I am trying to clear out some older, lower fill level bottles to make room for release season so these 2020 releases of Elijah Craig 18 Year and Toasted Barrel need to go! Which means it is time for a review.

 

Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel

Age: NAS

Abv: 94 proof

Neat

Nose: Vanilla and oak with a bbq smokiness

Taste: Vanilla extract, oak tannins, tobacco, rye spice, fainter sweet caramel toward the end. Surprisingly good mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium length finish with slightly dry oak and vanilla

1 Star - Good whiskey: I would choose to drink this over readily available whiskies

Elijah Craig 18 Year 2020

Age: 18 years

Abv: 90 proof

Bottled: 1-10-20

Barrel: 4909

Neat

Nose: Sweet and rich with oak, caramel and vanilla extract plus some subtle nutty notes.

Taste: Leather, oak, vanilla cream, caramel nuts and warm spices. Good mouthfeel for the proof but still 90 proof.

Finish: Long finish with lingering oak and warm spice.

2 Stars - Very good whiskey: I would want to have a bottle

Conclusion

Overall I enjoyed both bottles, especially the EC18. The Toasted had a really nice smoky note on the nose and pleasant sweet and oak notes throughout. It’s definitely a step up from regular Elijah Craig and I think it’s a good buy at retail though I’d probably reach for a good store pick over it. This barrel of EC18 had a great leather note that I really enjoyed as well as the classic Elijach Craig notes. 90 proof is a little bit of a bummer here but sometimes you want a low proof, high flavor option and this bottle fits the bill!

I missed out on the 2021 releases so I did sort of nurse these. I won’t be in rush to grab another toasted barrel since there are a plethora of toasted options on the market but I’ll be keeping my eye out for the 2022 release of Elijah Craig 18 for sure.

 

TL;DR: Both are good bottles, I wish they were higher proof

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m obviously going to be drinking Wild Turkey today so I’ll start things off with 3 picks I’ve really enjoyed from folks I’ve met online.

 

Russell’s Reserve Private Barrel Selections

Bourbon Enthusiast

Age: 8.5 years

Proof: 110

Warehouse: F

Floor: 4

Barrel: 21-592

Nose: Oak and spice forward with vanilla cream rounding it out.

Taste: Vanilla cream, baking spices, a bit of caramel and rich oak. Nice, viscous mouthfeel on par for the proof.

Finish: Long, warm finish with lingering vanilla extract, oak and lots of baking spice.

120th West 58th Street Wine & Liquor

Age: Unknown, label covered

Proof: 110

Warehouse: K

Floor: 4

Barrel: 21-0159

Nose: Sweeter than the BE nose with caramel, vanilla and rye spice. Almost like a baked treat made with rye bread.

Taste: Again on the sweet side with more caramel and vanilla but especially the caramel. The spice and oak are present but faint. Similar mouthfeel.

Finish: Long and very neatly balanced with sticky caramel, baking spice and oak.

Taste Select Repeat Zeus

Age: 8.75 years

Proof: 110

Warehouse: E

Floor: 4

Barrel: 20-0199

Nose: Very distinct from the first two with a clear nutty note in addition to the toffee and spice like holiday spiced nut brittle.

Taste: More toffee and nuts backed by subtler spice and oak. Delicious. Slightly thinner mouthfeel than the first two but still quite nice.

Finish: Medium length finish that’s more on profile with toffee, baking spice and oak notes.

Conclusion

The Bourbon Enthusiast pick is a great example of the spicy side of the Wild Turkey profile while the 120th pick is all the sweet goodness Turkey can bring. Zeus is a whole different animal that brings in a note I tend to like (nutty) but that generally isn’t present in Wild Turkey for me.

I’m not picking any winners or losers this time. These are all great picks and I’m thankful for the folks I’ve met online through the bourbon community who help me get some great bottles of whiskey! Happy Turkey Day 🦃🎉

I managed to snag a bottle of this year’s EH Taylor Barrel Proof a few weeks ago and even got to blind it in a flight with the previous two releases. Needless to say it’s a great bottle.

 

EH Taylor Barrel Proof Batch 10 (2021)

Age: NAS

Proof: 127.3

Neat

Nose: Brandied cherries, rich oak, warm spice and a bit of heat.

Taste: Caramel, dark cherry, a little heat, vanilla extract, baking spice and cinnamon. Excellent, viscous mouthfeel.

Finish: Long slightly dry, somewhat hot finish with fading cherry syrup then oak and cinnamon.

Conclusion

First off it’s excellent. It is a touch hot on the finish and is very on profile for high proof Buffalo Trace but those are pretty nitpicky criticisms. I did previously blind this against the last two EHT BP releases and it was clearly above last year though we had it a shade behind the 2019 (batch 8).

This is right there with Russell’s Reserve 13 Year for my favorite release of the year so far. I’m not sure it cracks the very top echelon of my favorite whiskies but it’s close.

3 Stars - Excellent whiskey: I would be willing to hunt down a bottle

TL;DR: Another winner in the EHT lineup, a step up from batch 9

Scale

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I got lucky at a Moonshine raffle event a while back and won one of their Weller Full Proof picks from the 1st barrel. Unfortunately I struck out on the raffle for the second barrel so my dreams of doing a side by side review have been dashed. That coupled with the perilously low level of this bottle mean it’s finally time to write a review and then kill it!

 

Weller Full Proof Moonshine Single Barrel Select

Age: NAS - I believe this one is right around 8

Proof: 114

Neat

Nose: Potent nose with spice, oak and cinnamon balanced by sweet vanilla.

Taste: Cinnamon candy, baking spices, butterscotch and a bit of cherry. Great mouthfeel!

Finish: Long, warm finish with fading butterscotch then lingering oak and cinnamon.

Conclusion

First off this is a great bottle of whiskey and I am very thankful to have gotten a bottle. It’s a little on the spicy side which isn’t bad but it’s not my favorite Weller profile as I am looking for something sweeter from a wheater. If I was going to single in on a Weller Full Proof pick to hunt down there are probably picks I’d place above this on that list (such as the second Moonshine Weller Full Proof!). On the other hand I would happily buy another one of these or enter a raffle for one.

Again, this was a great bottle and I liked it quite a bit the Weller Full Proof pick world just has a lot of tough competition :)

2 Stars - Very good whiskey: I would want to have a bottle

 

TL;DR: Another great Moonshine pick but not my favorite Weller pick they’ve done

Scale

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I’m going to mix it up a little bit with some quick beer reviews with a heavy emphasis on the centralish Texas breweries that are my mainstays. I don’t pretend to know too much about beer or how to review it but you have to start somewhere and apparently somewhere is a ridiculous Martin House beer.

The 3rd release of Melted is an ice cream ale that somehow incorporates salted caramel ice cream and waffle cones, of course.

First off this does what is says on the tin. The caramel, ice cream and waffle cone come through very strongly. It’s almost a little too waffley for me. The salt is the only part of the description that I don’t get much of but it is there. The creamy texture is a highlight for me as is the long aftertaste. At 5.2% the alcohol isn’t too present and this is an easy choice for a dessert beer outside of that I am not sure when I would drink one of these.

1 Star - Good whiskey: I would choose to drink this over similar readily available beers

TL;DR: Heavy but tasty dessert beer.

Beer Scale

Gulf Coast Distillers opened up down in Houston a few years ago and more recently released 3 batches of 15 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey with the mystery 78.5/12/8.5 mashbill that so many 15 years have been lately. I believe the first batch was either distillery or Houston only but batches 2 and 3 hit Austin so naturally I grabbed a few bottles.

 

The Prideful Goat 15 Year Batch 2

Age: 15 years

Proof: 113.8

Neat

Nose: Sweet and rich with peanut brittle, oak and faint baking spices.

Taste: Oak forward with some tannins balanced by sweet caramel with some spice for depth. Pleasant mouthfeel that’s inline with what I expect for the proof

Finish: Long, slightly dry, oaky finish with a bit of heat as well.

2 Stars - Very good whiskey: I would want to have a bottle

The Prideful Goat 15 Year Batch 3

Age: 15 years

Proof: 114.1

Neat

Nose: Darker than Batch 2 with leather, rich oak, caramel and a hint of roasted nuts.

Taste: More leather and oak from the nose, the sweetness is more of a vanilla cream than caramel, plenty of warm spices and only hints of nut. Great, viscous mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium to long finish with fading vanilla and leather then lingering oak and spice.

3 Stars - Excellent whiskey: I would be willing to hunt down a bottle

Conclusion

These two batches definitely hit different ends of the old Kentucky bourbon spectrum. Batch 2 is all wood and nuts while Batch 3 is more leather and spice. When I tried them individually I thought it would be really close but side by side the B3 was my winner. No losers here though! Both batches were very tasty and I am looking forward to the rye they are releasing soon.

 

TL;DR: Both goats are great older bourbons but Batch 3 was my winner.

One of the plethora of Michter’s annual releases is the toasted barrel finish bourbon. I first tried this back at a Whiskies of the World event back in 2018 or so and was a fan. Of course when I asked how to buy a bottle the person at the booth laughed and said I probably wouldn’t be able to find it. Fast forward a few years and I finally found one! Let’s see how the 2021 batch holds up against a fond memory of an older release.

 

Michter’s Toasted Barrel Bourbon

Age: NAS

Proof: 91.4

Barrel No: 21G2032

Neat

Nose: Sweet and woody with rich, wet oak, caramel and more oak.

Taste: The same oak and caramel from the nose with some much welcome baking spice and vanilla.

Finish: A shorter clean finish with fading oak and vanilla.

Conclusion

Overall this is an easy sipper than packs a lot of flavor even if most of the flavor is oak. I happen to like sweet and oaky whiskey so thankfully this works for me. To get weird with it the nose especially reminds me of being at a park called Under the Oaks in Jacksonville Florida after it rained. That said this would have benefited significantly from something to give it more complexity and depth such as bottling at a higher proof, more aging or moving a single barrel release.

I am enjoying this bottle and would take it over similarly priced shelfie options but would not go out of my way to hunt for a bottle or overpay for it. I was hoping for more based on previous experience.

1 Star - Good whiskey: I would choose to drink this over readily available whiskies

 

TL;DR: Solid, but basic, bourbon with an extra dose of oak that makes for easy, flavorful sipping.

Scale

 

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Picking up where I left off with the Bob’s Cipher pick next up for Willett is the Bourbon Charity “Cheers for Charity” Single Barrel. This barrel is Willett’s High Corn Mashbill and was sold to raise money for Kids for Kids

 

Willett Family Estate Cheers for Charity

Age: 8 year

Proof: 119.2

Barrel No: 2129

Neat

Nose: Sweet caramel, vanilla cream, bright fruit, hints of spice and oak.

Taste: Perfectly balanced between sweet, spice and oak with more of the fruit from the nose, baking spice, less caramel and vanilla but still some and enough oak to let you know it had been in barrel. Pleasant but not overly viscous mouthfeel.

Finish: Long and warm with a bit of sweet fruit then lingering barrel char and baking spice.

Conclusion

For single digit aged bourbons this is one of the best I’ve had. It drinks a little below the 119 proof but packs a ton of flavor. The notes aren’t anything crazy but the balance and progression of them really worked for me. I also enjoy how present the core bourbon flavors were throughout.

If I had to nitpick on why not a perfect 4 stars I would have preferred more viscosity and a more interesting finish. That said this was an amazing bottle and even better since it was to support a great cause.

3 Stars - Excellent whiskey: I would be willing to hunt down a bottle

 

TL;DR: Fantastic bottle, great cause

Scale

 

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The Bourbon Enthusiast Bull Run 15 Year is a single barrel straight bourbon whiskey rumored to be from Jim Beam. It uses the same mystery mashbill that so many other 15 year old bourbons have lately so let’s see if it tastes like it too.

 

Bull Run 15 Year Bourbon Enthusiast Single Barrel

Age: 15 years

Proof: 108.18

Mashbill: 78.5% corn, 13% rye, 8.5% malted barley

Neat

Nose: Rich with nuts, oak and caramel balancing each other nicely and a hint of cherry

Taste: Thick and creamy with more nuts, caramel and oak plus some warm baking spices

Finish: Long, slightly dry and warm with lingering oak and barrel spice balanced by a bit of milk chocolate

Conclusion

Overall this is a great bottle and I’m glad to be back in the Bourbon Enthusiast barrel club! I hope we start to see more well aged single barrels from Bull Run’s Independent Bottling Collection. This is definitely from the same source as Doc Swinson’s, Old Bones and Three Cord’s 15 year releases and stands up well in that company.

2 Stars - Very good whiskey: I would want to have a bottle

Scale

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Back in 2020 a group raised $150000 for St. Jude as part of an auction and got to pick the first 2 barrels of Stagg Jr released to the public. The second barrel picked ended up being released first and I was part of a group that got to split a bottle. I am in the middle of moving so the only thing I had on hand that I could reasonably compare this too is a Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel. The SFTB was only 129 proof so I tasted it first then the Jr.

 

Stagg Jr

Age: NAS

Proof: 134.6

Neat

Nose: Proof sting, cola, rich oak and caramel.

Taste: Powerful flavors with cola, baking spice, oak, rye spice, caramel and tobacco. Great mouthfeel and proof integration.

Finish: Long, warm and dry finish with oak and baking spice notes balanced by a bit of sticky caramel.

Conclusion

This pick was very, very good and easily bested the SFTB. It was on the darker side of the Buffalo Trace profile with the cola, tobacco and oak notes but none of the bright cherry I often get from Buffalo Trace including from the SFTB today. It was hard to capture in the tasting notes but what really stood out about this wasn’t the flavor notes themselves but the intensity of the flavor without it being overly hot. This had to be from a high floor on the rickhouse given the proof and flavor profile but it wasn’t overpoweringly hot.

 

TL;DR: Big and bold with intense flavors. It’s a winner.

 

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