Virgin Bourbon Review

Here today we have an uncommon bottle from a weird off brand of Heaven Hill. It's a bit of a sleeper due to the fact that it has very limited geographical distribution but if you happen to live in North Carolina apparently this stuff is dirt cheap and plentiful. I also hear that it's available in Alabama and Japan but I have no idea if it is quite as cheap there. I've had good experiences with similar Heaven Hill products like their 6 year old Bottled in Bond as well as a Luxco Heaven Hill sourced bourbon that shares these exact stats in Old Ezra 101 7 year so I expect this to go well.

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey; Aged 7 years; 50.5% ABV; $11

Nose: The poster child of a no frills bourbon - corn, vanilla, oak, sweet caramel. There are hints of grainy new make which tells that while it has plenty of age, there is still a little youth to it.

Taste: A well rounded combo of sweet and oak with a little rye and char bite in the finish. The 101 proof gives it a nice kick in the pants without being overly hot. Again there are traces of younger new make grainy corn mash which are in-line with what you'd expect from a bourbon at this age. It's about as classic bourbon as you can get.

Thoughts: No surprises here, it tastes exactly like a seven year old 101 proof bourbon from a long tenured distillery should. I'm going off memory but this is on par with the Old Ezra 101 so it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same product with a different label. Considering this is significantly cheaper than the Ezra, that makes this the best bourbon I've ever had under $20. If this was available here at the same price it would easily overtake Wild Turkey 101 as my house whiskey since it's less than half the price and just about as enjoyable. 

Rating: C+ / B-

Thanks to /u/rhinusdax for the generous gift of this bottle and be sure to check out his review here.

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Old Ezra 101 Review

Old Ezra 7 year is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon released by Luxco. Though the front label says "DISTILLED & AGED IN KENTUCKY BY EZRA BROOKS DISTILLING LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY", don't believe that for one second since there was no Ezra Brooks distillery seven years ago. Most credible sources have this as being sourced from Heaven Hill and like many Heaven Hill bourbons this is also charcoal filtered. Due to some positive reviews I'd read and that it's likely age stated highish proof Heaven Hill bourbon at a low price, I figured it was worth a shot as potential good and cheap daily sipper. 

Before we get into the review though, a curious story. At some point during the few weeks I spent with this bottle, I happened to notice this verbiage on the back label.

"CONTAINS CARAMEL COLOR"

Uh, wut? I do what any enraged whiskey nerd does and make a post in a whiskey group to the effect of can you believe this shit. Visceral rabbling immediately ensues more or less that the TTB is worthless and yeah that's definitely not a KY straight bourbon if coloring has been added, shame on the TTB and Luxco. But then someone asks about the TTB label so I start doing some digging. It took some time but eventually I deduced that there are a lot of flavored products that are put out under the Ezra Brooks line and the TTB label for this product doesn't match the one that's on the back of my bottle. Though I never found an exact match for the SKU, I came to the conclusion that somehow there was a bottling line mishap and one of Ezra Brook's other back labels like this one ended up on my bottle. 

Crisis averted, pitchforks lowered, bourbon can again be consumed at ease.

Aged 7 years; 50.5% ABV; $20

Nose: Rye menthol spice, decent amount of oak, about the level of caramel/vanilla sweets you'd expect for a 7 year old bourbon. 

Taste: Typical caramel/vanilla/honey sweets you get in a middle aged bourbon. It's rather forward on the sweets in the front and middle palate, much like creme brûlée. The finish has a good bit of rye spiciness that's inline with Heaven Hill's standard rye bourbon mash products. 

Thoughts: Pretty decent and above what I consider an average of something like Maker's Mark. Given the price, it's a good deal and that makes it a good candidate for a good daily driver. For day to day sipping, I think this is easy and pleasant to drink as it's a nice classic bourbon. Having said that, I don't know if it's as good as my current gold standard for a universally versatile daily bourbon which is Wild Turkey 101. This bottle is probably more refined than WT101 with a higher overall age but it's hard to for me to say this is better than the bold, spice forward profile that WT101 brings to the table even if it drinks a little younger.

Rating: C+ / B-

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Rebel Yell Single Barrel Review

Up to this point if you were to ask a group of whiskey geeks what they think of Rebel Yell bourbon, all of them would probably tell you it's rotgut swill. Even the fact that it's a wheated bourbon likely sourced from Heaven Hill can't make up for just how terrible it is. Along those lines, I'm not really a fan of Heaven Hill's wheated bourbon expressions. Larceny is meh and the older Very Special Old Fitzgerald 12 year is even worse. I really enjoy Select Stock but that's only because those are cask strength and finished in cognac barrels. I'll admit though I was very intrigued when I heard Rebel Yell would be releasing a 10 year old wheated bourbon. Could a Non-Distiller-Producer release a better version of a product than the company who produced it? 

Aged 10 years; 50% ABV; Barrel #4744374; $55

Nose: Very dense aromas with lots of sweets and a hefty oak backbone. Booze soaked dark cherries, cake batter. 

Taste: Sweet, fruity, and lots of wood depth. On the fruit side, it's a bit of cherry bomb though as the bottle dwindled the cherry notes took on a smoky, earthy slant. That smokiness kinda reminds me of barbecue corn chips. There's also some classic wheater spice here in the form of cinnamon spiced apples. I know that sounds all over the place but there's a lot going on here and it all just works. 

Thoughts: This is a really good bourbon. It's got a lot of the lovable wheater characteristics everyone goes crazy about these days, the price isn't terrible considering today's market, and it should be pretty easy to find. Granted, in this price range it's not really everyday sipper material so it's not as economical as something like Weller 12 but at least you can find this and I would argue taste wise it's just as good as the aforementioned "Pappy Jr". Considering how terrible the regular Rebel Yell is, I'm willing to say this is the best new bourbon launched this year. 

Rating: B

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.