Wilderness Trail - Family Reserve Cask Strength Barrel #17C23-3 (barrel select from Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar, Covington, KY)

Sweet in the nose and even sweeter on the palette. Rich aromas and flavors. The mouthfeel is oily, with crème brûlée and a little bubble gum flavor followed by a hint of cherry. The finish is long and warm, but it trails off to a bit of numbing menthol. I sometimes get a little cigarette ash long afterward. I picked up the bottle and a souvenir glass at the Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar in Covington, Kentucky, right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio while visiting from California. OKBB Barrel Select, Barrel No. 17C23-3. I’d buy another bottle if I saw one.

The nose revealed a lot of notes: baked cookie, honey, grass, spice/rye, high proof heat, etc. seemed promising. Upon tasting though, I was conflicted… instead of working together, the various notes seemed to be vying for individual attention, and by the end of the pour were cancelling each other out. I felt like I was tasting a bit of rye, but as best I could learn it was a corn, wheat, and malted barley mash bill. It was remarkably smooth and very little heat despite being 104.2 proof. The aftertaste gave the impression it contained some sort of flavor additives, but I could not find any concrete information to confirm or deny this. All in all, I feel this particular barrel pick of Wilderness Trail’s Family Reserve Single Barrel line was not worth the price.