Uncle Nearest 777 Anniversary Blend – The Lost Chapter, Plus a Book Giveaway

This review sample was kindly provided by the PR team for Uncle Nearest Whiskey with no strings attached.

Well, I’m back! I hope no one missed me too much (though, selfishly, I do hope you missed me a little). Vacation was fun. I drove to Maine and realized that the Maine coast looks a lot like Minnesota's North Shore—if Lake Superior had tides and crashing surf, which was pretty cool. I love visiting Minnesota’s North Shore.

Tonight, we're looking at a whiskey sample I received before vacation: the latest release from Uncle Nearest, the 777 Anniversary Blend, nicknamed the Lost Chapter. This 7-year-old, barrel-strength whiskey is bottled between 110-120 proof and celebrates the seventh anniversary of Uncle Nearest’s launch. Only 7,000 bottles were available for sale. I say "were" because it seems to be sold out online. That’s my bad for taking a vacation!

But the folks at Uncle Nearest didn’t just send me this whiskey to talk about the liquid; they also were hoping that I’d mention the best-selling book by Uncle Nearest founder Fawn Weaver. It’s called Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest. As a lover of books about whiskey, I’m more than happy to do so. In fact, at the end of this post, you'll find a giveaway where you can win the copy of the book featured in the photo above.

Now, let’s take a look at the whiskey, shall we?

Uncle Nearest 777 Anniversary Blend – The Lost Chapter

Purchase Info: This 50 mL sample was sent to me at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $139.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $9.27

Details: 60.85% ABV. Seven years old.

Nose: Black tea, lumber, honey, and a light grassiness.

Mouth: Nice, thick mouthfeel. Notes of cinnamon spice, almond, and caramel.

Finish: Warm and long with notes of oak, honey, and a slight mineraliness.

Thoughts: My first sip caused me to exclaim: “Ooh. that's yummy." And that's the gist of it. This is delicious. It has a lovely mouthfeel. Let's just say that, boy, do I wish there was more than 50mL in that 200 mL bottle. It's good enough that if I saw it on the shelf, I'd buy it even though the SRP is $140. It takes water well, too, which is an added bonus (it is over 120° proof, after all). Some high-proof whiskies, these days, fall apart at a lower-proof, but this is not one of them. Just a lovely product that I wish I’d thought to buy a bottle of while they still had them.

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Giveaway

Would you happen to have suggestions for things I can cover on BourobnGuy.com? Books you’ve read, questions you have, whiskies you want to share? Well, nominate them for review/answering on BourbonGuy.com. In return, you’ll be entered into the giveaway for Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest, by Fawn Weaver.

You can enter the giveaway using the form below. You only need to enter once (though you can suggest as many things as you’d like), as I’ll be tossing duplicates to make for a fair giveaway. One winner will be chosen at random. That winner will receive the book mailed to them.

Good Luck! You have until Wednesday, September 25th, 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 do value your privacy, though, so I don’t keep the contact info you provide once the contest is over.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Hugh Hamer Double Oaked Bourbon & Hugh Hamer Rum Finished Bourbon

I’d like to thank West Fork Whiskey in Indianapolis, IN for providing these review samples with no strings attached.

Indianapolis is an easy city to drive through. Four separate Interstate Highways converge here, and with a beltway loop as part of the Interstate system, navigating through the city is quite straightforward. I know this because I’ve driven through Indianapolis on the way to other destinations more times than I can count.

However, there has only been one time that I’ve actually spent any time in the city itself. As much as I might wish it was because my beloved Golden Gophers made it to a Big Ten title game, that’s sadly not the reason I visited (and, unfortunately, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen anytime soon either). The one time I spent an afternoon in the city, we visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took a tour before continuing on to our destination in another state. Once again, I was just passing through.

I’ve spent so little time in Indianapolis that I used to joke it wasn’t even real—that it was just a figment of our collective imagination. After all, other than being an oversized crossroad, what’s the draw if you’re not there for sports or a convention? Plus, it seems almost unnaturally situated at the exact geographical center of the state. Cities don’t usually pop up where there aren’t any navigable rivers, at least not when it was founded. It’s a bit unnerving.

Of course, I’m joking, but until now, I’ve only seen Indianapolis as a milestone on a road trip to somewhere else. It reminds me too much of my home here in Minnesota to make it a place worth visiting without a specific reason. But if I ever find that reason (maybe if my Gophers ever improve their football team to the point where I have an excuse to travel… sigh), I now know of someplace worth checking out.

Tonight, we’re looking at two bourbons from West Fork Whiskey Company, a craft distillery in the area. They produce two lines of whiskey. One, the West Fork Whiskey line, is grain-to-glass, distilled in-house. The other, which we’re focusing on tonight, is the Old Hamer line, sourced from MGP in southern Indiana. They use MGP’s 99% corn/1% rye mash bill to create this line. The two bottles we’re examining are from their barrel-finished Hugh Hamer line extension. Both are non-chill filtered, aged between four and six years, and bottled at 103° proof.

Let’s dig in.

Hugh Hamer Double Oaked

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent at no cost for review purposes. It is available on the brand website for $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 51.5% ABV. 4- 6 years old. Mash bill: 99% corn, 1% malted barley.

Nose: Caramel, cherry, leather, and wintergreen.

Mouth: Spicy cinnamon, wintergreen, caramel, oak, and a touch of cherry.

Finish: Warm and of medium length. Notes of cinnamon, cherry syrup, dusty oak, and wintergreen.

Thoughts: Pretty darn tasty. It's spicy and sweet with nice oak and cherry notes throughout. I wasn't sure what to expect with a 99% corn mash bill, but I am really enjoying it. Quite good.

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Hugh Hamer Rum Finish

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent at no cost for review purposes. It is available on the brand website for $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: 51.5% ABV. 4- 6 years old. Mash bill: 99% corn, 1% malted barley.

Nose: Sweet ginger and molasses. It's like a cookie.

Mouth: Funky rum and tropical notes are layered over traditional bourbon notes of caramel, baking spice and oak.

Finish: Warm and of medium length with notes of dusty oak and rum funk.

Thoughts: This is also really tasty. I really enjoy the addition of rum funk to bourbon and often will add a touch of Jamacan Rum to a glass if I want something a little different. This is even better as the rum influence is more subtle than my relatively heavy mix. I like this one too.

In fact, if you mix the two together, they are even better yet. Really enjoying these two.

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BourbonGuy.com will be off next week as we are on a real vacation with just the two of us. I won’t be traveling through Indianapolis this time and, sadly, won’t have the opportunity to visit West Fork Whiskey. But you can be assured that the next time I pass through, I will be stopping.

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Cedar Ridge Rye and Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskeys

This week, we’re offering two reviews for the price of one as we examine a couple of rye whiskeys from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Iowa. Since tomorrow is a holiday, and yesterday was crazy with work, I thought I’d combine both posts into one, as it seemed thematically appropriate.

So first, my bias. I am not a native Minnesotan, but I have lived here for almost twenty years. The reason I live here has more than a little to do with my time in college at the University of Minnesota. It wasn’t the main reason I moved here, but it didn’t hurt that I’d spent a particularly enjoyable part of my youth in the state. And as a Gopher, I am duty-bound to hate all things Hawkeye, which includes the state they live in and all things associated with it. I mean, the Hawkeyes can get fucked. (If you know how college football rivalries work, you’ll understand that last bit. Don’t worry, I feel the same way about my birthplace of Wisconsin due to my hatred of the Badgers, too.)

So now that I’ve disclosed that my bias is a mild dislike of all things Iowa based on the fact that I hate their Big Ten college football team, let’s move on to the whiskeys.

While I did the tastings for these, I was under the impression that they were the same whiskey with different ages and proofs. But I was excited to learn that these are completely different mashbills. The Straight Rye that we will be looking at first is 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, and 3% malted barley. The Bottled-in-Bond leaves out the unmalted rye and uses 85% malted rye instead. That’s very cool. For a long time, it was hard to get rye whiskey from a big distillery. Jimmy Russell used to say that Wild Turkey spent one day per year distilling all of the rye they put out. But these guys have at least two mashbills of rye that they produce. As a rye whiskey lover, this is a good time to be a fan.

Let’s start with the Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey, part of their core lineup.

Cedar Ridge Straight Rye Whiskey

Purchase Info: $37.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $2.53

Details: 3- years-old. 43% ABV. Mashbill: 12% corn, 51% malted rye, 34% rye, 3% malted barley

Nose: Cinnamon, cedar, mint, and stone fruit.

Mouth: Cedar, cinnamon candies, and stone fruit.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of dried grains, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: I'm not a fan of this one. It tastes a bit too much like dried grains for my tastes. I know that there are very good rye whiskeys on the market that are even younger than this, so it isn't an age thing per se. I'm guessing it's a combination of age and climate. The average high in this part of Iowa is over 10°F lower than it is in Kentucky for most of the winter, which could lead to aging taking longer unless they use climate-controlled aging spaces. I don't know for sure how they age their product, so that's only a guess. All that said, this isn't a bad whiskey. It just doesn't align with my palate, mostly due to the very grain-forward nature of the finish.

Now let’s do the Limited Edition Bottled-in-Bond Rye.

Cedar Ridge Bottled-in-Bond Rye

Purchase Info: $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle at South Lyndale Liquors, Minneapolis, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 50% ABV. 4-years-old. Mashbill: 12% corn, 85% malted rye, 3% malted barley. DSP-IA-15001

Nose: Cedar, cinnamon, dried grains, and biscuits.

Mouth: Caramel, stone fruit, cinnamon, cedar, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Notes of cinnamon, mint, and cedar.

Thoughts: It's amazing what another year, a bit more proof, and the elimination of non-malted rye will do for a whiskey. This has a nicer mouth feeel, is sweeter, and shows more barrel influence than the 86 proof. And even though I don’t usually care for malted rye in a whiskey, I like this one. This particular Iowa whiskey is better than any of the Minnesota ryes I’ve tried.

See I can say something nice about Iowa.

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Still Austin Cask Strength

I am jumping right into the description of the whiskey tonight as my wife is away for work and will need to proofread all of this via text message. She really doesn’t need to know that, at least so far, I’m doing just fine on my own after one day alone. We’ll wait until next week to mention any of that—when I’ll be forgetting to shower and eating over the sink like a smelly bachelor.

So, Still Austin Bourbon. This is a brand that I’ve seen mentioned online by people in the Austin, Texas area but that I never paid much attention to because I am not now, nor do I plan to be, in Texas anytime in the foreseeable future. I really don’t like the heat that much. No matter how much I complain about it, I’m much better suited for northern climates.

Still Austin is a craft distillery located in oh-so-hot Austin, Texas. It was started by a father-and-son team about a decade ago. They also employ independent Master Blender Nancy Fraley to help craft their whiskeys—one of the best in the business.

I was curious about making whiskey in the Texas climate. I know that early on in the craft distilling movement, there were stories of barrels completely evaporating away in the heat. When I saw that this bottle had a two-year-old age statement, I was a bit nervous that I was going to get something that was both over-oaked and yet immature when I cracked it open. But the company website addresses that, so I thought I’d quote that below:

SLOW WATER REDUCTION

As the Texas weather works its magic, as much as 15% of the spirit in the barrel can evaporate in the first year alone. To keep our whiskey in proper balance, our distillers employ an ancient process called slow water reduction or ‘elevage.’ This deeply complex process was developed in the brandy-making regions of Cognac and Armagnac in France and brought to us by our Master Blender, Nancy Fraley, who spent years in this region learning from masters of their craft. During this process, over the course of several months, we constantly monitor and add very small amounts of water to aging barrels to help reduce the impact of smokey phenolic compounds and break down more soluble sugars from the oak.

If, like me, you’d never heard of this dilution technique, Alcademics touched on it in a cognac blog post back in 2020.

Let’s see how this two-year-old cask-strength bourbon tastes, shall we?

Still Austin Cask Strength Bourbon

Purchase Info: $49.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 2 years old. 59% ABV. Mashbill: 70% White Corn, 25 % Rye, 5% Malted Barley.

Nose: Caramel, oak, and mint.

Mouth: Caramel, bubblegum, allspice, and cinnamon.

Finish: Hot and of medium length. Notes of caramel, bubble gum, mint, and cinnamon.

Thoughts: I'm extremely impressed by this two-year-old whiskey. It focuses mostly on sweetness and spice without the rich depth of older whiskeys aged in a more forgiving climate. But in no way does this taste green or of new make. It is really good, if a touch uncomplicated. I'm very happy with this purchase.

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Heaven’s Door Exploration Series I - Calvados Finish

All the cards are on the table here. I’m getting old. I’m almost 50, and the number of years behind me is probably greater than the number ahead of me. However, I’m not so old that I grew up being aware of Bob Dylan. I first heard Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (this brand’s namesake) as a Guns N’ Roses song. A live version was in heavy rotation on MTV in the late 80s, or so I remember. And being a youngster, as far as I was concerned, it was their song. I’d never heard of Bob Dylan.

Of course, as I got older, my music tastes changed. Being quite the curmudgeon even then, in response to the rise of Grunge and Alternative Music, I got really into Classic Rock (which at the time was defined as late ’60s through ’70s rock music; let’s not talk about how it is defined these days…). This was when I realized that Bob Dylan was “that dude on the radio that really couldn’t sing that well, yet everyone seemed to like.” Which may be harsh and reductive, but I was young and more inclined to judge things harshly and reductively. I’m still more of a fan of Dylan's songs performed by other people than of his songs performed by himself, except as a member of the Traveling Wilburys. But I now understand the appeal and why he’s a part of our shared musical history.

So all that is to say that, unlike most Minnesotans of a certain age, I don’t hold any particular reverence for this one of our famous sons. I thought it odd when he put out a whiskey brand, but I also thought: “Heck, a lot of other celebrity brands have come and gone over the years. Why not Bob Dylan?” I reviewed their Trilogy 3-pack of 200 mL bottles back in late 2020. And then didn’t really give them another thought.

But then it did the darndest thing happened. The brand stuck around. Unlike a lot of other celebrity brands, it didn’t go away, which says to me that they must be doing something right. And so when I saw an email come across my desk highlighting a new expression that the brand was releasing, I was intrigued. And when I saw that it was a bourbon finished in Calvados casks, I was interested enough to go to the Heaven’s Door website and order myself a bottle. I love apple brandy. And from the first time I bought a bottle of apple brandy, I’ve been mixing it with bourbon. To me, the flavors go together extremely well.

Now, let’s look at this specific bourbon, shall we? We already know that it is a straight bourbon finished in Calvados casks. Calvados, if you were unaware, is an apple brandy from the Normandy region of France. Hence the brandy talk above. The bourbon is five years old and, well, let’s let the marketing folks from the brand describe this for me. They get paid more to write than I do.

The series’ debut is deeply rooted in French influence, with carefully incorporated elements of product, wood, and technique. Its foundation is comprised of Heaven’s Door’s award-winning Tennessee Straight Bourbon whiskey finished inside freshly dumped Calvados Brandy casks. We then introduce an additional layer of complexity through medium-heavy toasted French oak staves.

Calvados, an apple brandy from Normandy, France, matures for at least two years in the French oak casks before being filled with our Tennessee Bourbon. This imparts sought-after characteristics like fresh apple cider and baked apple brandy. Our new, medium-heavy toasted French oak staves, sourced from Quercus Petraea trees, offer excellent aroma, medium ellagitannins, and high oxygen permeability. 

Let’s see how it tastes.

Heaven’s Door Exploration Series I - Calvados Finish

Purchase Info: $79.99 for a 750 mL bottle from the Heaven’s Door Website.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.33

Details: 54% ABV. Finished in Calvados casks and toasted oak staves. 5 years old.

Nose: Apple blossoms, honey, and baking spices.

Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, baked apple, honey, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth with notes of baking spice, floral apple, almond, and oak.

Thoughts: If you do not like apple brandy, you probably won't like this. However, as I'm a fan of apple brandy, I do like it. It reminds me of some of my home blends, where I'd mix apple brandy and bourbon, which means that the finishing was worthwhile and not just a gimmick. The bourbon isn’t as hot as I'd have expected a triple-digit proof bourbon to be. In other words, it can easily be consumed neat without water or ice. All in all, I like it, though $80 is a little expensive for me to want to buy another bottle when I usually have both bourbon and apple brandy on hand.

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Rolling Rooster Bourbon

I’d like to thank Shore Fire Media for sending over this sample with no strings attached.

St. Augustine of Hippo is one of the last big Roman Religious Philosophers of a united Roman Empire. During his lifetime, the Western Roman Empire collapsed during the so-called Fall of Rome. He was extremely influential in the development of Western Catholic Christianity and its many, many offspring. As both a Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) saint, he has a Feast Day in his honor each year. For the oh-so-Catholic Spanish explorers, that would be on the 28th of August each year (the date is different for those who follow Eastern Orthodoxy).

None of that has more than a passing relationship to tonight’s bourbon except as an origin of the name of the distillery that produced tonight’s Bourbon. But since I am a Roman history buff (and, more specifically, an Eastern Roman/Byzantine history buff), I take all the opportunities I can to bring it up. I am literally the recent meme about how often a man thinks of the Roman Empire.

St. Augustine Distillery is located in St. Augustine, Florida, the second oldest city of European origin in a United States territory (the oldest being San Juan, PR). It was named because the Spanish explorer who founded the city did so shortly after sighting the land that would become Florida on St. Augustine’s Feast Day in 1565.

I’ve driven through St. Augustine on my first, and probably last, road trip to the Florida Keys. That is a very long drive from Minnesota. It was a lovely city that I never saw much of as I was having a massive anxiety attack and could not bring myself to stop. I know that I drove past a beautiful old Spanish fort/United States National Monument while in the city. This means I could have possibly driven right past the building where the distillery is currently. It was a while ago, so I really don’t remember much, especially with the anxiety attack.

St. Augustine Distillery makes bourbon, rum, gin and vodka. They made tonight’s bourbon as a collaboration with musical artist J.J. Grey of Jacksonville, Florida. Quoting from the press release:

Inspired by Grey's deep-rooted connection to the South and his love for the soulful flavors of home, Rolling Rooster is a bourbon that personifies the spirit of Southern comfort. "Warm and fuzzy at the top, with a tiny hint of cocoa before it spreads out wide across the palate," Grey described, "No matter how far I travel, it always brings me back home." Richard deMontmollin, VP of Production at St. Augustine Distillery, echoed Grey's sentiments, stating, "When I was asked if we could create a bourbon with JJ Grey, I was over the moon. JJ brought the soul, we brought the juice, and it's all in perfect harmony." 

Let’s dig in, shall we?

Rolling Rooster Bourbon

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent to me at no charge by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $100 per bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $6.67

Details: 51% ABV. Release number 1. Bottle 0526. According to the PR Agency, all of the bourbon used in this project was at least four years old.

Nose: Dried grains, orange zest, black tea, and smoky oak.

Mouth: Cinnamon, black tea, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warm. Notes of cinnamon, mint, dried grains, and black tea.

Thoughts: Have you ever noticed how sometimes you taste a really great wine or bourbon in the tasting room, and once you get it home, you are less happy with it? The ambiance of the tasting room affects your perception and enjoyment of what you are tasting. The same goes for great conversation with friends. Well, I have a feeling that this bourbon would be one of those that I really like at the distillery. However, at home with my wife, doing a structured tasting, I’m neutral on it. There are no obvious flaws, but it just doesn’t align with my palate. There is a lot going on in here. It is full of flavor and has a lot of things to like, but the flavor profile just isn't for me. I'm not a fan of strong, unsweetened black tea, which this has in spades. I also don’t prefer grain-forward bourbons, and this is one. That said, I couldn’t fault anyone else for absolutely loving it if that is a flavor profile that works for them. Hence, the neutral rating: this bourbon’s not for me, but it might be for you.

Though it isn’t supposed to be released until late May, the first batch of this product has already sold out during pre-order. One thing music fans and craft distillery fans have in common is that they are both great at supporting those they love. So, if you’d like to sign up for information on the release of a second batch, you can do so here: www.jjgrey.com/rollingrooster.

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Coppercraft Straight Bourbon Whiskey

I’d like to thanks CraftCo and their PR team for sending me this sample with no strings attached.

I know it doesn’t seem like it from the outside, but I don’t accept every sample request that comes my way. I run everything through a filter of “Will anyone be interested in this?” before I say yes to an offer of samples. Most of the ones I turn down are regional craft distilleries that don’t have a wide distribution or are just another bourbon that was “Distilled in Indiana.” The draw of a sample isn’t the free whiskey—don’t get me wrong, that is a nice perk—but instead, the idea that I can give some insight into things that you guys might be searching for.

That’s how this one ended up on the “yes” pile. Sure, it might be “Distilled in Indiana,” but it was being pushed by a big PR agency. And I know this one does a pretty decent job of getting the word out to people. So, it is my guess that you guys have been or will be seeing this brand pop up on your feeds. You might even be searching Google looking for a review to see if it is any good. And so it makes sense for me, helpful dude that I am, to let you know if I like it and if it is worth the asking price.

So let’s get into it, shall we?

Coppercraft is a craft distillery in Holland, Michigan, a small city on the shores of Lake Michigan. It was founded in 2012 and produces Gin, Vodka, Applejack, Rum, sourced Bourbon, and a Rye that is a blend of sourced whiskey and its own in-house distilled rye. Of those, the Rye and the Applejack are most interesting to me. And as that rye looks to be distributed here in Minnesota, I’m sure you will be seeing it show up here in the future.

But we are looking at the bourbon tonight. According to the Coppercraft website, this is a blend of four- and nine-year-old Indiana bourbons that are then left to mingle in a barrel for three additional months before bottling. This is an interesting idea, but an idea will only get you so far, so let’s see how it tastes.

Coppercraft Straight Bourbon

Purchase Info: This bottle was provided by the producer at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 48.5% ABV

Nose: Red fruit, oak, caramel, and vanilla.

Mouth: Cinnamon, red fruits, caramel, vanilla, and oak.

Finish: Warm and medium to long. Notes of leather, cinnamon, caramel, and oak.

Thoughts: This is pretty damn good. I expected as much when I saw" Distilled in Indiana” on the label, but it is always nice to have confirmation. At $50 per bottle, you will need to decide for yourself if a sourced whiskey is worth that to you. I can tell you that it has a pretty stereotypical" Bourbon" flavor profile, which is nice. That’s the profile I fell in love with when I got into bourbon and the one I turn to most often when I buy bottles that aren’t just for website content. I like it.

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If you want to support our work 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, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Bourbon, Aged 7 Years

I’d like to thank Smooth Ambler and their PR folks for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

Hey there, folks! So we are looking at a bourbon put out by a distillery in West Virginia tonight. I don’t have a lot to say about West Virginia, personally. I’ve driven through a few times, stopped at a few places, and spent the night at a couple of others. It is beautiful country, but the last time I spent the night there, the hotel advised me not to drink the water and to limit showers to the shortest duration possible due to pollution in the city’s water supply. And, well, that basically sums up my thoughts on West Virginia.

Luckily for us, this bourbon comes from Indiana. They don’t say which distillery in Indiana, but since it uses the same Mashbill as MGP’s “36% Rye” bourbon, I think we can safely assume the origin. Which is great, because MGP makes very good boubon.

Smooth Ambler distills their own whiskey as well, but they had breakout success with their curated line of Old Scout transparently-sourced bourbons and ryes back in the early 2010s. And that Old Scout line continues today with the reintroduction of a seven-year-old expression of Old Scout Bourbon. Available in stores throughout CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, LA, MD, MI, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, WI, and of course, WV, this bottle’s suggested retail price is about $65 and is bottled at 99° proof. According to the Smooth Ambler website:

When we started “scouting” for whiskey in 2011, we wanted to find worthy whiskey we enjoyed, bring it to West Virginia, and blend and bottle alongside the whiskey we made at home. In our humble (*cough*) opinion, Old Scout became the standard for sourcing whiskey by being transparent, bottling deliciousness, and sharing it widely. Well, it turns out folks liked it, and we’re very proud we get to keep the practice going. That’s exactly what led us to the legendary Old Scout 7.

So, since we haven’t looked at anything from Smooth Ambler in a while, let’s see if they still have their sourcing and blending chops, shall we?

Smooth Ambler Old Scout Bourbon, Aged 7 Years

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent by the producer at no cost for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $64.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $4.33

Details: Distilled in Indiana. 7 years old. 49.5% ABV. Non-chill filtered. Mashbill: 60% Corn, 36% Rye, and 4% Malted Barley.

Nose: Oak, brown sugar, bubble sum, and a touch of spearmint.

Mouth: Spicy and oaky with notes of cinnamon, vanilla, almond, and oak.

Finish: The flavor blossoms immediately upon swallowing. It is medium to long and warm, with notes of bubblegum, cinnamon, vanilla, and oak.

Thoughts: Dry and oaky in the mouth. Vibrant and flavorful on the finish. This bourbon is “saved” by the finish. The mouth is nice enough but unremarkable. The finish, however, is where this shines. Which, if I had my choice, is where I'd want it to be. I spend more time with the finish when I drink whiskey than I do with the mouth. All in all, this is a really good whiskey. I like it.

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