Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot "B" 12 Year

A few days ago i told you my story on how i got my hands into two pappy van winkles, the 15yo and this one called "Van Winkle Special Reserve 12yo Lot b". Equally as impossible to find as the other ones in the family, this is a little less great than the 15yo, but still a marvelous complex bourbon. 45.2%abv, deep copper color. On the nose is where it is a little standard, losing some points. Caramelized apples, Brown Sugar, old mashed bananas, rust as in a penny coin, no alcohol note at all. On the palate is very very very complex. Ill describe the taste by sips: 1st sip: sour at the beggining. Sour prunes, orange, caramel, a rye spicyness, and a little burn in the finish. 2nd sip: herbal notes, liquorice, clove, orange jam/cough syrup. 3rd sip: bourbon's typical prune notes, herbal spicyness and... crazy dips? (Yeah that crazy lollipop that popped in your tongue)(its not the first time i have seen it in whiskies). 4th sip: mostly vanilla and clove. Well to summarize it: IT IS VERY COMPLEX AND FULL OF LAYERS. The aftertaste has fresh clove and ginger notes. Ginger made my mouth so numb. After the first two sips, vanilla was present on the finish. Mostly ginger, lots of it. My score card gave me a 94 over 100, but due to its complexity i feel compel to give it at least a 96 over 100 to make it a 5.0 stars bourbon whiskey. So that's that. Cheers!

Cherry vanilla

Very smooth Kentucky bourbon

Pours clear golden orange color with short legs (for you bourbon nerds, please note that I come from the beer world which is currently dominated by turbid, murky looking hazy IPAs that look like chicken broth, so any alcoholic liquid that is clear is a sight to behold). Also, and this is a stupid observation, but it’s significantly lighter in color than the 23. I mean, yeah, duh, right? But still. Smells very nice, caramel, oak, and a little vanilla, with a slight dusting of spice lurking in the background. Of my nose? Sure, I guess, I’m not particularly great at bourbon tasting notes. Really nice balance and complexity in the nose though, and it really opens up after a few minutes; more vanilla and almost cake-like sweetness, I could sniff this glass all night. Taste hits a lot of those same notes, caramel, oak, and vanilla, with some spicy highlights. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and very easy going, obviously boozy to this beer drinker’s baby palate (like, I’m not used to drinking high test liquor, not like I eat babies or something, gah), but nowhere near the hazmat monsters I’ve been known to drink. Overall, this is really good bourbon, but I’m not entirely sure it justifies the hype or premium. The nose is really fantastic, but it’s writing checks the taste/palate can’t cash. Beer Nerd Musings: Anything in Pappy’s orbit, even if it’s beer aged in a Pappy barrel, is subjected to massive gravitational hype. But this is technically not “Pappy”, and thus I don’t think I’ve (knowingly) had anything aged in one of these barrels. On the other hand, Weller 12 is often used, and that’s basically the same juice, right? The BCBS Anniversary edition from 2020 is aged in Weller 12 for 2 years, and update to this review - it’s phenomenal.