My first whiskey review was a little bit over 1 year ago and I was reviewing the bourbon that was sort of the inflection point on my journey from mostly drinking scotch and craft beer to primarily drinking bourbon. That bourbon was a Four Roses Private Select from Oak Liquor Cabinet here in Austin so to commemorate 1 year to date of posting photos and rambling reviews of bourbon on Reddit, Instagram and a hastily thrown together website I’ll be reviewing my favorite Four Roses Private Select so far the Moonshine 2nd Edition 12 year old OBSV.

In honor of those early reviews I’ll be doing tasting notes both neat and on a rock.

Four Roses Private Select Moonshine Bar and Grill 2nd Edition

Age: 12 years

Abv: 105 proof

Price: $85

Recipe:

• O - Distilled at Four Roses in Lawrenceburg, KY

• B - 65-30-5 mash bill

• S - Straight Whiskey

• V - Delicate Fruit

Barrel: Warehouse GE, Barrel #343H, Barreled on March 15th 2007

Neat

Nose: Rich spices and red cherry notes backed by subtler oak and vanilla.

Taste: Sweet and fruity up front with spice and oak further along. The fruit notes extend beyond just they cherry and the sweetness includes vanilla and caramel. Excellent, viscous mouthfeel.

Finish: A very long, warm finish with baking spice, rich oak and lingering fruit and caramel sweetness.

On a Rock

Nose: Much softer with the ice, delicate fruit and warm spices backed by a clearer vanilla note.

Taste: All sweet fruit and caramel with just hints of oak and spice. The mouthfeel is just as good if not better with the rock

Finish: Still decently long despite the ice with a balance of rye spice and sweet caramel.

Conclusion

This is my favorite Four Roses pick and it held up in the review and in a mini blind vs a 9 year 7 month Liquor Barn pick, a 7 year 4 month state of South Carolina pick and a mini bottle of the regular SiB. This pick doesn’t really deviate from the core Four Rose Single Barrel flavor profile so much as it enhances it. It’s richer, sweeter, smoother, slightly higher proof, more viscous, longer in the finish and more complex all at the same time compared to regular 100 proofer. I’m super glad I brought home two of these bottles and that it’s available at Moonshine if I get thirsty before I crack the bottle.

I’m still a big fan of Four Roses in general and the Private Selects in specific even with the price hike. I am currently working on tracking down a bottle of each recipe and am holding strong at 8/10 with the OESO and OBSK eluding me. I’ll be opening my backup of this then for the epic all 10 recipe taste off with some fellow ABHers!

Also somewhat amusingly this barrel was barreled a few months before I started drinking. I’m not sure why I found that funny but it made me chuckle.

TL;DR: Great pick, glad I got to bring 2 home, still worth it after the price increase

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

I picked today for this post because it the anniversary of my first post on Instagram which came about a month after atxbouron which was in turn about a month behind getting started reviewing here on Reddit. I’ve had a great time talking about bourbon with all you folks and hope to keep it up for the foreseeable future. I like to think my tasting palate, photography and writing have improved noticeably over the last year and I definitely credit doing these reviews for that.

The Woodford series is still going and we’re at the penultimate entry with a side by side of Woodford Double Oaked and a Spec’s pick. Woodford Double Oaked batches regular Woodford Reserve and ages it a bit longer in a second, toasted new oak barrel. The store picks are single barrels of the second barreling but are still batched after the first maturation. I originally tasted both of these blind and side by side but took the notes later on and not blind.

Woodford Double Oaked

Age: NAS years

Abv: 90.4 proof

Price: $47.99

Regular Double Oak

Nose: Very wood forward with predominantly rich oak and sweet caramel with fainter nutty and malty notes in the background.

Taste: The strong oak and caramel notes from the nose carry forward to the taste alongside some warm baking spice, vanilla, malt and a bit of fresh herbs. Decent mouthfeel overall but good for the proof.

Finish: Medium length, mostly sweet finish with less oak than I expected with floral honey and minty herbal notes.

7 - a great whiskey I’d order at a bar

Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase

Spec’s Pick

Nose: More complex with rich oak, sweet caramel, fresh herbal, malted grain and slightly spicy notes.

Taste: Spice forward with warm baking spice, more oak and caramel and a bit of the malt. Slightly thinner mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium length finish with spice and mint notes.

7 - a great whiskey I’d order at a bar

Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase

Conclusion

I enjoyed both these though I won’t be in a hurry to grab another bottle of either.

I did a blind side by side of these a while back at Woodford tasting and I preferred the the Spec’s pick then but not by much. I think I still do but it’s pretty close. It was spicier and had a more complex nose but a thinner mouthfeel.

Looking outside the Woodford range my ‘gold standard’ for double oaked bourbon is Blood Oath Pact 4 and neither one of these compared favorably.

And lastly here’s the obligatory ‘why don’t they release a 100-110 proof version of this??” from all my Woodford reviews.

TL;DR: Both were a step up from the standard Woodford, store pick was different but not better

Scale

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.

You can also follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) or reddit to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.

The full review and tasting notes are up on r/bourbon and atxbourbon!

The Oak Liquor Cabinet and Austin Bourbon Hunter’s Garrison Brothers picks are in! About a month ago I went with a group of ABHers out to Garrison Brothers to pick two barrels, one barrel proof and one to be proofed down to 94 proof. You can read all about the pick trip here! A small shipment of these bottles landed last week with the bulk of them getting in earlier this week. Also I’m not going to be giving a score since I helped pick the barrels (good call u/t8ke).

Garrison Brother’s OLC and ABH Single Barrel

Age: 5 years

Barrel Size 20 gallons

Abv: 94 proof

Price: $99.99

Neat

Nose: Woody and sweet with oak and brown sugar notes.

Taste: Classic Garrison Brothers with a corn and wheat forward profile with rich oak, corn bread, brown sugar and smokey notes. Nice mouthfeel.

Finish: Long and oaky with with some brown sugar sweetness to balance the oak.

Garrison Brother’s OLC and ABH Barrel Proof

Age: 3 years

Barrel Size 10 gallons

Abv: 121.8 proof

Price: $129.99

Neat

Nose: Bold charred oak, soft sweet butterscotch, hints of spice and smoke.

Taste: Very oaky with more butterscotch and smoke alongside some spicy and bready notes. Thick mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium to long finish with oak tannins, warm spice and butterscotch notes.

Conclusion

Overall I am very happy with how this bottles turned out and since we bottled them the same day we picked them there were no surprises! They both came out relatively on profile for Garrison Brothers but each emphasizing and enhancing a part of the profile. The barrel proof pick has more oak and more butterscotch while the single barrel was richer and more balanced. As for the prices Garrison Brothers sets them and they are what they are.

It was pretty awesome to go and buy the bottles I helped pick and I working on setting up my next pick trip! I also snagged the little barrel from the barrel proof pick.

You can also follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) or reddit to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.

On to part 4 of the Woodford Reserve series with the first and only rye in the series. This is a barely legal rye with 53% rye in the mashbill. I haven’t seen this bottle around much and hadn’t tried it before a Woodford range tasting I had with a friend a few weeks ago. I was underwhelmed tasting it that night but hung onto a sample to sit down with later for a more focused drink.

Woodford Reserve Rye

Age: NAS

Abv: 90.4 proof

Price: $31.99

Neat

Nose: Spicy with rye, baking spice and pepper and herbal notes, especially mint, with a faint honey sweetness

Taste: More spice and more herbal notes including the mint, warm baking spices, rye spice, black pepper and a sweet honey note with a slightly thinner mouthfeel than I’d like.

Finish: Medium to short especially for a rye whiskey with a bit of spice and mint.

Conclusion

Overall this was just fine. It was a little spicy, a little sweet and had some mintiness. The mouthfeel was pretty lacking even for the proof and compared to the other Woodford Reserve expressions. I’m not generally a big rye fan so it didn’t come as a huge surprise to me that this came in last place among the Woodford offerings for me. As far as lower cost ryes go I’d take Old Forester Rye or High West Double Rye over this anyday.

Next up will be a side by side of Woodford Double Oaked and a store pick!

TL;DR: Underwhelming rye, stick with their other offerings

0 Stars - Poor to Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this

Scale

You can also follow me on Instagram(@atxbourbon) or reddit to keep up with these reviews and my other whiskey-centric adventures.

For part 3 of the Woodford series we are going to move away the nonstandard mashbills and take a look at their flagship bourbon. In my experience Woodford Reserve is a staple of surviving Delta flights and dive bars but it’s also a solid bourbon. It’s a NAS batch of pot still and column still whiskey, has a ‘high rye’ mashbill, is aged in climate controlled warehouses and is cut to Woodford’s signature 90.4 proof with limestone water. It’s priced right around the same as one of my go to low cost drinkers: 1792 Small Batch.

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon

Age: NAS

Abv: 90.4 proof

Mashbill: 72% wheat, 18% rye and 10% malt

Price: $27.99

Neat

Nose: Sweet vanilla, baking spice and herbal notes.

Taste: Rich caramel and present but not overwhelming baking spice. Good mouthfeel for the proof.

Finish: Medium length with warm spice, more of the herbal note from the nose.

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

Conclusion

This was a good bourbon especially for the price point and availability. The extra spiciness and herbal note from the rye are nice if you like rye grain flavors. If 1792 SmB was too sweet or simple for you this would be a reasonable jump. This is definitely better overall than the Woodford Wheat Whiskey but the Wheat Whiskey was more unique. I preferred this to the Oat Grain which only makes me feel worse about the high price tag on that one :/

Overall I think Woodford is making some solid bourbon but I really want them to release a higher proof, aged stated expression. That said if you need a readily accessible bourbon for bars, in laws houses and Delta flights this is a solid choice. Next up will be their Rye Whiskey!

TL;DR: Good bourbon, standard high rye profile, doesn’t stand out.

I’m taking a break from my Woodford series since my fellow Austin Bourbon Hunter @texasdrinker nabbed a bottle of Cornerstone on Friday and brought it over for a tasting. We did a blind taste off against Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye as u/rarebird101 suggested and I threw in a couple of my favorite ryes as well.

This was a single blind tasting(meaning we knew which ryes were on the table but had no idea which was which) and we’d both had a drink already that day, Whistle Pig 10 year for me and 2017 GTS for him.

First up are the raw notes I took during the blind tasting. Over the rest of the weekend I sat down with each whiskey 1 by 1 and wrote some more detailed notes which are included below.

The Blind

Blue

Nose: spicy, fruity, rye forward, slightly harsh

Taste: rye spice, dark red fruit, thick mouthfeel

Finish: long spicy, lingering dark chery, rich oak

Guess: Willet 6

Blind Rank: 3

Reveal: KO

Red

Nose: soft, earthy, subtle, herbal

Taste: started really, sweet backs off, herbal,

Finish: medium, more subtle, sweet

Guess: KO

Blind Rank: 1

Reveal: Willet 6

Yellow

Nose: caramel, vanilla, rye spice

Taste: herbs, caramel , vanilla, rye spic

Finish: Short to medium, slight burn in throat

Guess: RR SiB

Blind Rank: 4

Reveal: Cornerstone

Green

Nose: rich oak, rye bread, herbs, sweet vanilla

Taste: rich oak, sweet caramel, cherry, faint tobacco

Finish: very long, rye spice that builds up as it goes, hints of sweet caramel

Guess: Cornerstone

Blind Rank: 2

Reveal: RR SiB

Follow up tasting notes and ratings

Cornerstone

Nose: Soft with vanilla, caramel and rye spice notes with some faint herbal notes in the background.

Taste: Rich herbs, caramel, vanilla, rye spice and a bit of cherry at the end. Very nice mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium length finish with rye spice, black pepper and a slight, longer lingering burn in my throat.

Overall sitting down with a 2oz sample of this didn’t really change much. I was able to find that cherry note Rarebird101 and others have talked about but the finish was still not doing all that much for me. There was a bit of black pepper and a slight burn that lingered in my throat but I don’t think of that as a long finish.

7 - a great whiskey I’d order at a bar

Poor - Overpriced, not worth the money

Kentucky Owl Batch 1

Nose: A very nice blend of rye spice, dark fruit and sweet honey.

Taste: More rye spice, dark cherries, cinnamon and a thick mouthfeel

Finish: A long spicy finish with lingering dark cherry, rich oak and cinnamon

I enjoyed this during the blind but I enjoyed it a good bit more outside the blind. Either way it’s an excellent whiskey and while the price increase and quality slip on batch 2 are disappointing I’m still glad I grabbed this bottle at MSRP.

8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time

Fair - Worth the money, happy with my purchase

Willet 6

Nose: Soft earthy nose with rich herbal notes and a faint sweetness.

Taste: The taste starts off really sweet but then backs off to more herbal and slightly spicy notes. Top notch mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium to long with more subtle spic, herbs and faint sweetness.

I’ve already blinded this against a few other Willet ryes and I preferred the 4 year small batch to the 6 year single barrel. I tried them again side by side, eyes wide open and still preferred the 4 year. It has a lot more dark fruit notes which is a huge plus for me. The 6 year is subtle, in a good way, herbal and slightly sweet with a bit of spice on the finish. I still really enjoyed it but I won’t be seeking out another one though I am looking forward to the 5 year small batches dropping soonish.

8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time

Poor - Overpriced, not worth the money

Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel Rye LL/GA240348

Nose: Strong nose without being harsh with rich oak, rye bread, herbal and vanilla notes.

Taste: Rich oak, sweet caramel, cherry and tobacco notes are backed by a very nice mouthfeel.

Finish: Very long finish with tons of rye spice that aren’t quite balanced by the hints of sweet caramel and tobacco.

I’d only had RR SiB rye once before this blind and was very underwhelmed but this bottle was fantastic. I’m left wondering if I just managed to grab a honey barrel this time. I guess the only way to find out is to drink several more! Rye whiskey still isn’t my favorite but barely legal ryes like this are helping bring me around.

8 - an excellent bottle I’ll buy from time to time

Great - A great deal, I’d buy it again

Conclusion

First off these were all great whiskies but I’m not sure I am top shelf rye guy. In the rye world high age statements seem to matter even less to me than they do in bourbon or scotch. I enjoyed all 4 of these whiskies but the 2 youngest ryes were my favorites. I had a lot of fun doing this blind tasting and sitting down with these whiskies after the fact and am still determined to find an unfinished rye that really blows me away.

The blind tasting noes and photos are up on Instagram!

Following up on the new Woodford Reserve Wheat Whiskey I’m tasting another unusual four grain whiskey from Woodford: the 2018 Master’s Collection Oat Grain Bourbon. Woodford Master’s Collection is similar to Wild Turkey’s Master’s Keep in that they release a limited run product at a significantly higher price and in a fancy bottle. They didn’t release the actual mashbill as far as I can find but they did say they replaced most of the rye with oat grain. Woodford also claims that oat is the primary flavoring grain in most Irish pot still whiskey but I don’t know much about Irish whiskey either so I can’t weigh in on that. Either way I was intrigued when this came out last year so I picked up a bottle out of a dangerous mix of curiosity and taterdom for a fancy Four Grain bourbon and as a reward for voting. It’s been sitting mostly full and open for a long time so hopefully the air has done it some favors.

Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Oat Grain Bourbon

Age: NAS

Abv: 90.4 proof

Price: $109.99

Neat

Nose: A robust nose with rich oak, vanilla, caramel and fainter citrus and leather notes.

Taste: Prominent grain notes including the oat with more oak, vanilla and citrus. Decent mouthfeel but very solid for the relatively low proof.

Finish: Long sort of musty finish with more oak, oat and citrus

Conclusion

When I got done tasting this I couldn’t decide if it tasted like Irish whiskey or not so I broke out my trusty bottle of Green Spot and I guess it sort of did? Either way the oat really came through which was really different for a bourbon. It was a little low proof and grain forward for me, especially for such a pricey release but it was good whiskey and was something different. I won’t be looking for another bottle at that price point though I am open to trying more of the Master’s Collection.

TL;DR: Good enough, very unique, the oat comes through, hard to justify the price point

0 Stars - Poor to Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this over other readily available options

Woodford Reserve recently released a four grain wheat whiskey which sounded pretty interesting as I haven’t tried a lot of wheat whiskies or four grain whiskies. As expected for Woodford this is NAS straight whiskey clocking in at their traditional 90.4 proof. Woodford Reserve tends to release solid products, they have been releasing a lot of nontraditional offerings over the last couple years and I have yet to review any of their whiskey so I’ll also be using this a jumping off point to do a small series on Woodford Reserve.

Woodford Reserve Wheat Whiskey

Age: NAS

Abv: 90.4 proof

Mashbill: 52% wheat, 20% malt, 20% corn and 8% rye

Price: $32.99

Neat

Nose: Sweet with butterscotch, apple and vanilla notes backed by some young grain, earthy notes and faint oak

Taste: Sweet but a little thin with apples, brown sugar, vanilla, more of the grain and earthy notes from the nose

Finish: Surprisingly long finish with apples, brown sugar, warm spice and faint oak

0 Stars - Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this over other readily available options

Conclusion

First off I really enjoyed the sweet brown sugar and fruity apple notes but overall this was a little too thin and had too many young grain notes for me to love it. I definitely think a more aged, higher proof version of this has the potential to be delicious. I’m chalking this up as another wheat whiskey alongside Bernheim that makes me want to find a truly great one in the category. Next up is going to be another nontraditional mashbill offering from Woodford Reserve with their Oat Grain Bourbon.

TL;DR: Sweet, fruity, a little thin. Decent change up whiskey for the price.

Austin Bourbon Hunters and Oak Liquor Cabinet partnered to head out to Garrison Brothers Distillery and do 2 barrel picks. We assembled 10 folks who appreciate Texas bourbon, rallied 4 SOs/DDs and headed out to Hye Texas to drink, sweat, do some manual labor and hopefully bring home something great.

The Distillery

After a little over an hour drive out to the distillery we were greeted with a huge collection of Glencairn glasses and plenty of water. We to checkout a barn full of barrels, one of their rickhouses, the stills and their infamous hotboxes(shipping containers that I forgot to take a photo of). We got to the see barrels that had been selected to make the 2019 Balmorhea but no matter how much we pleaded they wouldn’t let us taste them.

First Pick - Barrel Proof

For our first pick we wanted to pick a 15 gallon barrel to bottle at barrel proof. So we got to work drilling barrels and tasting away. The barrels in the barn were between 2.5 and 3.5 years old and many had already been tasted. We didn’t want any sloppy seconds so we started off by tasting virgin 2.5, 3 and 3.5 year old barrels. The group was largely split between the first pick: a bold, brash and very flavorful 2.5 year old barrel and the second: a very smooth, sweet butterscotchy 3.5 year old barrel. I, of course, was a fan of the sweeter barrel especially since Garrison Brothers uses a wheated mashbill. We went ahead and pulled another 3.5 year old and another 2.5 year old barrel.

With such a large group we needed to have a system for picking the barrel so we took a page from the top tier pickers at Moonshine and had everyone pick their top two barrels. Only one barrel was in everyone’s top two which made it an easy call so we picked the 2nd 3.5 year old barrel which wasn’t quite as sweet as the 2nd barrel but had a lot more going on and much thicker mouthfeel. After picking the barrel we checked the proof and it clocked in at a solid 121.8 proof.

Second Pick - 94 Proof Single Barrel

We headed down to a bigger warehouse where they kept the 30 gallon barrels to pick our single barrel which would be proofed down to 94 proof. We only tasted 3 barrels down there and the group unanimously picked the 3rd barrel. It was a 5 year old barrel that was very complex with a very long finish.

Lunch

After finishing the picks we took a break to eat lunch and drink some water. Garrison Brothers has a chef onsite who smoked up some beef and chicken for a fajita bar. It was nice break before jumping into some manual labor.

Bottling

While we were eating they brought our 30 gallon barrel up but we got over to the bottling facility in time to see them bring in the the 15 gallon barrel. We got to watch them dump the barrel and then got to work bottling it, but I had time to sneak in a quick selfie. I ran the actual bottling station while some friends corked, labeled and dipped the bottles in wax. The end result was pretty awesome and we all had an awesome time. The bottle should hit the shop in 3-4 weeks and I’ll be sure to post tasting notes then.

The Other Group

We were also joined by another group the Probst Guild out of Pflugerville. They picked a super crazy barrel that only yielded ~2.5 bottles and was basically opaque and black. I did get to taste a little bit and it was very unique and still pretty much pitch black

After loving the Old Fitzgerald 9 Year I decided I wanted to track down the previous release, the 11 year. At that point the sip had sailed on finding it at retail and I’m not much of one for secondary so trading for it seemed like the best option. While I was in the UK I bought 3 bottles of Blanton’s Gold and this seemed like a good use for one of them (as of this writing 1 is 2/3 empty and one is waiting to be cracked). I’d read that the 11 year released was over oaked and not as good as the 9 but I tend to have more of a palate for sweet and oaky so I was still optimistic.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 11 Year

Age: 11 years

Abv: 100 proof

Price: ~$120 (Traded a Blanton’s Gold I brought back from the UK)

Neat

Nose: Honey, vanilla, butterscotch and oak notes with some faint nuttiness

Taste: Butter scotch, peanut brittle, slightly bitter oak and vanilla notes with a thick and smooth mouthfeel.

Finish: Medium length very oaky finish that is slightly bitter but has some warm butterscotch to balance it.

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

Conclusion

This was sweet, nutty and oaky which was great for me though that bitter note was a bit disappointing. I still really enjoyed this bottle and had no trouble killing it but it definitely wasn’t a great value and was just enough less impressive and more expensive to downgrade the value rating. That said I am still happy with the trade and still a fan of these releases and will continue trying to get a bottle of each release though I won’t be overpaying like I did for the 9 year again.

TL;DR: Not as impressive as the 9 year, still good, more expensive