whisky review

Bulleit Bourbon Review

You’ve seen the bottle on the shelf. The great looking one that belongs on the set of the long-gone HBO show “Deadwood.” Nothing says Old West like Bulleit Bourbon. BTW, the “i” in bulleit is silent.

Bulleit Bourbon is a NDP (Non-Distiller Producer) bourbon owned by Diageo. Huh? It means Diageo doesn’t distill this bourbon. Instead, they purchase, age, and bottle it. Apparently Bulleit is distilled at Four Roses, and word around the campfire is they are going to stop distilling Bulleit this year. What does that mean for you? Nothing, at least for the next 4-6 years. See, if Four Roses stops distilling Bulleit this year, then Diageo will find someone who will. It’ll take 4-6 years of the new distillate to age and make it to your supermarket shelves.

If you read a lot of bourbon blogs or forums, you’ll see there’s lots of negative attitude towards NDP bourbons. You see, a lot of NDP bourbons don’t list who actually distills the whiskey, and people want to know who makes the stuff. I get people’s frustrations, but who makes the bourbon isn’t as important as how it tastes.

So how is it in your glass? One word: spicy. Not a tongue-tingling spicy like Noah’s Mill or Booker’s gives you. Those are barrel-strength. Bulleit Bourbon is 90 proof. It’s more like a little bit of cinnamon spicy. There’s lots of rye in the mash bill. A quick search says as much as 28% rye. It’s not completely one sided, however. Like most, if not all, bourbons, there’s some sweetness there. I find the sweetness really comes out in the finish. It’s a great “everyday” bourbon. Because of the spiciness, I like this one in cocktails, especially an Old Fashioned.

You can probably find this around the $25 range. It’s readily available. Bulleit also offers a rye whisky and a 10 year old bourbon. I’ll get to those soon enough.

A great mid-tier bourbon. 8/10

W. L. Weller 12 Years Old Review

W. L. Weller 12 Year old bourbon is one of my favorites. It’s a wheated bourbon, like the impossible-to-find Pappy Van Winkle line. This one, however, is pretty readily available…at least in the New Orleans market (I hear it’s hard to find in areas of the country). Buffalo Trace distills both. In fact, they use the same recipe, or mash bill. Well, if they’re made by the same distillery using the same recipe, are they the same bourbon? No, they’re not. From what I gather, the Van Winkles have first dibs at barrels of wheated bourbons. They take what they consider the best, and the rest goes to the Weller line.

Part of enjoying whiskey is smelling it. If you’re not doing that, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. This one has a STRONG sweet caramel smell. I could smell this all day. How’s it taste? Definitely on the sweeter side. Honey and caramel are pretty strong. The finish doesn’t last too long. It mainly stays on your tongue for a few seconds. This doesn’t taste like a 90 proof bourbon.

W.L. Weller has a few products out. Their Special Reserve, which is a little cheaper and another great bourbon, and their Old Antique 107 proof. I’ve yet to run across a bottle of Old Antique Weller in New Orleans. Of the two I’ve tasted, I easily prefer the 12 year. It runs close to $25, but I’ve seen it more expensive – as high as $40. People refer to it as the poor man’s Pappy. They might be similar enough to say that, but these are still two different bourbons. Pappy Van Winkle’s bourbons are at the top of the heap. If W. L. Weller is the leftover stuff, that’s nothing to balk at. This is one delicious bourbon. Have you tried Weller 12 year? Comment below and let me know what you think.

Highly recommended 9/10

Colonel E. H. Taylor Small Batch Bourbon Review

I’ve always noticed the tall, attractive cardboard tube on the top shelf of the whiskey aisle. It had E. H. Taylor Jr’s fancy signature written across the front. An image of Taylor on the side. It looks like a throwback to the old days. Okay, the really old days… after all, I’m only in my thirties.

The other thing that stands out is “Bottled In Bond” on the bottom of the label. What the heck does that mean? Back in the late 1800s, a lot of whiskey that sold wasn’t “pure.” People were adding artificial coloring and sweeteners and passing it off as straight bourbon. Here’s where Edmund Haynes Taylor steps in. He fought to pass the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1897. If a bourbon was labeled “bottled in bond,” it meant that bourbon followed compliances and regulations laid out in the Bottled-In-Bond Act. I’ll get to the specifics of that in a future post. You’re not here for a history lesson. You came here for to find out how this bourbon tastes.

In the glass, Col. Taylor Small Batch has a really nice flavor. I get lots of butterscotch and caramel, but it’s not too sweet. It’s also a bit spicy. When I taste this bourbon, I know it’s high proof spirit. It’s a bit rough around the edges…mainly in the finish. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a “I’m drinking pure ethanol” burn. It’s a slow, slightly unrefined burn in the back of the mouth and throat. That’s not necessarily a turn-off. My buddy Hank finds most of Buffalo Trace’s products rough. I mostly disagree.

What’s this whiskey gonna run you? Most places have it for around $40…a little overpriced in my opinion. Luckily, I found this bottle of Col. Taylor Small Batch at Costco for $32. That’s more like it.

Pick it up if you can find it cheap, and sip while watching “Boardwalk Empire”. 8/10

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