Blanton’s is a household name when it comes to Bourbon. Introduced as the world’s first Single Barrel bourbon in 1984 by Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee, it is credited with spurring the premium bourbon market which didn’t exist at that time. Unbeknownst to many though is that the standard Blanton’s Single Barrel bottled at 93 proof has a stout older brother that isn’t available in the United States. Blanton’s Straight From the Barrel is also a single barrel bourbon but is uncut, unfiltered, and bottled a barrel strength. Here today is a bottle of that shipped all the way across the pond to Europe and then back again to just a couple hours away from the place where it was bottled.
A wonderful nose with lots of great sweets, old wood, burnt tobacco, and some light spice notes. The sweet is more in the form of sugary fruits like peaches and pears than traditional wood sugars. There are some slight wood polish alcohol like notes but it doesn’t breath too bad for 130 proof. On the tongue this one gets even better - honey, sweet tobacco, leather, and more peachy fruit notes. The oak here is heavy but not out of balance and also lends to a lighter rather than darker flavor. Rye spice starts to come in on the finish and leaves a nice clove tingle to balance out the dry oak. Adding a couple of drops of water tempers this one down really well and just brings out more fruit, honey, and smoky tobacco.
Thoughts: I’m not the biggest fan of standard Blanton’s these days but it’s pretty impressive the transformation that takes place when you ramp up of the proof. Granted it is a single barrel product and I could have just gotten a really good barrel but I find this to be tremendous improvement over the standard product. I really enjoy the amount of backend depth this one brings with flavors other than just your typical caramel sugar and cinnamon spice. It’s a very unique barrel proof bourbon with a varied profile unlike any others that I can recall.
Rating: A- / A
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