Old Forester 1924

Well, they did it. The sonnuva guns actually did it. Not a week after I mentioned in a comment on an older Old Forester post that Old Forester only has one mash bill, they went ahead and released a whiskey with a different mash bill. This is what I get for acting all high and mighty and like I know something: I get new 10-year-old bourbon…

Wait.

Ok, so that’s a good thing…I might need to act like I know everything more often.

Funny story about this one. I saw this sitting on the shelf when I was wandering through Total Wine, looking for a non-alcoholic beverage I could enjoy during Dry January. (Yes, just because I wasn't drinking alcohol for the month doesn’t mean I wasn't buying it.) So I picked up a bottle and stuck it into the closet. Well, the next week, my wife went to a different Total Wine. There was a sign informing customers that they were out of an entire list of Buffalo Trace products (we are pretty heavily allocated here, even for the standard Buffalo Trace). At the bottom, there was a handwritten addition to the list: Old Forester 1924. Of course, the Minnesota Whiskey Snobs™ were out in full force.

Now, this might happen everywhere, but in my almost 20 years of living in Minnesota, I’ve found that there is a particular brand of uppity snob that lives in the Twin Cities Metro. They are usually well-off professionals, often lawyers or upper management at a small company. I’ve had one or two of them for bosses over the years. They are the kind of people that like to get people looking at them. They think it is because others are jealous, but in reality, most people are ashamed for them. They loudly proclaim in stores things like “Oh honey, look! They are out of (some expensive thing)! Good thing we have one at home. Ha Ha Ha!”

So my wife was in Total Wine when this exact thing happened in front of that sign. Only in this case, the lady kept looking at my wife like she thought she would get a reaction. Now, I’d have walked past and whispered, “It’s good, I have two.” It would have been a lie, but sometimes, that’s what it takes to shut people up. But my wife is classier than I am. She just ignored the lady and picked up a box of Maker’s Mark 101 proof, which is pretty close to my favorite bourbon at the moment.

So, what is this new release that was causing the signs and the snobs to come out? Well, it is the latest release in Old Forester’s Whiskey Row Series. In this case, it commemorates a year when Old Forester was putting out whiskey that wasn’t entirely their own distillate. See, during Prohibition, a lot of distilleries closed. The list of those that survived is remarkably similar to the list of distilleries that were still in business in 2008. Well, the folks that still had licenses to sell bourbon medicinally bought up all the stocks of those that couldn't. And since those stocks were all that there was for the foreseeable future, folks didn’t worry too much about maintaining a consistent flavor profile. They just wanted whiskey that they could bottle and sell.

Old Forester was one of those surviving distilleries. And they were buying all the whiskey they could. This meant their mash bill wasn’t what it would have been pre-Prohibition. To commemorate this occurrence 100 years later, they have released Old Forester 1924, a bourbon that once again has a different mash bill from the rest of the Old Forester products. In this case, the mash bill is 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley rather than their traditional 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley.

Ok, now that I’ve given anecdotes and a brief rundown of the product, let’s get to the important part. How does it taste?

Old Forester 1924

Purchase Info: $119.99 for a 750 ml bottle at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $8.00

Details: 50% ABV. 10-years-old. 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley

Nose: Nutmeg, allspice, caramel, vanilla, and oak.

Mouth: Oak, toasted nuts, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and caramel.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of cinnamon, oak, vanilla, and spearmint.

Thoughts: Wow! This is delicious! Spicy on the tongue with a rich mouthfeel. I wouldn't have noticed the change in mashbill on this one if I hadn't read about it. This really isn't too surprising since by ten years in the barrel, you'll be getting a lot more barrel influence taking over. This gets a heart. I might just be in love.

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Never Say Die Small Batch Bourbon

I’d like to thank the producer for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Well, if this isn’t the perfect timing, I don't know what is. Yesterday, the Twin Cities received its first measurable snowfall for the 2023/2024 winter season. About four to five inches at my house. This is the first real snow we’ve had since Spring 2023. Now you might be asking yourself, why this is good timing? Well, I’m giving away a winter hat from the producer of tonight’s bourbon to one of my lucky readers.

Last week, I was actually in shorts. Outside, in February, in Minnesota. It was about 50 degrees or so. Today, I was bundled up and running the big snowblower at seven am. (I have multiple pieces of snow removal equipment, a small battery-powered one for normal use and a large gas-powered one that gets used two or three times a season when the snow gets too heavy for the smaller one.) It has been a weird winter. The photo above was taken this past weekend. If I did the same today, it would be much, much whiter.

Anyway, now that you know that there will be a giveaway at the end of this post, let’s get into the real reason we are all here: bourbon. In this case, English Bourbon? Now, you and I both know that England cannot produce a whiskey and call it bourbon any more than the US can make a whiskey and call it Scotch. So, what the heck is going on here?

Well, it’s kinda the same thing that happens to Scotch. This bourbon was produced in Kentucky, barreled, aged for a bit, shipped to England, and then aged further before bottling. It’s been for sale there for a few years, but they sent it to me because it has recently become available for sale in the US through Seelbach’s.

So, let’s dig in just a little bit further and give some details before discussing the tasting notes and the giveaway.

This bourbon, like many, is named after a racehorse. In this case, it is an American-born horse that ended up racing and winning a race in England as a three-year-old in 1954. The bourbon itself is a sweet mash bourbon with a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley. According to the press release, after being distilled “30 miles south of Lexington, KY” by a partner distillery using its own “proprietary mashbills and yeast strains,” it was aged for “around five years” in Kentucky before being shipped to White Peak Distillery in Derbyshire, England for a further year of aging.

I’m going out on a limb and saying this originated at Wilderness Trail Distillery, but that is entirely speculation based on the wording used in the press release. So, let’s see how this scion of both Kentucky and England tastes, shall we?

Never Say Die Small Batch Bourbon

Purchase Info: This was sent by the producer at no charge for review purposes. The retail price at Seelbach’s is $69.99 for a 700 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.00

Details: 47.5% ABV. Mashbill: 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley

Nose: Spearmint, bubblegum, citrus zest, and vanilla.

Mouth: Sweet and spicy with orange zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and mint.

Finish: Medium to long finish with notes of bubble gum, cinnamon, mint, and oak.

Thoughts: When a bourbon with a gimmick comes along, I usually find that it has the gimmick because it doesn't have anything else going for it. But not in this case. This is a solid bourbon. I like it. And if my suspicions about its lineage are correct, then that makes a lot of sense. That said, I’m not sure aging in England did much for this one. Still tasty, though.

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Giveaway

As it is halfway through February, it is getting to be the time for me to start planning for our yearly Bourbon Brackets. I’m thinking of going back to the Bottom-shelf theme this year, and as such, I want your help. Have you picked up an inexpensive (sub-$30), under-the-radar bourbon or rye brand that you loved? Nominate it for inclusion in the BourbonGuy.com 2024 Bottom-Shelf Brackets. In return, you’ll be entered into the giveaway for the branded hat sent to me as part of the Never Say Die Bourbon media kit.

You can enter the giveaway using the form below. One winner will be chosen at random. That winner will get the Never Say Die winter hat, along with a few bourbon-related items that I pull out of the prize box. Yes, I keep all the little things that PR folks send me just for occasions such as this.

Good Luck! You have until Thursday, February 22nd, 2024, to enter (you need to "log in" so I can receive your email address to notify you if you win; either login method gets me that. I never use your email address for anything but notification for the giveaway). Please feel free to leave a comment below if you want to nominate a sub $30 bourbon or rye but not be entered in the giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Larceny Barrel Proof, A124

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Welcome to 2024, folks. Sure, I know that we already have a month and a half under our belt, but as far as I’m concerned, the new year starts when Heaven Hill drops the first of their three-times yearly batches of Larceny Barrel Proof and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof. I always look forward to these releases. And why might that be, you ask? Because they’re always delicious. And it is nice to look at things you know will be tasty. Since it is the first drop of the year, let’s review a little basic info about this.

Born as an offshoot of Heaven Hill’s Old Fitzgerald line of wheated bourbons, Larceny bourbon uses wheat instead of rye as the “flavoring” grain. In this case, Heaven Hill tells us that the recipe is 68% corn (remember to be bourbon, it needs over 51% corn in the mash bill), 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. This release being barrel-proof means there is no water added to the batch. They dump, blend, and bottle at whatever strength it comes out of the barrel. Now, of course, that sometimes leads to a very hot product. The first batch of this was so hot that I was worried about what they were trying to accomplish. It has calmed itself a bit here and there in the intervening years, though, as we will soon see, they are sometimes very hot.

Speaking of different batches, if you run across this in the store, how do you know which batch you have? Heaven Hill has nicely given us the key to knowing what is in our hands as we hold that bottle of the precious liquid. The batch code is made up of three parts. The first part is a letter, A, B, or C. This corresponds to if it is the first, second, or third batch of the year. The second part is a number. To this point, it has always been 1, 5, or 9. This is the month of the year the release came out. The final part of the code is made up of the final two digits, which indicate the year. So, in this case, A124 means it is the first batch of the year, and it was released in January of 2024. Simple.

But unless this is your first time learning about Heaven Hill's barrel-proof releases (in which case: welcome! The bar is in the corner. Pour yourself something nice), you probably just want to know how this one tastes. So, let’s dig in.

Larceny Barrel Proof, A124

Purchase Info: This sample was provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 62.1% ABV. 6-8 years old, per the press release

Nose: Sweet almond, caramel, vanilla, mint, and oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon, almond, oak, mint.

Finish: Warm and long with cinnamon, mint, and oak notes.

Thoughts: This version is drier than recent versions, but it's still very good. It's as hot as, or hotter than, you'd expect 124° proof to be. Recommended if you like hot, dry bourbons. I like it, even if it is hotter and drier than I’d usually prefer. It does take a splash of water well.

Comparison to C923: C923 is much sweeter on the nose and mouth, showing much more caramel notes. Both are good, but I really like C923 a lot more. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, though. Your mileage may vary.

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Garrison Bros: Guadalupe 2024

I’d like to thank the folks at Garrison Brothers for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

It's a sad day in our house today, as yesterday we said goodbye to one of our favorite client pups. She’s been dealing with cancer for a while now, and though we all knew it was just a matter of time, you always hope for more time than you end up getting.

Ruby was a hell of a girl. She was a corgi mix that looked almost nothing like a corgi. Her hair was short and coarse, her legs were long, and, honestly, she looked a little weird. But she was the coolest pup. She was an old lady that had zero fucks to give anymore. If bigger dogs were playing where she wanted to sleep, she just jumped down, limped over to her preferred spot, and plopped down. If she wanted to be in your lap, she just pushed her way in, no matter who, or if anyone, was already there. But the younger pups gave her a ton of respect, so they’d moved their play somewhere else. In fact, over this past weekend, two of those playful, bouncy pups made sure she was doing ok by giving her face kisses during breaks in play.

I absolutely adore Ruby, as did everyone else who met her, and I will miss her terribly. I cried ugly tears for about a half hour after she left when her owner told me that it was probably going to be this week. She’s the type of pup you never want to see go, but when they do, you want to raise a glass of something good to their memory.

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Garrison Brothers is a craft distillery located in the Texas Hill Country. They were the first legal distillery in Texas history and opened their doors in 2010, about a year before I started writing articles that would eventually become this blog. I’ve seen their work plenty of times in the liquor stores I visit, though I’ve only ever tried one of their bourbons. They sent me a sample of the monster of a drink, the 2023 Cowboy Bourbon release. It was very good but very hot. And pretty darn expensive.

The price is the main reason I haven’t tried much of their work. It’s hard to take a flyer on something that starts in price at $90 at my local Total Wine. But I happily accept samples they send. Not only does it help me decide if I want to spend money, but hopefully it helps you decide the same thing.

Tonight’s sample, the 2024 Guadalupe release was aged for four years in the hot Texas climate before being transfered to port barrels for an additional two years. The whiskey was made with a sweet mash of barley, soft red winter wheat, and number one food grade corn, all from Texas. This release is Texas all the way through. Even the water they proofed with was raiwater captured at the distillery.

So let’s see how it tastes.

Garrison Brothers Guadalupe 2024

Purchase Info: This sample was sent by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $149.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $10.00

Details: 53.5% ABV. Four-year-old bourbon finished for two years in tawny port barrels.

Nose: Maple, toffee, cinnamon, and dried fruits.

Mouth: Sweet and hot with notes of toffee, cinnamon, red fruits, and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of maple, toffee, cornbread, dried fruit, and vanilla.

Thoughts: This is delicious. It has a thick, rich mouthfeel and is super sweet. And the flavor is great. I like the layers of sweetness paired with the spiciness. If you are looking for a “dessert” bourbon, this is a good choice. I really like this one.

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If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Pendleton Midnight

We’ve done it! We’ve made it through Dry January, and I’m going to tell you, much to my surprise, it was super easy. My wife and I both came to the same conclusion: after just a little bit, we didn’t even think of having a nightcap before bed. We seem to have gotten out of the rut that we had fallen into regarding our evening’s libations.

Of course, all that isn’t to say that I didn’t go shopping and pick up a few whiskies that sound super tasty. I mean, my weekly allergy shot is very near Total Wine. And really, why wouldn’t I stop in and take a peek through the bourbon aisle while I was in the area? At this point, I’ve already got almost a full month of tastings and reviews planned out with either things I’ve purchased or samples sent to me. February should be full of tasty treats.

Of course, in moderation. It doesn’t seem right to spend so long getting out of a rut only to jump right back in.

So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s dive into the last tasting we did prior to the New Year. The Pendleton Whiskey portfolio includes three Canadian Whiskies bottled in Hood River, Oregon, and cut to proof with “pure, glacier-fed spring water from Oregon’s Mt. Hood.” The Pendleton Whisky brand was launched in 2003 by Hood River Distillers. In 2017, the brand was acquired by Proximo Spirits, making the brand corporate cousins with Stranahan’s Rocky Mountain Single Malt Whiskey, Tincup Bourbon and Rye, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, and Jose Cuervo tequila, among others.

If you’ve had the original Pendleton Whisky, you will find this to be a bit fruitier, as a portion of the whisky used in the blend was finished in American brandy barrels. Ok, let’s dig in.

Pendleton Midnight

Purchase Info: $37.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.53

Details: 45% ABV. Some of the whisky used in this blend was finished in American brandy barrels.

Nose: Caramel, honey, and red fruit.

Mouth: Red fruits, ginger, molasses, and caramel.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of honey, red fruits, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: This is quite nice. It's a decent step up from the standard Pendleton release. It's more full-flavored and not as gentle. The brandy barrel finish really comes through, bringing a lot of red fruit notes to all facets of the experience. It's sweet and very tasty. I like it.

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Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

2023 BourbonGuy.com Bourbon of the Year: Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Minnesota Selection #3

Last month, my wife and I decided that we were going to participate in Dry January this year. Not for any real reason, it just seemed like something to kick us out of our rut. Because of that, I needed to look ahead and see what I could find that I could taste ahead of time. I had a couple of things hanging around that I hadn’t gotten around to writing about yet, but that wasn’t enough for an entire month. So I went to the liquor store, set myself a price limit of $150, and bought everything I was going to taste for the coming month. What follows is one of those things that I had hanging around that I really needed to write about.

You know, I have a fondness for Bourbon. This might not be a revelation for most of you, considering I do tend to write about it twice a week. However, it's worth mentioning from time to time, especially when you play the role of a critic. I genuinely love bourbon, and everything I express on this site is rooted in that passion. Now, I won't go so far as to claim there's no such thing as bad bourbon—of course, there is. But, in general, I enjoy bourbon. That's why the majority of products I review receive a 'like' rating. I just genuinely enjoy the stuff.

Occasionally, I come across one that I strongly dislike. It's genuinely bad. And some bourbons simply don't resonate with me. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not my cup of bourbon. This doesn't happen too often because I make a conscious effort to only purchase things I'm confident I'll enjoy. After all, I'll have the rest of the bottle left after the review, and there's only so much prop bourbon I can go through.

However, every now and then, something surprises me. I've been at this long enough to know that when I encounter a private selection of Old Forester, I'm likely to enjoy it. I expect that and have rarely been disappointed. Old Forester is just exceptional whiskey. But this time, I was taken aback by just how outstanding it was. I believe this selection wasn't exclusive to the retailer I bought it from, given that I also found a Minnesota Selection #6 at another store. Unfortunately, #6 wasn't a barrel-proof one; otherwise, it would be residing in my house at the moment, patiently waiting for January to be over.

Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Strength "Minnesota Selection #3"

Purchase Info: $99.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Village Liquor, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.67

Details: 65.95% ABV. Warehouse I, Floor 8

Nose: Rich caramel, dark chocolate, baking spices, and oak.

Mouth: Dark chocolate, rich caramel, cinnamon, leather and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of cocoa and leather.

Thoughts: I. Love. This. Full stop. It is thick and rich in the mouth. It is hot, but it takes water well to tame the heat. It has wonderful leather, chocolate, and oak notes from its time in the barrel. All in all, this is an excellent way to end a year. I wish the store had another bottle. I'd have gone back and bought it immediately.

In fact, I’m going to pull out a very seldom-used award. I declare that Old Forester Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Minnesota Selection #3, is joining an elite group as the third-ever recipient of the BourbonGuy.com Bourbon of the Year Award. I don’t give this out every year. This honor is reserved for bourbons that stand head and shoulders above everything else I've sampled throughout the year. The last time such an honor was bestowed was in 2021, with the one prior to that in 2017. I haven’t had a bourbon that was that much better than every other bourbon since. But this one qualifies. Nice job, Brown-Forman!

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Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Smoke Wagon Blender’s Select Straight Rye Whiskey

Have you noticed that as we get closer to Christmas and New Years, people get a little less, oh, I don’t know, dedicated to doing what they should be doing and a little more open to taking it a little easier? When I worked in an office, the week before Christmas was always a bit more laid back than normal. The week between the holidays was dead since both co-workers and clients tended to be off doing a little merry-making. And then you’d hit the inevitable cliff of coming back to work on the second, and everyone would be cranky. The cold seemed a little colder. The magic was just…gone until spring.

Or maybe it was just me. I do tend toward depression, after all.

In any case, I’ve always found the holidays to be a little magical. People who are normally grumpy turn out to be the type of folks who put up lights and decorations, even if it does raise the electric bill. People tend to be just a little nicer (unless you are in a store, then watch out). Even the snow seems less of an obstacle and more of a decoration. Yep, the time from Halloween to New Years is probably my favorite time of the year. However, I look forward to fewer emails informing me that it is my last chance to buy something.

Speaking of spending money, let’s turn our attention to tonight’s whiskey. Tonight, we are looking at the final installment in the Smoke Wagon trilogy, as suggested by reader David. This time, we turn our attention away from bourbon and over to rye whiskey. I love rye whiskey, maybe even more than bourbon. If RyeGuy hadn’t sounded so much like a McDonaldland Character, I might have considered it as a name for the site. Of course, in 2011, when I was planning this thing out, there wasn’t nearly as much rye whiskey on the market, so I wouldn’t have had a whole lot to write about.

Like the other Smoke Wagon whiskeys that we’ve looked at, this is sourced from MGP in Indiana. This one is made from a blend of their 51% rye, 45% corn, 4% malted barley recipe and their 51% rye, 49% malted barley recipe. The latter of which is the basis for this year’s 2023 Rossville Union Bottle in Bond limited edition. I liked it alone for that one, so let’s see how it stacks up when blended with another rye mash bill. But first we will let the producer have their say:

We selected barrels of the sweet, delicate 51% rye, 45% corn, and 4% barley traditional straight rye and blended it with barrels of the big and bold 51% rye, 49% malted barley straight rye. The end result is an upfront flavor profile that's beautifully sweet and rich with a luxurious mouthfeel. The finish has just enough cinnamon and rye spice to get your tongue tingling while the flavors from the malted barley, such as smoke and malt are still present, but softer and more subtle. 

Alright, let’s dig in.

Smoke Wagon Blender’s Select Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $72.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.87

Details: Bottled Oct. 21, 2023. Batch 6. 56.89% ABV.

Nose: Cedar, mint, and cinnamon sugar.

Mouth: Cedar, cinnamon, brown sugar, cherry, and mint.

Finish: Medium to long and warm with mint, cherry, and cinnamon notes.

Thoughts: This is delicious. Even my rye-adverse wife enjoys it. It's dangerously drinkable neat. Yet it also takes a splash of water well. Water brings out more malty "nougat" notes. I think this is my favorite of the three Smoke Wason Whiskeys we've explored. As with the other two, though, it’s just too expensive for me to purchase on a regular basis. Not when I can usually get MGP whiskey much cheaper from other bottlers or even from MGP itself. But if I were in Vegas and saw it behind the bar or on a menu, I’d probably have no qualms about supporting a local business by buying a glass.

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Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.

Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Bourbon

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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Did you enjoy this post? If you want to support the work going on here at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch (tasting journals, stickers, pins, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com.