The Gifted Horse American Whiskey

Intense nose. Sweet oaky flavor. Sweet caramel finish. Thanks JT.

Well, I paid just over $90 for this rare, "rescued" bourbon from Diageo so I feel like I should give it a proper review. The story behind this is quite the fable- after rescuing some 17-year old bourbon from a recently acquired rack house, the fine folks at Orphan Barrel accidentally dumped in some 4-year old corn whiskey into it and "ruined" the older stock. (39% 17yo and 61% 4yo). But, upon tasting it they realized they had created something much better. (This is the actual story printed on the bottle label). Rolls eyes... Anyway, a quick review as I've plowed through this bottle by using the majority of it as a mixer with Coke. I know, I know- who does that? Someone craving a B&C that couldn't get to the liquor store before it closed- that's who LOL. This comes in at 115 proof and is a dark, caramel color in the Glencairn. The nose is predominately corn with a bit of sweet caramel/toffee and the slightest hint of oak barrel. On the tongue, it's lots of corn and caramel apples. It's not complex at all and washes away with a blast of heat from the ABV. The burn lingers on for awhile as the oak barrel residue hangs around longer than I expected. That saves this from being a complete, one dimensional dud. As a mixer, it was merely an expensive way to drink through an overhyped bottle of rare bourbon. It did get the job done quite well, I might add, as I woke up this morning with what seemed like an entire bag of cotton balls stuffed into my mouth and my head pounding like my local, high school drum line was practicing just outside my bedroom window. Overall, avoid this $30 bourbon with a marketing hyped $60 markup. It's worth a $8-10 try at your local watering hole if you must try these Orphan Barrel offerings. Otherwise, there's a ton of better bourbon available at 1/3 the cost of this one. 3.25 stars. Cheers, my friends.