dhsilv2
Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Batch Proof 123.6
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
May 24, 2020 (edited February 17, 2021)
If a distiller doesn't bother to water down a whisky, is it on steroids? The quick and simple answer is no...it's the same whisky just without water. Sometimes this comes with non chill filtration which DOES give it a steroid like effect. Sometimes they pick honey barrels which does that tool. Or with ECBP you get older whisky.
Woodford has elected to be woodford with less water, a fancy bottle, and a 100 dollar markup. Before we get to the whisky, warning. DO NOT ADD WATER!
Nose - its' woodford. That dark chocolate, brown sugar, sweet and completely unrefined and entry level bourbon. Great brown foreman notes with a lesser expression of them behind it. A consistent as they come kinda of feel showing a great level of quality assurance, a big corporate feel, and yet an exceptional master distillery and blender involved to make this work. I can't express how much this smells like a higher proof woodford and just that.
Taste - Here we deviate a bit in that the youth and unrefined nature of woodford comes out here and you can tell you're drinking spirit forward and younger whisky. You can tell they didn't take the time to find anything but regular woodford barrels for this. Sweet, chocolate, a touch of bannana, a bit of a dr pepper like note, and overall like woodford a good bourbon for us sweet lovers. The alcohol is harsh and over the top. I tried water and even a drop washes this away, the chill filtration just ruins the CS effort.
I try and score whisky for what's in the glass and not more than that, but this one begs me to comment on the price and frankly the disgusting and just horrible choice for what I firmly believe is a chill filtered product, but I'll try and avoid that.
Woodford is a highly enjoyable bourbon and I'm a huge fan of the double oaked. This is far inferior to the double oaked, it's not remotely close to that league. Instead this is the most boring and dull over the top high proof bourbon I've ever had. But it's got great bones for a young bourbon. 1.75 and I'm sure that's too high but I like woodford and I like higher proof. Even when it's ruined by stupid.
The real shame is this just showcases what could happen if they aged this longer, picked honey barrels, and didn't chill filter. Woodford could put out not a world class bourbon but a world class whisky that could rival anyone. Instead that settle for mediocrity.
130.0
USD
per
Bottle
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