My history with Willett Family Estate bourbons ranges from immaculate all the way down to terrible. Such is life when you are dealing with a non distiller producer single barrel product. By and large though my experience mostly lends towards the great side of things and I'm quite the fanboy of the brand. Here's a bottle that didn't wow me initially but grew on me over the past year or so since it has been opened.
59.25% ABV, Aged 10 years, Barrel 1295, Bottle 138/150, $75
The nose has lots of heat, oak, sweet wood sugars, and some rye spice. It noses a little hotter than its proof even after airing out for about 30 minutes. The palate gives a lot more of the same but with slightly less oak and a lot more hot spice. It's not as hot as the nose lets on but the spice is a little aggressive. The finish lingers for a long time with brown sugar and sweet woody maple syrup. As the glass goes down the finish gets a little deeper and some dark fudge notes come through. There are also a few wood polish notes here and there.
Thoughts: Like the previous 8 year Family Estate I reviewed recently, if I didn't know any better I would swear this was MGP sourced. This profile here reminds me a lot of the high rye Smooth Ambler Old Scout private barrelings I've had lately. Of course this one says Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey on it so there's no way it's from MGP. My next best guess would be Heaven Hill so I'm thinking this is what a 10 year barrel strength Evan Williams Single Barrel would taste like. It's really an enjoyable whiskey with a nice intermingling of oak, sweet, and spice. It's not nearly the best Willett I've ever had but it's really good and par for the course of the quality I've come to expect from the Family Estate label.
Rating: A-
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