Category: Hall of Fame

We’ve got Knob Creek 9yr 100 proof on sale until June 2024 for only $18.39 per bottle. You’ll never see a hotter price on one of the BEST every day bourbons on the market. So, let’s take this opportunity to revisit an old friend. One of the OG Jim Beam Small Batch bourbons along with Booker’s, Baker’s, and Basil Hayden’s, Knob Creek has always been a jewel hiding in plain sight. Soft lemon and orange inflected spice on the nose with almond and and coconut. On the palate, more coconut, barrel spice, orange liqueur, and that foxy yeast so you know it’s Jim Beam. At 9 years the spice is well-developed, but at 100 proof it’s extremely drinkable making it exactly what you want in an every day sipper. And at $18.39 per bottle, you’d better buy a case before we run out!

Since we’ve reviewed a blended whiskey recently in Sazerac’s “Traveler” and we’ve tasted the new Old Forester 1924, which is a 10yr bottling of old Early Times straight whiskey, I thought we’d stay thematic and take a look at today’s modern version of Early Times, a once proud brand in the Brown Forman stable, which as a straight whiskey was the #1 selling bourbon in 1953, two years prior to BF buying Jack Daniels. Sold for years as a straight whisky, then moving in the 1980s to a blended whisky before finally being sold to Sazerac in 2020 and now being billed as a “Kentucky Whisky with Natural Flavors,” ET has changed with the times. On the nose, light oak with cinnamon fruit gum and brown sugar. On the palate, more fruit with a touch of honey, and a naturally strong kick, that’s more boozy than spicy. A bottle of Early Times and a 30 rack of Busch while you’re shelling peanuts and fishing may just be the thing you need!

The Old Fitzgerald lineup keeps getting younger, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting worse. In fact, this 8 year BIB expression throws off big forest flavors, along with earth, mint, and spice. On the palate, a soft hit of very mellow oak leads, gathering strength, then ultimately transitioning to a long cinnamon spice finish. Other than the 17yr, this is the most balanced expression from an oak/fruit standpoint. It’s a complete whiskey and completely delicious.

I’ve always considered the 84% corn Dickel one of the most rustic and flavorful whiskies on the market. And while Dickel sold and bottled under several non distiller producer labels may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the original house bottled Dickel is one of the most consistently rich and easy drinking Tennessee whiskies out there. Enter the reserve “cask strength” at only 92 proof 17year old from Dickel’s Master Distiller Nicole Austin. The nose has the same oak profile as a Stagg with massive spicy oak aromas mixed with peanut butter powder and lemon essence. On the palate, the high corn sweetness mixes with the oak to create a spice bomb of rich wood driven flavors. Walnut, toffee, apricots, dark fruit, and finally leather are all whipped up into a frenzy. One of the most powerful 92 proof whiskies I have ever tasted!

When Brown Forman SOLD the Early Times brand to Sazerac in 2020, they must have kept some choice barrels of that mashbill behind which were bottled initially WAY back as Early Times 354, and later the straight whiskey version of Early Times itself, which was then, and still is a sleeper hit. Fast Forward to 2024 with the release of this latest “Whiskey Row” series, and BF is rolling out a 10 year version the this 79% corn, 11% rye, and 10% malted barley mashbill in the form of Old Forester 1924, commemorating a year when mashbills and whiskies from Prohibition-closed distilleries arrived on their doorsteps. It’s a clever bit of marketing with some actual factual parallels, but setting all that aside, what’s it taste like? First off, I LOVE the straight ET for its brown sugary goodness, along with lots of sweet body and traditional leather and spice flavors. The mixer whiskey for ET always had to be a little sweeter because that’s what that target demo demanded, and so once you saddle 10 years of age and bottle at an appropriate 100 proof you’re left with an OUTSTANDING whiskey in 1924. It actually tastes sweeter and younger than its age statement, but that’s the point. Sweet sugar goodness from start to finish. If you want something different and little more lively in your glass, go for this!

The lowest proof of any Stagg Jr, (now just Stagg) ever released, batch 23C is filled with wild berry aromas, including grape, blackberry, and darker florals. On the palate, initial oak explodes into fruit and spice. Honey, caramel, and nougat along with the continued line of dark fruit fight it out harmoniusly with the baking spices. Some fresh apple skins and apple pie cinnamon sugar to finish as well. Big, juicy, worth of the Stagg tag, but actually drinkable at full strength!

On the nose, leather, vanilla, oatmilk, milk chocolate, praline, and a touch of citrus zest. The oak is more lifted, complex, nut-like, and focused on this than almost any other Canadian I’ve tried in recent years. Hard to call a $200 whisky a value, but this is it. I can’t think of a better nose on a Canadian. On the palate, vanilla swirl with cocoa, maple, and massive slices of fruit cake. Big oak, but balanced, chewy, still sweet.

The 97 proof orange label “single barrel” of Weller straddles the line between the Special Reserve and Antique, and provides a different take on the normally bathed wheater. Though last year’s version left a little to be desired, this year’s is a real treat, brimming with Weller leather and spice on the nose, the palate exhibits sweet caramel, tropical fruit, and a chewy nougat that’s just the best bourbon “candy” you’ll ever taste. Orange label 2023/2024 is dynomite!

Set right up against the banks of the Kentucky River are the metal clad Camp Nelson warehouses owned by and filled with Wild Turkey bourbon. The “Single Rickhouse” project which began last year highlights batches of barrels drawn from single warehouses across the three WT barrel campuses. The 2023 release of Camp Nelson Warehouse F was drawn from floors 4 and 5 and bottled at 117.6 proof. The initial palate is a barrel roll of spice and nougat, herbs and oak, red fruit, and really gentle butterscotch and vanilla. Big, tasty, worth the price profile that just keeps going 30-60 seconds after the sip. Chewy and delicious.

Older stocks of MGP “Light Whiskey” at some point will run out, because there’s no way any craft distiller will sit on ANYTHING for 15+ years. So what’s been bottled over the past few years will be it, more than likely. The category itself, created for blends and drinkers who preferred lighter whiskey, is basically just a notch between bourbon and vodka on the distilling scale, but when you add this many years in cask to it, you end up with a wholly different and fascinating product, far from what it was ever meant. Creamy vanilla explodes on the nose with thick butterscotch, intense florals, and rich butter. On the palate the 128 proof carries with it the most intense flavorful vanilla and butterscotch. This tastes like a George T Stagg version of a top shelf Canadian whiskey. Truly unique and delicious, interesting, but extremely approachable with just masses of flavor!