Jefferson’s Reserve is a straight bourbon whiskey which is actually a blend of several (rumor is 4-5) bourbons and aged for an undisclosed period of time (again, rumor is around 8 years on average). Jefferson’s keeps their sourcing and production secrets pretty close to the vest, which leaves whiskey nerds like yours truly without much to chew on…
Jack Daniel’s uses a mash bill of 80% corn, 12% malted barley, and 8% rye. I believe it’s uncommon for the enzyme catalyzer (barley) to have a higher percentage in the mash than the flavor grain (rye). The mash is fermented using a starter culture from the prior batch (called “sour mashing”) for 6 days and distilled in a copper column still and doubler. The resulting spirit is mellowed through 10 feet of compressed charcoal from sugar maples – this is the Lincoln County process necessary to call the product Tennessee Whiskey – and…
Dovetail, poetic carpentry allusion aside, is a blend of two sourced bourbons: A 10 year-old Indiana (I assume that means MGP) bourbon finished in Dunn Vineyards Cabernet wine barrels (French Oak), and an 11 year-old Tennessee whiskey (could be Dickel, could be Nelson’s Green Brier, could be some small craft distillery…) finished in both blackstrap molasses rum casks and LBV aka Late Bottled Vintage aka sweeter port pipes. The result is bottled at cask strength of…
Double Oak’s approach to the industry meme of “do something different to the base whiskey so we can charge more for it” is about as simple as you can get, and yet is oddly rare in the bourbon business. They took Jim Beam, having aged it like all bourbons in new charred American white oak barrels, and they…
Nothing wrong with this bourbon, although I can’t say there’s anything special about it, either. “High-Rye Bourbon” is not exactly a new concept, and LDI/MGP bourbons are a dime a dozen. Ten years ago I would have complained about paying $30 for…
Unlike many other bourbon brands which lately have been spinning off new releases several times a year, Maker’s mostly just makes Maker’s Mark. And Maker’s 46, and a cask-strength edition. Now, this 101 proof version has been added to the lineup as a Limited Edition, where previously it was only available at the distillery…
Dickel’s bottled-in-bond release is 50% ABV (of course), distilled in one distilling season which is printed on the label, and displays an age statement as well. The whiskey is Tennessee whiskey, which means it’s essentially bourbon that’s been chill filtered through sugar maple charcoal. The website, although unclear, seems to indicate they all share the same mash bill as other whiskies from the distillery: 84% corn, 8% rye, 8% malted barley. For more…
This bourbon is bottled-in-bond, which means it has the requisite 50% ABV, is a straight bourbon, and was distilled in Leopold Bros.’ pot still during one distilling season. The bottle indicates it is 5 years old. My bottle is from the Fall 2015 season (bottled 2020). The website reveals the mash bill to be 64% Corn, 21% Malted Barley, and 15% Abruzzi Heritage Rye, which is…
Smoke Wagon, a sourced bourbon from Las Vegas distillery Nevada H&C (founded in 2010), uses a batching technique to combine older and younger barrels of MGP bourbon from Indiana – both high-rye mash bills – aiming for youthful rye spices paired with the richness of older bourbon. In this particular bottling, the bourbon is bottled at batch strength and is not chill-filtered. Normally at this point in the review I would…
Breckenridge is located so high in the mountains of Colorado that it is the highest-elevation distillery in the world … this Flaviar blend chooses four blends of straight bourbons with high-rye mashbills and bottles them at 43% ABV. Yes, you read that right. This is a blend of blends. Luckily, everything involved is a straight bourbon, so it just comes down to percentages