Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Heritage Barrel 2019

I’d like to thank the folks at Jack Daniel’s PR for providing this sample to me with no strings attached.

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I grew up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin in the 1980s. Looking back on it from a distance of 35 years or more, I am struck by a few of the things that stick out in my memories. I remember a lot of signs above the doors of stores, restaurants, and bars that had the name or logo of a beverage company covering most of the sign and the name of the establishment running across the top or bottom in much smaller letters. The stores were mostly 7-UP or Pepsi and the bars were usually Old Style or Pabst.

I remember a single phone booth in the town I grew up in. And I remember a single pop machine. The phone booth was on a corner across the street from the cafe and the pop machine was outside the grocery store. Both of those are gone now. The phone booth was lost to cellphones and the soda machine was killed by convenience stores that stay open 24 hours.

I remember going to the local bar with my mom to watch the Packer games on a Sunday afternoon. I would get a soda for during the game and another for playing video games on the arcade cabinets in the corner for after. I usually got one that was new or unable to be found in the town’s lone pop machine. things like New Coke, and Mandarin Orange or Apple Slice.

I remember a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that lived on top of our refrigerator. It was my Step-Dad’s favorite drink. That square-shouldered, black-labeled bottle was always just sort of there at the edge of my consciousness. And I always had a bit of a soft spot for it even though I never tried it until I was in college.

And because Jack Daniel’s was (and is) my Step-Dad’s favorite drink, I always keep an eye out for new products in their line. Initially, it was because I was buying it as a present. But as I became more of a whiskey fan, I started trying them too. Some of them I have really liked. Others less so. So when the PR folks for Jack Daniel’s offered me a sample of this year’s Heritage Barrel, I eagerly accepted.

This is the same whiskey as last year’s version just with an extra year of age on it. And just like last year, this whiskey was:

aged at the highest altitude of the Jack Daniel Distillery’s warmest barrelhouse, this year’s iteration of Heritage Barrel will have a greater depth of color and character for fans of the original run to enjoy. The rich vanilla, oak spice and sweet caramel flavors are derived from a unique barrel toasting you won’t find in any other Single Barrel expression. Each heritage barrel is slowly heated to achieve a deeper, richer toasted layer before being charred, evoking the barrels of the distillery’s earliest coopers.

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Heritage Barrel 2019

Purchase Info: This was graciously provided by Jack Daniel’s PR for review purposes. Suggested retail price is $64.99.

Price Per Drink (50mL): $4.33

Details: 50% ABV

Nose: Cinnamon, toffee, buckwheat honey, oak, green apple

Mouth: Sweet, tingly and warm on the mouth with brown sugar, caramel, and baking spice

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Lingering green apple, cinnamon, brown sugar.

Thoughts: I really like this one. Very sweet and rich. I love the green apple notes that play alongside the sweet caramel and brown sugar notes. Add in the accessible price point and this will make a lovely gift for yourself or a loved one.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Woodford Reserve Rye and Woodford Reserve Master's Collection Rare Rye: Revisited

I usually start out these “Revisited” posts by telling you how long it has been since I last reviewed the whiskey I am revisiting. Usually I am curious as to how the product has changed over the intervening years. This time however, I’m looking at a different type of change. This time I want to see how I have changed since I last had a whiskey. See, I know that the whiskey hasn’t changed since this time I am revisiting a bottle that was only released in 2011. I gave it a very quick review on August 22, 2012 (2,526 days ago).

My local corner liquor store has their expensive liquors in a glass case that you see the minute you walk in the door. I can’t help but glance at the case as I walk in to the store. And for as long as I’ve been glancing, there have been the two bottle set of the 2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Rare Rye Selection sitting about halfway up the shelf. And for as long as I can remember, I’ve been walking past it on my way to the bourbon section.

Well, they must have finally decided that it wasn’t ever going to sell in the case because about three or four months ago it was moved out of the locked case and placed on the shelf. In fact, two of them were out on the shelf. And as it sat on the shelf, I’d glance at it as I walked by. And my wife would glance at it as she walked by. And eventually, we both decided that we were curious enough that we needed to revisit it. We both like the standard Woodford Rye and thought it might be interesting to see how our tastes have evolved in the last seven to eight years.

So we bought it. And then because I I had received a question on my review of the Woodford Reserve Rye (reviewed 1,482 days ago if you are curious) that asked how it compared to the 2011 release, I decided to go ahead and pick that up as well. Especially since I really had nothing to go on but memories by the time the question was asked and I was curious as well.

2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, Rare Rye Selection: Aged Cask Rye

Purchase info: $85.99 for a set of two 375 mL bottles at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: Aged in a used barrel. 100% Rye Grain. 46.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Spearmint, baking spice and just the faintest hint of caramel

Mouth: Grassy malted rye notes with citrus, cinnamon and a light honey.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. lingering mint and cinnamon candy.

Thoughts: Although I haven't been a fan of ryes that use malted rye, this is one of the better ones that I've had. I don't mind this one. Not my favorite rye, and I certainly wouldn’t choose it very often, but I don’t hate it. That’s a downgrade from the previous time I had it. In 2012, I said I liked it. I think I liked it because it was interesting and new. But since then, I’ve had many more 100% ryes, including some that were made using malted rye like these seem to have been. I’m not a big fan of the flavor that malted rye brings to a whiskey.

2011 Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection, Rare Rye Selection: New Cask Rye

Purchase info: $85.99 for a set of two 375 mL bottles at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: Aged in a new barrel. 100% Rye Grain. 46.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Grass, with caramel and mint.

Mouth: Nice mouthfeel. Very minty. Sweet with caramel, berry and pear.

Finish: On the longer side of medium. Lingering wintergreen and cinnamon notes.

Thoughts: Even though there are still hints of the malted rye notes, they are very minimal. Fruity, sweet and minty are the major flavors. I like this one. It has a rich and complex mouthfeel and the flavors work together nicely. Flavorwise, it seems to straddle the line between the Craft Ryes that use malted rye grain and a standard rye that uses malted barley. Still not my favorite rye, but one I will be looking for when I want a change of pace.

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase info: $29.99 for a750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 53% Rye Grain. 45.2% ABV. Non-age stated.

Nose: Cinnamon, black tea, and honey.

Mouth: Follows the nose with cinnamon and black tea. Notes of dried fruit, caramel and mint.

Finish: Medium length with lingering notes of cinnamon, caramel and mint.

Thoughts: I like this one. The black tea notes provide a nice balance to sweetness and spice.

Comparative thoughts: As I mentioned above, back when I first reviewed the Woodford Rye someone asked how it compared to the old Master's Collection ryes. I can finally answer that question. There is almost no comparison between the Aged Cask rye and the regular Woodford Rye. The presence of rye notes is about the only similarity. But I sort of expected that. Between the New Cask and the regular Woodford Rye there are similarities, but the malted rye notes in New Cask make for a fruitier drink and it has a much thicker and richer mouthfeel. That said if offered a pour of either. I'd take the standard Woodford Rye more often. I don’t mind any of them and like two of them, but I like the Woodford Rye the best. Living up to (and in this case helping to earn) its reputation, the Master's Collection tends to be more "interesting" than "good." Though the comparative aspect of this release made it much more interesting than most of the Master's Collection releases.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Woodford Reserve Master's Collection: Batch Proof (2019)

This is very good. Warm and thick with a wonderful sweet spiciness. I love this one. Don't love the price and doubt I'll be buying another, so I'll just enjoy this one and see if I can make it last a little while.

So said me, just under a year ago. And at the time, I certainly meant it. I mean $130 is too much to spend on one bottle of bourbon. It really is. So why do I have this bottle? In a word: vacation. Specifically, vacation to Kentucky.

Let me set the scene. It was two days before I was going to hop in the car and make the 13 hour trek to Louisville. On this day, I get a marketing email from Woodford Reserve announcing the release of this year’s edition of Batch Proof. Now, I’d had my Kentucky shopping list done for a while. I knew which things I was going to be looking for and which I would certainly be coming home with. On neither of those two subsets were anything from Woodford Reserve. Well, until I got that dang email.

I was already mentally on vacation. And while I am on vacation, my inherent frugalness is relaxed in favor of having fun. And when I am in Kentucky, “fun” means going bourbon shopping. And since I was planning trips to both Maker’s Mark and Four Roses, it seemed silly not to add a stop at Woodford to the itinerary. Since I’d be in the area. “Maybe they’ll have something fun,” I told my wife.

And low and behold they did. Sitting right on a table in the center of the gift shop were numerous bottles of Batch Proof. Who would have guessed? Now they were priced right at the $130 Suggested Retail Price. I started to wonder if I could get it cheaper at a store, but my wife told me that since I see it here, I might as well get it so I don’t miss out. (Yeah, she got the email too and knew what my scheme was.) And good thing I did. Last year I got it about $10 under SRP. This year every store I saw had it higher than the distillery.

So, last year I loved it, but didn’t think I’d buy it again due to price. This year…?

Woodford Reserve Batch Proof (2019)

Purchase Info: $130 for a 750 ml bottle at Woodford Reserve Distillery Gift Shop

Details: 61.6% ABV. Non-Age Stated

Nose: Brown Sugar, black tea, nutmeg

Mouth: Cola, cinnamon, almond, leather

Finish: Sweet, warm and long. Lingering toffee, almond, black tea, cinnamon

Thoughts: This is delicious. The black tea notes along with the sweetness really bring this one together nicely. It drinks nicely neat but takes water well too. I'm a big fan. In fact, I wish I would have grabbed a second. I was on vacation, after all. Now that I’m home again? It’s probably a little out of my price range unless I find it on sale somewhere.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products and bourbon-related craft supplies I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And hey, if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: The Championship Rounds

Well, it's finally here. The championship rounds. We are down to the last four bourbons. In Division 1 we have Old Grand Dad Bonded facing off against Larceny. And in Division Two we have Old Forester Signature 100 proof up against Wild Turkey 101.

Division 1: Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 1) vs Larceny (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Both noses are sweet, but Whiskey 2 is showing a bit more graininess. I’d say this is a bit of a draw on the nose. Neither is particularly better than the other. On the mouth however, Whiskey 1 pulls way ahead. In comparison to Whiskey 2, Whiskey 1 is an explosion of deliciousness. It is the hands-down winner in the one.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: To be honest, I’m a bit shocked on the results here. I expected Larceny to put up a bit more of a fight. And even though, I knew that Old Grand-Dad might have more flavor due to the proof, I didn’t expect it to necessarily have a better flavor. And yet it did. This is why we do these things blind, to eliminate the preconceived notions. Old Grand-Dad Bonded advances.

Division 2: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Forester Signature 100 proof (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose on Whiskey 1 is sweeter and shows more baking spice. The nose on Whskey 2 is more tannic. Reminds me a bit of a glass of Lipton’s iced tea. Whiskey 1 follows the nose and is sweet and spicy. The mouth on Whiskey 2 is also more tannic but is sweet as well. These are both nicely complex bourbons in the mouth. I like the finish on Whiskey 1 better. It is a spice bomb which i love. Whiskey 2 has a fine finish, it follows the mouth but at this point it feels like just “more of the same.” It doesn’t really stand out or distinguish itself. Honestly, these are both delicious and it is super close, but I think that spice-bomb of a finish pushes Whiskey 1 ahead ever so slightly.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I’m honestly surprised at what happened here. I would have bet money that Whiskey 2 was Wild Turkey. But once again, this is why we do blind tastings. I think either of these would have been a winner with a different opponent or on a different day (and I guess they were to get here) but today Wild Turkey 101 advances.

Championship Round: Wild Turkey 101 (Whiskey 1) vs Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Whiskey 2)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 has a sweet nose where Whiskey 2 is reminding me of rye bread. Whiskey 1 is sweeter on the mouth while Whiskey 2 is drier and much spicier. This is super, super tough. Finishes on both are great. It comes down to the fact that Whiskey 1 makes me ever slightly happier.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I did this same matchup on three different days. It was that close. OGD and 101 each won one of the first two. On the third round, I gave up on analyzing the notes and just asked myself, “Which of these makes me happier when I drink it?” And that one was Wild Turkey 101.

Lessons learned

So was I shocked by anything this year? I mean, besides the fact that you guys have a much more high-end bottom-shelf than I do? Yeah. I actually was. I continually gave Old Grand-Dad no shot in it’s matchups. I wasn’t sure what would happen versus Beam Bonded, but I expected it to lose in every matchup after that. I just think of Old Grand-Dad as dry and ever so slightly dusty and grainy. Every time I drink it, I am reminded that it isn’t, but I can’t get that impression out of my head. I mean it won the whole thing last year and that didn’t help. And it was a tie-breaker game away from winning this year. And it lost to another former winner (2017 Wild Turkey 101 was the Champ). I think I need to reassess my thoughts on OGD Bonded and try to remember that it really is a very good bourbon.

I was also a bit shocked that the two finalists were ones that would have fit in my normal pricing rules. Those being 2.4 cents per milliliter or less (which works out to $18 per 750, $24 per liter or $40 for a 1.75 L handle). In fact, I can get a handle of Wild Turkey for just under $30 locally. And the fact that they beat out bourbons that sell for $25 per 750 mL? That’s a bit shocking as well. But it does show one of the guiding principles of this site: you don’t need to spend a lot to drink well.

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I’m off to Las Vegas for a well earned vacation next week so no posts. But I’ll be back a week from Tuesday with my review of Legent from BeamSuntory.

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 2: Wild Turkey 101 vs. Bulleit and Evan Williams Bottled in Bond vs. Old Forester Signature

In light of recent allegations made by the daughter of Tom Bulleit of his homophobia and mental and physical abuse toward her, I have made the decision that BourbonGuy.com can no longer endorse products bearing the Bulleit name.

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This is it. Tonight we find out who will the final two spots of our semifinals round. Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets continues with Division 2 Number 1 seed Wild Turkey 101 versus the advancing Number 5 seed Bulleit Bourbon. 

We’ve already met Bulleit, but to recap, it it is a sourced bourbon from Diageo. It used to be made of Four Roses juice but it is getting less and less likely that there is any left in the bottle since it has been five or six years since they were cut off. The other competitor is Wild Turkey 101. It is a product of Campari’s Wild Turkey distillery. And it is one of my favorite “everyday” bourbons. Let’s see who comes out on top.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Wild Turkey 101

Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50.5% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, vanilla custard, cinnamon and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with mint and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length, warm and sweet. Lingering cinnamon and vanilla custard.

Bulleit Bourbon

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Spearmint, toffee, cherry, cinnamon red hots.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet (though less sweet than number one) baking spice, toffee, and cherry.

Finish: Medium length. Lingering toffee and baking spice.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Two very good whiskeys in this one but whiskey one wins this round. The spice is spicier. The sweet is sweeter It has more well-defined flavors. And it has a warmer and longer finish. Whiskey one is tastes like they took whiskey two and cranked up the volume.

Post Reveal Thoughts: Not shocked that Wild Turkey 101 won this round. The proof difference could easily explain the difference in “volume.”

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Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets concludes with Division 2 Number 2 seed Evan Williams Bottled in Bond versus the advancing Number 6 seed Old Forester Signature 100 proof.  

Old Forester Signature 100 proof is the plucky underdog here. Or is it? Though it was once a staple on my bourbon shelf, I’ve been passing on Evan Williams Bottled in Bond more and more lately. It has just started tasting too young to me. More grain-forward than I’d like. Especially when I can get the same size bottle of Wild Turkey 101 for just a dollar or two more.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Old Forester Signature 100 Proof

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Honey, caramel, wintergreen, almond.

Mouth: Caramel, black tea, vanilla, clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Lingering caramel, apple, cinnamon and oak.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Purchase Info: $17.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Brown sugar, mint and vanilla.

Mouth: Caramel, mint and dried grain.

Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel, dried grains and cinnamon.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey one wins this one hands-down. In my mind there is no contest. Whiskey two is way too grain forward by comparison.

Post Reveal Thoughts: No surprises here. Old Forester is a nice complex bourbon. It’s everything that I look for in a decently priced bourbon. By way of comparison, Evan Williams Bottled in Bond just isn’t as good as it used to be. I’ve noticed that about a lot of the Heaven Hill Bonded bourbons lately. Good, but not as good as they used to be. (Possibly because Heaven hill seems more interested in putting out new $100+ “prestige” bourbons like the new Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond than they are the lower-priced offerings that helped build their reputation.) Anyway EWBiB will work great in cocktails, but that is what this contest is about. Old Forester Signature advances.

And so the Championship Rounds are set! Old Grand-Dad Bonded versus Larceny and Wild Turkey 101 versus Old Forester Signature.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Bottom-Shelf Brackets 2019: Round 1: Jim Beam Repeal Batch vs. Evan Williams Single Barrel and Buffalo Trace vs. Old Forester Signature

The time is finally here! Let’s get down to the competitions. Round 1 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets opens with Division 1 Number 3 seed Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage) versus Number 6 seed Jim Beam Repeal Batch. 

This is a battle of Limited Edition Releases. Jim Beam’s Repeal Batch is a non-chill filtered, slightly higher proof version of the standard Jim Beam White. It was released to celebrate the 85th Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Evan Williams Single Barrel is a limited release only in that each new release is named for the year that the bourbon was put in oak. For many years this was released after 10 years in the barrel. These days you are down to a little under 8 years. Which Limited Release will win out? Let’s find out!

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Jim Beam Repeal Batch

Purchase Info: $18.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: Non-chill filtered. 43% ABV.

Nose: Melon, cinnamon, mint, caramel corn.

Mouth: Spearmint, wintergreen, baking spice and caramel.

Finish: Medium length with lingering vanilla corn and mint.

Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage)

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 7 years 10 months old. 43.3% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, cinnamon, wintergreen.

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel. Almond, brown sugar, baking spice and a light mint.

Finish: On the longer side of medium and warm. Lingering almond, berry and spice.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey two (Evan Williams Single Barrel) is the clear winner here. The nose and mouth are richer and the finish is much more satisfying.

Post Reveal Thoughts: No upset here, the higher seed (and higher age) wins in this one. Evan Williams Single Barrel is moving on to face corporate cousin Larceny in Round 2

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In order to finish this competition sometime before summer, we are doing two in each post. So moving on to our second 3v6 matchup, we have Division 2 Number 3 seed Buffalo Trace versus Number 6 seed Old Forester Signature. 

This match-up lands squarely on the shoulders of you, the readers. Buffalo Trace is the higher seed due to more people nominating it even though it is the lower proof bourbon. Buffalo Trace is the namesake product of the Sazerac-owned Buffalo Trace Distillery. The distillery is located in Frankfort, Kentucky and is claimed by the company to be the oldest continuously-operating distillery in the United States. If you haven’t been there you owe it to yourself to make sure that you do. Far from being the oldest distillery, the Old Forester Distillery is one of the youngest. Though that doesn’t matter much since almost none of the juice that will be going into Old Forester bottles (one day) is produced there. All of the juice in this bottle having been produced in Brown-Forman’s Shively distillery.

These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.

Buffalo Trace

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, Cheerios cereal, a hint of green apples.

Mouth: Spicy and warm with brown sugar, baking spice, berries and apples.

Finish: Medium length with lingering vanilla, berries and baking spice.

Old Forester Signature 100 Proof

Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Hickory, caramel, wintergreen, almond.

Mouth: Spicy and warm with vanilla, oak, green apple, clove and cinnamon.

Finish: Spicy and of medium length. Lingering brown sugar, spice, apple and wintergreen.

Pre-reveal Thoughts: This one was a very difficult matchup. In the end, whiskey two won on the strength of its finish. The spice must flow.

Post Reveal Thoughts: And just like that we have our first upset of the competition. Proof won out in this case. Old Forester Signature is moving on to match up against Evan Williams Bottled in Bond in Round 2.

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

6th Annual BourbonGuy.com Bottom-Shelf Brackets: Reader's Choice Edition

As it is March, it is probably time for brackets of one sort or another. And even though my beloved Minnesota Gophers will actually make an appearance in a basketball tournament this year...I still don't really care. I mean, I'm happy to hear they are doing ok, but it isn't going to ruin my day should they not beat Louisville. 

No, once again it is time to get our fill of competitive bracketing by finding inexpensive bourbons and pitting them against each other head-to-head to see if there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Normally I run all over the Metro trying to find bourbons that fulfill a stringent set of qualifications while minimizing bourbons from the same producer. But this year, I decided to be lazy…errr…crowd-source the decision by opening the nomination process up to you, the readers.

And boy did the nominations roll in (it might have helped that I asked the question as part of couple different give-aways). It’s funny, a couple of years ago, I got chastised in the comments for having an elevated Bottom-Shelf. But let me tell you, ya’ll have a much more high-end bottom shelf than I do.

So how does this competition work? Well, the bourbons included were all nominated by the readers. After the nomination process, I tallied the number of nomination each bourbon received, cross referenced that with bourbons I could buy for less than $25 (750 mL bottle or larger) and figured out which of those were actually available in my market.

And it was at that point that I realized there were way too many interesting suggestions for an eight bourbon bracket. So this year we are bracketing it NFL-style with 12 whiskeys, the top four seeds of which have earned first-round byes. Which leads me to how these were seeded. I have a very precise algorithm which I …

nah. I just went by the number of nominations each bourbon got. After that I broke any ties first by age and then by proof. The divisions were chosen in alternating order so Division 1 chose the top seed as first, then Division 2 got to choose the second seed first and so on down the line. And now, the moment you were waiting for:

The number one overall seed, with 5 nominations and 103 proof is Heaven Hill’s Fighting Cock. Following that with the number one seed in Division 2, also with 5 nominations, is Wild Turkey 101. The third overall seed and the number two seed in Division 2 is Evan Williams Bottled in Bond (four nominations and 100 proof). Following that as the number two seed in Division 1 is Larceny (Four nominations and 92 proof). The number three seeds are Evan Williams Single Barrel (Division 1, three nominations, 7 years old) and Buffalo Trace (Division 2, three nominations, 90 proof). Number four seeds are Four Roses Bourbon (Division 2, three nominations, 80 proof) and Jim Beam Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof). Number 5 seeds are Old Grand-Dad Bonded (Division 1, two nominations, 100 proof) and Bulleit Bourbon (Division 2, two nominations, 90 proof). There were a lot of suggestions that only had one nomination, so I chose ones I thought might be interesting as the number six seeds. They are Old Forester Signature (Division 2, one nominations, 100 proof) and Jim Beam Repeal Batch (Division 1, one nominations, 100 proof).

There are a lot of interesting story lines this time (that tends to happen when you elevate the level of competition). We start out with Jim Beam Bonded versus Old Grand-Dad Bonded. Which of the two Beam Bourbon recipes will win out? We also have Four Roses versus Bulleit. So we have a Four Roses product versus one that used to be mostly Four Roses, but is no longer so. And honestly, I’m curious to see how the Beam Limited Release fares against the Heaven Hill Limited Release in Repeal Batch versus Evan Williams Single Barrel. And if Evan Williams wins, which of the Heaven Hill Bourbon recipes will win out? The wheat or the rye based?

Anyway competition starts Thursday. Check back then to see which of the bourbon in the Reader’s Choice Bottom-Shelf comes out on top!

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BourbonGuy.com accepts no advertising. It is solely supported by the sale of the hand-made products I sell at the BourbonGuy Gifts store. If you'd like to support BourbonGuy.com, visit BourbonGuyGifts.com. And if you are an iOS user, look for Bourbon Guy in Apple News. Thanks!

Cooper's Craft Bourbon and Coopers' Craft Barrel Reserve Bourbon

I state in my Statement of Ethics that if I accept a review sample, I will disclose it at the beginning of the article. I’d like to thank Punch Media and Brown-Forman for providing this sample to me with no strings attached. As always, all thoughts are just my opinion and should be taken as just that.

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Way back in 2016, Brown-Forman released themselves a new bourbon brand. They called it Coopers’ Craft. It might seem to be a bit of an odd name, until you remember that Brown-Forman is the only major American Whiskey producer that also owns it’s own cooperage. I’d tell you that a cooperage is the place where barrels are made, but I’m sure you already knew that. I’m guessing that you also know that the men and women who make the barrels are called coopers too. So I’m not going to bother telling you that either.

So they named the bourbon Cooper’s Craft as a way to honor the people making their barrels. I thought it was a nice gesture and gladly accepted a sample of that initial release to review on the site. I liked it, but I was hoping for a bit more punch for the initial $29 price tag. It was more than a bit too gentle for my tastes. I’m guessing that comes, at least in part, from the “beech and birch charcoal filter finishing process” that the aged bourbon is put through.

For that reason, I was happy to see that the newest release in the Cooper’s Craft lineup, Cooper’s Craft Barrel Reserve, was being bottled at a respectable 100° proof. I was even happier to see that even though the juice starts out the same, the company was trying something different with the barrels that whiskey was being aged in. It makes sense that a bourbon honoring barrel-makers would play with the barrel a little bit. In the press release they say: “Coopers’ Craft Barrel Reserve is aged in a unique chiseled and charred American White Oak barrel that allows the whiskey to interact more deeply with the wood, creating a robust and more complex flavor profile.” That sounds like just what I was looking for: more proof and a more complex flavor.

And in more good news, the original Coopers’ Craft has come down in price since that initial release. It isn’t sold in my market so I hadn’t been keeping track of the price. The SRP is now around $22-24 for a 750 mL bottle. And that totally changes my feelings about the brand. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s remind ourselves how that original Cooper’s Craft tastes, shall we?

Coopers’ Craft Bourbon

Purchase info: This sample was graciously provided by the company for review purposes. The suggested retail price is between $21.99 and $23.99.

Details: 41.1% ABV. Uses a “beech and birch charcoal filter finishing process” according to the press release.

Nose: Wintergreen, almond, and vanilla pudding.

Mouth: A bit of a thin mouthfeel. The taste follows the nose with vanilla pudding, wintergreen, almond and a gentle baking spice.

Finish: Gentle with vanilla pudding, baking spice and hints of apple.

Thoughts: The marketing materials for Coopers’ Craft use the headline “Building a Gentler Bourbon" and they aren’t lying. This is a super gentle bourbon. I think the combination of price and flavor profile make this a great bourbon for someone just starting their bourbon journey. It has good flavor, but not so much heat that they start choking and sputtering because they aren’t used to the proof. That said, I like a bit more heat so while there is nothing wrong with this bourbon, it isn’t for me.

Coopers’ Craft Barrel Reserve Bourbon

Purchase info: This sample was graciously provided by the company for review purposes. The suggested retail price is between $29.99 and $32.99.

Details: 50% ABV. Uses a “chiseled and charred American White Oak barrel” according to the press release.

Nose: Oak, caramel, ginger and vanilla.

Mouth: Cinnamon candy, oak, ginger, caramel and vanilla.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Lingering ginger, caramel and oak.

Thoughts: This is a damn fine bourbon. I like this one a lot. While the original may be better suited to the new bourbon drinker, this is much more aligned to my palate when consumed neat. It is spicy without being too hot and has a nice underlying sweetness to support the spice. Basically what I’m saying is that they next time I travel to Kentucky, a couple bottles of this will be coming home in my bags.

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