Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey (110 proof)

December 29, 2015 Eric Burke

Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey with it's cousin, Rittenhouse, in the background

I tend to like rye whiskey more than my wife does. She’s coming around, but things that show a lot of rye character still aren’t her drink of choice. When I find my hand hovering over an open bottle of rye on the shelf it is usually one that is a nice change of pace from bourbon. To be honest, it is probably either from Canada or Indiana. If I’m grabbing a rye, I don’t want it to be confused for a high rye bourbon. If I wanted that I’d just have a bourbon.

My wife on the other hand, tends to like her ryes more bourbony. With rare exceptions, the Kentucky-style barely-legal rye is the style she’d reach for first. Which makes our most recent whiskey to be opened one that is more up her alley than mine.

Pikesville Straight Rye whiskey is a wide-release line extension to the Pikesville Supreme Rye whiskey that is mostly available only in Maryland where the brand was originally from. It is an older and higher proof version of Rittenhouse Rye. But those 10 degrees proof and 2 years time come with a price. Where Rittenhouse can be found hovering around $22 at my nearest Total Wine, Pikesville clocks in at $44.

I guess the only question is…is it worth it?

Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $54.95 for a 750 mL bottle. Heaven Hill Gift Shop, Bardstown, KY

Details: 6 years old, 55% ABV

Nose: Mint, cloves, caramel, a mild fruitiness and hints of cotton candy.

Mouth: Ginger spiciness, cloves, mint and a fruitiness that is more forward on the palate than the nose would lead you to believe.

Finish: Cloves, mild fruitiness and mint follow a lingering spicy ginger heat.

Thoughts: Though this is a barely-legal rye, it has enough rye character that it straddles a line where both my wife and I tend to like this one. Like it’s younger cousin, this is a hot rye whiskey. Unlike it’s younger cousin, I like this in a glass with an ice cube rather than in a cocktail.

So to answer the question above, is it worth twice the price? To me, the answer is yes since I actually like this one where I’m just sort of meh on Rittenhouse outside of a cocktail. If on the other hand, you love your Rittenhouse, your milage may vary. Certainly try it but the value may not be there for you.

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Medley Bros. A pretty good bourbon to have while watching TV.

December 21, 2015 Eric Burke

Medley Bros, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and the glass I was drinking it out of while taking the photo.

If you are a loyal reader of the blog, you will notice that this post is appearing on an off day. Being the loyal reader that you are, you probably have your schedule set up so that you will always be reading bourbon guy.com on Tuesday and Thursday nights. And now I’ve gone and screwed that right the hell up.

I do have a good excuse. Tomorrow night I am taking my daughter and wife to see Star Wars. I’ve taken my daughter to see every Star Wars movie. It started when she was young and we took her to see the theatrical release of the Original Trilogy Special Editions when she was little. It continued through the prequels when she was a teenager and now that she is an adult we are going to see Episode VII.

But I have a little secret. I hate Star Wars. I can’t watch them. I used to love them. Then I took my daughter to see them and she loved them. And we had them on VHS, then DVD and then Blu-ray. And she watched them. And watched them. And watched them…

I hate those damn movies with such a passion at this point. I’ve seen them enough that I could probably recite them in my sleep. And yet, she wants to go. And she wants to go with us since it has become a family tradition. And honestly I’m excited. I’ll probably watch this movie exactly one time. And I assume I will enjoy it. Even if it is just for the company. And the fact that the theater I’m going to see it in has recliners.

At home, I love my recliner. It is where I do most of my tv watching. It is soft, leather and is wide enough that my littlest dog can wiggle in next to me while I pet her. At times the other hand will be holding a drink. I have pretty specific requirements for tv bourbon. It has to be good enough that I want to continue drinking it, but not so interesting that I am concentrating on the bourbon instead of the show. A good example of this is tonight’s bourbon:

Medley Bros. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $21.99 for 750 mL bottle. Chicano’s Liquor Mart, Hudson, WI.

Details: 51% ABV

Nose: Dried orange peal, oak and mint with vanilla and caramel sweetness backing it up.

Mouth: A nice fruitiness, cloves, oak and sweet vanilla.

Finish: Good heat with a slight bitterness that transitions to a lingering vanilla as the heat fades.

Thoughts: This is a decent value bourbon with enough proof and richness of flavor to stand up nicely to a little water or a cube of ice. I’ve found it works nicely when I just want a drink while putting my feet up and binging through a season of something on Netflix. It’s good enough to accentuate my relaxation, but not so good I pause the show to talk with my wife about how good the bourbon is.

I have to say, that out of the ones I’ve had, this is my favorite release from the Medley Company. Personally, I felt that Old Medley and Wathen’s were over-oaked, under-proofed and over-priced. This is just the opposite. The proof is decent at just over 100 and the price is right in the ballpark of perfect. And, as an added bonus, it is pretty tasty too.

Hayes Parker Reserve Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey

December 15, 2015 Eric Burke

Every so often as I prowl the aisles of local liquor stores looking to broaden my whiskey horizons, I see something that makes me pause. Most of the time that pause is because the item is intriguing. Something that I expect will be good. That I look forward to trying.

This was not one of those times. On this particular occasion, I saw something that brought out morbid curiosity. The very same morbid curiosity that makes us do things like gawk at an auto accident, go digging in the back of the refrigerator to “find out what that smell is” or buy a bottle of whiskey that has the TerrePure name on it.

If you weren’t aware, TerrePure is a technology that has been developed by the Terressentia Corporation out of South Carolina to rapidly age spirits. They claim they can take 6 month old bourbon and make it taste like it is four years or better. It is a claim that has many a whiskey aficionado cringing every time they read it even though the CEO throws around the medals their products have won in competitions as signs of the quality of their product.

Of course most people who know anything about spirits competitions know that anything under gold medals are variations of a participation trophy. I mean, if no medal means it doesn’t “represent the category,” that means a bourbon only has to resemble bourbon to get a medal. Then the lowest medal (bronze) is good. So good = passing. Above that are 4 more level (Category Winners, Double Gold, Gold and Silver) which I have to assume would relate to A, B, C and D of the US letter grade system since Bronze is a passing grade which I always saw as D-.

All of this went through my head as I stood there looking at the small rack of mini bottles hanging in the middle of the aisle at Total Wine. And it really is neither here nor there except as an explanation as to why I bought two minis instead of a full bottle. But preconceived notions aside, I did not buy this thinking that it would be bad. I bought it thinking that I might learn something. I gave the technology the benefit of the doubt. If I thought it was going to be terrible, I wouldn’t have bought it. Life is too short to waste time drinking terrible whiskey.

Soooo...

Hayes Parker Reserve Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase info: $1.49 for a 50 mL bottle. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 45% ABV. Aged at least 6 months.

Nose: Grain forward, ethanol and a vague fruitiness.

Mouth: Brown sugar, silage, raisins, spearmint.

Finish: Fairly short with lingering minty ethanol notes.

Thoughts: This is a bad whiskey. If this is an example of what the TerrePure process produces, they can keep it. To me, this product doesn’t taste like bourbon. In fact, it reminds me of the fact that most countries mandate 3 years of aging before you can call something whiskey. This is so bad, it makes me long for the same rule here, if only so to keep people like this from adulterating the good name of bourbon.

For another opinion, this is a photo I took of the actual tasting notes my wife took the day we tasted this one. Obviously, she was feeling a bit silly toward the end.

The actual tasting notes my wife took on the day we tasted this.

Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Proof

December 1, 2015 Eric Burke

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. It's the stereotypical favorite whiskey of motorcycle gang toughs doing shots in a dusty roadside joint and the on-stage bottle for the manliest of the rock & roll set. Still, it’s a gentle whiskey. A gentle whiskey with a pop culture presence that most brands would kill for. It’s the largest selling American Whiskey in the world. And…

And it’s not very good. Is it terrible? No. I’ve had much worse. But it isn’t good by a long stretch.

One thing it does have going for it, if you are into this sort of thing, is that mixes well with cola. I think that might be one of the reasons it’s in every bar in North America. It’s easier to say a “Jack and Coke” than “whiskey and Coke” or “bourbon and Coke.” When people specify a brand of liquor, bars tend to keep it on hand. Even if it’s just so they can upcharge them for it.

A couple of years ago when I reviewed Jack Daniel’s I found it disappointing. It was gentle and sweet. But that’s all it was. At the time I wondered to myself what it might be like if it were a little less gentle. As it stands, there is more water in a bottle of Jack Daniel’s than there is whiskey. What might it be like if there were less water? Or none at all?

Well Brown-Foreman, producers of Jack Daniel’s, must have read my mind because a few months ago they released a Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof brand extension. I’d had my eye on it for a while and finally decided to pull the trigger.

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

Purchase info: $55.99, 750 mL bottle. Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Details: 65.05% ABV. Rick No: R-32. Barrel No: 15-4923. Bottling Date: 9-9-15.

Nose: Dusty oak, cinnamon and raw almond with a bit of fruitiness underneath.

Mouth: Sweet, hot and spicy. Cinnamon, cloves, maple and brown sugar play nicely with a tasty nuttiness.

Finish: Very long and warm. lingering heat and sweet maple nuttiness.

With water: Not as hot, sweeter and more pronounced fruitiness.

Thoughts: This is really good. Much more so than I would have expected. I think this is well worth the $55 I paid for it. Especially at barrel strength. I’m loving this one.

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

November 17, 2015 Eric Burke

I’m a bit odd when it comes to places. Certain ones just make me a bit uncomfortable. And I’m not talking high crime areas either. As an example, the small town my wife is from happened to be on the route that my father took when he picked me up to spend a weekend with him. I always hated that town, specifically one end of the town. I just always got a creepy-crawly feeling whenever we’d drive through.

I get a similar feeling when I drive through Indianapolis. I often joke to my wife as we drive through that I don’t quite believe that it exists. That maybe it is just a giant hallucination we’ve all bought into. There does’t seem to be any reason why it is in the particular location it’s in other than someone pointed to a map and said “that looks like the middle.” (Exaggerating for effect, but read for yourself.) In any case, I get that same creepy-crawly feeling whenever we drive through Indianapolis. As if my body just doesn’t want to be there. And since it is pretty much the only thing worth noting on a drive through Indiana, by extension, I tend to not like Indiana. At least not to drive through.

Which brings me to my main point. I’m about to say something that to some folks will be controversial. Even though I tend to not like driving through Indiana, I do tend to like whiskey from Indiana. Specifically I tend to like products that come from the MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, IN. I seldom like the (probably fake or at least borrowed) histories that come along with the whiskeys, but unfortunately few folks are willing to let the whiskey inside the bottle be the draw. Which is too bad, those that do tend to do well with them especially when they have a little age on them. High West and Smooth Ambler come to mind.

So it was with interest that I noticed the “Aged 6 Years” on the front label and the “Distilled in Indiana” on the back label when I picked up a bottle of James E. Pepper 1776 bourbon to review.

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Purchase Info: $35.99 for a 750 mL bottle. Casanova Liquors, Hudson, WI.

Details: Distilled in Indiana. Stated age: 6 years. 46% ABV.

Nose: Dessert-like with baking spices and brown sugar.

Mouth: Mouth follows the nose with more baking spices, toffee and brown sugar but with the addition of what can only be described as eucalyptus.

Finish: Sweet with a gentle burn. Lingering baking spices.

Thoughts: MGP makes very good bourbon. This is no exception. Six years old, 90+ proof, for about $35? Yes all around. I’d recommend this one and will be happy to pick up another if it is similarly priced.

Head to head: 1792 vs 1792 store pick

November 12, 2015 Eric Burke

Single Barrel Select sticker on 1792 bottle

When you buy as much whiskey as I do, there will be times when you have multiples of a product. Either because you were afraid it would be out of stock soon, it was on sale with a deal too good to pass up or because you just felt like treating yourself and buying it.

Yes. I have a bit of a shopping problem.

In any case I recently ended up doing exactly that last thing on the list. I was in the store, looking to grab a six pack of beer to serve with the pizza I was making for Friday night, when I noticed a rack of 1792 bourbon in the corner with a big sign at the top proclaiming it to be $23.99. When I got over there, I also noticed that it had a sticker on it proclaiming it to be a “Single Barrel Select” that had been selected for my local liquor store. (Yes, it says selected for, not by.)

A long time ago, I picked up a store selection of 1792 to compare to the base release and found almost no difference between the two. Frankly, I expected the same this time around, but it was a good price and, dang it, I wanted to treat myself. So I picked it up even knowing I had a bottle in the closet at home that I acquired at the Master Distiller’s Auction in Bardstown. But, trying them side-by-side, I was pleasantly surprised. The difference wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to be discernible.

This is why I love whiskey. This sort of thing is so much fun!

1792 Bourbon: Regular Release vs Store Single Barrel (MGM Wine & Spirits)

Regular Release:

Purchase Info: ~$20, 750 mL bottle. Master Distiller’s Auction, Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Spearmint, pear, cinnamon and oak.

Mouth: Soft mouthfeel with a lot of heat. Black pepper, mint, caramel/vanilla and oak.

Finish: Hot and on the short side of medium. Lingering mint and black pepper.

MGM Wine and Spirits Single Barrel Select:

Purchase Info: $23.99, 750 mL bottle. MGM Wine and Spirits, Prior Lake, MN

Details: 46.85% ABV

Nose: Wet rock, soap, fruit, vanilla, oak and hints of mint.

Mouth: Not as hot and sweeter than the regular release with brown sugar and a generic fruitiness added to the black pepper, mint and oak of the regular release.

Finish: Warm, but on the short side with a lingering sweet fruitiness.

Thoughts: This is what I want when I grab a store pick and do a head-to-head. This is certainly within the 1792 flavor profile, but there are enough differences for me to notice. Actually, I could wish this was the profile of the regular release. Though it is good, I hesitate to buy 1792 normally because I like my bourbon a little on the sweet side with a little less heat than your normal 1792 brings along with it. This is slightly milder, and I think that for me it is just about perfect for that flavor profile.

I completely recommend that you do this experiment yourself if you get the opportunity. Buy a store pick (doesn’t have to be 1792), but grab the regular one too should you have the opportunity. Compare them. Decide which you like better. Figure out why. Because the list of variables here will be smaller, this experiment will go a long way toward helping you decide the sorts of things you like. And heck, it’s just plain fun.

Heartbreak and Hope (and then Maker's 46 Cask Strength)

November 3, 2015 Eric Burke

Maker's 46 Cask Strength. Plain packaging hides tasty bourbon.

It’s autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere. The time of year, in North America when minds turn to falling leaves, kids in school, the upcoming holidays, whiskey and football. In my case, college football. Specifically Minnesota Golden Gopher football.

I grew up in Wisconsin. A place where the state of Minnesota is deemed a slightly better neighbor than a garbage dump, Illinois or Michigan. But only just. There is no real reason for the enmity. The two states are much more alike than they are different. The land is mostly farms, trees and lakes. The people are mostly farmers, hunters, fishers. They are both mostly rural with a single large population center. Historically, the politics in both both leaned left but with a hearty dose of wariness about new people and ideas when you got to the Northernmost reaches. There seems to be one of those conservative blips happening in my former home right now, but the point still stands that these two states are much more alike than they are different. They are two siblings always sniping at one another. Each convinced that the other is an idiot.

This, of course extends to their football teams. In the, increasingly hard for me to care about, NFL you have the Packers and the Vikings in the same division of the NFC. And across both sides of the border, you have both Packers fans and Vikings fans. Many of the fans of both teams are insufferable, spewing venom everywhere. I once watched a Viking fan swear at a little kid for wearing a Packer shirt and I’ve seen Packer fans do equally unspeakable things.

In college, you have the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the same division of the Big Ten. In these parts, college fans can be less venomous than the fans of the pro teams. Not always, but as a general rule you can see Badger fans hoping the Gophers win certain games and Gopher fans hope that the Badgers win certain games. Still, growing up in my family in Wisconsin, you were expected to love the Packers and the Badgers and never waver. And I didn’t. Until I enrolled in the University of Minnesota after high school.

When I was choosing colleges, there were exactly two schools in the general vicinity of home that offered the Astrophysics that I thought was going to be my calling. And neither had a Badger for a mascot. One was the University of Minnesota and the other was the University of Michigan. Growing up Badger was hard. At the time they were going through a spate of eight straight losing seasons and before that only occasionally flirted with respectability. Going Gopher wouldn’t be any easier, they’d been floating around the bottom half of the Big Ten for thirty years. Michigan on the other hand, was Michigan. That was a team it would be easy to be a fan of. They hadn’t had a losing season in 26 years. Quite a bit longer than I had been alive at that point.

But the football team is only a determinant of which school you go to if you are a football recruit. As you might have guessed from my choice of major above, I was not a football player. And so I went with the closer and cheaper option in Minnesota and forever changed my college football allegiance. I’ve always had a special spot in my heart for the Michigan-Minnesota game though, both because they are historic rivals and because of my own history.

All of which brings me to this past Saturday and the game between a heavily-favored Michigan Wolverines and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Michigan was ranked as the 15th best team in the country. Unranked Minnesota was not living up to expectations. Michigan’s coach was the new hotness, a former player returning home from coaching his way into the Super Bowl. Minnesota’s coach had just retired a few days before due to complications from epilepsy after bringing the program back to the brink of respectability.

Going into it, this was a game that I expected my team would lose. But then, a funny thing happened. The Gophers were competitive. More so than they should have been with a extensive injuries and an interim coach. The lead went back and forth before the Gophers finally went ahead on a last second touchdown. But upon review it was determined that the player was down one yard short of the goal line giving them 19 seconds to go the final three feet to win an emotional game. But after two tries, time ran out. They were half a yard short.

In the span of 4 minutes I went from the highest of highs as my scrappy team looked to win an emotional game for a beloved coach to the lowest of lows when poor mistakes brought heartbreak. I am a fan of Minnesota Golden Gopher football and that means I am always prepared for heartbreak, but it also means that I always have hope that the next time my heart won’t be broken.

It’s kind of how I feel about bourbon these days. No matter how much I pay, I’m prepared to be heartbroken. You feel like you can’t lose, that no one would put out a bourbon that expensive and have it be disappointing. But it happens more and more often. Fancy packaging hiding a mediocre product. And then there are times when the package gives you nothing and you just have to hope that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Heartbreak and hope. Two sides of the same coin. If you don’t have hope that something can be good, you’ll never be heartbroken when it isn’t. But if you don’t hope for something to be good, why are you even buying it?

Maker’s 46 Cask Strength

Purchase Info: $39.95 for a 375 mL bottle. Maker’s Mark Distillery gift shop, Loretto, KY.

Details: Bourbon finished with Oak Staves. 54.45% ABV. Remarkably plain packaging for something with the Maker’s Mark name on it.

Nose: Very sweet with caramel and vanilla. Nicely nutty with hints of cherry, cinnamon clove and nutmeg.

Mouth: Sweet and warm with the spicy tingle of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Chocolate, nuts, cherry and oak follow.

Finish: Pleasant sweet warmth slowly reveals a bitter nuttiness and lingering baking spices.

Thoughts: This is one of the times that, despite the homely package it comes in, you hope that a bourbon will be amazing and it turns out to actually be so. As you might expect from a bourbon put out by Maker’s Mark, this is an amazingly easy bourbon to drink at barrel proof. The warmth is not so hot that you’ll need to add water. It’s very sweet, but that sweetness is balanced by baking spices and other rich flavors. In fact, I’d say this might be one of the nicest desserts one could pour. I love this one. If you are in the area of the Makers Mark Distillery, as I believe this is only available at the gift shop, stop and pick some up.

Evan Williams Red Label, 12 years old & 101 proof, compared to two more reasonably priced cousins

October 29, 2015 Eric Burke

Evan Williams Red Label along with its cousins Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and Elijah Craig 12 year old.

When you are on vacation, it can be really easy to get caught up in spending just a little more than your budget. When you are whiskey fan vacationing in Kentucky, it can be doubly easy to do so.

Back in September I was wandering through downtown Louisville, trying to decide if I wanted food or a drink, when I realized I was standing outside the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. Ever since the one time I wandered in and stumbled upon the now discontinued Evan Williams Barrel Proof, I’ve tried to stop in on every visit to Louisville just to take a peek to see if there is anything fun for sale that is under my price ceiling and that I can’t get anywhere else.

We were wandering though, overhearing that they had sold out of that day’s allotment of Parker’s Heritage and looking at the shelves when a red bottle of Evan Williams catches my eye. It is 12 years old, 101 proof, has a nice gold wax dipped neck and a little paper seal proclaiming it to be an Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Exclusive.

Here’s the part where you can laugh at me.

Apparently forgetting where I was and what year it was, I thought to myself “Oh cool, an older Evan Williams. Evan Williams is normally decently priced. I should pick this up” And so not seeing a price sign, I grabbed a bottle. I carried it through the gift shop for a little while until I happened upon one of the aforementioned signs. $129.99. I immediately turned on my heel and ever so gently put it back down where I found it.

But the more I thought about it, the more I tried to convince myself that I really didn’t want a 12 year, 101 proof Evan Williams. That I didn’t want to break my $125 price ceiling. That I would be perfectly happy with either a 100 proof Evan Williams Bottled in Bond or a 12 year old Elijah Craig. I looked at my wife. “How much is it?” she asked, seeing the look in my face. I told her. Her perfectly appropriate response was “we’re on vacation, it’s $4 and you let me buy the Master’s Keep. Just get it.” I didn’t need much more encouragement. I picked the bottle back up and made my way to the register before I found something else or changed my mind. Again.

Once I got home, I stuck it in the closet until a couple weeks ago when a spot on the whiskey shelf opened up. This was one that I had put close to the front. I mean if it was $100 more than the same aged Elijah Craig in the same size bottle, it was probably going to be something special, right? The price had lifted my expectations sky high. They wouldn’t charge that much of a premium if it wasn’t better, right?

Upon opening it, I poured myself a small sample and in an identical glass poured a small sample of Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. I was devastated to not notice much of a difference. There was a difference, but it was slight. My expectations came crashing down. It had to be me, maybe I was having an off day. I gave both glasses to my wife who said “not much difference is there?” I was crushed. I’d gotten caught up in a price and forgot the one lesson I always tell people: “A higher priced does not mean anything other than the company wanted to charge a higher price.” And so I set the bottle aside for a couple weeks while I waited for it’s turn for review.

Knowing that I needed to get rid of both my high and low notions of this whiskey, I set up a three way blind tasting for my wife and I. I pulled one of my samples of Elijah Craig 12 out of my sample library and poured a glencairn of it, the Evan Williams Bottled in Bond and the Evan Williams Red Label. I followed my normal double-blind procedure where I pour the glasses and set them on a sheet of paper labeled 1, 2 and 3 and leave the room. My wife then comes into the room and moves them to another sheet of paper labeled A, B and C. I know what bourbon is 1, 2 and 3 and she knows which number corresponds to each letter, but neither of us know which bourbon corresponds to what letter.

Evan Williams Red Label vs. Evan Williams White Label vs. Elijah Craig 12 year old

Purchase info: Evan Williams Red Label: $129.99 for a 750 mL bottle at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, Louisville, KY. Evan Williams White Label: $17.99 for a 1L bottle at MGM Wine and Spirits, Burnsville, MN. Elijah Craig 12 year old: I have no idea as I poured that sample from a bottle I bought back in mid-2013.

Nose:

A: Dried corn, cloves, a bit hit of alcohol and some caramel sweetness

B: Lots of sweet caramel right off the top, mint, some bubble gum and fleeting hints of dried corn.

C: This is kind of muted. Mint, nutmeg, some bubble gum and a little dried corn.

Mouth:

A: Starts with a nice heat and is very dried corn forward. A bitterness follows that, since I am allergic, my wife tells me is reminiscent of raw almonds. Cloves bring up the rear.

B: Soft on the mouth. Oak, mint, caramel, nutmeg and cloves.

C: Very spice forward with oak, clove and nutmeg appearing with the first sip. Typical bourbon notes of caramel and vanilla follow.

Finish:

A: Lingering warmth along with a pleasant bitterness.

B: Bubble gum, mint and a warmth that lasts.

C: Very long and warm finish with lingering spice and sweetness.

Pre-reveal Thoughts:

A: I’m almost positive this is the White Label. With as corn forward as it is, I’m guessing that it can’t be a 12 year old whiskey. It’s good, but not very complex.

B: This is a very good whiskey. Enough oak and heat to make you notice without either being overpowering. The oak and heat are balanced with just enough sweetness to make this a very pleasurable dram.

C: This might be my favorite of the three. I’m loving the combination of the sweetness and heat. The finish is darn near perfect.

Which was which:

A: Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

B: Elijah Craig 12 year old

C: Evan Williams Red Label, 12 year old, 101 proof

Post-reveal Thoughts:

Based on my initial experience with the Red Label right upon opening the bottle, I would have bet money that that C would have been Elijah Craig 12. It had that mixture of heat, spice and sweetness that I remember. While I like all of these, the Red Label really is the best of the batch. Hands down. And it really should be. At roughly six times the price of the other two this bottle has a price that is hard to swallow. I certainly won’t be buying it again, but am quite impressed.

A smile because it tastes good even if I don't like the price.

Overall, I like the Evan Williams Red Label. It has the Evan Williams approachability mixed with the complexity and spice reflective of its more advanced age. If you are in Louisville and $130 means nothing to you, grab this one. If on the other hand you value your cash like I do, see if you can find it in a bar and pick up a bottle of Elijah Craig 12 when you get home. Because the difference in quality between the two is much smaller than the difference in price.

Blog

Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey

Medley Bros. Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Hayes Parker Reserve Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof

James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

1792 Bourbon: Regular Release vs Store Single Barrel (MGM Wine & Spirits)

Regular Release:

MGM Wine and Spirits Single Barrel Select:

Maker’s 46 Cask Strength

Evan Williams Red Label vs. Evan Williams White Label vs. Elijah Craig 12 year old