Colonel E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof (63.75%, Batch 5, 2016)

Colonel E.H. Taylor Barrel Proof is the uncut and unfiltered offering in the E.H. Taylor line from Buffalo Trace Distillery which has it as the only Taylor that is not bottled in bond at 100 proof. It's a limited edition that in the last few years seems to be released annually in the summer. As with any limited bourbon these days, these were a lot easier for me to obtain five years ago but now I think these barely hit the shelves here in Nashville so I was only able to acquire this through luck by seeing it behind the counter in a random store. I've previously reviewed a couple of earlier iterations of this bottle, batch 2 from 2013 and batch 3 from 2014. My main takeaway after the 2014 review was that while I really liked it, I felt the quality of Stagg Jr had finally normalized to the point where it was a better/cheaper/easier to find product than this and that's my presumption going into this review. 

No Age Statement; 63.75% ABV; $80

Nose: The ethanol is very forward - more scorching than I expected for the proof. It's hard to pull out anything under the alcohol but there is some woody furniture polish and a little rye spice bite. I get kind of a peachy stone fruit note in the Taylor Small Batch and am getting remnants of that here as well.

Taste: A lot more approachable than the nose. There are your typical bourbon wood sugar notes of caramel and vanilla but the sweetness is very lush. There is a good amount of charred oak in the middle and a slight rye spice twinge in the finish. It's as rich and bold as you'd expect for the proof but the heat is well tamed and it's very drinkable. 

Thoughts: I'm gonna flip flop a little here and say this is as good as or better than most of the Stagg Jr batches I've had. It's missing that prominent cherry note that Staff Jr brings to the table and it's not quite the oak laden proof bomb that is Elijah Craig Barrel Proof but this is really solid. It's less unique than either of those and more just a heavy proofed version of a straight up, classic bourbon. The semi obtainable, high proof bourbon market has gotten a bit more crowded these days and the winner there is still Elijah Craig both in quality and price but if you can find a bottle of this, it's a solid buy.

Rating: B+ / B

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.