Bourbon

To mark the annual beer slowdown, I figure I should cover the bourbons that I procured during previous slowdowns. As you know (because, surely, you are an obsessive observer of this blog), beer is generally my beverage of choice, but when that’s not on the docket, I tend towards bourbon or wine. Every year, I purchase a few bourbons, but the bottles generally last quite a while, so I tend to review them the year after purchase.

What we’re covering today are two well known, respected but widely available bourbons, and two smaller batch, higher octane releases.

Four Roses Small Batch Select – This is a regular release from Four Roses and differs from the regular small batch with a higher proof and by leveraging a different blend of Four Roses’ famous variety of recipes (a blend of 6 recipes versus 4 in the regular small batch, and only 2 recipes are the same between them). It’s the most expensive of the core Four Roses lineup, but it’s easily the best offering of that group and indeed, compares favorably to some of the single barrel cask strength releases I’ve snagged.

Pours a standard bourbon orangish brown, moderate legs. Smells great, a big wallop of baking spices, cinnamon, less of that bubblegum character I get out of all Four Roses, and some standard oak, vanilla, and caramel character. Taste follows the nose, dusty oak, vanilla, caramel, baking spices, and so on. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, well rounded and balanced, the proof is substantial but not hazmat levels. Overall, a rock solid, complex but uncomplicated sipper that might not blow people’s socks off, but I can’t imagine someone not enjoying this. B or B+

Bourbon Nerd Details: 104 Proof, 52% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/12/22 (and several times thereafter). Vintage 2022. NAS (6+ years).

Beer Nerd Musings: I’ve already reviewed enough Four Roses bourbons to have covered the immediate bases when it comes to beer, and I haven’t seen much in the way of Four Roses barrels specifically called out of late. Of course, there aren’t any beers specifically aged in Small Batch Select barrels… because it’s a blend. To my knowledge, no one has specified which Four Roses recipe was used for the barrel they’re aging beer in, and frankly that seems like the differences between recipes would get obliterated by aging a big beer in it (but hey, if someone released a series of 10 beers, each aged in a different Four Roses recipe barrel… I’d probably try at least a few of them).

Fellow Travelers: Josh at The Whiskey Jug had largely similar thoughts, while fellow beer dork Alex at Dontdrinkbeer was a little more mixed, but ultimately positive (it’s “mad deece”). signde rated a tad lower, but was mostly positive. Bangers and Mash expected a bit more for the price, but again seems in line with everyone else.

Old Forester 1920 Prohibition Style Whiskey – Last year, I was in the mood to branch out a little and try something from a distillery I hadn’t had anything from before, and this thing seemed to be getting rave reviews from lots of folks a while back (again, bear in mind that I’m a beer dork, so I’m usually quite behind the times when it comes to whiskey) and while it’s a tad pricey, it is widely available and not something you’ll see gouged or bunkered. There’s some marketing fluff around its origins in prohibition practices, but the upshot is that it’s the highest proof of the standard Old Forester line… and thus the most expensive.

Pours a bit paler orange, but pretty normal looking, again moderate legs. Smells fine, I get a distinct honey and mint, herbal, floral character out of it, with much less in the way of oak, vanilla, and caramel (though they’re lurking in the background) and much more in the way of hot alcohol. That being said, the nose is my favorite part. Taste hits those same notes, honeyed, herbal, floral character with muted oak and caramel, and what I’ll just call an additional grainy or astringent note (don’t know what that means? Great, me neither. I wrote this note a year ago.) Mouthfeel is full bodied and quite hot (even keeping in mind my baby beer palate, this feels like too much for the more muted flavor profile). Certainly not new make, but a bit fusel. Overall, given the high praise I’d seen, this was quite disappointing. I don’t usually take price into account with ratings, but this one stung, especially since I had purchased the Four Roses Small Batch Select at the same time (for a bit less than this). It’s certainly not bad, but perhaps I’m just not on its wavelenth – I’m certainly an outlier when it comes to this though. I will say that I’ve cottoned to this a little more upon further pours, but it’s still not exactly my favorite. No one claims its amazing, but it seems to be highly favored as something accessible with a high proof and moderate price tag (at least, by today’s standards). B-

Bourbon Nerd Details: 115 Proof; 57.5% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn on 3/19/22 (and several times thereafter). Vintage: 2022. NAS (4+ years).

Beer Nerd Musings: There are certainly lots of beers aged in Old Forester barrels, though they don’t usually specify which expression (so I don’t think I’ve ever had any aged in 1920 barrels). One of the most interesting entries of recent years, though, was Goose Island Birthday Bourbon County Brand Stout, which was aged in Old Forester Birthday Bourbon barrels. Birthday Bourbon is a much harder to land limited release (in PA, they do a lottery for it), but the difference between Birthday BCBS and regular BCBS was astonishing. It really showed what a difference the barrel can make – it yielded a distinctly bright fruity note to the stout that was just lovely and totally elevated the beer. I still have a bottle of this, and I suspect that distinct fruited note will not last over time, but it was a truly eye opening experience. Of course, the next year, there was a Bourbon County Reserve variant that was aged in Old Forester 150th Anniversary bourbon barrels that was… significantly less successful. I mean, still great (the BCBS reserve series is always good), but nowhere near the unique experience that the Birthday BCBS represented (and definitely not justifying the BCBS Reserve pricepoint).

Fellow Travelers: Josh at the Whiskey Jug digs it quite a bit. Sku doesn’t love Brown Foreman products (they make the Old Forester line) and to be fair, he much prefers it with some water (I tried that, didn’t really help me much), but thinks it’s really nice and affordable for what it is. signe is also not a Brown Forman fan but found himself pleasantly surprised by how much he liked this. Bangers and Mash liked it with ice and was a bit turned off by the price point, but thought it was otherwise pretty good.

Barrell Bourbon Batch 31 – I’ve been a fan of Barrell for a while, though obviously I can’t keep up with their releases. One thing I loved about Batch 9 was the 13 year age with a highish but still quite reasonable price point. Alas, those days are gone. Barrell still occasionally sources double digit ages, but they’ve been exploring ultra premium pricing in the $250+ range for a lot of stuff lately, which I’m probably not going to delve into. Batch 31, though, sounded promising. A blend of 6, 7, 10, 15 and 16-year-old barrels from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. No details on percentages, but supposedly built around the 6 and 7 year barrels which comprised a group of 99% corn bourbon barrels and a group of wheated bourbon barrels, I’m assuming that’s the bulk of the blend. That being said, some of that older juice contributes something… This is only marginally lower proof than Old Forester 1920, but I don’t get anywhere near as much hotness out of this.

Pours a golden orange color, long legs. Smells sweet, cornbread, rich caramel, nutty oak, lots of vanilla, marshmallow, a bit of the spice box, maybe even some pine. More spice in the taste than the nose, but that sweet cornbread and caramel hits too, with lots of oak, vanilla, hints of mint, nuts, molasses. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, definitely hot but not hazmat levels – pushing it, but it works neat. Overall, delicious stuff, reasonably well balanced, worth the stretch for sure… B+

Bourbon Nerd Details: 111.2 Proof; 55.6% ABV (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn on 3/20/22. Bottle #: 12,929. Age: 6 years (see above for additional blend info involving older ages)

Beer Nerd Musings: Near as I can tell, there are no beers aged in barrels specifically attributed to Barrell (now, there are some beers in various databases that misspell “barrel” and include an extra “l”, but I don’t think that counts), but since they source all their barrels, I suppose they could make it to a brewery somewhere… Since Barrell seems to be good at picking barrels for their blends, I’m guessing they’d be good fodder for bba beer, though obviously drinking the blend doesn’t exactly tell you how a beer would be… unless the beer used the same blend of barrels? That would be… a weird experiment that I’d totally be curious about. Batch 31 is supposedly built around a 99% corn bourbon, which is a rare but not completely unheard of barrel for beer aging (Eclipse had a Mellow Corn variant a while back that was decent; BCBS had a rumored Reserve variant aged in Mellow Corn barrels, but that never panned out)….

Fellow Travelers: David of Whiskey in my Wedding Ring did… not care for this batch and got a distinctly Tennessee character out of it that he didn’t like (he describes it as Flintstones vitamin), but that as a beer dork, I’m either oblivious to or don’t mind very much. Brad from The Whiskey Jar tried out some new glassware with this bourbon and came away impressed with both.

Elijah Craig Private Barrel – State Line Liquors Erik & Chad – The most recent top-off of my infinity bottle had depleted my Elijah Craig Barrel Proof supply, so I was in the market for more EC and semi-local liquor heroes at State Line Liquors released this private barrel at the perfect time. This is one of those one-off releases that comes and goes and will never be seen again; I’m guessing somewhere around 150-200 bottles in existence. Now, private barrel picks are common in some places, but not so much in Pennsylvania. Even basic stuff like Buffalo Trace Private Barrel picks tend to go to lottery (though who knows, bottles might show up in stores). Anywho, this private barrel pick is pretty non-standard, clocking in at just 8 years old, but it does make for an interesting experience.

Not quite as oaky or complex as standard 12 year expressions, but it’s still got a good oak character, and the high octane proof hits hard. Oak, vanilla, light spice box, caramel, pretty classic bourbon notes intensified by the high proof. At 66.5% ABV, it’s certainly hot, maybe a tad too hot. Good stuff, but the 12 year barrel proof expressions are better… this is still pretty great for what it is and I’m glad I picked it up. B+

Bourbon Nerd Details: 133 Proof; 66.5% ABV (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn on 6/11/22. Age: 8 Years. Barrel No. 6570975.

Beer Nerd Musings: Apparently State Line sent one of their Elijah Craig barrel picks to local brewpub chain Iron Hill, and they aged an imperial stout in it. They don’t specifically mention which barrel, but the timing lines up and it could very well be the barrel the above bourbon was aged in. Only 14 reviews on Untappd, but they’re pretty positive (better than the regular BBA edition of the same base beer). Other than this specific beer, I actually don’t know of any beers specifically aged in non-12 year (or older) EC barrels, but EC is generally considered great for barrel aging beers, and this would certainly do well. This is territory we’ve covered before, but I’d still be on the lookout for EC aged beers.

Only one of these disappointed, and I eventually came around on it (even if I’m not rushing out to try more of the Old Forester line) and plus: I’m clearly an outlier on that one. Fingers crossed that I win another PA lottery sometime soon, but one of the good things about being a bourbon amateur is that there’s still lots of generally accessible stuff out there for me to try…

One of the key alternatives I turn to during the annual hiatus from beer is bourbon, which can be a tricky proposition these days. The market is awash in NAS NDP juice that goes for double the price of standard expressions from the big distillers (which, unlike the beer world’s big producers, tend to make the best stuff), and yet somehow still commands hype and even higher markups from retailers (I’m not even going to pretend secondary is worth looking at).

In that light, I hesitate to even mention it for fear of this stuff disappearing from shelves forever (a la Weller’s status as a Pappy alternative causing the entire line to get snapped up by taters and profiteers etc…), but Knob Creek 12 is a nice find. A tween age-statement, 100 proof bourbon with a modestly higher price* than the regular expression? This sanity can’t possibly last… and yet I bought this bottle two years ago, and I’ve seen it around sporadically ever since.

One of Jim Beam’s specialty products, this falls right into the sweet spot for the Kaedrin palate (i.e. a beer-attuned baby palate). I enjoy the occasional dram of cask-strength monsters, but the 100 proof suits this bourbon well and the 12 year is a noticeable upgrade over the 9 year. It’s special, but not so special that you need to save it for a special occasion, which you probably shouldn’t do anyway, but even less so for this. It’s my favorite bourbon acquisition over the last few years, and will be an excellent addition to the Infinity Bottle when the time comes (it will reduce proof and add age to the blend, which is precisely what it needs).

Knob Creek 12 Year Small Batch Bourbon – Pours a standard brownish orange color, moderate legs. Smells nice, lots of oak, wood shavings, some nutty aromas, sweet pastry, cookies, hints of caramel, vanilla, and baking spice. Taste has a nice proportion of oak and sweetness, but those other notes from the nose provide complexity – nutty, rich, some cookies, light caramel, vanilla, and spice. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, moderate alcohol heat, but quite approachable, even for my beer attuned palate. Overall, this is really great stuff and while the price isn’t “cheap” it drinks better than stuff twice as expensive… A-

Bourbon Nerd Details: 100 Proof, 50% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 4/1/22. Vintage: 2021.

Beer Nerd Musings: Knob Creek barrels are used to age beer frequently (though I’m not sure about the 12 year expression specifically). A few years ago, the BCBS Reserve was aged in Knob Creek (I never got a hold of that one, but the other Reserve variants have been fantastic). There’s a local bar, Teresa’s Cafe in Wayne, PA, that did a couple of Knob Creek single barrel picks that were great, and they donated the barrels to semi-local breweries like Troegs and Stoudts to make barrel aged beers. I should really get over there and see if they still have those single barrel KC bottles…

I’ve got a couple other bourbons in the pipeline, but not sure when I’ll get around to reviewing them, as the beer backlog is starting to pile up as well and we’ve been reviewing non-beer for a while now…

* Alright, I just checked, and the price increase is perhaps not as modest now as it was a couple years ago? Or maybe I just plain misremembered what I paid for it last time… Regardless, it’s still pretty reasonable given other 12 year olds on the market, which often push triple digit pricing…

There’s a whiskey nerd concept that’s been popularized over the last decade or so called the “Infinity Bottle” (also known as “Solera Bottle” or perhaps “Living Bottle”). The idea is that instead of finishing off the last couple of pours from a whiskey bottle, you pour several different whiskeys together into your own Voltron-esque proprietary blend. It thus becomes something like a document of your whiskey drinking history. It’s unique to your tastes and purchases and most importantly, it never ends. Plus, as you add new components, it’s always changing… but only fractionally. Some of the people who’ve been starting these bottles envision it as becoming a family heirloom, passed down across generations. In thousands of years, mechanocyte-based metahuman successor life forms will probably still be aging distilled hooch in oak barrels on Omicron Persei 8 and blending the remnants into the same infinity bottles their puny, flesh-based ancestors started.

Um, anyway, as a puny, flesh-based beer nerd whose eyes are bigger than his liver, I tend to amass whiskey bottles because it basically takes forever to drink through one. I like whiskey, but I don’t drink it every day or even every week, so those bottles tend to linger on my shelves for a while. As such, when this concept appeared on my radar a few years ago, I thought it was a neat opportunity to clear out my booze shelf and put together my first iteration of an infinity bottle.

Naturally, I made a spreadsheet of all the components (it’s on Google Sheets and publicly viewable if you’re interested). The first iteration was pretty heavy on barrel strength bruisers and Four Roses single barrel picks (no slouches themselves on the ABV front). There were 5 components to that first blend, and 4 were bottles I finished off completely (the only remaining bottle was the TalkBeer Four Roses pick, which I finished not long after that first blending session). This was back in 2017, and since then I’ve drank a little less than half of the bottle (as I said, I tend to go through whiskey slowly).

Not to give it away, but that first batch was a little on the “hot” side and while age is often overemphasized, I think it could have used some more age. Last week, I added 5 more components to the blend and… only managed to make small improvements to the ABV and age. The new components were once again pretty heavy on the barrel strength picks, including moar Four Roses, a couple of Barrell bourbons, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, and High West American Prairie Bourbon (the age of which is vaguely mysterious, though it sez it’s a “blend of whiskeys aged 2-13 years”, so I just entered it as 5 years old in my spreadsheet. So that didn’t help with my age issue, but on the other hand, it was the lowest ABV component ever added, by far, so while there’s not a lot of this in the mix, it’s a welcome addition).

This has obviously been an interesting experience and will only get moreso over time. Some additional, assorted thoughts in no particular order:

• One interesting thing about this most recent addition is that it had the effect of really livening up the blend. The additions really stood out and I could even pick out the Barrell bourbons impact. After a week, this specific influence isn’t as noticeable, but spoiler alert: it’s still better than the original blend. I do wonder if this “livening” effect had to do with the quality of the additions or if anything decent would have a similar impact. Aged alcohol sometimes goes in waves and the notion of reviving old stock with something fresh is a pretty well established practice (though not usually in whiskey, I guess).
• As you might be able to tell from the above pictures, I didn’t actually finish off any of the bottles in this session (the only goner was the High West). This is probably not ideal, but I did it for the sake of this post. The things I do for my (3) readers!
• Every whiskey in this blend (10 different varieties at this point) is a bourbon. I’m not ruling out other spirits, but there are some things that I definitely won’t be adding, notably peated Scotch. The smokey peat character tends to dominate everything it touches, so I’m not playing with that fire here. That being said, I could see myself adding some rye, scotch, brandy, or maybe even rum to this bottle at some point. If, uh, I had any of those things to add (which, at the moment, I do not). The notion of a separate peated scotch infinity bottle is intriguing, but I don’t drink nearly enough to really do that.
• The bottle I’m using for this formerly held one of my favorite whiskies of all time: Balvenie 15. Mildly ironic that I’m using a Scotch bottle to blend bourbons, but as mentioned above, I’m sure some Scotch will make its way into the blend at some point (and come to think of it, Balvenie would make a nice addition!)
• Some people recommend not to “hoard your darlings”, by which they mean that just because you’re in love with a particular bottle doesn’t mean you shouldn’t add the final portion to your infinity bottle. It’s probably solid advice, and that Barrell #9 that I added in this current iteration has emerged as one of my favorite drams, but I added some anyway. That said, who knows what I’ll do when I get towards the end of my Pappy 23 bottle. The argument is that I’ll get to drink it anyway, it’ll probably make the blend better, and it’s only sacrificing a small amount in the grand scheme of things. But the puny, flesh-based lifeform I current exist as is vulnerable to certain romantic notions about specific bottles. I’m not immune to hype, much as I might pretend to be.
• Given my level of consumption, I don’t think I’ll manage to graduate to the vaunted Infinity Barrel. Josh Peters of The Whiskey Jug has been playing around with the concept for a while, but then, he’s got quite the collection of whiskey over there (downright comprehensive compared to my meager digs). The one thing that might tip me in this direction, though, is the notion of using the barrel to age some homebrewed beer. (He says, as if he’s brewed recently.)

Alrighty, let’s get into these suckers. Thoughts on both batches below:

Infinity Bottle V1 – Pours your standard golden orange bourbon color. Smells nice, some spice, oak, caramel, and boozy af, maybe a hint of fusel character, singing nose hairs a bit, y’know. Taste follows the nose, pretty standard high-test bourbon, a dusting of spice, oak, caramel, and tons of alcohol. As I drink, it opens up a bit more, and that Four Roses bubblegum character peeks through, as well as a very nice cinnamon note. Mouthfeel is hot and boozy, not great to my baby beer palate, but not as bruising as some of the components by themselves. Adding water helps open it up a bit, tamps down the hot booze, and some of the other flavors present themselves.

Overall, this is pretty good stuff, actually, but it’s a little too boozy and “hot” (and maybe some higher aged components could help with this). What this needs is a heaping helping of Orphan Barrel juice, which, alas we no longer have at Kaedrin HQ (and more recent releases are priced pretty rough). In theory, the Pappy 23 would work wonders here, but I suspect we’ll only be putting minimal Pappy juice in this here infinity bottle (now, the Lot “B” on the other hand…).

Bourbon Nerd Details: 122.7 proof, 61.35% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/28/20. Estimated Average Age: 9.14 years

Infinity Bottle V2 – Minor improvements to age and ABV, but not quite enough of what this bottle actually needs. We’re certainly moving in the right direction, and we can try to gear future purchases towards high age/low abv offerings, I guess. That being said, this V2 represents a notable improvement over V1. Not sure if that’s just the “livening up” effect of adding new components, or if the composition of the components really did bring about significant change (probably both!) As mentioned above, I feel like I can definitely detect the impact of the Barrell bourbons, which have a distinct, dusty, minerally character (apparently old Dickel) and plenty of oak. Speaking of which, the Elijah Craig may also contribute to that oakiness. It’s still a little hot, but not as rough as the first batch, so we’re definitely making progress. I can’t wait to see how this will progress.

Bourbon Nerd Details: 118.68 proof, 59.34% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 4/2/20. Estimated Average Age: 9.59 years

Beer Nerd Musings: So beer rather famously doesn’t age well and once you’ve opened a bottle, forget about it. The concept of an “infinity beer bottle”, as practiced here, would never work. That being said, blending of barrel aged beers is most certainly a thing. Gueuzes are blends of 3, 2, and 1 year old lambic. The Bruery’s Anniversary Beers actually utilize a Solera-like process, blending some of each batch into the next batch (and they’re going on a dozen years of doing so). That’s kinda infinity-like, though who knows how long they’ll manage. Blending a bunch of different beers/barrels can have mixed results. Firestone Walker’s Anniversary series has been pretty fantastic over the years. A recent blend of a wide variety of Medianoche barrel aged variants was fine, but nowhere near as good as much simpler treatments of their base beer. But I’m mostly digressing at this point. Brewers can do some interesting stuff with blending different offerings, but consumers who buy too much beer have limited options. During a share a while back, some friends and I created a sublime blend of 4 different sour beers, which we dubbed the Thirsty Camel Cuvée. It was one of those revelatory more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts experiences that, sadly, will probably never exist again. At least two of the components were one-off brews, and the very nature of barrel-aged sour ales doesn’t generally lend itself to consistency, so… yeah, that’s a blend that existed for about 20 minutes and probably couldn’t be made again if we tried.

We’re in the homestretch of the annual quasi-hiatus from beer, so maybe one more non-beer post, then we return to beer (which, to be sure, I still have a backlog of reviews for).

Update: Forgot to mention which bottle I was using for this little project, so I added that above…

The vaunted Van Winkle line of bourbons ranks as among the most hyped offerings ever offered by people who offer things. Once people who never used to care about bourbon started plunking down massive amounts of cash for bottles of the stuff, the intangibles of the entire bourbon market changed, triggering a bit of a backlash amongst the old guard bourbon nerds. This sort of mainstream appeal “ruining” the experience for former insiders can be witnessed all over the roadmap, from cult movies to comic books to musical acts; you name it, and there’s probably some small community on the internet bemoaning the intrusion of philistines. In the bourbon world, Van Winkle has become something of a scapegoat.

To be sure, there’s no way in a million years I’d ever pay secondary market prices for something like this¹. Even as a beer nerd, I’m not above paying a small premium to try good bourbon, but the secondary prices for this stuff are just ludicrous. I’m fortunate enough to live in Pennsylvania, where the PLCB rules over liquor sales with an iron fist, and thus we get these statewide lotteries. I hesitate to say “fortunate” because the PLCB is so awful in so many other ways, but over past few years, the lottery has allowed me to secure a few bottles of premium hooch for basically MSRP. It’s the one good thing about the PLCB, though it doesn’t feel that way when you get shut out.

While anything with the name “Van Winkle” attached has succumbed to the black-hole-levels gravitational hype associated with it, the Special Reserve or Lot “B” offering seems to be the least prized. It is, of course, the offering with the most bottles available (and we all know that rarity makes bourbon taste better). There’s another bourbon called W. L. Weller 12 Year Old that is basically an identical bourbon with different labels (the only difference is that the Van Winkles are apparently picky about barrels and warehouse locations, and thus their picks are supposedly better). Bourbon nerds will take pains to explain that if it’s not the 15, 20, or 23 expression, it’s not officially a “Pappy” bourbon. Heck, they literally named it Lot “B”, presumably because their other offerings represent A levels. Even the label looks like it was an afterthought. The 10 Year Old Rip Van Winkle offering, which you might assume would be similarly stigmatized, has a higher proof and very sexy label.

Most of this is purely academic though, and it’s worth noting that 12 year old bourbon appears to be right in the sweet spot, balancing maturity and flavor in harmonious ways. I was fortunate enough to get my paws on Pappy 23 last year, and while I thought it was phenomenal, I can see what people mean when they say it’s a bit over-oaked and out of balance. What does the fabled Lot “B” hold in store? Only one way to find out:

Van Winkle Special Reserve Lot “B” 12 Years Old – Pours clear golden orange color with short legs (if any bourbon nerds are reading, please note that I come from the beer world which is currently dominated by turbid, murky looking hazy IPAs that look like chicken broth, so any alcoholic liquid that is clear is a sight to behold). Also, and this is a stupid observation, but it’s significantly lighter in color than the 23. I mean, yeah, duh, right? But still. Smells very nice, caramel, oak, and a little vanilla, with a slight dusting of spice lurking in the background. Of my nose? Sure, I guess, I’m not particularly great at bourbon tasting notes. Really nice balance and complexity in the nose though, and it really opens up after a few minutes; more vanilla and almost cake-like sweetness, I could sniff this glass all night. Taste hits a lot of those same notes, caramel, oak, and vanilla, with some spicy highlights. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and very easy going, obviously boozy to this beer drinker’s baby palate (like, I’m not used to drinking high test liquor, not like I eat babies or something, gah), but nowhere near the hazmat monsters I’ve been known to drink. Overall, this is really good bourbon, but I’m not entirely sure it justifies the hype or premium. The nose is really fantastic, but it’s writing checks the taste/palate can’t cash. B+ or A-

Bourbon Nerd Details: 90.4 proof, 45.2% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/27/20. Vintage: 2019

Beer Nerd Musings: Anything in Pappy’s orbit, even if it’s beer aged in a Pappy barrel, is subjected to that massive gravitational hype. But as mentioned above, this is technically not “Pappy”, and thus I don’t think I’ve (knowingly) had anything aged in one of these barrels. Kaedrin’s crack research team has managed to find one example though, so they exist (it’s a 17.5% ABV imperial stout, sounds delightful, though I’ve not heard of the brewery/beer and it appears to be rather limited). I mean, it’s good bourbon, so it’s bound to result in a good barrel for beer. Big shocker. The Weller’s bourbon barrels also show up sometimes, which this would be similar to, I guess. Beer barrel provenance can be a weird thing though. Some breweries are extremely clear about which barrels were used. Some use far too many different barrels to be that specific. Some just aren’t specific. Is it because they’re using some bottom shelf crap? Or is there some sort of weird legal liability issue? Whatever the case, I’m down for more Weller 12/Van Winkle 12 barrel aged beer.

Look, if you’re in a quasi-hiatus from beer and in quarantine and you haven’t even worn shoes in 6 days, a bourbon like this will brighten up your day. One more non-beer post before we return to beerland, and it will be bourbon related mad science.

¹ – During my team’s extensive research process, we found some online stores that have this bourbon in stock… for $900. I feel pretty confident in saying that this is not worth that, which is more than 10 times as much as MSRP and what I paid for it.

Hello, dear readers. You might not know this, but Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve is officially and irrevocably the best bourbon in the world. And the expression that’s been aged for 23 years is older, and therefore unquestionably better than all the other Pappy bourbons. If you don’t believe me, go and consult any of the approximately one million internet lists that definitively rank all the bourbons, or maybe you can check with a whole host of celebrity chefs or journalists on social media. I mean, come on, if it’s on Facebook and Twitter, what else do you need? It’s absolutely unquestionable, is what I’m saying.

As a result, anything with even a whiff of the Van Winkle brand is hyped to the gravitational levels of Sagittarius A* (the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy). Once the Pappy juice itself became scarce, some folks took to saying things like hey, Weller 12 is basically the same stuff, it’s just aged in a different part of the warehouse. Gravitation took hold, and now any bottles with the name Weller on it have gone missing. Pappy, the bourbon so famous that nothing, not even light, can escape it’s gravitational pull.

Here in PA, though, they do a statewide lottery for the Pappy release. This may be the one good thing about the PLCB, as they get a decent number of bottles and the lottery method is fair, if unpredictable. I’ve probably entered 15 lotteries and won 2 of them, but it’s hard to argue with snagging a bottle of Stagg or, most recently, the 23 Years Old expression of Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve. This is pricey stuff, even at cost, and it regularly reaches $2000-$3000 on the secondary market. I suppose I could have just sold it, but my one and only taste of Pappy was the 15 a few years ago, and I’ll admit, it was phenomenal. Not sure it’s worth the insane black-hole-esque hype, but really fantastic stuff.

You may not have noticed (despite watching me like ravenous hawks) that I’ve recently entered my annual beer slowdown (at least partly because I haven’t said much about it, and also because I’m still working through a backlog of beer reviews), but if I’ve been avoiding beer of late, well, that gives me an excellent incentive to crack open something special like this.

So what’s the big deal here? Well, Pappy Van Winkle was an actual guy, and at some point in the 70s, his son started making bourbon and slapping his Pappy’s picture on the label (that’s him on the bottle pictured). Bourbon is made primarily with corn, but while most bourbons use rye as a secondary grain, Pappy uses wheat. I’m told that people who know what they’re talking about call these bourbons “wheaters”, which sounds good to me. Bourbon went through some booms and busts, and the original distillery (Stitzel-Weller) closed in 1992. Pappy, like the rest of the Bourbon producers, struggled for a while, but 10-15 years ago, things started to turn around. The thing with the boom/bust cycle is that during the bust times, bourbon producers have all this bourbon just sitting around in barrels, aging. So you end up with really well aged stock, which ends up getting released at a relatively cheap pricepoint, which people love (both price and taste), which then lends itself to the next boom. Stuff gets scarce, prices go up. Is another bust looming? Maybe. It’s a hotly debated topic that I’m not really qualified to weigh in on… but “permanent boom” is a phrase I’d find suspicious.

One other contributing factor to the Pappy mystique is that a lot of this bourbon was made back in the 80s at what is now a closed distillery. Man, do whiskey dorks love them some closed distilleries. As recently as 2013, Pappy 23 was using that original Stitzel-Weller juice. Alas, that appears to have been the last of it. What I have here was produced at one of Buffalo Trace’s locations. Near as I can tell, it’s still pretty damn well regarded. All during this most recent boom, though, Pappy was regularly recognized as the best of the lot (again, it’s on the internet and that pretty-great TV show Justified, so it must be true), and the fact that they’re still producing a bourbon aged for 23 years is pretty unique these days (most distilleries have long since sold through their aged stock and are running on NAS fumes these days).

Of course, if you spend any time in the bourbon dork community, you’ll find a bit of backlash to the Pappy hype. It’s a pretty natural response, really, and it must be frustrating because there’s so much other bourbon out there that no one seems to care about at all (and the invasion of dilettantes and status-seekers certainly doesn’t help). That being said, it’s hard not to want to at least try some of this stuff, so winning the PA lottery was quite a welcome development for an amateur like myself (who has, at this point, been at it for a while). Let’s get to it:

Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve – 23 Years Old – Pours a nice shade in the copper amber spectrum, not much in the way of legs, but pretty enough. Smells intensely of oak, vanilla, oak, caramel, oak, dusty spice, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but also lots of oak. In case the nose didn’t tip you off, the taste features that oak quite prominently, but the traditional caramel and vanilla notes come through in good enough proportions as well as a dusting of spice (I know this is a wheater, but I associate this sort of spice with rye – maybe that’s just because I’m a fraud and am bad at describing bourbon) and an almost bitter oak note (I’m sure whiskey nerds see bitterness as a terrible thing, but as a beer dork who came up in the West Coast IPA days of breweries reaching theoretical limits of bitterness, the connotation is not meant negatively here) . Mouthfeel is medium bodied and for lack of a better term, it’s kinda dry. Overall, it’s delicious, but I can see why someone would call it over-oaked. I’ve had some bourbons that I’d consider over-oaked, but this one fares better than those. Plus, I rather enjoy oak. However, it’s far from the best bourbon I’ve had and I’m not sure it’s worth all the hype… A-

Bourbon Nerd Details: 95.6 proof, 47.8% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/30/19. Bottle #J3356. Vintage: 2018.

Beer Nerd Musings: As mentioned above, anything in Pappy’s orbit gets pulled into the supermassive black hole of hype, and that includes beers aged in Pappy barrels. Notable examples include Voodoo’s Pappy Black Magick (one of my favorite beers that I’ll probably never get to try again) and the infamous original vintage of Bourbon County Rare (which I’ve never had; I did really enjoy the follow up release, which was aged in 35 year old Heaven Hill barrels). Lots of other notable examples, and usually just the implication that Van Winkle barrels are involved is enough to make the beer scarce. However, it’s worth noting that not every beer aged can be aged in a Pappy barrel and come out perfect. Stillwater aged one of their Belgian Strong Dark Ales in Pappy 20 barrels and the result wasn’t especially accomplished (though it was still rare and expensive)… This was more an issue with the base beer not being able to stand up to the barrel treatment than the fault of barrel (i.e. it probably wouldn’t matter which barrel was used, it would still overwhelm the base). So the hype is real, but like the bourbon itself, there’s a nugget of truth at the center of the hype – a lot of these beers are genuinely great. Is it worth the hoop-jumping and cost? That’s the ultimate question…

All in all, I’m really glad I got the chance to drink this bourbon. I’m still not entirely sure it justifies the hype and concomitant price, but as a one-time splurge, I think it could be justified (note: I’m talking about the price at retail, not the secondary price, which is only worth it if you’re filthy rich, and even then…) I will probably continue to enter the Pappy lottery, but I will not be putting in for the 23 year again… I suspect the 15 and 20 year expressions are the sweet spot (and even though I only had a small pour of the 15 a few years ago, I think it was probably better than the 23).

As a probable whisky dilettante and professed novelty whore, I don’t have what you’d call a “house bourbon”, that sort of thing that you always have on hand in case you want a belt of the ol’ comfort. But if I did? It would probably be the standard Elijah Craig offering. It’s lost its age statement (it formerly was a 12 years old), but it’s still a pretty great, approachable, affordable, highly available bourbon that hits all the right notes that I’d want in a bourbon.

So naturally, when I finally spied a bottle of the cask-strength version of same, I jumped on the opportunity. As I understand it, this is one of the more readily available of the highly-regarded cask-strength offerings, but in PA, it was very hard to come by (there have been very limited releases and I think even a lottery at one point), so naturally I wound up getting it in MD during one of my periodic pilgrimages to State Line Liquors.

The idea is very high proof (not quite haz-mat levels of Stagg, though some batches have gotten there) and still age stated at 12 years, it’s basically regular Elijah Craig, only more so. This particular batch is apparently one of the lower proof (lowest?), but then, it’s still pretty high for me… Let’s dive in:

Elijah Craig Barrel Proof – Pours a deep, dark coppery orange color with plenty of legs. Smells great, lots of oak, some caramel, spicebox, cinnamon, dark fruit, vanilla. Taste follows the nose, lots of oak, moar spicebox, cinnamon and the like, a little dark fruit, more oak, and vanilla. Like the regular Elijah Craig, it’s very oaky, but this time, it feels more balanced with the rest, which is interesting. Mouthfeel is rich, full bodied, and quite hot. I mean, yeah, keep in mind my baby beer palate, and this isn’t the hottest thing I’ve drank, but it’s clearly there. Overall, a nice improvement over the base offering, and one of the better barrel strength offerings I’ve had (noticeably better than the younger offerings, like Booker’s or Stagg Jr.). A-

Whiskey Nerd Details: 124.2 Proof, 62.1% ABV bottled. Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/24/18. Batch No. B517

Beer Nerd Musings: As previously mentioned, EC12 barrels seem to be prized amongst beer brewers. It historically played a role in BCBS (though their barrel program is so large at this point that who knows anymore). Interestingly, one of the most reliable EC12 barrel aged beers, FiftyFifty’s purple waxed Eclipse variant, seemed to be rarer in the most recent release. I’m unsure if that’s due to lack of barrels, some result of the loss of age statement, or probably most likely, just FiftyFifty’s desire to shake things up a bit (this year’s lineup featured a lot of adjuncts like maple, coffee, and vanilla, as well as more diverse barrels from apple brandy, rye, and even mead). Whatever the case, if a beer specifies that it’s aged in Elijah Craig barrels, it’s usually a good indication. The barrel proof offering is probably too expensive to use for homebrew (something the standard expression would be great for), but will make a great addition to my infinity bottle someday (this… is a topic for another post, though).

Fellow Travelers: Obviously lots of other folks have tried various batches of this out:

Signe Drinks has reviewed the same batch I have, and puts it squarely in the middle tier of Elijah Craig Cask Strength releases. Not the best, but not the worst, he sez. Josh Peters has had many different batches as well (though I don’t think this specific one was in his list). The sadly defunct Sku also reviewed early batches and came away impressed. Finally, I suppose I should mention fellow beer dork DDB, who also seems to enjoy these offerings.

This more or less completes my beer hibernation for the year. Actual beer posts will be returning shortly, though I expect the pace of posting here to continue its slow, inexorable decline.

As its name would imply, Stagg Jr. is a younger version of Buffalo Trace’s prized barrel-proof monster, George T. Stagg. It has no official age statement, but is rumored to be around 8 or 9 years old (while Stagg senior is more in the 16-17 year timeframe). It’s also barrel proof in that same hazmat range of 60-70% ABV.

When it was first released in 2013, it ran aground amidst huge anticipation and hype. Perhaps nothing could live up to the expectations, but all accounts of that initial batch indicate a rough, overly-hot mess (as one review put it, it’s “like drinking warm pepper spray”). Naming it Stagg Jr. probably didn’t help. George T. Stagg is second only to Pappy in terms of bourbon obsession and hype, so that alone raised expectations to unrealistic levels.

Perhaps as a result of this lackluster reception, the next few batches seemed to linger on shelves longer than you’d expect. Around batch 3, its reputation started to turn around. Reviews started to wonder if Buffalo Trace had righted the ship and dialed in their newest product, but even I was able to snag a bottle of Batch 4 juice way back when, and I’m not exactly an expert whiskey hunter. I gather that subsequent releases have started to disappear more quickly, so I don’t think people are sleeping on this anymore, but it’ll still be a lot easier to get than Stagg senior.

I originally bought this bottle because I thought I’d never get the chance to try George T. Stagg… only to unexpectedly win the PLCB lottery a few weeks later. That Stagg is among the top 2 or 3 whiskeys I’ve ever had in my life, so Stagg Jr. did have a lot to live up to, but I tried to temper expectations. It helps that I’m still making my way through a lot of the more standard, boring offerings out there, so this still feels special to novice whiskey dorks like myself. It was nice to try this right next to Booker’s to get a feel for how different these two bourbons can be:

Stagg Jr. – Pours a dark amber orange color, long legs. Smells nice, typial oak, caramel, vanilla notes, some spice, cinnamon, molasses, brown sugar, booze not as nose-singing as Booker’s despite the higher proof. Taste again hits those oaky notes pretty hard, some vanilla and caramel, plenty of spicebox, and ah, there’s that booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied, thick, and yes, very boozy. Again, somehow not as harsh as Booker’s, but still pretty hot (as per usual, take my baby beer palate into consideration here). Overall, this is quite nice, maybe a step up from Booker’s but comparable. B+

Whiskey Nerd Details: 132.2 Proof, 66.1% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 4/8/17. Batch #4. Vintage 2015.

Beer Nerd Musings: I’m not aware of any beers specifically aged in Stagg Jr. barrels, but then, as I understand it, Stagg Jr. is just barrel proof Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare, both of which are frequently cited barrel provenances. As you might expect, I think these barrels would do quite well with beer, and indeed, Buffalo Trace won the FiftyFifty Eclipse horizontal tasting I held a few years back. The concept of a sorta baby version of a more prized beer is something that does happen from time to time, though the differentiator is more about the amount of alcohol rather than the age. Some examples might include Great Divide Velvet Yeti (a lower alcohol version of their Yeti Imperial Stout that’s designed for nitro pours) or The Bruery So Happens It’s Tuesday, a slightly lower alcohol (and thus “more affable”) version of the monstrous Black Tuesday. There are probably tons of other examples.

Fellow Travelers: Obviously lots of other folks have tried various batches of this out:

• Fellow beer dork Don’t Drink Beer did a George T. Stagg versus Stagg Jr. shootout, and “NO SHIT GTS WON THIS CONTEST WOW SUCH SOLID SCIENCE HERE.”
• Josh Peters at The Whiskey Jug reviewed batch 3 and gave it a B+ (89/100)
• Sku’s Recent Eats reviewed Batch 1 and was much kinder than most reviews, saying “I think it wears the Stagg name well. It’s exactly what I’d expect in a younger Stagg.”
• signde drinks has reviewed a whole swath of the batches, documenting their slow improvement…
• The Bourbon Exchange has a handy post that lists out all the batches and their identifying proofs.

So this was a pretty decent bourbon. I enjoyed it a little more than Booker’s, but I’m told it falls a little short of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (a bourbon I’ve never managed to get my hands on). Alas, this will probably be the last whiskey I review during this year’s Beer Recession. That being said, I’ve got another beer-adjacent bottle of booze that could use some reviewing, and even some things that don’t involve alcohol at all. The horror!

Booker’s is one of Jim Beam’s four small batch products (the others being Knob Creek, Baker’s, and Basil Hayden) and it has a reputation of being the best thing Beam makes. That being said, it doesn’t seem to be the topic of much conversation (except for an ill-advised price increase that was walked back recently), perhaps because it’s been around for a while, perhaps because it’s actually available and you can find it on the shelf. We all know that rarity makes things taste better, so this is a truly black mark on Booker’s.

In the 1980s, the first bottles were hand-made Christmas Gifts from Beam master distiller Booker Noe and were so popular that it was made an official, publicly available brand in 1992. Upon his retirement, he left instructions with his son to not let anyone “mess with my Booker’s.” Indeed, little seems to have changed with his namesake Bourbon – it’s still 6-8 years old, unfiltered, and cask strength (usually pretty high-test stuff too).

This particular bottle clocks in at 128 proof, which is a nice flammability factor for sure. Each batch gets its own little pet name these days too. This one is named “Bluegill Creek Batch” because the bottling day was particularly hot and humid and Fred Noe (Booker’s son and successor to the master distiller role) was reminded of days spent fishing a creek for bluegill with his father. Sounds nice, so let’s dive in:

Booker’s Bourbon – Pours a clear golden orange color, nice legs. Smells intensely of oak with some caramel and vanilla pitching in, some earthy tobacco type notes too. With water, some cinnamon spice emerges. Taste is rich and sweet, lots of caramel, toffee, oak, and vanilla, some spice kicking in too, maybe cinnamon? And booze, tons of booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, and yes, boozy af. I mean, yeah, I have a baby beer palate, but this is pretty tough. But tasty, and not the worst heat I’ve experienced. A little dry in the finish as well. Overall, a little hot, but it’s a really good bourbon. Worth the current pricetag, but maybe not if they pump it up to $100… B+

Whiskey Nerd Details: 128 Proof, 64% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 4/1/17. Batch #2016-04 “Bluegill Creek Batch”. Age: 6 Yrs 5 Mo 28 Days.

Beer Nerd Musings: I haven’t had anything specifically marked as a Booker’s Bourbon barrel aged beer and I don’t see many out there either. Allagash apparently made a Booker’s aged variant of their Curieux, but I must admit, the tripel style is not my favorite way to showcase a bourbon barrel treatment. Still, I’d assume this would make for a pretty good barrel for beer aging… but then, what wouldn’t?

Fellow Travelers: Some other folks who’ve grappled with Bookers:

• The Whiskey Jug
• The Scotch Newb
• Sku’s Recent Eats

Another cask strength monster bourbon review coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Barrell Bourbon is a NDP that’s nevertheless gained a following amongst whiskey dorks. It’s also got an extra “L” on the end of their name there, which means… well, owner Joe Beatrice has declined to explain. My guess? It’s a branding gambit. Searching for “Barrel Bourbon” will produce millions of irrelevant results, whilst “Barrell” (with the extra “l”) will get you the right stuff.

We’ve covered NDP (non-distiller producer) before, so I won’t harp on it, but it is the sort of thing that normally arouses suspicion in whiskey nerds. That being said, Barrell puts a few interesting spins on their philosophy. First, they’re all bottled at cask strength, which is like catnip to whiskey dorks. Second, each batch is unique and will never be seen again. Exclusivity and rarity is always a draw. Third, while the sourcing is usually vague, most other details about the bourbon are often available (i.e. state of origin, mashbill, age statements, etc…) Fourth, they appear to be doing a good job of picking their barrels, so while they may not be as transparent as everyone would like, they have cultivated a reputation for quality.

What we have here is Batch 009, a 13 year old bourbon sourced from Tennessee with a mashbill of 75% corn, 18% rye, 7% malted barley. Again, Barrell does not specify the exact provenance, but reading around, I see that well-aged bourbon sourced from Tennessee is usually code for “George Dickel”, so there is that. Let’s dive in:

Barrell Bourbon Batch 009 – Pours a clear golden orange color with big legs. Smells quite oaky, lots of wood, vanilla, coconut, caramel, rye spice, something a little bready too. Taste has a nice rich caramel and molasses sort of thing going on, a little spicebox in the middle and finish. Oaky without being overly so, which is certainly in my wheelhouse. Mouthfeel is rich and coating, lots of alcohol heat, but in a pleasant, mellow way, with a finish that lasts a while. Overall, this is fabulous stuff, complex and balanced, great. Compares favorably to my favorite bourbons. A-

Whiskey Nerd Details: 112.10 proof, 56.05% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/14/16. Aged: 13 years. Vintage: 2016. Mash bill: 75% corn, 18% rye, 7% malted barley.

Beer Nerd Musings: I’ve already talked about the NDP parallels with contract brewing and gypsy brewers. Barrell’s approach seems more reminiscent of Scotch’s independent bottlers (except, of course, for the lack of transparency around the original distillery). The notion of each batch being unique (and not just from a “each single barrel is unique” sort of situation) is interesting and certainly speaks to the explosion of craft beer offerings. I mean, it’s not Tired Hands with their ~900 different named beers in 3 years, but there’s something to be said for the experience of drinking something you know you’ll probably never get again. I have not ever had a beer aged in a George Dickel barrel, but they do exist, even if they don’t seem particularly common. There are some beers that only specify being aged in a Tennessee whiskey barrel, which I suppose could also mean Dickel. If this bourbon is any indication, I think these barrels would work pretty well with beer (though this is perhaps too good to waste on homebrew!)

Fellow Travelers: As mentioned above, these bourbons have gained something of a following, so if you don’t feel like taking a beer nerd’s word for it, here’s some other folks who’ve reviewed it:

• signde drinks gives it a B/B+ and calls it “this is the best by far” of Barrell batches he’s had…
• The Bourbon Buddy gives it a 90-91 (A-) and also mentions that it’s the best Barrell batch he’s had…

So yes, I’m going to be keeping my eyes peeled for more Barrell batches, as this is a new favorite. I’ve got two more bourbons in the pipeline, and who knows what I’ll find in the meantime. Up next this week, though, we move to wine. I might even have a beer review or two, even during my current beer hiatus. Or quasi-hiatus, as it were. Stay tuned!

Amongst whiskey nerds, George T. Stagg appears to rival the vaunted Pappy Van Winkle line as the most lauded bourbon around. Stagg is basically standard Buffalo Trace that is aged extra long and then bottled at cask strength (usually with eye-popping, hazmat range proofs). It hasn’t quite captured the mainstream as much as Pappy (I don’t think I saw it on Justified, for instance), and thank goodness for that, but it’s usually mentioned in the same breath as Pappy and as such, it’s apparently just as difficult to land as any other whiskey out there.

I managed to get a bottle purely by luck. I complain a lot about the PLCB, but last year they instituted a lottery system for limited release spirits like the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection (which Stagg is part of), and I was lucky enough to win a bottle. The stats for the full BTAC lottery are pretty interesting, as not a single bar got a bottle of Stagg because it was picked last in the lottery and thus all of the bars had already won something else. More for us consumers, I guess. There were about 3,500 eligible entries for Stagg, and 186 winners (of which I was one). Also of note? The bottles were priced at $59.99 (As I understand this, the bottle normally retails for $79.99 and will go for 10 times that on the secondary market, easily). Hard not to be pretty pleased with the PLCB in this scenario, I must admit, and when I got my grubby hands on the bottle, I immediately went into the Gollum pose and started referring to it as “my precious”. Seemed appropriate.

The 2015 iteration of Stagg was distilled in the spring of 2000 and released in the fall of 2015, making it about 15 years, 1 month old. It is comprised of 128 different barrels (#4 char), which sounds like a lot of whiskey considering a barrel is 53 gallons, but according to Buffalo Trace, 84.46% of the original whiskey was lost due to evaporation. Those angels were mighty thirsty! And it appears they soaked up mostly water in the process too, raising it to a nice and flammable level of 138.2 proof. Let’s take a closer look:

George T. Stagg – Pours a deep, dark golden amber, almost brown color, nice legs. Smells fabulous, rich caramel, vanilla, oak, notes of spice but this is clearly the low rye recipe. Not that it matters, as this nose just keeps opening up, the sort of bourbon that you can savor for hours on end. After a little water, the caramel softens a bit, feels more molassesey or something, still amazing. Taste hits the rich caramel, oak, and vanilla up front, some spicy, earthy notes too, lots of booze. Water mellows it out some, brings out some sweet notes. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, coats your mouth with a long finish, is naturally very boozy, but somehow not as harsh as some bourbons that are much lower in ABV. A little watter smooths it out some, at the cost of a little intensity (though you kinda have to at some point, and it’s still pretty amazing). Overall, this is pretty spectacular stuff, definitely in the running for best whiskey I’ve ever had and probably takes that crown. A

Whiskey Nerd Details: 138.2 Proof, 69.1% ABV bottled (750 ml). Drank out of a glencairn glass on 3/11/16. Vintage: 2015.

Beer Nerd Musings: For all the hype about Pappy barrel aged beer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Stagg barrel aged beer. They exist, of course, but they seem few and far between. Evil Twin made a Stagg barrel aged Belgian Pale Ale, which seems like a tremendous waste. In fact, I can’t seem to find any of the more prized BA styles like stout or barleywine, but it does seem like a ripe market for the taking. I guess you could say these are just “Buffalo Trace” barrels, which might work. These are definitely used a lot with beer, and usually turn out quite good, as evidenced by the win in the FiftyFifty Eclipse horizontal tasting. Also pretty tough to beat Buffalo Trace Barrel Aged Black Magick (though the Pappy Black Magick did, I think). Personally, I don’t think I’d use this for homebrew. Seems like a crime to do anything but drink this whole bottle, neat (and, you know, with a little water).

Fellow Travelers: As a highly sought after bourbon, lots of folks more qualified than myself have written about this, so here’s a few other opinions:

• Don’t Drink Beer did a George T. Stagg versus Stagg Jr. (like Stagg, but much younger bourbon) shootout, and “NO SHIT GTS WON THIS CONTEST WOW SUCH SOLID SCIENCE HERE.”
• Josh Peters at The Whiskey Jug also drank this year’s Stagg and claims that of the years he’s tried, this is the best. *Mr Burns finger steeple* Excellent.
• Josh at Red, White, & Bourbon has a review of the 2013 Stagg, which happens to be the lowest proof vintage ever, “only” 128.2. Apparently still greatthough.
• Sku thought the 2012 was good, but not as good as other vintages. And he doesn’t review the BTAC anymore because he can’t get it, you can’t get it, and it’s basically the same thing every year.

Well, that was an impressive bit of bourbon. Someday, I may even try some of the other BTAC bourbons. I’m particularly interested in William Larue Weller, but I’m betting that this will not happen anytime soon. I got lucky in the lottery last year, I’m doubting it will work out again (it certainly didn’t in the Pappy lottery!) I’ll probably take a flier on Stagg Jr. someday too, and will be sure to post about that when I get a chance. But for now, I think that wraps up the Bourbon reviews for this hiatus. However, we still have one whisky to go, a very nice, well aged Islay single malt. Look for that sometime next week…