Hello my friends! I hope that you are having a wonderful day. I know I am. Today I got to enjoy 50 degree weather. In Minnesota. In December! Days like this make it hard to get anything accomplished. So instead of working, I spent the day outside taking photos for some upcoming items that I’m going to be putting up on the Etsy store sometime next month. So I guess I was working, but it didn’t feel like it. I’m really excited for these as I am back to playing with barrel wood. This time I took portions of barrel head, planed the front down to a nice clean surface, and then engraved a design on the front before finishing them with a clear polyurethane. They look great! I just am not quite sure how to get them to people yet. I need to find boxes to ship them in.
But that isn’t why you are here (though if you are interested in those you can go to BourbonGuyGifts.com and favorite the shop. I think that will give you a notification when I put up new items.) No you are here to find out about the next entry in our Smoke Wagon series. Tonight’s bourbon is the barrel-proof Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Bourbon. As you might guess, this is a barrel-proof version of the Smoke Wagon Small Batch that we looked at on Tuesday. I don’t have much to add to what I wrote then so we will hear what the producer has to say and then jump into what I thought of the whiskey.
It’s nice out. I want to keep this short and sweet so I can enjoy a bourbon near the fire pit tonight.
We took the same vintage blending philosophy that we used to create Small Batch, except this time the goal was to create high proof bourbon that tasted its best neat. Uncut is so rich and sweet with an unbelievably thick mouth feel, the heat and rye spice finish are a welcome addition. It's like milk with cookies!
Let’s dig in!
Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Bourbon
Purchase Info: $79.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN
Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.33
Details: Batch #192A. Bottled Oct 9, 2023. Distilled in Indiana. 57.98% ABV.
Nose: Cinnamon, spearmint, toffee, and dusty oak.
Mouth: Cinnamon, spearmint, maple, citrus zest, and oak.
Finish: Long and warm with notes of cinnamon, chocolate, and toffee.
Thoughts: This is very good. Much better than the Small Batch Bourbon. It is rich with a wonderful mouthfeel. It's much sweeter than I would have expected and I think that works very well for this particular flavor profile. Overall $80 is still more than I like to spend for bourbon but it's still cheaper than a lot of the barrel-proof bourbons on the shelf (unless you compare it to the one's from Lux Row who happen to be owned by MGP, this brand's presumed supplier) so if I see it again, and am looking for a barrel-proof bourbon, I’ll be sure to give it another look. I like it more than the Small Batch so if the choice was between he two, I’d choose this one.
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