Category: Hall of Fame

Top floor, highest proof Old Forester single barrel we’ve ever encountered. There’s not a whiff of heat about this. PURE BOURBON CANDY…nose of liquid caramel and cinnamon, very finely tuned oak spice, with an almost cedar like quality. The palate just melts with rich caramel sauce, butterscotch, and a touch of cocoa. With so many “okay” barrels out there, to come across a juggernaut like this after so many years, it’s amazing!

With new distilleries sometimes bending over backwards to reveal the source and make of every aspect of their products, it’s a weird throwback to encounter a product like Michter’s Sour Mash. It’s not a bourbon. It doesn’t have a published mashbill. It doesn’t say where it’s distilled. It doesn’t have an age statement. As a simple “whiskey” it could be a fair number of different things, but it doesn’t really go into ANY of that. So, ultimately it doesn’t really matter what the background of the whiskey is, you just have to judge it purely on TASTE! On the nose, purest old “dusty” sweet brown sugar nose of any “bourbon” on the market. Some lemon tart thrown in as well. On the palate, the 86 proof is so soft and sweet to drink you’d think you were sipping a bottle of National Distillers OGD. Intensely flavored, buttery soft, with light leather and orange peel as well.

This “blended bourbon” is a combo of MGP 21% rye bourbon, 95% rye, and 14yr old Light Whiskey, bottled at 110 proof. Nose is fresh fruit, cinnamon gum, and light vanilla. Palate is soft and sweet for 110 proof with apricot and juicy vanilla bean emerging. This is a FANTASTIC whiskey which would be really easy to dismiss. The older addition of Light Whiskey bends the flavor in such a rich and interesting way. Smooth and flavorful for days. This is a NOT TO BE MISSED whiskey, and what the future of innovation in this space should look like.

A 10yr old, wheated bourbon produced with the Weller recipe and hand-selected by the Van Winkle family. I think it’s the BEST one of the bunch because it’s 107 proof, it’s not overoaked as some of the other expressions can be from time to time, and it’s not a trophy like the others. On the nose, boiling toffee, tea tree oil, and juicy pear, very concentrated. On the palate, leather chair and oak spice, orchard fruit on the mid-palate, long spicy finish. You can chew on this one for days!

Batch A123 starts with lifted saddle leather, cotton candy, and a sweet floral note on the nose. On the palate, candy corn, nutty spice, and a concentration of vanilla and butterscotch. Perfectly balanced oak to sweetness ratio from start to finish. This is as traditionally good as it gets.

Here’s the deal, for $10 this is the BEST BOURBON DEAL of 2023. It’s 4yr Jim Beam Bottled-in-Bond at 100 proof and non-chill filtered. Soft corn and orange zest on the nose with a distinct yeasty kick. On the palate loads of honey, fritos, sour lemon drops, and sweet apple.

A cask strength bourbon at 105.4 proof is almost unheard of. I’ve only seen a few Wild Turkey single barrels lower, which likely means a LOW ageing floor at MGP where it’s colder. On the nose this is light and nutty, but on the palate, this may be one of the smoothest drinking single barrels we’ve ever released. Delicious mint, light oak, and perfectly portioned sweet fruit throughout, even a touch of passionfruit. Really surprisingly delicious.

This BIB wheater is some of the oldest wheated stock at Heaven Hill. The 17 was one of the most delicious bourbons of this year, and the 19 does not disappoint. Dark red mahogny color, with nose of red fruit, apple scnapps, and very rich oak, with leather chair, baked cinnamon, and amish apple butter emerging as well. On the palate, nothing but deep rich bourbon flavor, wave after wave of toffee, caramel, and more red fruit. There’s a nuttiness as well along with the oak. It’s oaky, but NOT over-oaked. Between a Stagg Jr or WLW and this, I think the Old Fitz 19 and 17 win that pepsi challenge every time.

Perhaps one of the first volleys before the craft whiskey revolution took off, Bulleit was a project in the works at Seagram’s prior to the 01 split, spearheaded ultimately by Tom Bulleit and his daughter. The unique bottle, and the mass introduction of MGP’s straight 95% rye helped usher in a new age of strongly flavored cocktails, throwback packaging. Today’s curretn bottling is not mch different than the first…pickle and fresh pine notes on the nose, rock candy, and lifted sugar notes as well with a rye spice backbone. On the palate, sweet and spciy as ever with some older oak notes on the finish. Does this still make the best Manhattan’s and Old Fashioneds out there? You’d be hard pressed to challenge these!

Non-chill filtered and bottled at 109 proof, the 2022 Limited Edition Small Batch features a 20 year-old Bourbon from the OBSV recipe, a 15 year-old OESK, a 14 year-old OESF, and a 14 year-old OESV. On the nose, ultra soft melted caramel and subtle fruit. On the palate more caramel, with cinnamon spice, candy apple, and warming oak. This is mellow Christmas goodness in a glass. Has to be a TOP 5 allocated of 2022, and LOVE the slightly lower proof.