Sample Roulette: Feeling Frugal

In September, I am going to be foregoing my annual September trip to Kentucky for the first time since 2013. It’s been almost ten years since I last skipped the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, but, in my opinion, last year was such a flop that I just don’t feel like spending a lot of money to do something that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Plus, in September, it will be our 25th wedding anniversary. It seemed like too big of a milestone to spend doing the “same ol’ thing.”

And so we will be going somewhere we haven’t been before. Yosemite, Sequoia, and the wine country of Northern California. I’m sure we will have tons of fun, but I also know the trip will cost a lot more than our usual Kentucky trip. And yes, I’m including the bourbon shopping I tend to do in that total. So yeah, I’m feeling pretty frugal at the moment. As such, I’m going to jump into another edition of Sample Roulette.

These samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then. In June, I guessed terribly. Didn’t get a single one even close. I was even in the wrong continent at one point. Let’s see if I do any better this time.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Spearmint, cedar, pencil shavings, and butterscotch.

Mouth: Tingly and a tad delicate. Spearmint, almond, and baking spice.

Finish: Gentle and a little bitter. Notes of bubble gum, mint, and a hint of baking spice.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is tasty. Very soft. It feels Canadian. That bubblegum on the finish makes me lean to Wiser's.

Reveal: Cedar Ridge Iowa Bourbon.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Well. Shit. So far, my streak of not even being remotely close is still intact from the last time we did this. I do not remember this being as soft as it is. But then, I am getting old, and I didn't have the best memory to begin with (just ask my wife).

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Oak is the most prominent note. Followed by caramel, vanilla, and baking spice.

Mouth: Spicy, dry oat notes followed by vanilla, red fruit, and baking spice.

Finish: Warm and longish. More oak, fruit, and baking spice with just a hint of a mineral note.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: My first thought with the heat and dry oak notes was that this could be what's left of one of my early bottles of Elijah Craig 12-year-old. But I don’t remember EC12 having a fruit note. The mineral note on the finish brought me a hint of Dickel. But honestly, I'm kinda stumped on this one. I'm positive this is a bourbon from one of the big guys in Kentucky. I'm going to say Wild Turkey.

Reveal: Old Grand-Dad 114.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Hey! I got the style and state correct! I see this as an absolute win. Sadly, what this means is that Old Grand-Dad 114 has gone way downhill since I put this away back in 2012-2014. Today's Old Grand-Dad 114 is much more dusty-grain forward. This is very rich and oaky.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Oh wow! That's a lot of smoke and fruit.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy. Pears, baking spice, and a touch of smoke.

Finish: Medium in both warmth and length. Notes of smoke and pears.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Sooo... Big caveat on this one. I actively dislike smoky whiskey. This is a big reason why I could never get into Scotch. So for that reason, I can narrow this down to a few craft distilleries. I haven’t purchased smoky whisky from many places due to my aversion to it. One of those distilleries happens to be my friends at MB Roland. And I haven't bought one of those since they were putting out experimental smoked whiskies. So that is what I am guessing.

Reveal: MB Roland Experimental Aged Black Dog (used barrels)

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Ha! Take that! I had to get one eventually. This is actually the very first thing I reviewed on the site. And boy, I do not like it. I mean, it might be good for fans of smoky whiskey. But as I said, I am absolutely not one of them. I do feel pretty good about guessing it, though. Might just finish the pour in... celebration?

Hmm... if you shoot this, you get a sweet barbeque note. Come to think of it. I think I remember that about it. But we've already discussed my memory so take that how you will.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Sample Roulette: Let's Start Summer With Some Fun

Every so often, I feel the need to dig into my box of goodies and pull out some old samples that I put away back in my whiskey hoarding days. Those of you who were part of the whiskey scene in the early 2010s probably remember the days of the falling age-statements and rising prices. You could get a 10 year old bourbon for $25. And it was good bourbon too. But as supplies of aged whiskey started to run low, prices went up and age-statements went away. And so, because I never knew if the last pour in a bottle was going to be the last pour of something that I’d ever have, I started pouring the first couple of pours from a bottle into a small sample bottle and putting it away so that I could go back to it anytime I wanted.

I did that for 6 years. For every bottle I bought. Eventually I ran out of room. I decided which bottles I really wanted to keep and drank or dumped the rest. Then, I did that again a couple years later. In September of 2020 I put painters tape over the original labels so that I could taste them blind. And shortly after that, I decided that writing about it every once in a while would be fun. And here we are.

These samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Caramel, dried grain, black tea, cedar, and dusty oak.

Mouth: Spicier than I'd have expected from the nose. Notes of black tea, cinnamon, butterscotch and oak.

Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Notes of black tea and cinnamon.

Thoughts: I like this one. Lots of caramel/ butterscotch and tannic black tea notes. If I had to guess, I'd guess this is Canadian.

Reveal: Border Bourbon from 45th Parallel Distillery in New Richmond, WI.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Welp. I got that one wrong. I haven't had this since shortly after it was released but it is better than I remember. Might have to grab a recent bottling to see how it is today.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Strawberry jam and dried fruits.

Mouth: Caramel, strawberry jam, and baking spice.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Follows the mouth (caramel, strawberry jam, baking spice) and adds some mint.

Thoughts: After I got over the initial shock on the fruitiness of this one, I like this one too. But wow! was that a shock. I'm going to guess this is a brandy of some sort.

Reveal: Collingwood 21 year old Canadian Rye.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Wow! Whiffed again. My guesses are so far off as to be laughable. I remember this one being floral, but not nearly this fruity. This is a walk down memory lane for sure.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Delicate on the nose. Brown sugar and floral cereal grains.

Mouth: Grain-forward. Notes of cereal grains, Cola, red fruit, and cinnamon.

Finish: Gentle and medium length. Notes of almond, cooked cereal, red fruit and caramel.

Thoughts: I have no idea what this is. It's good but I don't think it is a bourbon...pretty sure it is a whiskey though. With my track record on guesses today, I'm nervous to throw one out, but I'm going to say this is a Willett bourbon along the lines of Noah's Mill.

Reveal: Redbreast 12 year old.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: OK. I give up. This is just not my day for guesses. Noah's Mill is the only grain-forward bourbon that I remember liking so I guessed that but after reveal it is so obviously Redbreast 12. The sherry notes are right there for me to see, I just didn’t connect them with sherry.

But that is part of the fun of doing this blind. Sometimes you guess things correctly and other times you have no idea what you are drinking. Today was the latter. I’m just glad they were all good. Sometimes we get bottom-shelf stuff in these and those are much less fun than tasty Craft, Irish, and Canadian whiskeys.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Jack Daniel's Bonded

I did it again. I went looking for beer at my local liquor store and walked out with two bottles of whiskey.

Don’t judge me!

Though come to think of it, my wife may be to blame for this. Ultimately after 10 years of writing for this site, she should know better than to send me to the liquor store unattended.

See? It’s really her fault. I feel better now, how ‘bout you?

Anyway as I was taking the long way round the store to buy some beer, I saw one of the employees putting product on the shelf and asked if there was anything new. It turns out that there were a couple of new items from Jack Daniel’s. One of which was tonight’s whiskey, the newly released Jack Daniel’s Bonded.

As you might have gathered from the name, Jack Daniel's Bonded is a Bottled-in-Bond whiskey from Jack Daniel’s. It is at least four years old, was distilled during one distilling season, and is bottled at exactly 100 proof. Oh and due to new regulations allowing for more bottle sizes, this is also the first bottle of whiskey that I’ve bought in the US that is the world-standard size of 700 mL. (So one pour less in the bottle, but they don’t need to make one size for in the US and one size for outside the US.) Let’s see what the distillery has to say about the new release:

Jack Daniel’s Bonded is Jack’s time-honored recipe of 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. Barrels were hand selected for their unique and particular characteristics of deeper color, flavor, and aroma, which bring a darker, richer, and more oak-forward character to Jack Daniel’s Bonded. It is a big, bold Tennessee Whiskey at 100 proof with layered notes of caramel, rich oak, and spice giving way to a pleasantly lingering finish.

Sounds good to me, let’s see how it tastes.

Jack Daniel's Bonded

Purchase Price: $34.99 for a 700 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.50

Details: 50% ABV.

Nose: Corn flakes, cinnamon, ginger, and mint.

Mouth: Cinnamon, ginger, mint, caramel, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and spicy. Notes of mint, cinnamon and ginger.

Thoughts: Sometimes I think that all Jack Daniel's needs to be really good is enough proof. This is a prime example. 100 proof, four years old. And it is delicious. This is a very tasty, affordable whiskey. Even if it is 700mL instead of 750.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, and more.

LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience

Seven months ago, I reviewed two bottles of Bourbon created by LAWS Whiskey House out of Denver, CO. One was a store pick of their bourbon and the other was a two-year-old version of their standard release bourbon that was included in the LAWS 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience. I said in that post “I’m going to just focus on the two Bourbons tonight and leave the rest for another day.” Well after seven months, that day has come. And while I encourage you to go back and read that post, I’m just going to post the tasting notes of the Bourbon below so that they are all in the same place.

LAWS Whiskey House uses local ingredients in its whiskeys. This package looks to have been created to show off that fact. It contains a Straight Malt Whiskey, a Straight Rye, and a Straight Wheat Whiskey along with a Bourbon that uses all three. According to the side of the box, the distillery is in Denver and all of their grains and water come from within four hours drive of the distillery. The corn is Homestead Corn sourced from Whiskey Sisters Supply near Burlington, CO. The other grains (San Luis Valley™ Rye, Centennial™ Wheat, and Henry Road™ Barley Malt) are sourced from Cody Family Farms near Alamosa, CO. How’s that for transparency?

One thing to keep in mind is that this tasting set has all the whiskeys age stated as “aged at least 2 years.” It looks as if the current releases of these products are currently three years old so there will probably be differences in tasting notes between the two releases. With that said, let’s jump right in.

LAWS Whiskey House 4-Pack Virtual Tasting Experience

Purchase Info: $34.98 for a multi-pack of four 100mL bottles of their core whiskey line at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.37

Details: 47.5% ABV. "Aged At Least 2 Years."

LAWS Whiskey House Four Grain Straight Bourbon (Originally published 7/13/21)

Nose: Dried Grain and maple.

Mouth: Cinnamon spice, dried grain, mint, applesauce, and black tea.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Notes of dried grain and wintergreen.

Thoughts: This doesn't really do it for me. I'm getting better with well-constructed grain-forward bourbons, but this takes grain-forward to an extreme. I've eaten dried cereal grains before, and while it isn't an unpleasant experience, it isn't something I am looking to do for fun. This tastes like that did. Nice, clean grain flavors, but not something I am looking to have more of. Now, from what I understand, they are trying to showcase their locally sourced heirloom grains with this product. They did that very well, it just isn’t for me. But it might be something to check out if that idea appeals to you.

---

LAWS Whiskey House Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey

Nose: Spearmint, cinnamon candies, a hint of dried grain.

Mouth: Nice spicy cinnamon notes along with almond and honey.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of dried grain, cinnamon, and candied fruit.

Thoughts: I like this one. Probably not enough to buy a full bottle, but I certainly don't regret letting it into my house. It tastes more mature than the bourbons did. As such I like it better than I did the bourbon. The dried grain notes are clean and not overpowering when they are present. Yep. Pretty darn tasty.

---

LAWS Whiskey House San Luis Valley Straight Rye whiskey

Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, ginger, sandlewood.

Mouth: Follows the nose. Spicy with ginger, cinnamon, mint and cedar.

Finish: Medium length. Notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, and dried grain.

Thoughts: This is really good. Kinda wish I'd have bought a full bottle of this when I had the opportunity. I might have to remedy that if next time I travel through a state that distributes it. The only hint that this whiskey is only two years old is on the finish. It shows some dried grain notes at that point, but not before. Overall it's a good, if young, rye whiskey.

---

LAWS Whiskey House Henry Road Straight Malt Whiskey

Nose: Cooked cereal grains.

Mouth: Dried hay, butterscotch, and cinnamon.

Finish: Medium length. Strong notes of butterscotch and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This one is quite a bit too grain-forward for me. I don't like it at all, but I also have a known bias against malt whiskeys so take that how you will. On top of that, I’m not a huge butterscotch fan. So I guess it just hit all the wrong notes for me. Overall, I am just not a fan of this. Doesn’t mean you won’t be though if those are notes that appeal to you.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Yellow Spot Irish Whiskey

As expected, I missed last week. Sorry about that. I was taking my mother to visit my Stepdad at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis every day. And with worried family at the house, I had no time for tastings. But as of now, he seems to be recovering as well as a Vietnam Vet who had life-threatening surgery a week ago can be.

In any case, while I was driving around killing time while my mom was visiting the hospital, I decided to visit some of the liquor stores in the area to see if I could find something to buy with the Christmas tips I received from dog clients. And suffice it to say that I did indeed find something.

A couple of years ago, one of my dogs clients gave me a bottle of Green Spot Irish Whiskey. It was delicious and I had the thought that I might grab another bottle of it using this year’s tips. While I was in the store, cash in hand (metaphorically) to keep me from overspending, I noticed that sitting right next to the Green Spot was a bottle of it’s older brother the 12-year-old Yellow Spot. And honestly, since I was buying myself a present, I decided to splurge and spend the extra $40 to try something new.

Let’s see how it tastes.

Yellow Spot Irish Whiskey

Purchase Info: $99.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.67

Details: 12 years old. Aged in Bourbon, Sherry, and Malaga casks. Non-chill filtered. 46% ABV.

Nose: Apricot, honey, nutmeg, mixed berries, and green tea.

Mouth: Green tea, honey, cinnamon candies, and nutmeg.

Finish: Medium to long. Not much heat, but a lot of flavor. Notes of apricot and baking spices.

Thoughts: I really like this. I think it might be as close to a Love rating as a non-Bourbon could get. If you think that Green Spot is worth the $60 asking price (which I do), then this is an easy upgrade pick at $100. It is very, very good. Not an everyday drinker at that price obviously, but instead a bottle that sits on the special shelf waiting for a special occasion or a good friend to arrive.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Tasters' Selection: 14E19 "Twin" Blend

Quick one tonight as I have my parents staying over tonight so that I can take them to the VA Clinic right away in the morning. And, as much as I like you, I’d rather spend time with them instead of writing. If nothing else it will help keep everyone’s mind off of the upcoming appointment tomorrow.

Luckily we’ve already talked about a couple of whiskies in this series already so I can crib some of the post from last time.

Tonight’s whiskey is the last of the three of the Tennessee Taster’s Selections that I purchased on my September visit to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. This time, we are looking at the Fall 2020 release: 14E19 “Twin” Blend. These bottles are only sold through the Jack Daniel’s Distillery Bottle Shop and select liquor stores in Tennessee. As we discussed the previous times we looked at one of these, the Tennessee Tasters’s Selections are limited, experimental releases that take a Jack Daniel’s product and play with it a bit. In this case they took 30 barrels of their Rye whiskey and blended it with 20 barrels of their standard Tennessee Whiskey. As you may be able to tell by the name 14E19, all of these barrels were filled on May 19, 2014, hence the “twin” name.

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Tasters' Selection: 14E19 "Twin" Blend

Purchase Info: $34.24 for a 375 mL bottle at the White Rabbit Bottle Shop, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Lynchburg, TN

Price per Drink (50 ML): $4.60

Details: 53.5% ABV. Barrel entry date: May 19, 2014. 20 barrels of TN Whiskey blended with 30 barrels of TN Rye.

Nose: Oak, vanilla, caramel, chocolate, and leather.

Mouth: Oak, caramel, vanilla, cedar, cinnamon, ginger, and a touch of molasses.

Finish: Medium in both length and warmth. Notes of molasses and ginger.

Thoughts: I think my favorite baked good is a ginger- molasses cookie. They are soft, rich, and have just the right amount of bite from the ginger. This whiskey hits all of those same notes for me. I really, really like this one. And once again, I'm very sad I only bought one 375mL bottle.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Wyoming Whiskey Outryder (2021 Edition)

I’d like to thank Verde Brand Communications for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Just in time for the holiday gift rush to begin in earnest, I’ve got one last sample to feature. This time, the 2021 release of Outryder from Wyoming Whiskey. I covered the origin story of Outryder when I received a sample of the 2020 release so let’s jump right into talking about the liquid itself instead of the story behind it.

Quoting the press release:

Following the popularity of its first two iterations of Outryder, in 2016 and 2017, Wyoming Whiskey came to terms with the finite amount of 2011 whiskey stock used to create the initial batches. In order to carry on the legacy of this exceptional whiskey, Wyoming Whiskey has begun to marry its 10-year-old “almost rye” whiskies (48% rye, 40% corn, 12% malt) and bourbon (68% corn, 20% rye, 12% malt), with two whiskies distilled in early 2017, which are considered a “true rye” (51% rye, 37% corn, 12% malt) and bourbon (68% corn, 20% rye, 12% malt).

I mean, that sounds like a pretty good blend. So how does it taste?

Wyoming Whiskey Outryder, 2021 edition

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $74.99 and was available nationwide beginning in November 2021.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 50% ABV. A blend of three Wyoming Whiskeys the original “almost rye,” a rye, and a bourbon.

Nose: Caramel, cinnamon, black tea, mint, and a muted orange note.

Mouth: Brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, mint, and black tea.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cinnamon and mint.

Thoughts: This is a tasty one. I like it. It has a lot of "brown" baking notes. Brown sugar, baking spices, etc. The herbal mint and black tea notes play nicely with the baking notes. I'm a fan. Price is a little high for my tastes, but this is a limited release from a small producer, so you are going to have that.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.

Jack Daniel's 2021 Single Barrel Special Release: Coy Hill High Proof

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

View fullsize

Last week I got to sit in on a fun virtual tasting with the Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller for their new 2021 Single Barrel Special Release: Coy Hill High Proof. It is an interesting tasting and what follows are some of the notes my wife and I took during the presentation.

• Coy Hill is the name of the highest elevation on the Jack Daniel’s property with aging warehouses on it. This whiskey came from two of those warehouses, number 8 and 13. The retail product will list which warehouse of the two warehouses the whiskey was aged in.

• The typical Jack Daniel’s warehouse has 7 floors, each with 3 levels. The top floor has just enough space between the ceiling and the top rack to squeeze another level of barrels. They call this the “Buzzard’s Roost.” This product came exclusively from the Buzzard’s Roost.

• Barrel entry dates for this product were August 2, 3, and 17 of 2012. They were bottled in late September 2021. Meaning this product is 9 years old, though that is not on the label. All nine of those years were spent in the Buzzard’s Roost as they do not move or rotate barrels.

• The retail product ranges from 137.4° proof to 148.3° proof. They had barrels in the batch that came in proofed over 160° proof, but the high alcohol content was causing leakage as the alcohol expanded in the head space and pushed the cork out. Most of these barrels are still aging until they figure out what to do with them. (For the record, typical barrel proofs at this age are probably in the mid-130s.)

And now some quotes from the Press Release that I found interesting:

• “Coy Hill High Proof is made from Jack Daniel’s classic 80% corn, 12% malted barley and 8% rye grain bill.”

• “The limited offering whiskey is bottled at proof points ranging from 137.4 up to 148.3 and marks the highest proof whiskey ever released from the Jack Daniel Distillery.”

• “The Coy Hill High Proof is all about pushing the limit for single barrel maturation to create one of our boldest, most innovative whiskeys we have ever released,” says Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Chris Fletcher. “It highlights one of the unique attributes of the Jack Daniel Distillery – the dry air of the highest floors of the barrel houses – and the amazing impact it has on whiskey making.”

• “Due to the high barrel strength, the bottle should remain upright at all times
  unless being poured into a glass for drinking in a responsible manner.”

But enough of that, let’s get on to the tasting notes.

Jack Daniel's 2021 Single Barrel Special Release: Coy Hill High Proof

Purchase Info: This sample was sent by Jack Daniel’s for the purposes of the virtual tasting and for review. The Suggested Retail Price is $70 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.67

Details: 73.65% ABV

Nose: Oak notes of leather and tobacco, spearmint, wintergreen, vanilla, and baking spices.

Mouth: Very warm and sweet. Initial strong toffee notes followed by vanilla, mint, and almond.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of almond, mint, toffee, and baking spice.

Thoughts: This might have the darkest color of any whiskey I’ve ever reviewed. It is also a very tasty whiskey. It is quite a bit too hot for my taste when consumed neat. Luckily for me, when I have a glass of whiskey for enjoyment, I like to have a small piece of ice in higher-proof ones. Well, this one gets a large piece of ice. And it takes it well. There is still some heat to the drink. The flavor softens a bit and brings the oak notes more to the forefront. And the finish is still fairly long. Overall, I really like this one.

---

Did you enjoy this post? If so, maybe you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee in return. Go to ko-fi.com/bourbonguy to support. And thank you, BourbonGuy.com is solely supported via your generosity.

Of course, if you want to support BourbonGuy.com and get a little something back in return, you can always head over to BourbonGuyGifts.com and purchase some merch. I’ve made tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more.