"Imaginary Internet Whiskey Friends" Blind Tasting #3: Single Barrel Bourbons Under $70

Here's a write up of a blind tasting I participated in last night with my local whiskey group "Imaginary Internet Friends" mostly formed from members of reddit's /r/bourbon network. The category was any single barrel bourbon under $70 and less than or equal to 50% ABV. Each of us submitted a list of 4-5 whiskeys to /u/dannyg483 who then picked a submission for each of us to bring. Once we arrived, all our samples were randomized by a third party so in essence everything was totally blind. My submission for the evening was John Bowman Single Barrel which coincidentally I had never had prior to this tasting.

Here are my notes for the five samples, in the order of which I ranked them.

1. Sample B: This one was the darkest in color but only marginally as the color for all these was very close. The nose was very nice with sweetness and some vanilla. The taste was very sweet with a slight dry rye and a nice finish. I rated this one 8.5.
2. Second place was very close for me between A and F so I gave them a tie.
   Sample A: This one had a nice fruity nose that was very tame with very little ethanol presence. The taste had some fruit notes with a good sweetness. It was very balanced and smooth. I rated this one 8.25.
   Sample F: The one was the second darkest in color. The nose had a little furniture polish but lots of caramel, toffee, and fruit. The taste had bold rye, sweet toffee, and some slightly bitter oak but overall I liked it a lot. I rated this one an 8.
3. Sample E: This was tied as second darkest in color. The nose had lots of oak, some mild acetone, and fruit. The taste had more acetone and oak but there was a lasting sweetness. I rated this one 5.5.
4. Sample C: This one was the lightest in color. On the nose there was acetone and oak. The taste was thin and light and the finish was weak. I rated this one a 5.
5. Sample D: This was next to last in color. On the nose I got nothing but ethanol. The taste had a mild sweetness but also bitter oak. My rating for this one was a 4.

Sample B was my clear winner. Technically F scored lower than A but I realized that my palette had been pretty fatigued by the time I got to the last sample. On my second and third run through the samples F kept creeping up as a dark horse and A started to go down. On the other side of the spectrum, my scores for E, C, and D went down on my second run. So now the reveal, based on my ratings:

1. Colonel E.H. Taylor
2. (Tie)
   Eagle Rare
   John Bowman
3. Buffalo Trace (Private Selection)
4. Elmer T Lee
5. Blanton's

Wow. My beloved Elmer which used to be my daily scored next to last, below both Eagle Rare and Buffalo Trace. WTF? It's one of my favorites and I've drank so much of it I know that to be true. Even worse my notes for it were "acetone, oak, light, thin, weak finish" Noooooooo! To say I was crushed would be an understatement. No real surprise about CEHT taking the top spot and Bowman being in at number two. FWIW I'd never had either of those coming in to tonight but their reputation precedes them. Blanton's taking last place was a shock for me given the competition. Eagle Rare being tied for second was another shock. All I can say is that these rankings are just plain crazy. I have to wonder how much of this is just barrel variance or do I really not like ETL as much as I thought I did.

So how did the group results fare? One of the rules of the tasting was that no one was allowed to reveal their rankings until the very end. This produced a variety of results in rankings but here is how it shook out based on averages:

1. Colonel E.H. Taylor via /u/werdx
2. John Bowman via /u/signde
3. (tie)
   Eagle Rare via /u/tvraisedme
   Elmer T Lee via /u/Helios7
4. Buffalo Trace (Private Selection) via /u/Imcoolerthanu50
5. Blanton's via /u/docjones12

Again, surprising but not far off from my rankings. CEHT was the clear favorite and Bowman was a solid second. Elmer did a little better in the group rankings and Banton's was everyone's least favorite.

After the tasting was over we broke into a variety of bottles. I bought a single barrel that I couldn't submit due to the price point - Michter's 10. It was everyone's first time having it including mine but we all were rather impressed and liked it more than we thought we would. A few of us thought it tasted distinctly similar to OFBB so our theory is that it's sourced from Brown Forman. Personally I think the nose between the two is identical. /u/Helios7 broke out the '08 - '13 OFBB vertical to confirm our theory. And then the scotches started. This is the part where my palette dies for the evening.

Thoughts: Blind tastings are a blast but they are also very, very hard. The competition in this tasting was much stiffer than in the previous two tastings. With the quality being that much higher that made this tasting by far the toughest one yet. Palette fatigue was a real problem for me and most others said it was an issue for them as well. I think the order of the samples played into my ratings. Even more difficult was /u/dannyg483 threw us all a curveball when he picked out these submissions. Just about every one of us assumed Four Roses was in the mix so with every submission I was trying to guess if it was Four Roses. That really messed me up but I wasn't alone as everyone had a sample which they were guessing to be Four Roses. Lesson learned, never assume a whiskey is present in a blind tasting unless you brought it.