Review 135: Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Review 135

1/21/13

Buffalo Trace Bourbon: 45% abv

Background: Buffalo Trace is the standard offering presented by the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. This distillery has been known by several different names, most notably the George T. Stagg distillery, which is another bourbon to look out for. The distillery will tell you it was located at an ancient buffalo crossing, which is cool…I guess. Buffalo Trace distillery makes quite a number of spirits, not limited to bourbon or even rye, but including vodka. These include Ancient Age, Blanton’s, Eagle Rare, Thomas H. Handy, Weller, Sazerac, and Rain vodka. Today, we focus on Buffalo Trace bourbon though. This particular bourbon, their namesake, uses their mash bill #1. It is one of two mash bills, and it can be considered their more “bourbon-esque” bill. With how many different whiskies they make, it may seem impossible for them to ONLY have two bills for all of them, but don’t forget how many dimensions there are to making a whiskey. The yeast can be a huge part of the flavor content. Let’s actually take a look at the taste profile now.

Nose: Oak, honey, sweet fruits, fudge, caramel, molasses, vanilla, cocoa powder, slightly floral, cabernet, sugar, brandy

            A/W: Harsher nose, harsh hot grain notes, a little more spice

Arrival: Honey, molasses, starts cool, dry spice, wheat, vanilla, caramel

            A/W: Maple, spicy

Body: Medium mouthfeel, wheat, custard, rum-like, molasses, dry

            A/W: Maple, cinnamon, ginger

Finish: Coca, touch of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cream, custard, vanilla, wheat, yeast, dry, medium long

A/W: Ginger, cinnamon, mint, more balanced, much more enjoyable

Final Comments: You might call this a dessert bourbon, with its sweet smooth character. It is 45% and we love how the complexity just keeps on coming after a little bit of water. Initially, its mellow nature made it seem like water was an unnecessary addition, but just a little bit can help bring out even more. The docile nature of this bourbon doesn’t take away from the uniqueness, or complexity, and we appreciate that. This isn’t the most spicy bourbon you’ll have come across, but that isn’t a bad thing. This is a good one by any standards, and when you find out how much it costs, it might make you drool.

Why you’d buy it: You want a nice, sweet bourbon with good complexity and a gentle presence.

Why you wouldn’t: You want your bourbon to put hair on your chest.

Score: 9.5/10

Review 132: Knob Creek Small Batch

Review 132

1/13/13

Knob Creek Small Batch: 50% abv

Background: Knob Creek Small Batch bourbon is part of Jim Beam’s Small Batch series (there is a connection there somewhere). It is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky. This particular bourbon is a nine year old bourbon, so it is quite a bit older than some of your standard bourbons, which sit at four years. It is also the oldest of the Small Batch series, outpacing Booker’s, Basil Hayden, and Baker’s. If you go on Knob Creek’s website, you’ll find out there is an obnoxiously hard to read story on there about why Knob Creek is what it is, but we’ll omit that. There is also a Knob Creek Single Barrel and a Knob Creek Rye now being produced.

Nose: Burns, strong, alcohol type nose, very hot, oak, vanilla, wheat, spice, light rye, some honey, sweetness

            A/W: Much more sweetness, sugar, sweet caramel

Arrival: Hot, spicy, cinnamon, dry, grainy, spicy, plenty of oak character

            A/W: Almonds, sugar

Body: Still hot and spicy, lots of grain

            A/W: Almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread, oak, maple

Finish: Again, hot and spicy, dry, wheat, nutmeg, Big Red cinnamon flavor, peppermint, nut oils

            A/W: Barley, sugar, gingerbread

Final Comments: This is obviously a hot and spicy bourbon, with tons of intensity to it. We have plenty of experience drinking spirits above 50%, and Booker’s is a great example of how that can be done right. If you look at Knob Creek, it is a little different. The heat here is overdone, and doesn’t balance well with the flavor content. Not to mention the fact that the water is necessary to make this one speak out a little. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could be a little better.

Why you’d buy it: You want an intense, slightly older than average bourbon with some nutty qualities to it, but aren’t particularly concerned about getting the most complex spirit.

Why you wouldn’t: Maker’s 46 exists

Score: 8.25/10

Review 130: Basil Hayden's 8 Yr Bourbon

Review 130

1/10/13

Basil Hayden’s: 40% abv

Background: Basil Hayden’s is one of the four bourbons in the Jim Beam Small Batch family, and sits at 8 years old. This one is known as the lightest of the four bourbons, as is indicated by the proof of the whiskey, being at a modest 80 proof (40%). The Basil Hayden’s bourbon is named from Basil Hayden, Sr. who was a Maryland Catholic who led 25 Catholic families into Kentucky. Turns out, Hayden was also a distiller (who would have thunk?) who used a large amount of rye in his batches. His grandson Raymond Hayden founded a distillery known as Old Grand-Dad, which we still see bottling bourbon today. Here’s the deal: this bourbon is made by Jim Beam. All this history just tells you where it came from. Let’s see what it turns out to be like. 

Nose: Oak, corn, subtle rye, wheat, honey, cinnamon sugar, mint, allspice

A/W: More Floral

Arrival: Light honey, oak, caramel, vanilla, sweet, thin

A/W: Same

Body: Sweet, light, honey, mint, ginger, corn, caramel

A/W: Big oak, sweet, lightly floral

Finish: Herbal, mint, cherry sweetness, wheat, hot cinnamon, rye, oak, vanilla, dry, medium length

A/W: Same

Final Comments: Basil Hayden’s is clearly not the most complex bourbon on the market, and you pay quite a penny for it. It starts to beg the question, then, if it is worth the money. The positive part is that it has a good balance of flavors, it is a sweet bourbon, and it is certainly a quality whiskey. The bad news is that it is expensive and it isn’t an engaging whiskey. 

Why you’d buy it: It’s a smooth alternative to regular bourbon and you like having a nice social status.

Why you wouldn’t: You want to pay less for more, and Buffalo Trace exists.

Score: 7.5/10

Review 129: Woodford Reserve Doubled Oaked

Review 129

1/7/13

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked: 45.2% abv

Background: Woodford Reserve is a distillery we’ve discussed before, so there isn’t much sense in rehashing information. The idea behind this particular bottling is that a batch of bourbon is put into a fresh oak cask (remember, no bourbon can be aged in refill casks), and ages for a number of year (since this is deemed “straight” bourbon, we known it is at least 4 years), and then is thrown into a second bourbon cask which is toasted, for extra maturing. This exposes the bourbon to all new American oak with which to interact. We’re foreshadowing...

Nose: Cherry, wood intensity, oak, hot, alcohol (pure alcohol, rubbing alcohol, light nail polish), burnt sugar, molasses, honey, wheat, subtle leather, cinnamon, grain (corn, rye), grapes, rum sweetness. 

A/W: More Floral, balanced

Body: Spice, oak, cherry, ginger, cinnamon, cumin

A/W: Caramel, more dominance from cherry

Finish: Oak, cherry, wheat, cinnamon, gingerbread, spice, caramel, molasses, pepper, ginger, rye, cumin

A/W: Lingering cherry, hot

Final Comments: Woodford Reserve presents a more premium offering to their original Distiller’s Select, which we were particular to. The end result isn’t what you’d necessarily expect though. There is a lack of brilliance to this, and a horrible lack of balance which screams the oak is over-dominant. The trick with bourbon is that the fresh casks are such powerful flavor-enhancers, that adding a second one certainly changes the impact of the oak on the overall balance of the whiskey. This isn’t a bad whiskey, but we think they took a large step backwards. We also enjoy making the occasional crack at marketers. Woodford comments “How do you make the best bourbon in the world better?” (I’m paraphrasing), and we would respond “Not like that”

Score: 7.75/10

Review 100: Woodford Reserve Master's Collection New Cask Rye

Review 100
10/13/12
Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection New Cask Rye: 46.2% abv

Wow...that’s a mouthful. Can you imagine asking for that at the bar? You probably wouldn’t, because there is a 99% likelihood that they don’t have it. So this is it! It is KCM’s 100th review, and man what an exciting one it is. We worked hard not to review anything until we got the perfect thing for it, and it’s a two part series. This is a half of a two bottle set of rye whiskies, and so Review 101 will be of the other one, but I won’t go into the details of that until the next review. So...why are we doing this one? Well, it’s our first rye whiskey, and it’s a rather expensive and rare bottling. Woodford Reserve’s Master’s Collection is a series of craft whiskies that get released yearly around Christmas time. For example, in 2010 they had a Maple Wood Finished Bourbon that they produced (that we will also be reviewing sometime in the future), and in 2011 these Ryes. They are expensive, but having already tried the Bourbon once, I had good faith that this wouldn’t be a bomb. So here’s a little background on Rye whiskies, since this is our first one. Rye whiskey is almost exactly like Bourbon in the fact that it can only be aged in new charred white oak casks, and it has to be bottled between 40 and 80% abv. The difference is that while Bourbon has to made up of 51% corn, Rye has to be made of 51%...take a guess...rye!

So now let’s talk about the whiskey itself. If you’ve ever taken a big smell of a whiskey, you have probably leaned in and smelled, and then felt like your nose was on fire. The alcohol can be really off-putting, and at 46.2%, we expected similar things from this one, but to our surprise, it was not at all like this. The nose was balanced and tame, but not understated. It had a lot of complexities to it as it opened up. And open up it did. There is so much to this nose, I don’t know how to proceed. The nose was very spicy, with some mild sweet notes, but even moreso, there was a subtle floral, aromatic character to the nose. The aroma greets you with dark sweetness of brown sugar, honey, molasses, caramel, vanilla, and even a slightly buttery character. There is also a smooth, but powerful oakiness in the smell, followed by very diverse set of spices. Here was our best crack at trying to identify these spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread, and light cloves all adorned the aroma of this rye. Even more unique, though, was the subtle banana and coconut smells that came out later on, when the rye opened up even further.

The arrival isn’t anything to write home about, and for that matter neither is the body of this rye. The arrival is definitely spicy, but quick and not very prominent. The body takes on a dry, almost tannin-y character. There is prominent cinnamon and nutmeg, with warm oak to please your mouth, and even some creamy and banana notes to it. After adding water, the body will start to open up and you’ll get some good grainy rye character to it, and more oakiness, as well as some definite salt. If you don’t like salt, you can drink this without water. The finish is pretty much what takes the cake with this. Not that the body isn’t good, but it doesn’t compare to the finish. The finish has so much to it, and after that whiskey goes down, you’ll spend time basking in the experience. Spiciness defines rye, and thus a Christmas spice collage is what you’ll get here, with strong nutmeg overpowering the cinnamon, but also gingerbread, allspice, cloves, and mint all mixed in there. The mint and cinnamon will be accentuated after a fair bit of water. There is an earthiness to the finish, and you’ll still get the darker, sweeter notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak. Interestingly though, a slight, dry piny bitterness comes through, as well as the butter that we smelled at the beginning. So that’s it.

Here are some closing notes for review 100; This rye is fantastic, and worth trying at least once. The nose and finish are great, and the finish sticks around for a while, but the body and arrival to the spirit is a little lacking in comparison. After water, the slight sweetness backs off on this one, and it adds to the spiciness and hotness, while still remaining smooth and enjoyable. If you are looking for a more mild experience by adding water, you’ll not be happy with the result, but it adds some different dimensions to the rye. A few of our reviewers said they preferred it without the water, while others were ambivalent. Either way, this is a wonderful expression of a craft whiskey and it’s well worth the time and money. We can’t wait to try the next one. 

Score: 9.25/10

Review 95: Elijah Craig 12 Year

Review 95:
8/27/12
Elijah Craig 12 yr: 47% abv

Representing Heaven Hill Distillery, Elijah Craig brings us a 12 year old statement of their bourbon. This should probably make you raise an eyebrow, methinks. With Jim Beam being 4 years old, and Jack Daniels being 4 years old, and even Jim Beam Black at 8 years old, this is quite an old Bourbon. We haven’t seen a ton of age statements, so this is unique. What does it matter? Well at the price of this whiskey (~$25), you should be surprised it’s as old as it is. Then again, this means that there is a potential that it just sucks in quality as a compromise. Well we wanted to find out. And if 12 years old seems a little young for your bourbon, they also sell an 18 year, which we might review in the future. Let’s also get this piece out of the way: 47%...yes, it is noticeable, and more distilleries need to bottle at this abv. Let’s dig into it now.

Elijah Craig will greet you with a classic nose you’d expect out of a bourbon, but don’t rush past it. This whiskey puts some heavy emphasis on the grain characters to it, like malted barley, corn, and wheat are all prominent. There is a strong oakiness to it, along with some dark caramel, honey, and molasses notes to it. We also found some spicy notes of nutmeg, and even a slight pear-like fruitiness to it. The strong nose is intoxicating, and makes the taste even more anticipated. So we stopped anticipating it, and drank it.

The arrival had oak, cinnamon, and honey to it, all though it was relatively mild. In the body, there is still oakiness to it, but also strong vanilla intrinsic to the bourbon character. The maltiness that was in the nose before is still around, but some unique notes of black pepper, oatmeal, and then the classic cinnamon resides in the body. The body did not have great depth, but covered unique flavors, and strong flavors as well. The finish to Elijah Craig is medium-long, and adds some character to the bourbon. Some things you’ve already tasted which linger: vanilla, oak, and pepper. Things you haven’t tasted before that make you happy you didn’t stop thinking about it: red apple, ginger, and brown sugar. So there you are. That’s it. This isn’t a bourbon that will keep you in your seat for weeks, thinking about it. It’s a bourbon that will be thoroughly enjoyable, with depth and moderate complexity for a very affordable price. The oak might be a little over-dominant, which makes us skeptical of the 18 year statement, but we’ll cross that bridge when we reach it. It’s worth buying, and it’s worth drinking. 
Score: 8.5/10

Review 93: Jim Beam Black Label Double Aged

Review 93
8/24/12
Jim Beam Black Label Double Aged: 43% abv

Well, since I’m the main “editor” of KCM’s reviews and I’ve pretty much been failing at my job due to having real jobs, I haven’t been too invested in writing up reviews. Fret not, because KCM has been doing reviews! We just haven’t gotten around to posting them. So here is one. Jim Beam Black Label is the upper class of the Jim Beam line, before you get into the Small Batch products, like Booker’s (We’ve reviewed Booker’s, so check it out!) What a good showing by Jim Beam, this one. Just off of presentation, they do a good job with this one. It starts off telling you its age, at 8 years. Young compared to our Scottish whiskies, but still a decent age. We don’t make a big deal out of price, but if you’re bargain shopping for whiskies, (I’m not talking to you college blonde drinking Mohawk vodka) this is the way to go. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that Black runs you in Michigan around $25 a bottle. For that, you get a 43% bourbon with good flavor, simple presentation, and good quality. Is that a spoiler alert? Yes. Yes it is. “M” quickly cited at the beginning of the review that he noticed a note of bourbon in the bourbon...there’s always got to be something that doesn’t help anybody.

On the nose though, you get a light nose, which opens up over time. This nose will make you work to get the scents you might be looking for, but be patient with it. It is a rewarding experience when you get around to it. Let’s see what we dug down for. Bourbon always has some sweetness in the nose, even though there is often harsh spiciness to be found as well. Indeed there is sweetness, and many layers of sweetness. Caramel, honey, vanilla, confectioner’s sugar, and malt all greet the nose, but it’s at different times that you’ll start to realize it. Interestingly, there are some other notes which we found to be compelling. There is a small hint of mint that you’ll catch if you pay attention, with gingerbread, wheat and unripened banana also nestled in the aroma. There isn’t a ton of complexity to the smell, but it certainly has some compelling aspects to it. There was enough to it that we were excited to try it. When we tried this bourbon, we were pleasantly surprised.

On the arrival, you can find molasses, caramel ginger, and cinnamon. There is a nice, healthy spiciness to this bourbon, but it doesn’t overpower you. Once again, Jim Beam wants to throw some curveballs at you, so what have we found that you don’t expect to hear in a bourbon review: Blackberry, malted barley, and sugarcane. There is some slight rye to it as well. But hey, not too shabby for a cheap bourbon. We don’t have a lot to report on the finish, but it doesn’t disappoint either. It is a medium length finish, lingering slightly. There is wheat, barley, molasses, a large amount of oakiness, ginger, and vanilla involved in the finish. It isn’t complex, but it certainly is enjoyable. And on that bombshell, here’s what we roll this up to be. A less than powerful, but still wonderful expression of Beam, which wouldn’t be too bruised by going up to 46% abv. It is good, and we enjoy a healthy dram of it. We think you will too. 
Score: 8.0/10

Review 91: Jim Beam White Label

Review 91
8/22/12
Jim Beam White Label: 40% abv

Alright, in a new series of liquors, we will be reviewing bourbons to build up a cache of reviews, to give you an idea of what’s out there. And what is the quintessential bourbon? It’s on the top of the review, you idiots. There is no bigger name in the world of bourbon than Jim Beam. So let’s talk about what makes bourbon...well...bourbon! Jim Beam, found in Clermont, Kentucky is one of several Kentucky distilleries to produce legendary whiskey. So for all of you Michigan folks, you might not realize how close you are to a hub of real history. Bourbons don’t have to be made in Kentucky to be considered bourbons, like Scotch’s do in Scotland, but there are other strict regulations on bourbon. Several of these include being made up of 51% corn, being aged in never-before-used white oak casks, normally Hogshead or ASBs, and being TOTALLY AWESOME. Jim Beam does go back a while, but we want to focus on what it is right now, and what it should be. Jim Beam creates a range of products, many of which you might be familiar with, including their double aged, their 5 year, Red Stag’s line, and their Rye whiskey, along with their small batch whiskey’s and many others. Today’s attention goes to the one you’ve probably had the most of, if you’ve had Jim Beam: the White Label standard. The most affordable, eclectic of all the Jim Beam’s. So a practical review for the practical bourbon drinker? Is it only good in a mint julep, or on the rocks, or can it be drank straight, as a grade-A sipping drink.

On the nose, KCM found the standard, classic bourbon smell, with sweet notes of honey, caramel, corn, wheat molasses, cherry and a decent oak note. This surprised us, considering its young age of 4 years. The nose is not terribly complex, but does provide standard sweetness and burn you’d expect from this spirit.

The arrival will lend itself to oak and molasses notes, leading into stronger oak on the body, with honey, cinnamon, wheat and caramel. We were honestly not very impressed by the lack of complexity to the flavor, but it lent itself to strong flavor, nonetheless. The finish is spicy, with cinnamon and ginger to it, and some cereal notes of rye. The sweetness isn’t gone, keeping the honey, but adding some cherry as well. Unfortunately, when you get different notetakers, you also get different notes. Some of the other things we concluded about Jim Beam was that one of our reviewers thought that the spirit was called Jim BEAN, and that this same reviewer smelt some stenographer(????) on the nose. Also, the reviewer in question thought that easy listening might include Rage Against the Machine. So there you have it, some unrelated notes to Jim Beam that completely add nothing to this review! And what do we score it? Well, for the price, it isn’t at all a bad spirit, with good quality and pleasant flavors, but it certainly lacks the complexity and uniqueness that we expect out of top-tier whiskies. So it get’s to be somewhat of a middle man. 
Score: 7.5/10

Review 64: Booker's Bourbon

Review 64
6/16/12
Booker's Bourbon: 64% abv

Yeah, this isn't a beginner's drink. That 64% is noticeable. Booker's Bourbon is part of Jim Beam's "Small Batch" series, along with Knob Creek, Baker's and Basil Hayden. The name comes from Booker Noe, a recent master distiller of Jim Beam. Why is this bourbon so high in alcohol? It is a cask strength whiskey, which means it was pulled straight from the cask without being watered down. So here's the scoop.

The nose is complex, but burns heavily. One can smell vanilla, butter,brown sugar, caramel, honey, corn, and wheat before any water is added. With the addition of a few teaspoons of water, the nose opens up to reveal more vanilla, some berry sweetness, molasses, maple, and substantially less burn. There is extreme flavor in this bourbon, including brown sugar, molasses, oatmeal, wheat, a soft pre-cookie mix (the kind that has only butter, flour, and shortening in it), caramel, nutmeg, gingerbread, earthy, maple, and oak. After adding water, the taste is more dry, keeping grainy and introducing slight malt, cinnamon, and slight apple, with even some herbal notes on arrival. The finish becomes apparent, keeping several characteristics from the taste. The finish has spicy notes, corn, barley, rye, maple, caramel, malt, with some cream and ginger. After adding water, there is more malt, oatmeal, with the inclusion of allspice, and earthiness. The finish is medium short, which makes this bourbon less than perfect. This is a wonderful statement, and if you can handle the higher percentage alcohol, it's a real pure and flavorful bourbon. Water is highly recommended. 
Score: 9.5/10

Review 61: Maker's 46

Review 61

6/16/12

Maker's 46: 47% abv

No, it's not a typo. I know, it seems odd to call something "46" with a 47% abv to it. But the number actually has nothing to do with the alcohol content, so don't fret. Maker's Mark is an interesting company, because in the world of bourbon, they don't do a lot of whiskey making. They've had one consistent product for as long as they've existed: "Maker's Mark". So although this one has been on the shelves for a while now, it still has historical significance, being the newest, and only other iteration of Maker's on the market. Interestingly, what makes 46 different, and what gives it it's name is that wood staves are placed into the cask after the primary aging is done, and is finished like that. 46 is the name of the type of stave they used. So with that little background knowledge, onto tasting notes! 

On the nose, one will find pleasant aromas of cinnamon, light chocolate and fudge, vanilla, and allspice, with an extreme burn to it. With water, this burn will settle down, and caramel and even some floral notes with become evident. 

The taste is strong and complex, yielding, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, apple, oak, ginger, oatmeal, apple, with some cajun flavor to it. After the addition of water, the flavors smooth out more, providing a nice spiciness with more oatmeal graininess and cinnamon and green apple. The finish burns a lot, but not just an alcohol burn, more of a hot cinnamon burn, retaining the apple and vanilla, keeping ginger, oatmeal, cajun, but adding in a slight wheat and maltiness. The finish is medium in length and full bodied. 

As a closing statement, this is a high alcohol bourbon, but is one of the best ones out there, displaying complexity, unique character, and spicy goodness. Maker's did a great job with this, and is recommended for any bourbon drinker. It is advised though, that if being drank straight, add a few teaspoons of water to allow more flavor to break out. 
Score: 9.0/10

Review 1: Four Roses Small Batch

Review 1
3/28/12
Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon

This is a small batch of Kentucky's Four Roses brand. The nose is spicy with notes of vanilla and honey, brown sugar, and we even caught some cherry. The cherry becomes prominent in the taste, while vanilla and spicy characters dominate, but the brown sugar sweetness still resides. The finish is short and spicy, which takes away, but a very complex enjoyable bourbon.

Score: 8/10