Winchester Straight Bourbon

People are being a tad dramatic with the reviews. Better than standard well whiskeys, good for mixing. Drank neat and got ethanol, oak, and spice. Had hoped this would be better. Total Wine employee told me this tasted like Blanton’s... not even close.

Really don’t like this. The nose is super thin and has the type of alcohol burn that shoots up your nose immediately no matter how close to it your nose is. The taste is suuuuppper thin. Really don’t get many flavors, other than it tastes like a bourbon. If anything, I get a weird sawdust-type note in it. Don’t know if that makes sense, but it tastes like how I imagine sawdust shavings from a woodworking shop would taste like. For real though, I just added it to Dr. Pepper, and I feel like I just ruined my Dr Pepper. Not even a good mixer. I don’t know the price of a full bottle, but I would say it probably deserves the price range of $10 a bottle. It’s just so thin, but got some weird bitter woody tastes to it. It tastes like it was hardly aged at all.

It smells kind of spicy with fruity and floral notes, the latter being enhanced by the vanilla. It smells a bit weak and maybe a tad sweet and definitely just a bit odd, but it smells OK for bourbon. The palate is spicy and quite sour. It has some clear vanilla too. Disappointingly, the flavor is a bit weak, but it does at least taste like a rye-forward bourbon. The minerals and weakness suggest that it is young, but it isn't bad. There's a slight hint of cola, suggesting some minor herbal notes. It's not great, but it's passable. It would definitely be a good mixer. The harshness from the spice is there, but it's under control. The dryness is a bit much, but it's not shocking for a high rye whiskey of this proof. It lands a bit on the flat side as far as it's flavor profile goes, but it's still it bad. There are no particularly good notes, but there are no particularly bad ones either. There's a lot of sweet caramel and spice in here compared with the "Extra Smooth" Winchester. The spice comes out strongly with a lot of cinnamon. It's fine, but not very good. Compared with Evan Williams, this is lacking in subtle notes. Evan Williams might be a bit on the smooth side for bourbon, but this is really aggressive in a sort of cheap rum sort of way. It's still not awful, but it's not enjoyable either. The palate is quite full of molasses and firework with some rich cinnamon. It tastes quite rummy. There's a ton of vanilla, which is actually pretty nice. I do appreciate how the flavors are distinct. It's more aggressively woody and smoky than Old Forester Signature is and also lacks that cherry fruitiness. The ABV might taste a little higher than it actually is. Ultimately, it's a bit too smoky, but the vanilla is there and there's some butterscotch or caramel. There is tartness and mineral too and there might be some hints of honey crisp apple. Ultimately, it's a drinkable bourbon that would be good as a mixer, but it sets a pretty low bar for bourbons. There's a bit of off candy flavor here at the very end that brings in notions of laffy taffy. Combined with the rum flavor, that makes this a bit off from being an archetypical bourbon.