Nose: Peach flan, dusted with brown and cinnamon sugar, warm from the oven, slightly caramelised and topped with fresh vanilla cream. A cup of strong black coffee spiked with hazelnut syrup on the side. An apple pie with almonds and cloves is still baking. The farmhouse kitchen is full of old but recently waxed oak furniture. Palate: Nutty and buttery on the arrival – pecans, fresh walnuts and popcorn. The spiced stone-fruits from the nose appear again as it develops, together with caramel, vanilla and lightly astringent oak tannin that veers towards dark bitter chocolate in the finish. The texture is good – mouth coating and silky but with a mild tannic grip. Finish: Medium/long. Nutty, spicy and oaky. I’ve not tried many Woodford Reserve whiskies as we don’t get the full range of expressions over here, so my past experience has been limited to the standard release, the Double Oaked, and the truly excellent 125.8 proof Masters Collection bottling. I enjoyed all of those so when I saw the Woodford Reserve stand at the Whisky Show, and particularly several of the tall round Masters Collection bottles, I made sure to include it in my itinerary for the afternoon. WR were presenting a small range of expressions I’d not encountered before, including this one. I had thought that all the Masters Collection were at high proof, which it turns out is not the case, but the whiskies did not disappoint. This one was particularly enjoyable with an approachable character that was only slightly let down by being a touch unbalanced. When a whiskey is specifically crafted to showcase oak casks it may seem a little harsh to criticize it for being too oaky, but … well, it is. Just a bit. The price is also highly variable over here. I’ve seen it for as much as $250, as low as $160, and it generally hovers around $200. Even at the lowest price it’s still almost three times as much as the WR core-range straight bourbon. I don’t subtract from a score just because of price, but given that the core-range bottling is almost the same strength and very good in its own right it becomes difficult to recommend this. Tasted at the Sydney Whisky Show, 15 May 2021, my tasting #13 “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)