Bourbonk
Baker's Single Barrel High Rye Bourbon 7 Year
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
November 22, 2024 (edited November 24, 2024)
Barreled 01/17
Warehouse CL-3
Aged 7 yrs., 6 mo.
Color: Medium copper-Light Amber
Nose: Interesting nose! I'm not getting the usual maple and leather that I get from the majority of bourbons I've had. This is more... Grainy(?). I'm going to attribute this to the higher rye content. Dill? Ok, now I know what it is — spearmint, or menthol... or eucalyptus. Weird, I know. I've never gotten that on the nose from any bottle that has come before it. Let's go in for a first sip...
Palate: (drank with an ice cube) The higher rye % really is the star of the show here. If someone had blindfolded me, and asked me to take a sip, I'd have asked, "Ok, what Rye is this?". But as the ice slowly dissolves, the "bourbon" starts to come through. I'm getting a nice "time release" chest hug upon further sips. A faint hint of cherry is the next flavor to make an appearance. But this profile is mainly spice-driven.
The more I sip... and the more the ice opens this up... the more things I'm getting. I just got a major blast of "cedar" on the last sip I took — like lemon varnish on cedar planks. Very interesting, this one... very interesting, indeed.
Finish: I'm calling this a long finish. The spiciness and the herbal/menthol profile dominates here.
Wow. I really love when a bourbon surprises me and sends me down a different path than most others have. This is not the smokey, leathery, sweet, cinnamon-y bourbon that I tend to gravitate towards. But I gotta say, this stuff is unique. I don't think I can really compare it to any other bourbon I've had (and I've had quite a few at this point). I'm going to go back to what I've said before — this is a very "Rye-like" bourbon. I wish I had a bottle of Baker's 107 to compare it to. That one I list among my Top-10 bourbons. I may need to grab one and do a side-by-side in the near future.
Final thoughts... this is very good. I am not sure yet, at this stage, if it's a "back-up"- worthy bottle. However, considering this is a "Limited Release", I'd say you owe it to yourself to give it a spin — especially if you're a fan of Baker's like myself. I'm giving this a solid 4.0 stars.
72.0
USD
per
Bottle
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