Woodinville Cask Strength Straight Bourbon

Uncorking- Barrel pick from my local NW Bourbon group. Nose - burnt sugar, char and oak. Taste- Marshmallow, sweet, hints of wood and leather. Finish- shorter length with some darker cocoa nibs, more dark caramels and real vanilla bean extract. Tasted this against total wines barrel pick from earlier this year. This one has a much more pronounced burnt marshmallow sugar nose and start, then goes into much deeper flavors of leather and woods. Vs the Total Wine pick which stays much lighter and leans into dark fruits which this one has none of. Really interesting to see how much difference the barrel makes.

Nose: Caramel, oaky, sawdust, cherries, nose hits hard with high proof. Taste is sweeter than the nose, very cherry, light oak, the high proof is hidden in the taste, very easy to drink. Front end is all sweet cherry, gets a little sour like a dried fruit toward the back end. With a smaller taste, the sweet cherry is the primary flavor. With a larger taste it leans toward cherry coke. Oaky mouthfeel and cherry tartness linger on the palate with a burn from the proof.

Sweet and Spicy

I like the regular Woodinville Bourbon, and I usually love the barrel proof version of stuff that I like - but not the case with this one. I've tried a few different bottles which are different single barrel releases, and I wasn't impressed with any of them. This barrel proof version is too harsh, the oak is overpowering and not well integrated, and as a result it lacks a lot of the more nuanced flavors of the 90 proof bottling.

Great stuff much better than its standard bourbon. Nose: Vanilla, Banana, Honey, Cherries, Pepper, Cloves, Marshmallows, Red Apples, Corn, Strawberries, Maple Syrup, Grass, Spearmint, Dill, Cotton Candy Palate: Cherries, Pepper, Spearmint, Licorice, Vanilla, Caramel, Peaches, Oak, Cinnamon, Cloves, Milk Chocolate Finish: Cherries, Peaches, Vanilla, Spearmint, Pepper, Caramel, Lavender, Milk Chocolate

Even with the higher ABV this is some smooth bourbon neat. I normally need to add water at this range, not here. The rich bourbon flavors are on point for me