All I really wanted last year from the Fall releases was a bottle of George T. Stagg. The previous years of Stagg are my favorite bourbons of all time and last year it was all I cared about. I scoured all the local stores, got my name on lists, and entered lotteries but came up with nothing. I wasn’t really worried yet though - my ace in the hole for getting my hands on a prized bottle was to go to one particular store’s yearly Black Friday event. The store does a limit of a single bottle per customer but dragging my Mother along with me we’ve walked out of that store with 57 combined years of Van Winkle over the previous two years. At this point it’s become a fun ritual and even though she doesn’t drink she enjoys it. The store opens at 8 am, first come first serve. The first year we got there at 7am and were 5th in line with choice of anything we wanted. The second year, 6am, 6th in line again with choice of anything we wanted. Both years we had been able to sit in the warm car until about 7:30am when the line cordially started to form based on the order everyone arrived. This year I was going to be sure not to miss out so we show up at 4:30am. To our dismay, we arrived to a parking lot completely full and at least 25 people already in line in sub 20 degree weather. It just wasn’t worth it and there was no guarantee I would get a Stagg so we packed it up and left. My Stagg hopes looked pretty grim and I just gave up looking.
Fast forward a month to Christmas and I am home for the holidays. It’s a small collection of a few blue collar towns none of which have more than 5-6k population. I stop into one of the local liquor stores and am shocked by what is sitting there on the shelf - two bottles of Four Roses 120th Anniversary Single Barrel Limited Edition from 2008. Only 2200 of these were ever released and a real white whale for guys out there trying to complete a Four Roses collection. Luckily I was able to get connected with some of those guys. It pained me to trade them both away but in the end I got a George T. Stagg, Four Roses 125th, CEHT Tornado, and Van Winkle 10 for the pair. Here today we have the Stagg from that trade for this review.
64.1% ABV; Aged 15 years and 11 months
Nose: Not nearly as hot as I expected but still a good bit of burn. Airing this one out for 30 minutes is a necessity. Rich sweet syrup, ripe fruits, fudge, tobacco infused leather.
Taste: Rich and viscous, heavy mouthfeel. A lot of heat on the first sip. Pepper and tobacco linger, reminiscent of some of the overpowering features of Stagg Jr. that I do not care for. Second sip was worlds better - heavy vanilla and caramel wood sugars. Pepper resides to more of a classic rye spice tingle. The up front palette on this one is definitely the highlight. Subsequent sips got sweeter and more pleasant with caramel chocolate covered fruits like a banana sundae.
Finish: Pepper rye spice and deep brooding sweet flavors like charred fudge and smoked dark chocolates. The finish isn’t as strong as I would have liked given the high proof but it is medium to long.
Notes: Initially I thought the 2013 was a disappointing showing of Stagg for me. Having come from the lower warehouse floors the 2013 is noticeably different in profile from the 2012 and that’s pretty obvious just by looking at the lower proof. My mistake though was to count this one out before it really had a chance to open up. As the bottle dwindled down the taste and finish have become fantastic. The deep, dark fudge notes become more pronounced and incredibly well balanced with the tobacco and leather notes mentioned. The pepper notes have subsided and it's just turned into this wonderfully complex and nuanced whiskey. It's completely different than the other more brash hazmat Staggs but I'm convinced that it's every bit as good as vintage brethren.
Rating: A
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