I am sick tonight so this will be short. It’s the type of sick where my mouth tastes a little like vomit even though I’ve brushed my teeth about three times today.
Speaking of a bad taste in my mouth, tonight’s bourbon is J. Henry & Sons Wisconsin Straight Bourbon Whiskey. My mom lives in Wisconsin and is very proud of where she comes from. One day last fall, she was watching a local PBS station when she saw a segment on J Henry Bourbon. My step-dad is a bourbon drinker so she looked it up, saw it was for sale at my local Total Wine, and picked it up for him the next time she came to visit me. My sample is from this bottle.
Ordinarily, this is where I would do a lot of research and tell you all a little about the bourbon. But as I said, I am sick and in no mood to research bad bourbon. Luckily the folks over at Bourbon and Banter have done it for us. Though it seems they have a much different opinion of this bourbon than I do. Maybe it is a batch difference or Total Wine got a poorly treated case.
Because, yes sometimes you just get a bad bottle. I’ve had it happen a couple of times over the years. For example, I recently bought a bottle of Larceny from Total Wine that tasted super funky. Before proclaiming that the brand had gone downhill I decided to buy another bottle from a different retailer. That second one tasted normal.
But in any event, I can only review the bottle I have in front of me. And in this case, the cost of the bottle is a little high to take the risk on a second one.
Note: these notes were taken before I was sick.
J. Henry Bourbon
Purchase Info: $56.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN
Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.80
Details: 5 years old. Batch 57. 46% ABV.
Nose: Dried grains, bubblegum, and mint
Mouth: Bitter almond, dried grains, and cinnamon.
Finish: Medium length with lingering bitter almond notes, as well as mint and cinnamon notes.
Thoughts: This is...not good. It’s bitter, it’s grainy. It's actually unpleasant to drink. I can't recommend this to any but the most fervent localvores. And even then I'd probably try something else.
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