Blood Oath is a divisive series of sourced bourbons from Luxco. Between the unknown sourcing, inclusion of finished whiskeys and fancy packaging these bottles have been subject to a lot of hate and a lot of tatering(full disclosure: I am on the tatering side here). This year’s relase, Pact 5, is a blend of 3 bourbons: a 13 year old, an 11 year old wheater and an 8 year old finished in rum barrels for an undisclosed amount of time. So let’s see if it lives up to the hate or the hype!
Blood Oath Pact 5
Age: A blend of an 8 year, 11 year and 13 year
Abv: 98.6 proof
Color: A deep gold
Price: $99.99
Neat
Nose: Sweet vanilla and banana notes I often associate with rum with a subtle nuttiness.
Taste: Less vanilla than the nose with caramel notes, more rummy bananas and that hint of slight nuttiness alongside a solid mouthfeel.
Finish: Medium length finish with nice vanilla and caramel notes. I don’t know where the rum notes went though.
Conclusion
I really liked this one and it reminded me of a bananas foster. It’s definitely a dessert whiskey for me alongside things like Barrell Dovetail and High West A Mid Winter Night’s Dram. Overall it is a great whiskey(assuming you like finished whiskies) that’s probably a little on the high side pricewise but I’d happily pick up another bottle at retail. I think it edges out Dovetail in taste but costs nontrivially more ($85 vs $100) so it’s a bit of a toss up if you are looking for a rum finished whiskey.
Looking forward, I am still trying to track down a bottle or at the very least some samples of Pact 1 to do a comparison of the Pacts in the near future and I am reworking my scale to differentiate more between the growing number of 7 and 8 point reviews.
Quality
8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time
Value
Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase
Scale
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