ctbeck11
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
June 1, 2021 (edited June 25, 2021)
Nose - brownie brittle, chocolate chip, cinnamon, mint, graham cracker, caramel, spiced vanilla, leather, maple syrup, banana bread, wet nut, black cherry, sweet oak, mild to moderate ethanol burn.
Taste - chocolate chip cookie, burnt caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, black cherry, baked apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, leather, banana bread, marshmallow, toasted nut, sweet and spicy oak, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing short with burnt chocolate chip cookie, baking spice, and cherry flavors.
Having only reviewed the standard bourbon offering, I’ve unintentionally ignored Woodford Reserve on my liquor tasting journey. The reviews seem to be all over the board on this one, so let’s jump right in. The nose is rather muted, with mostly dark, sweet notes in the mix. Burnt cookies, chocolate, and black cherries abound, with an undeniable yeasty quality that is rather pleasant. Most of these notes transition to the palate intact, while faint nuttiness, oakiness, and baking spiciness join in as well. The finish is disappointing short, with the flavors quickly morphing into a cacophony before slipping away.
Overall, I like the idea behind double oaked bourbons (and Garrison Brothers Balmorhea is one of my favorites), but feel the execution is lacking here. Transcending to the next level would likely require more time in the barrel, a higher proof bottling, or some combination of the two. However, this would also raise the price point, which would limit the audience Woodford is obviously targeting, so it’s not quite fair to compare this to Balmorhea at triple the price. It’s easy to see why there are over 5000 reviews of this on Distiller. It’s a mild, sweet, and completely unchallenging bourbon, but not one I’ll seek out in the future.
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@ctbeck11 Haha, this is the gateway bourbon!!! Apparently Marianne Eaves hated bourbon until she tried double oak and now is out there creating whiskey for Peyton Manning at 200 dollar premium prices.
@ctbeck11 I think that's a good way of putting it for sure... my friend who really can't palate any whisky, actually didn't scrunch up his face to this one... probably if you added bitters you would likely need very little, if any, simple syrup to make an old fashioned. still probably wouldn't be my choice though!
@robwalker I’ve never tried the old version of this, but seems they’ve turned this into bourbon with training wheels to win over the masses.
I had some of this the other night and it was too chocolatey for me... interestingly I had a bottle of this probably about 8 years ago and I didn't like it because it was far too astringent and over oaked, which gave it a very turpentine-like quality. I had shied away from it until trying it recently and it seems like they've gone the other way with it
@BeppeCovfefe I’d love to try one. Unfortunately, Virginia is a store pick desert. I’ll be moving to Maryland soon, which should offer a bit more variety.
I'm going to be "one of those guys" and tell you you'll get a lot more out of certain store picks for the Double Oak, though it sounds like you are tasting the higher sugar profile they offer. Store picks will generally be priced the same OR HIGHER because Woodford doesn't seem to be offering in discount on barrel volume purchases.
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington Ah I’ve heard of the double double, but never dug into what it was specifically. That would be a cool one to compare.
@ctbeck11 agree that for $69 something like OF 1910 well outperforms this one. As far as more time in the barrel their double-double offering is literally one more year in the secondary barrel and is a big improvement (although a step backward in terms of desert notes) but questionable if it’s worth the equivalent of $100 for 750ml.
@ContemplativeFox Absolutely. I’d much rather pay $10 more for the JD than get another bottle of this. If this were a $40 bottle, I could forgive more. But at close to $60, it’s up against some stiff competition and doesn’t perform.
I'm not a big fan of this one either. I get way too much sweet banana out of it. I much prefer the banana flavor in JD SiB BP.