Willett Family Estate 8 Year Barrel 6090
58.65% ABV, Aged 8 years, Bottle 120/162, Purple wax top purchased in Indiana 12/2012 for $65
Nose: The heat vapor is very, very strong but if you can get past that there are notes of brown sugar, oak, and some slight banana. I've drank a lot of high proof whiskey in my days and I had to struggle to pull out some positives here. It's mostly an ethyl alcohol blast.
Taste: Caramel and honey on the sweet side with a strong influence of leather and tobacco on the bitter side. It's also very spicy and not the most pleasant spice I've experienced. This is more along the lines of a peppery spice like Stagg Jr or a more crude ECBP batch 4.
Finish: Fairly sweet but not a deep dark sweetness - more like milk chocolate than dark chocolate. The spice is more refined now with mint notes instead of pepper. The acidic notes of leather and tobacco still linger.
Thoughts: Willett bottles are always "fun" because you never know what you are going to get. The last Willett 8 year I reviewed was one of the legendary 800 barrels (#805) and remains one of my all time favorites - top 5 material. The 7 year I reviewed recently is also way up there. This one is nowhere near those as it has some major issues with balance and acidity. The spice in the front to mid palate is very raw and less pleasant than I would like.
Overall it’s not bad but well below average in what I expect from the Willett Family Estate name. This just goes to show that even though on average Willett is usually pretty good there are occasional flat or even bad ones. If I didn't know any better I would strongly think this is MGP sourced rather than the typical speculation of Heaven Hill because of the high rye content but that's not possible since this is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
Rating: B
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