Imaginary Internet Friends Blind Tasting #4: Wheaters 107 Proof or Less Priced Under $70

Here is another write up of a blind tasting I participated in last night with some fellow local reddit /r/bourboners. This is our fourth tasting. TLDR; a group of us help each other out sourcing booze locally and get together about once a month for blind tastings.

The category last night was any wheated bourbon at 107 proof of less and under $70 MSRP. Six of us submitted a list of 4-5 whiskeys to /u/hispes who then picked a submission for five of us to bring meaning one man would sit out bringing a submission. After doing six submissions last month we decided five was the sweet spot. Once we arrived, all our samples were randomized so in essence everything was totally blind. My submission for the evening was the 60:40 Straight Bourbon Blend of OWA 107/Weller 12 AKA "Poor Man's Pappy".

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

1. Sample A: The nose was nice - very woody with some fruity notes and some ethanol. Like the nose, the palate was very woody with predominate oak and some syrupy cola flavor. Because of the high woodiness I guessed Weller 12 or maybe my pappy mix. Nose 7.0, Taste 8.5.
2. Sample D: The nose was a bit stale at first - I originally wrote cardboard and gave it a 5 but as I worked my way through it it really opened up. Later I got lots of fruitiness. The palate on this one was very oaky - it was woody but had a nice dark chocolate finish. I suspected this one might also be Weller 12. Nose 5.0, Taste 8.0.
3. Sample E: The nose here was a bit young but there were nice fruit notes. It smelled like the highest ABV of the group. The taste was a bit hot but there was a nice cinnamon and it had a good bit of sweetness. This one was pretty easy to peg as OWA 107 - the cinnamon, proof, and age were a dead give-away. Nose 6.0, Taste 7.5.
4. Sample C: Initially I was blown away by the nose here. I got lots of vanilla and caramel with barely any ethanol. I threw out a 9 on the nose. As I revisited it though my opinion on this one went way down. You can see the nose score go from a 9 to an 8 on my score sheet. The taste was a similar journey - at first I was pleased with woodsy oak and some sweet cola. My first reaction was a 9. That later fell down so much that I just stop crossing out scores and knew it was at the bottom. The more I had the more a young thinness started to come out as did hot bananas. It was kind of a mess. I suspected this was Very Old Fitzgerald 12 year. Nose 8.0, Taste 7.0.
5. Sample B: This one was the lightest in color by far. The nose was very fruity but also very raw. It was obviously a very immature whiskey. Taste wasn't a lot better as it was thin, flat, with hot fruit like bananas and low ABV. Nose 4.0, Taste 4.0.

So the reveal, based on my rankings:

1. Maker's 46
2. Poor Man's Pappy
3. Old Weller Antique
4. Larceny
5. Rebel Yell

I am a little surprised I rated Maker's 46 at the top. Earlier on in the week I had been thinking I need to be on the lookout for it as it would be the woodiest of the bunch. I got so caught up in trying to pick out Weller 12 that I completely forgot about Maker's. I nailed the OWA 107 and was close on the Pappy Blend. I'd also say I was pretty close on the Larceny as Old Fitz is also Heaven Hill. The Rebel Yell was just a disaster and easy to pick out as the worst of the bunch. All in all I'm pretty happy with rankings.

As for the group, the results were a little different but similar:

1. Old Weller Antique submitted by /u/helios7
2. Poor Man's Pappy submitted by me
3. Maker's 46 submitted by /u/dannyg483
4. Larceny submitted by /u/tvraisedme
5. Rebel Yell submitted by /u/docjones12

No real surprises there. This is how I would have guessed things would shake out but maybe with the pappy blend taking first and the OWA taking second. Overall, this was a great and very fun tasting. It wasn't nearly as hard as the single barrel one we did last month. The most interesting thing to note here is OWA has shown up in two out of our four tastings so far and taken first place both times. That's a pretty bold testament to just how great of whiskey it is. If you told me I could only have one bourbon for the rest of my life and it was OWA 107 I wouldn't be mad.

As usual at the end of the night other bottles made an appearance. I got my first taste of Founder's KBS. After all the hype it has received I was a bit let down. I love their Breakfast Stout but the KBS didn't seem that much better to me. I'm still going with Goose Island Bourbon County as the better of the two. There was also some Willett 6 year rye in the mix - very high in the dill notes, much more so than any other MGP rye I've experienced. /u/werdx also brought along an old age stated Weller Special Reserve that was a crowd favorite. I would put it at or better than current OWA 107 on the shelves today.

 

That's it for this round. Special thanks to /u/hispes for being our impartial selector this time around. You picked out a great lineup. Stay tuned for our tasting next month - we decided to go balls out in preparation for Fall Bourbon Christmas by doing a blind best of the best 2013 allocated bourbons. It should be a good one.