For part 24 of the finished whiskey series I’m wrapping up the Murray Hill Club Special Releases and Magnus in general for this series with the Joseph Magnus Murray Hill Club Special Release Batch 3. The 3rd release was a pretty significant from the first two using a combination of Virginia single malt whiskey and apple cider casks. To be honest I was a little hesitant about the change given how much I liked the previous two releases.
Review #255: Joseph Magnus Murray Hill Club Special Release Batch 3
Age: NAS
Abv: 110 proof
Price: $200
Neat
Nose: Malted barely, pear, caramel and vanilla.
Taste: Sweet apples, warm spice, vanilla and something sweet I couldn’t place. Nice mouthfeel, about what I would expect at this proof.
Finish: Long with apple and warm spice notes and subtler oak.
Conclusion
The apple cider finish really came through! I enjoyed this but the previous two releases set a high bar that this one didn’t quite meet for me. Apart from the nose I didn’t get much of the malt whiskey influence and I didn’t get a lot of the base MGP notes I tend to like. That said I don’t feel bad about this one as it was really unique though I did pass on a second bottle at a similar price.
Since this post wraps up the Magnus portion of the finished whiskey series I wanted to offer my final thoughts on the brand’s finished releases. Overall they put out consistently high quality product but they are often at hard price points, especially considering the shelf product has gotten a younger over the years. The Cigar Blend release is definitely my favorite thing coming out of Magnus and despite me expressing some concerns earlier I was very wrong the last two releases have been excellent! For more price/value conscious bourbon drinkers I wouldn’t recommend Magnus but if you have the bourbon budget for it and want something good that’s a departure from the usual Kentucky offerings then you can’t go wrong here.
TL;DR: Good and unique but not up to the first two releases
8 - an excellent bottle I’d like to have at home
Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase
Also there is a blind tasting of all 3 Murray Hill Club Special Releases on my Instagram.
Scale
You can also follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) or reddit to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.
Scale
You can also read this and my other reviews at atxbourbon.com or follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.