Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot "B" 12 Year

pretty tough - bites

Sweet and delicious spice

This bottle came from a lottery win. I’m really surprised to not see more reviews mention cherry. I get a lot on the nose as well as a creamy sweetness. The cherry is also present at the beginning with a little citrus and apple, but fades to that crème brûlée middle. This is sweet and comforting. Finishes some nice oak and graham cracker flavor. Finish is a bit shorter, but that would be my only complaint. Of course this is extremely smooth and if I wasn’t concerned with how hard it is to find, I could easily do some damage to this bottle. Grateful for the lottery win!

Nice nose.

The nose starts with polished antique furniture, dusty leather-bound books and butterscotch candy then dark chocolate covered peanut clusters followed by sautéed cinnamon apples, cherry cough syrup and orange zest that transitions to light spearmint, cloves and pie crust with low ethanol burn. The taste is a thin to medium mouthfeel starting sweet with creamy citrus before veering into a mild spice that quickly fades to polished antique furniture and dusty leather-bound books then dark chocolate covered peanut clusters followed by sautéed cinnamon apples, cherry cough syrup and orange zest that transitions to black pepper, light spearmint, cloves and pie crust with medium ethanol burn. The finish is short with sautéed cinnamon apples, dark chocolate covered peanuts, light spearmint, dusty leather-bound books and polished antique furniture. On the nose, the oak is dominant with refined well-aged oak notes of dusty leather and antique polished furniture that allows for those traditional bourbon notes of citrus, chocolate and light rye spices peak through which carries over to the palate where the creamy fruits become more dominant with those old oak notes underneath that creates a sweet and dusty balance of traditional creamy bourbon citrus wrapping around old oak with a mild spice before finishing short with light citrus, mild spices and old oak. This is a really tasty bourbon, but the 45.2% ABV seems too low which provides for an easy sipping bourbon, but has unfortunately diminished the depth of flavors which could have been incredible with a richer mouthfeel and bolder flavors if bottled at a higher proof.