Henry Mckenna Single Barrel is a well regarded brand in the bourbon community. It's modestly priced at around $30, it's easy to find, and it carries a very respectable 10 year age statement. With prices on the rise and age statements dropping like flies, McKenna is one of the last of its kind in the affordable, older bourbon category. We should all brace for the fact that one day soon an age stated version of this probably won't exist unless it costs three times as much or is under heavy allocation. At any rate, I enjoy the current version as a casual sipper but a generous fellow redditor was gracious enough to send me a sample from a very old bottling. It is labeled as Barrel #001, Barreled on 12/14/1984 making this "pre-fire" Heaven Hill. The bottle was found in a garage of a friend who believed it to be purchased in 1995 or 1996. According to Michael Veach, 1995 was the first year of McKenna's release so all signs point to this as being the first public barrel ever. For comparison's sake, I tasted this side by side with current day bottle, barrel #2728 barreled on 11/21/2005.
Aged 10 years; 50% ABV; Barrel 001, Barreled 12/14/1984; Thanks to /u/inf3st for the sample
Color: I don't usually remark on color but it's quite a few shades darker than the modern version. I would have guessed it was much older or barrel proof based on the color alone.
Nose: Smells like a dusty, vintage bourbon. It's mostly classic bourbon scents but the wood and sweet aromas are so incredibly dense. The current bottling smells young and fruity in comparison which is crazy because it's anything but that for me usually.
Taste: Very much like the nose, with all of the characteristics of a vintage dusty bourbon. The mouthfeel is so thick it borders on drinking syrup rather than whiskey. The flavors here are straight up classic bourbon with very dense honey, caramel, and also a little dark pitted fruits like prunes or cherries. The woodiness is very heavy also but it doesn't taste super old. It just tastes like highly concentrated bourbon without the higher proof that it usually takes to do that. Tasting the current bottling next to this is a similar failure as the nosing - it tastes thin, slightly young, and a bit fruity. Again that's crazy because on a normal day I would say current McKenna is pretty good and certainly tastes its age.
Thoughts: This is one of the best bourbons I have ever tasted. People go crazy over dusty Wild Turkey and to me this tastes like that only with more honey and sugary sweetness but less rye spice bite. I don't know why vintage bourbon is so amazing but what I can say this runs circles around the current product and is better than just about everything else I've tasted released in this decade.
Rating: A+
No comments:
Post a Comment