dhsilv2
Knob Creek 9 Year Single Barrel Reserve
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
September 20, 2019 (edited June 23, 2020)
So a store pick this will be Gallenstein Selection #16 coming in the new packaging. 2/10/2004 to 2/7/2019 so we're about 15 years old here.
Nose - It's sweet, rich caramel yes, but brown sugar, some cinnamon, creme pie, custard, vanilla. Oh there's even some chocolate here, it's big, it's dark. There's strong evenly balanced finished oak. I'm not getting 15 year old notes here, the oak is a bit more raw than a really old aged wood but still there's some age here. We end up with a nice balance between oak and sweet really really good. Water tames the oak and brings out the nice vanillas.
Taste - Opens with a nice sweet note but quickly turns into dusty oak and then nutty notes, then in the finish some spice and then a funk and oak and yet there's still a nice sweet element. A drop of water pushes the vanilla out just like it does in the nose. Very oak forward still and really complex oak.
I have done this blind with ECBP A119 and I picked this over it. I'm not a huge blind fan as sometimes one whisky makes another taste better and it wouldn't be that way without the head to head. Still this one holds up well. It's not as sweet and it has more oak notes. It is much more complex and has more transitions and nuances. I can however see some off notes.
3 stars, a fine dram and I know this single barrel is likely gone, but with any single barrel batch variation is life, not just store picks. This is better than any bookers will ever be (maybe not a 30 or something like that) so take that with what it is worth (I'm not sure I'll ever review a bookers as I don't generally care for their quality to price).
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Sounds very similar to one I picked up in Lexington. Good, but only with the 2 drops of water to open it up.