Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
7 yrs 2 mo 14 days Batch No. 2014-06
63.85% ABV
$60
Color: cloudy, garnet-hued brown
Smell: hot alcohol fumes coming off. Lots of brown sugar, cinnamon in the mix as well. Not too much else coming out of this...pretty straightforward heat, sugar, and cinnamon. Note: once I let it sit for a while, the cinnamon is predominant...smells really nice!
Taste: tingles the lips with heat. Brief sweetness up front, then the fire takes over. The swallow and aftertaste are - shall we say - tingly. The massively predominant flavor in the mid-palate and beyond is oak wood. Not vanilla or caramel or other "barrel flavors" like coconut. Rather, the flavor of the barrel itself. Picture popping a miniature raw oak barrel in your mouth and sucking on it - that's the finish for me. Wood, wood, and more wood.Overall: it's not for me. The oak influence (read: overt oakiness) is just too much. It's really out of balance. The nose smells like it's going to be sweet and spicy, but then it's just woody in the mouth. If that's the type of bourbon you gravitate towards, more power to you, and you should definitely grab a bottle. But I will take my money elsewhere! It's hard to believe this is only 7 years old, and makes me wonder what would happen if it stayed in longer. Would it somehow reach a mellower state and gain complex leather, vanilla, and coconut aromas? Is 6-8 years "peak oak" in terms of flavor influence? Would it somehow - gasp! - get even more predominantly oaky?
