Welcome back, folks! Can you believe we’ve done this for 10 years now? Crazy. We are now at the end of the 2023 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, and contrary to years past, no stinkers. Let’s see how it all ends and see if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.
Division 2: Whiskey A (New Riff Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (Old Forester 1897)
Pre-Reveal Thoughts: "A" has a nicer nose. Sweet and fruity. "B" has a longer and warmer finish. They are both delicious, but in this case, "A" matches my preferred flavor profile a little better. I tend to like a sweet and lightly fruity bourbon, and "A" is exactly that.
Winner: New Riff Bourbon moves on to the Championship Round
Division 1: Whiskey A (George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond No. 4) vs. Whiskey B (Jack Daniel’s Bonded)
Pre-Reveal Thoughts: "B" has a nicer nose. "A" has a nicer finish with dark chocolate notes. In the mouth, "A" is a little fruitier, whereas "B" is got more "candy bar" notes. This one is tough. So tough that my wife and I are split. I prefer "A.” She prefers "B." But at the end of the day, it's my vote that gets published.
Winner: George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond (No. 4) moves on to the Championship Round
Championship Round: Whiskey A (New Riff Bourbon) vs. Whiskey B (George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond No. 4)
Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The nose is very nice on both of these. In the mouth and on the finish, “A” is a little fruitier and gets my vote for the nicer experience. Both are delicious, but "A" is the winner. That fruitiness is intoxicating (and not just because of the alcohol).
Winner: New Riff Bourbon
Congrats to New Riff Bourbon, the 2023 BourbonGuy.com Bracket Champion!
Lessons Learned:
This was an interesting contest for me. When I was reminded that I only had a few days to find a theme, buy, seed, and taste the entire competition full of whiskeys. I had a moment of panic. I actually considered not doing it this year. But I’m not going to lie. This is my favorite post series each year. And once I decided to drop the price requirement as an overreaction to last year’s stinkers, it got even easier. Thankfully my local store had over eight bonded whiskeys, so I had my choice without running all over the metro the night before a big snowstorm.
So what did I learn about each of these?
With George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond (No. 4) competing for the Championship in what is, ostensibly, a bourbon contest, there may be cries of foul play since they don’t call themselves “bourbon.” But, as I told a reader in a comment on the first post in this year’s contest: if you show me a bonded whiskey (in the bourbon style) that is 13 years old for right around $50? I’m going buy that every time. It was no surprise to me that 13 years in a barrel allowed Dickel to stand up tall with the best of the best this year.
Moving on to the other Tennessee Whiskey in the competition, you get the only first-round upset. Jack Daniel’s Bonded knocked out a bourbon from Barton 1792 in the first round and almost made it to the Championship in a split decision in Round 2. That was a surprise to me. Though having had it before, I shouldn’t have been surprised. 100° proof is probably the sweet spot for Jack Daniel’s, as far as I’m concerned. It is delicious at higher proofs but gets really hot real quick. Below that, it is really mellow. Bonded just hits right for me. I was actually shocked that it went blow to blow with a 13-year-old and didn’t embarrass itself, honestly. That’s a lot of age to overcome.
Evan Williams Bottled in Bond handled itself admirably. It didn’t quite have the gusto to knock off a competitor with lots of age on it, but it should hold its head up high. It won last year and lost to the eventual number 2 this year. That’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s good whiskey and an even better value. It should be on everyone’s back bar, even if you just use it for cocktails.
Wolcott Bottled-in-Bond was interesting to me. But probably not for the reasons that Total Wine would have liked. It was the only contestant that I would describe as “meh.” It just goes to show that even a producer of great whiskey like Sazerac isn’t going to put their best stuff into somebody else’s bottle.
Moving to the other division. Our Champion New Riff was so delicious that my wife wrote, “I can’t wait to find out what this is” on the sheet she was using to keep track of the contest. It won a squeaker in the first round but easily handled two whiskeys that were either a limited edition or part of a “high-end” brand extension. I was shocked because as I was tasting it, I kept thinking, “we don’t have a Four Roses product in the line-up, but if I didn’t know better, I’d think this was one.” It had been a long time since I’d purchased the standard New Riff Bourbon. I need to change that.
I didn’t learn much from Old Grand-Dad Bonded that I didn’t already know. I knew it was a great bourbon that didn’t cost much. It is the second former champion in the mix. Nothing about that has changed.
Old Tub reminded me that Jim Beam makes good whiskey. It just needs some proof on it. Go down below 100° proof, and it gets way too nutty for a lot of folks, including me when the mood isn’t right.
Finally, Old Forester 1897 is much better than I remember it being. I love the 1920 expression. But when 1897 first came out, I thought it was a little muddy and flat. No more. This is a really good bourbon for a pretty good price. It’s going on the list of things I need to buy much more often.
This was such a fun contest this year. Not once did I have to brace myself before taking an initial sip. I knew there were no stinkers in the mix. And the champ was one that I would have never guessed. Honestly, if I was going to guess the outcome beforehand, I would have put my money on Old Forester 1897 to win it all. I also didn’t think that Dickel would make it all the way to the Championship match. I’ve liked all of the releases of Dickel Bottled-in-Bond that I’ve had. But I liked this one the least of the four. That said, it’s still good whiskey when not compared to its earlier brothers. Next week we take a look at the samples that have been stacking up while the contest was going on. As much fun as this was, it’s fun to try new bourbons too.
Once again, congrats to New Riff Bourbon on their 2023 Championship!
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