to say does have elements of older whisky, but it isn't as vibrant as that III was. I'm not sure what is holding this one back as I don't think it's that they used older whisky, it's just they hit magic with that one. OK final science check is remus IV vs the V and the V is just better. Four is more spice and brings in mint and has some alcohol bite right off the bat. It's lacking that sweet and creamy element. I think I'm just giving a bourbon bias score but 3.5, same as the 3 for me, but the 3 is better. So either I lower the 4's score (maybe the right thing to do) or I give this a 3.5. Going back to the 4, actually that's going down. This is a 3.25. It's really good, but not great. At 90 bucks it's an easy buy, I'd buy up to 150.

Wow best one yet

Nice spice. Chocolate almond, butterscotch and sweet oak.

Chocolate chip pancakes with berries and a little maple syrup. Rye spice finish and the berries come back at the very end. On second pour get same notes with a bit more spice coming through. Gonna try and score a back up bottle.

Blueberry cobbler, lemon zest, vanilla essence on the nose. On the palate blueberry, grapefruit, raw brown sugar, oak.

blueberry nose, grapefruit, vanilla, maple, molasses, oak