Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Historic Barrel Entry

Nose is excellent; vanilla creme, barley, old musty books, nutmeg, clove, sarsaparilla, and sweet oak. Way more ethanol than there should be for 90 proof, but the complexity and appeal make it a forgivable sin. Palate doesn’t match the nose well but is interesting in its own right. Tea leaf, tobacco, leather, cinnamon, apple, generic citrus zest, and rye spice. Tastes more like an American single malt than a bourbon. Flavors are so rich and bold you’d think this was 110+ proof. Nicely complex. Finish is wonderful bringing nice sweet notes to contrast and balance the tannic palate; vanilla extract, cake frosting, hazelnut, green peppercorn, and toasted oak. Mouthfeel is airy yet velvety and elevates everything to another level. Turns super dry after the flavors fade. Ok, this bourbon is bullshit, “Wait, it sounds like you liked it!” And there’s the rub; I DO like it. I paid well over MSRP at $199 for this (fomo) but even at $130 retail, there’s no reason this should cost as much as it does. In the $60-$80 range? Man, I’d be buying it all the time. North of $130? A one-time novelty. Sure is tasty, though.

Oh boy. Any time I walk in to a small mom and pop liquor store on a whim and spot a Woodford Master's Collection bottle I've yet to try.. you know it's going to be a good time. There's an interesting mash of different scents on the nose but it's just a tad hard to clearly distinguish as they seem to come all at once. I'm picking up some vanilla buttercream and baking spices such as cinnamon. The nose then tapers off to hazelnut and dark cocoa powder with just a bit of herbal mint at the end. The taste is as interesting and eclectic as the nose. Light, creamy caramel candy is accompanied by some banana pudding to open up sweet. The taste becomes much drier midway; with leather, baking spices and herbaceous mint taking center stage. The tannic taste carries through to the finish with charred oak, leather and just a tiny bit of a citrus twang. But because of the dryness of the accompanying notes, its a bit more like orange pith than freshly squeezed orange juice. Honestly, I think this makes a fine bourbon. Seems the average rating is quite a bit lower here than most of Woodford's Master's Collection but I think its unique and tasty enough to heartily recommend that you try it sometime.

Nose: cornbread, caramel Taste: cherry cola, cinammon, medium feel Finish: medium long and pleasant, corn, cinammon

Citrus, oakey caramel and raw vanilla nose with a citrus and oakey taste. Medium toasted caramel barrel finish.

Big oak taste with some baking spices.