Bourbon

Booker’s “Donohoe’s Batch” Batch 2021-01
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

6 Years, 11 Months, 4 Days
62.65% ABV
$90
Website

We would like to thank Beam Suntory and Multiply for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says:

“The first release of the Booker’s® Bourbon 2021 Collection is Booker’s Batch 2021-01 ‘Donohoe’s Batch.’ This batch is named in honor of retired Jim Beam employee Mike Donohoe who was also a close friend to my dad, Booker Noe. Without Mike, Booker’s Bourbon wouldn’t exist today.

In 1982, Mike joined the Jim Beam Company as a sales manager in Chicago – a ‘suit’ as Dad would say – after retiring from a seven-year career in the NFL. Mike first met Dad on a company trip to Kentucky. After taking a liking to Mike, Dad invited him to his office for a glass of bourbon. It was unlike any Jim Beam Bourbon he had tasted before. Booker let Mike in on his secret – he’d been playing with something different, and he’d share a bit of it with friends from time to time.

A few years later, Mike approached Booker with the idea to give bottles of his special stash as holiday gifts to their most important distributors and industry partners. With little time and almost no budget, Booker sourced wine bottles from a warehouse in Bardstown and wrote the labels himself to get the job done. Based on the hundreds of letters they received raving about that uncut, unfiltered whiskey, it’s safe to say the rest is Booker’s Bourbon history.

Dad always had the final say when it came to his Booker’s, but he trusted Mike to help him build it into the brand that it is today. ‘Mike gets it,’ he used to say. Now, I’m proud to honor Mike with a batch of his own.”

— Fred Noe, Beam Family 7th Generation Master Distiller

TASTING NOTES
COLOR: Our darkest and deepest amber and henna color.
TASTE: Deep and complex flavors of vanilla, nuts and oak.
AROMA: Robust vanilla and caramel notes; slightly smoky.
FINISH: Long and full; perfect for easygoing sipping.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Rich caramel and vanilla, oak with baking spices, cocoa and a hint of roasted peanuts.
Palate:  Rich mouthfeel with caramel, dark chocolate, pepper spice with cinnamon, orange zest, peanut butter and a bit of clove.
Finish:  Moderately long, drying with cocoa, oak and spice notes.
Comments:  Another really solid Booker’s.  Thinking of some recent batches, this is right there with most – maybe a bit more on the spicy side than the sweet (I don’t recall getting clove often, but this has a bit of a sharper/spicy edge). Takes water well, and continues the streak of “hadn’t met a Booker’s I didn’t like!” .

Rating: Stands Out

Barrell Bourbon Batch 028

54.43% ABV
$90
Website

We would like to thank Barrell Craft Spirits and Ro-Bro Marketing & PR for sending us a sample to review.

What the Blender Says

Barrell Bourbon Batch 028 is a blend of 10 and 11-year-old barrels created from a marriage of three distinct sub-groups of barrels. The first was aroma forward with notes of tropical fruit, citrus zest and exotic spices, identified to drive the nose of the final blend. The second group had a richness in the middle palate and a sweet, almond-like body. The third group was peppery and tannic, adding backbone and a savory, woodsy and earthy component. The final blend of Batch 028 allows each of these groups to shine through. It presents a bouquet of ripe tropical and sweet flower aroma backed up by a robust punch of rustic wood in the cadence and finish.

• A blend of straight Bourbon Whiskeys
• Distilled and aged in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana
• Selection of 10 and 11-year-old barrels
• Aged in American white oak barrels
• Bottled in Kentucky
• 108.86 proof cask strength bottling

FLAVOR NOTES
The bourbon begins with bright citrus, heady florals, and lively minerals. Sweetness is kept in check by a preponderance of opposing forces. That balance vanishes on the finish when it explodes with tropical fruits then gently fades away leaving only smoked sea salt at the end.

​Neat
Appearance: An earthy orange hue, much like antique yarn dyed with tradition and left to age.
Nose: Maraschino liqueur and dried apricot lay a gentle, fruity foundation that recalls a boisterous chardonnay. Some rather sappy woodsy notes of rosemary and bamboo shoots. A touch of richness from cocoa butter and tallow.
Palate: Fruity in nature, yet well-balanced, so that nothing overwhelms. Candied praline sweetness is balanced by a smoked sea salt minerality. Brown butter richness is cut by a radicchio bitterness. Champagne-like acidity is matched by chalky tannin.
Finish: Complex and tropical, it first explodes with lychee, grapefruit peel, dragonfruit, and strawberry. Some dusty tannin on the tongue gives it length, evolving through lightly oxidized oolong tea and peppery gin until only smoked sea salt lingers.

With a few drops of spring water
The fruitiness is juicier, with cascara, purple plum and rosehip tea. Spices abound, including sassafras and black walnut, salmiak and dill.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Chocolate covered cherries, vanilla crème brûlée with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg, oak, blood orange, floral notes with a subtle mineral undertone.
Palate:  Caramel sauce over berries in vanilla pudding, pepper and oak with a nutty vitamin note, cinnamon, orange bitters, tad nutty with a hint of raisins.
Finish:  Moderately long and drying with oak and orange zest.
Comments:  Yet another really solid blend from the folks at Barrell Craft Spirits. The Dickel notes are a bit more prominent on this than the last few batches, but has a lot of depth and interesting characteristics, with a solid balance between the sweetness, spice and oak notes. A bit of water tamps down the mineral/vitamin notes and thickens the mouthfeel, and brought out more of a dark fruit sweetness.

Rating: Stands Out

Ezra Brooks Distiller’s Collection Single Barrel 107 Proof
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Barrel 7167070 | Barrel Filled 9/3/2015 | Hand Selected by: Sherlock’s Rye, Rye Baby

53.5% ABV
$35
Website

What the Bottle* Says

Hand Picked from Extraordinary Barrels
Sour Mash | Charcoal Mellowed
Distilled and Aged in Kentucky for Lux Row Distillers Bardstown, Kentucky
* The producer doesn’t mention this product on their web-site, so pulling what details I can from the bottle!

What Gary Says

Nose:  Crack of rye spice, dried mint, lemon zest, vanilla, grassy, oak, nutmeg and a hint of clove.
Palate:  Vanilla, oak, salted caramel, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, bit of tangerine.
Finish:  Short side with vanilla, mint and pepper.
Comments:  Another not complicated bourbon, but solid higher proof high rye bourbon. Takes water well, bringing out some notes of popcorn on the palate.

Rating: Stands Out