Wheel Horse Bourbon (Batch 1)

Brown sugar nose, Lovely peach and vanilla notes at first, with an oak spice finish. The color and the mouth feel isn’t much, but it packs a lot of flavor, especially for the price

Better than expected. Subtle flavors of caramel and nuts with a smooth finish

Very buttery opening, with a tinge of spice. Cloying in a good way. Definitely wheated. Goes down smooth with a lot of butter and a short delay until you feel the heat. A good richness, not thin, without being too chewy. I want a little more subtlety, but it's pretty one dimensional. This would be a sweeter cocktail, but solo with a rock, not so bad. I've tasted better for every day (Elijah Craig, Maker's Mark), but would be welcomed by infrequent Bourbon drinkers.

Golden Honey color. Not much leg. The burn in the nose is surprisingly tame for 101°.  The nose is spicy: cinnamon, rye spice, black pepper. Some color enters the fray with orange zest, potpourri, black licorice and pumpernickel bread. The barrel wood aromas seem spiced. The flavor is lots of orange peel, bitter rind and pith. Dried citrus fruit. Pepper and cinnamon. The syrupy corn does come through, along with some old wood and some nuttiness, like pralines? Brown sugar sweetness. Finished with more yeast than I expected: I wonder if that's a product of the sour mash process. It's surprisingly smoky at the end, like spent matches or fireworks. Dark chocolate and coffee grounds. Lots more brown sugar. Pepper and clove spices. Wheel Horse is a very solid, affordable sour mash concoction. A very good balance of nutty and spicy, with some fireworks at the end. Top notch in a mixer, but like Hamburger Helper it does just fine by itself.