Sazerac: just remove the damn numbers

In my real life, I work in marketing. I’ve spent every day for the last 12 years trying to get people to buy things. Sometimes it was hammers as I did ads for hardware stores. Sometimes it was expensive medical equipment when I worked for an ad agency that specialized in such things.

Marketing gets an often undeserved bad reputation. We are the ones who have studied how to convince people of things. And since those things almost always involve money, we get the blame when we do our job too well. 

As a designer, I’m hyper-aware of the difference between convincing people and tricking them. I skirt the line almost all the time and I get extremely upset when I’m asked to cross it. I never forget that the people I’m convincing are actually people. It’s easy to reduce customers to numbers. To see them as nothing more than a line on a spreadsheet. Especially since when the numbers get bigger, you know that your paycheck is safe for at least a little longer.

So it was with extreme agitation that I noticed a sneaky little trick that the Sazarac company was pulling. I first became aware of it when the Fleischman’s Rye label went from saying “Straight Rye Whiskey” to saying “Mash Rye Whiskey.” I believe it’s supposed to be read as Rye Mash Whiskey, but that’s because the designer was either asked to do it wrong or convinced themselves that the larger rye would draw attention first.

I got angry when I found that I liked the Old Charter: Aged 8 Years and realized it had sneakily been replaced by something labeled: Old Charter: 8. The marketing department had removed the words Aged and Old, but left the 8. They tricked me. I was angry. I decided to to prove that they were sneaking an inferior product into the supply chain and trying to trick the numbers…err…customers into believing that nothing had changed. 

By an odd coincidence, I bought one out of the last batches of Very Old Barton, 100 proof: 6 Year Old before the switch to “Very Old Barton, 100 proof: 6.” So the last time I was in Kentucky I picked up a bottle of the 6. I’ll be very honest I had an agenda. I wanted to prove that these guys were no good liars.

On Sunday, I set up a double blind tasting with the 6 Year Old and the 6. I threw in a pour out of the bottle of 90 proof 6 year I had on hand to confuse the issue even more. Below are the results. 

Disclaimer: I bought all of these bottles. The 90 proof was bought at Binny’s in Bloomington, IL. The 100 proof NAS was purchased at Liquor World in Bardstown. The 100 proof 6 year old..I’m guessing it was at a Liquor Barn, but it was long enough ago that I don’t remember which one. I’m leaving this info out of the notes so as not to tip my hand as to which is which.

Bourbon 1

Nose: Sweet. Bubblegum. Grassy. Dried corn.

Mouth: Hot and sweet. Like a sugar cookie mixed with grain.

Finish: Some warmth. More dried corn. 

Bourbon 2: 

Nose: Predominately a lumber pile. Oak. Under that is some bubblegum.

Mouth: Thin. Dried Corn. A bit of bubblegum. 

Finish: Gentle, but with a lingering bitterness.

Bourbon 3: 

Nose: Vegetal silage. Sweet bubblegum. Oak.

Mouth: Some heat. Bitter oak tannins. Vegetal. 

Finish: Silage. Gentle. A lingering unpleasant bitterness.

Thoughts: Upon finishing my notes, I’m positive I know which are which. I’m guessing the thin mouthfeel of 2 means it is the 90 proof. And because of my bias, I’m pretty sure the vegetal silage one is the NAS and the sweet tasty one was the older version. 

I was correct on the 90 proof. That was indeed number 2. But I had the others completely backward. It turns out, I really disliked the 100 proof age stated version (number 3). It was bitter and tannic. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. I liked the 86 proof much more than the 100 the last time I reviewed them. But the NAS version (number 1)? I liked that one a lot. It was sweeter but still had the burn that let me know the proof was there.

So what does this mean? Well it lends credence to Sazerac’s claim that they wanted to age these to taste not age. If the 6 year is overaged, I’m happy to have one that isn’t. But I’m torn. They are still deceiving people. I hate being tricked almost more than I hate bad whiskey. But I have a solution.

Sazerac: just remove the damn numbers.

Thoughts on the difference between drinking and tasting & a review of Baker's Bourbon

As someone who puts his thoughts about bourbon down in the digital spaces, I could be called some kind of bourbon enthusiast. A bourbon geek, if you will. What makes a geek a geek (of whatever orientation, tech, comics, bourbon, etc) is an almost obsessive fascination with a certain subject. In my case, bourbon. 

One of the side effects of such an obsession is that we tend to want to quantify things. To assign each individual expression a certain worth and to see how it ranks against the others. It could be that first issue where Batman did something or another, a computer with the best specs or a whiskey that has just the right nose or finish to warrant a numerical score. 

If you are obsessed enough to score something you are probably using the “right” equipment to do so. Either a Glencairn or some other nosing glass that will allow the odors to concentrate enough for you to be able to appreciate them fully. This is how I and many others get our tasting notes. And I know it might sound snobby, but in all honesty the glass really does make a difference. 

But here’s the thing, by making a difference it changes what you are doing. You’re tasting the bourbon. You aren’t drinking it. And there is a difference between tasting a bourbon and drinking it. One is for analysis and one is for pleasure. They only have a passing relationship to one another. So does that matter? Not really. If you prefer one or the other, that’s cool. And that isn’t to say that pleasure can’t be had from analysis. It takes all kinds.

All of the above is a preface to my issue tonight. I’ve had plenty of bourbons that I really liked when tasting them. But when it came time to just drink them? They were different. It wasn’t as pleasurable as I would have expected. On the other hand I’ve had bourbons such as Evan Williams Black or a Very Old Barton that are a pleasure to have at hand during a card game, while having a good conversation or while watching a good movie that are perfectly tasty, but get them in a tasting glass and they feel thin or bland. And that isn’t fair because that isn’t their natural environment. They were developed for drinking, not tasting.

This next one is an anomaly though. I was really looking forward to doing the tasting. It was one that I have really liked on numerous occasions in a tumbler with a piece of ice or two. I put it in a nosing glass though and all the things that I thought I liked weren’t there anymore. Instead of warm candy sweetness…well let’s let the notes do the talking for this one.

Baker’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

Purchase Info: $41.49 for a 750 mL at Liquor World, Bardstown, KY

Details: 7 years old. 53.5% ABV. Batch B-90-001.

Nose: Sawdust, mint, white sugar, green vegetables.

Mouth: Toffee, black pepper and oak. Sweet, yet somehow also bitter.

Finish: Warm and long with lingering oak.

Thoughts: The tasting glass seems to have brought out more of the bitterness than I would have expected. the nose was more vegetal than I remembered. If I’d only had a small sample and only had it while tasting, I wouldn’t be able to say I liked this. But since I normally drink it with in my favorite rocks glass with an ice cube or two, I can easily say that I like this one a lot.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2014

Old Forester bourbon was first bottled in 1870. That’s a pretty small statement for somthing that had as large of an impact as this did so let me repeat it. Old Forester was first bottled in 1870. And in doing so it became the first brand to be exclusively available in that packaging. You couldn’t get it in a barrel. You had to buy it in a bottle. 

Doesn’t seem that odd today. Even if you buy a barrel of something, you can still only get it delivered to your local liquor store as a bunch of bottles. (Unless you have all the proper licensure, of course.) But pre-Prohibition, this wasn’t the case. And why would it be? The bourbon is already in the perfect container for transport. Why would anyone want to spend the money to take it out of it’s already perfect container just to put it into an expensive bottle? A glass bottle? That might break? And cost money?

But that container isn’t actually perfect, is it? It’s got one major flaw. It can’t be sealed and made “tamper-proof.” It might leave the producer as Straight Bourbon Whiskey. But by the time it ends up in the consumer’s mouth it might have had any number of foul additives introduced to it. And since most medical professionals of the time agreed with today’s connoisseurs that whiskey is a healthful product, foul additives might just put a damper on things.

Enter George Garvin Brown, who seems to have noticed that there was a distinct lack of trust for the consistent availability of quality whiskey amongst the medical professionals. He decided to market a sealed whiskey exclusively to doctors. It was only available in a sealed bottle thereby assuring everyone of the unadulterated product inside. He named it after a local doctor, one Doctor Forrester. (After the good doctor passed away, that extra r was dropped.) The company he founded went on to become today’s Brown-Foreman producers of many things, but most notably for this site, Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester.

In 2002, Brown-Foreman decided to honor their founder by releasing a yearly limited 12 year old bourbon called Birthday Bourbon. It is announced on, or around, the September 2 birthday of Brown. It is released sometime after that. The batch is taken from a single day’s production.

I first noticed Birthday Bourbon in the fall of 2011. The bottle that my liquor store had was from the year before. I noticed it because it was barreled in 1997, the year I was married. I was looking for something special for my wife and I to share since both our birthdays and our wedding anniversary take place all within the same week. Coincidentally in September. It made a fun treat. Released near our birthday and barreled the year we were married. Not too shabby.

Of course since then, it has become impossible to find. Luckily we’ve normally had the chance to at least taste it. This year with a new national-chain liquor store showing up in town, I was able to finally get my hands on another bottle.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, 2014

Purchase info: $39.99 for 750mL at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN (yes, that is about $20 below the average price).

Details: Barreled 2002. Bottled 2014. 12 years old. 48.5% ABV

Nose: Brown sugar, caramel apple and latex paint

Mouth: Creamy mouthfeel. Spicy and sweet with cinnamon, maple and apple.

Finish: Lingering warmth with spicy latex paint and ripe fruit.

Thoughts: I like this whiskey very much. Spicy and fruity with a creamy mouthfeel and a nice finish.

It’s taken me a long time to place that “Brown-Foreman” nose that both Old Forester and Woodford Reserve have. In this one I finally figured it out. It’s a fruity latex paint. This sounds awful but isn’t (much like Scotch lovers will describe the wax or band-aid scent of certain drams and not mean it in a bad way.) I’ll admit, I actually rather like it.

Advice, sharing & a review: Old Medley 12 year

Some advice: when you meet with other whiskey enthusiasts, don’t overthink it. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here are some of the things I’ve been guilty of in the past.

I was at a whiskey bar in Louisville and saw they had a few special (expensive) pours on the menu. I really wanted to try one, but didn’t because I didn’t want to come across as a douchebag who “only drinks the good stuff” even though it was just that I hadn’t had it before. Don’t overthink it.

I was at another whiskey bar where the bartender really seemed to know his stuff. Even though I tend toward fanboyishness for Four Roses and really wanted it, I bought a pour of Old GrandDad 114 so that he would know that I knew how to find an overlooked gem too. I’m pretty sure he didn’t notice. Don’t overthink it.

I met a whiskey writer that I admire for the first time and we had a taste of an amazing old Rye from before I was born. Even though I was hungry, and the food was right in front of me, I had to be talked into having some along with the whiskey. I didn’t want to be seen as disrespecting something that was amazingly rare and special. Don’t overthink it.

I was at a tasting in a local liquor store and saw that many others were nosing by hovering just above the lip of their nosing glasses. I adjusted my deep dive to match their shallow one even though I have allergies and need to get all the way in so I can pick anything up. I didn’t actually end up smelling anything that night. Don’t overthink it.

Social anxiety has been something that I’ve struggled with my entire life. I tend to come across as a gregarious person. It’s a persona that I, eventually, had adopted for so long that I thought it was who I actually was. But deep down, that crippling shyness never really went away. It just chose odd times to really show up. But here’s the thing, when I finally stopped worrying about if others were judging how I enjoyed my whiskey, I ended up enjoying my whiskey much more.

Ok here’s one more: I was in a liquor store in St. Louis to meet up with a local blogger. We ended up doing a little shopping. I was, once again, in danger of overthinking the bottle I was buying. I saw some that I knew I couldn’t get at home but was straying over to those that the other geeks prefer. It took my wife quietly taking me to task to make me realize what I was doing. In the end I ended up picking up a bottle of Old Medley 12 year. I’d heard of it, knew it was sourced but little else. I also knew I couldn’t get it at home and that even if it turned out that it wasn’t good, it would at least be something new. I didn’t over think it. I just bought it. And eventually I just drank it.

Old Medley 12 Year Old

Purchase Info: ~$45 for a 750 mL at the Wine and Cheese Place, St. Louis, MO

Details: 43.4% ABV. Distilled in Kentucky, bottled in California.

Nose: This whiskey cannot make up its mind if it wants to be sweet with spicy cinnamon or sharp with vegetal oak on the nose. It’s never both, but switches back and forth.

Mouth: Slightly syrupy mouthfeel with mint, clove and oak tannins.

Finish: Harsh but short with a lingering bitter mineral note.

Thoughts: I would probably like this much more if I hadn’t paid so much for it. It reminds me a lot of an older, woodier version of Ezra Brooks. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with it, but there isn’t much to recommend it at $40+ unless you really like an over-oaked bourbon.

A Pair of Wheat Whiskeys from Heaven Hill: Bernheim Original & Parker's Heritage

I am a 38 year old man. My dog has been aged for a minimum of two years. My wife is…

…yeah. My wife is NAS. That’s No Age Statement for those of you who are not versed in geeky acronyms. And much like my wife, many whiskeys have recently chosen to remove their age statements. It’s due to a lot of factors, but the main one seems to be a decided lack of stocks of an adequate age. 

So in an era when age statements are falling faster than the leaves outside my house, it would be big news if someone actually added an age statement to their bottle. It would mean not only that they had adequate stocks of that particular whiskey, but that they foresaw that they would continue to have it for as much of the future as is foreseeable. Plus, why bother? NAS whiskey is selling fine.

But, in spite of all that, that’s what Heaven Hill recently did to their Bernheim Wheat Whiskey. Bottles bearing a large, yet slightly oddly worded, “7 Years Aged” have recently begun to work their way through retail channels. I have yet to see it in Minnesota so when I saw a bottle down in Kentucky bearing the age statement, I knew I needed to buy it. If for no other reason than I like to reward good behavior.

Positive Reinforcement People!

Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey, 7 Years Aged

Purchase Info: $28.99 for a 750 mL at Liquor Barn, Louisville, KY

Details: 45% ABV, Aged 7 Years

Nose: Sweet cotton candy, pears, fleeting hints of peanuts

Mouth: Sweet with a black pepper tingle and vitamin or mineral notes

Finish: Gentle burn. Continues the palate with lingering sweetness along with the black pepper and mineral notes.

Thoughts: This is pleasant though uninteresting. It can take a little water, but not much. I like it but wouldn’t want it for every pour. I’d love to see that age statement creep up even further.

That last statement is something that I’d heard almost every time that I talked to someone about Bernheim. It’s the common refrain: a higher proof and more age would make this perfect. And I’d say in this case, they might be right. Lucky for me, shortly after I got home from Kentucky I got the chance to see for myself if common knowledge was correct.

While I was in Bardstown for BourbonFest last month, Heaven Hill released this year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection to their gift shops. It is a 13 year old cask strength wheat whiskey along the lines of the Bernheim. Just older. And higher proof. I missed it in both the Even Williams Experience and in the Bourbon Heritage Center gift shops. The Bourbon Heritage Center by mere minutes. 

Things take a little longer to get to Minnesota some times so when I started to see tweets from local liquor stores showing that they had this year’s PHC I started making my rounds. Many were holding it for raffles or events, but one new comer to our market doesn’t believe in that. They just put it on the shelf. And I happened to walk in looking for a six pack of beer at just the right time. 

Parker’s Heritage Collection: Original Batch Wheat Whiskey

Purchase Info: $109.99 Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 13 years old, 63.7% ABV, minimum 51% wheat mashbill

Nose: Dark brown sugar and caramel, leather and bready notes.

Taste: Sweet caramel, but hot on the palate. Cinnamon red hot candies, mint and ripe fruit.

Finish: Long, rich and warm. This one hangs around for a while.

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Thoughts: This is a fantastic whiskey! A little hot without water, but settles down. At $110 I would seriously consider getting another if I saw it. But at that price I will probably only consider it. It’s just under my price ceiling for a bottle of whiskey. I’m happy to have bought it once, don’t know if I can bring myself to do so again.

Since I had a little of each left in my tasting glasses after this, I decided to try one more thing. 

Parker’s Heritage Wheat and Bernheim Wheat in a 50/50 blend

Details: My math puts this at 108.7° proof (54.35% ABV)

Nose: Brown sugar, red hot candies, ripe fruit. Shows a lot of the Parker’s in the nose.

Mouth: Thick mouthfeel. More so than either separately. Sweet brown sugar and baking spices.

Finish: Gentle burn that lasts a decent length of time. Sweetness mixed with spice.

Thoughts: I think I like this better than either alone. The Parker’s is awesome, both in flavor and in power. This is a bit more approachable without being boring. It is sweet but balanced with spice. I’d drink this everyday if they released it.

Maker's Mark: Beyond the Mark Tour and Cask Strength Review

While in Kentucky, I took the opportunity to take a more in-depth tour of the Maker's Mark Distillery. It's called the Beyond the Mark tour and it costs $35 per person. There is a maximum of 12 people per session. My wife and I purchased out tickets ahead of time and didn't hear them offer it to anyone while we were waiting so it probably wouldn't hurt to do the same if you choose to do this.

The tour starts the same way they all do. You cross the bridge and walk down the path, pausing along the way to hear a little bit of the history of the distillery from the time the land was cleared until today. We stopped off to peek inside the Quart House, the first liquor store in the state of Kentucky.

Then we enter the distillery proper. Up to this point, the tour isn't that much different from the nine dollar tour. Smaller, more intimate, the tour guide seems more knowledgable (even acknowledging the gentleman who called her on the myth of the recipe origin with a sidelong, "hush, we'll discuss that amongst ourselves"). All in all, Aggie was the best part of the tour up until this point and the one thing that made it different. Everyone gets to see the stills and the tanks as they are beautiful.

Not every tour gets to drink the white dog dipped out of that tank. I don't care for white dog, but this was too cool to pass up.

Of course we saw the fermenters. Lovely old wood. (We even got to see Bill Samuels, Jr. getting interviewed by a tv crew of some sort. He stopped over to say hi and thanked us for touring so that was nice.)

But after that, we got to see the "real" fermenters. Not that the others are fake, but these are the 34 stainless steel ones that make the bulk of the mash.

After the fermenters, it was up the stairs to have a very nice shift supervisor tell us about their yeast. It's hopped to keep the bacteria from taking it over. We got to taste it...tasted like a flat Belgian beer.

Every tour gets to see the printing presses and die cut press that makes the labels.

​But this was the first time I got to enter the Quality Control Building. This was one of the samples. I didn't get to taste it and make notes, though come to think of it, I didn't ask either. The tickets in the background are prizes to incentivize the employees to participate. I guess when you are around bourbon all day, tasting it might be just...work. 

Gotta go through the warehouse. No distillery tour would be complete without that awesome smell.

Watching the folks on the bottling line is always impressive. 

But going through the room where they dip all the specialty items and different wax colors was really cool. It was nice to see the "not-so-polished" side of Maker's. I've worked in factories and always knew it had to be there. I liked seeing it.

No tour would be compete without a tasting. We got the standard four (Under-aged, normal, over aged and 46) plus a sample of the Cask Strength.

The Cask Strength which we toasted to one another under the light of the Dale Chihuly art installation on our way to the Gift Shop.

Maker's Mark Cask Strength

Purchase Info: $39.99 for a 375 mL at the Distillery Gift Shop

Details: 56.6% ABV

Nose: fresh cut apple, spearmint, honey and oak

Mouth: very sweet, cinnamon and clove with distinct floral notes

Finish: good, long warmth that sits in the chest and a sweetness that hangs around, but then transitions to sharpness.

Thoughts: This is Maker's just stronger and more concentrated. It's fabulous and well worth the equivalent of $80 for a 750 mL when compared to other cask strength offerings. It's very drinkable and I like it more than either regular Maker's or Maker's 46. 

This whiskey was money well spent and the tour even more so. I gathered a lot of knowledge from a very good tour guide. I got to see places and have experiences that I didn't normally get to have and got to geek out just a little bit. I'd recommend both.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

I used to be a “try-every-bourbon-you-can” sort of guy. I’d buy one of everything on the shelf over the course of a year. I’d long for those bottles that were featured on the blogs, but that I didn’t get to try. I traded samples. I waited in lines. I searched stores (sometimes going from one to another). I attended events. Over time, I tried a lot of bourbon that way. 

But as I settled into my bourbon journey for the long-haul, I stopped trying so hard to get the “next big thing.” I still attend events, but I do it more to talk with fellow bourbon lovers than I do to taste what’s in the glass (though that is a nice bonus). But I don’t try very hard to get most of the “Limited Edition” bourbons that come out each fall. Pappy is too expensive, plus I generally don’t prefer wheated bourbons. Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection is too much effort to find for a lazy guy like me. Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is one I like to get, but apparently doesn’t show up at the stores I frequent. So like I said I don’t try very hard to get these. 

Well, except for one: the Four Roses autumn release of the Limited Edition Small Batch.

I first ran across this at a tasting a local liquor store chain was having. Minnesota was in the midst of a government shut-down so the store lined up a few more types of bourbon than they might normally have served. We tasted through the Jefferson’s bourbon line, including the last of the 17 year and the first of the 18 year bourbons. We tasted a few different types of Prichard’s including the Tennesee whiskey and the double barreled bourbon. But for me, the highlight of the night was tasting through the Four Roses line. Even then, I knew that I loved four Roses. We had the Yellow Label, the Small Batch, the Single Barrel and a “special one” that turned out to be the 2009 Mariage bourbon (the previous name of the Limited Edition Small Batch). I was blown away by it. So much so that once my wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011, I scoured the Twin Cities looking for another bottle. I wanted that bottle very much and wasn’t going to settle, even passing up an offer of Pappy instead from one retailer after I told him why I was looking so hard. I eventually did get it and it was that bottle we celebrated her first diagnosis of there being no sign of cancer left in her body. I still have a few samples put away for the 5 year mark.

Ever since then, I’ve tried to pick up at least one bottle per year. In 2012, I happend to be at the gift shop the day it was put out, but had to order a second bottle when the first one ran out. Last year my local retailers were unable to get me one, but a friend came through and shipped me one from another state. Both of those were released to rave reviews and cries of “best-ever!” from reviewers who didn’t have to purchase a bottle in order to taste it. (That isn’t sour grapes, I just choose to only review things I actually purchase.)

This year, the reviews were not quite so glowing. I didn’t read a single “best-ever” from the pre-release crowd. I read a lot of things similar to “it would be hard to follow up those last two years.” But, I’m a Four Roses fan-boy and when my wife and I happened to be in Kentucky for the release again, I knew we needed to get our hands on at least one bottle. Luck was with us though and we each snagged one. 

So how was it? 

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

Purchase Info: $110 at the distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 55.9% ABV. Bottle 9,235 of 12,516

Nose: Candied orange peal, tobacco, allspice and maple. 

Mouth: Light in the mouth. There’s a nice tingle at the front and sides of the mouth. Pears, honey and clove dominate.

Finish: Gentle spice with a lingering sweetness and warmth.

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Thoughts: This is a very good whiskey and I like it a lot. It’s extremely drinkable, even at over 55% ABV. But at $110, when I compare it to a very good Four Roses Single Barrel retailer selection that you can find for less than $65, I don’t know that it is $45 better. If you find it and find yourself flush with cash, pick it up. If you are a fan-boy like me, pick it up. But if you can’t get it, don’t feel too bad about it, grab a good Four Roses Single Barrel private selection to enjoy instead.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Bourbon, 13 year

Willett. If you are a fan of American Whiskey, you've probably heard this name.

It doesn't matter if you're a relative newcomer impressed with the distinctive still-shaped bottle of the Willett Pot Still Reserve or a seasoned veteran of the whiskey world who has found a love for the understatedly elegant label of the Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel series. Once you learn of Willett, they are someone that you keep an eye on.

Until relatively recently, Willett wasn't a distiller. They were what has come to be called a Non-Distiller Producer (NDP) And no, contrary to what you might read, this isn't a bad thing. When they are honest about it, NDPs provide a nice service by bringing to light excess bourbon that might otherwise just be blended away. In the case of Willett, they buy whiskey, age it until ready and sell it to us. This is basically humanitarianism at it’s best.

I say Willett wasn't a distillery because in addition to their amazing ability consistently find/buy/age products that are some of the best on huge market, they now distill their own as well. But that is a topic for a future post. Suffice it to say for now they the people in charge of Willett have some of the best palates in the business and every time I see one of their Family Estate Bottled products I stop, look, walk past, turn around, look some more and almost always end up buying one.

Recently, I finished a bottle of 13 year Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon that a friend brought back for me from the distillery gift shop. It was…well, let’s just see how it was.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon

Purchase info: ~$120-130 for a 750 mL at the Distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 61% ABV, 13 years old, Barrel #383, Purple foil on the neck.

Nose: Silage/corn initially with hints of pickle. After sitting a bit: warm peach cobbler and caramel. 

Mouth: Sweet and tingly. Baked apple with cinnamon. Hints of hot chocolate. Strong oak.

Finish: long and hot. Cinnamon, hot cocoa and lingering oak.

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Thoughts: I love this. It is easily in the conversation for a top five bourbon for me. It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s exactly what I look for in a bourbon. Here’s my advice to you. If you visit Willett, just buy the most expensive bottle you can afford, but don’t feel bad about not buying a more expensive one. I’ve liked every one I’ve gotten there no matter what I’ve spent and have never regretted the purchase.