This month the bourbon subreddit is doing a community review of Evan Williams Black Label so here we are. This is the primary mass market product from Heaven Hill Distillery and is one of the most popular bourbons in the US. Writing this review made me realize that I don’t have much experience with their products though I plan on working on that in the near future.
Review
Age: NAS
Abv: 86 proof (43% ABV)
Color: A medium amber
Neat
Nose: The alcohol smell comes through strongly and first followed by notes of oak and something sweet.
Taste: Thin and smooth with more oak and sweet notes almost like caramel. Thankfully the harshness from the nose is gone here. The oak was stronger than I expected.
Finish: Short with more wood and sweet. This was a very one note drink.
On a rock
Nose: The alcohol harshness was gone and the oak rose to the top with some caramel notes.
Taste: Changed less than I thought with the ice, oak and caramel again.
Finish: Barely there just the barest hints of oak.
As a mixer with Coke Zero
Mixed roughly 1:1:1 bourbon:cola:ice
Nose: The oak note from the whiskey cuts through the cola sweetness.
Taste: Easily the best of the 3 tastes. The oak is very present and complements the cola well.
Finish: Mostly just the Coke Zero after taste.
Conclusion
Not really a fan of this one neat or on ice as I couldn’t really find any interesting notes and the finish just wasn’t there for me. That said there’s nothing wrong with it, everything I did taste was good and that alcoholic burn on the neat nose faded over time. All of that said it makes an excellent mixer with the low price, strong oak and little bit of extra proof.
0 Stars - Poor to Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this