The_Rev
Old Ezra 7 Year Barrel Strength Bourbon
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
November 15, 2018 (edited October 23, 2019)
Back a few years ago, I discovered this bourbon's forebear, the Old Ezra 7 Year standard bottling, which continues to be a heck of a bargain. When I heard that they were releasing a barrel strength version, my excitement was visceral...and became nearly uncontrollable when folks like Fred Minnick started singing its glories. At long last, it made it to Wisconsin...and I snapped up the first bottle I found.
It's as good as I'd hoped. The nose is the Platonic form of bourbon nose - loads of baking spice, baked cherry, vanilla, caramel, black pepper, leather. There's a little nose hair-tweaking heat, but it's not an overly boozy nose for the abv. If the nose is good, the taste is even better. This is what bourbon is supposed to be - rich, coating, buttery, positively exploding with character. You want spices? You got it. Vanilla? Yup. Caramel? It practically oozes out of your mouth. Woody, leathery notes? Just enough to lend some complexity without hitting you over the head. Nuttiness? Present. It's like pecan pie in a glass. The finish lasts a nice, long while, too.
This is good. Damn good. So damn good. And, for $40-ish a bottle? Get out of town.
42.0
USD
per
Bottle
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Your review is spot on. My sentiments exactly! I got one for $40 and then my go to liquor guy got me one for $30 out the door! That is steal for a damned fine, classic tasting bourbon
@The_Rev I feel like that last sentence needs to have John Lennon’s “Imagine” playing in the background 😊
@BDanner Thanks for the heads-up. Looks like it can still be found at select Binny's locations in Chicagoland, so I guess I know what I'm doing later this week. And it sounds like I should load up on this while the price is still reasonable, too. Why do they have to ruin whiskey by bringing money into things? I dream of a better world where the whiskey is free, good, and abundant...
@PBMichiganWolverine Nice! Hopefully we get some soon out West.
@dubz480 I just found one in NJ. $40...great price for it. Was plenty left sitting on the shelf as well
@BDanner @The_Rev something tells me that was Luxco’s grand plan. Make a really good cask strength bourbon, price it well. The lower end will then sell out as folks notice, meanwhile they’ll increase prices on the cask strength
@The_Rev ...and just a heads up, if you see the regular Old Ezra 101 you better grab it if you like it. It is no more.
@PBMichiganWolverine Granted that I haven't spent much time, energy, or money hunting down the deliberately rare bourbons that people spend crazy amounts of cash on, but...yes. I do think this is enough of a step up from the regular bottling to merit a little effort to find, though I wouldn't go too far above MSRP or take a cross-country road trip for a bottle. That said, I've had more trouble finding the regular Old Ezra here than this...they had a ton of the standard bottling on the shelf at Total Wine in Madison even a month or two ago, and now it's all gone. @BDanner I pray you're wrong...but you're probably not. I absolutely hate this about the bourbon market right now; so much price gouging, so much manufactured scarcity, and so much good whiskey made nigh-on-inaccessible for those of us without a huge budget. And as for pecan pie...it's my favorite. Go figure, my Mema's recipe for the best pecan pie ever involves a helluva lot of bourbon...
@PBMichiganWolverine I Second that notion. Couldn't find a bottle online or during my recent trips to NC, TN, NY or CA.
@The_Rev ...Great review. I LOVE this one. I was only recently able to acquire a bottle of it's forebear (not available in NC) and found it to be middling to good. This stuff however, really takes everything I like in a bourbon and turns it up to 11. It's funny you mention Pecan Pie. When I go back and look at reviews of some of my favorites, pecan pie comes up in the notes quite frequently. I'm afraid this one is going to turn into RY10. Good, fairly accessible, decently priced on its initial release...only to go up by $20 and become almost impossible to find.
This one seems hard to find. Is this much better than the regular one? Seems like a pain hunting for it