Bourbon

Breckenridge Distillers High Proof Blend

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Breckenridge Distillers High Proof Blend Bourbon

52.5% ABV
$56-$60
Website
Breckenridge Distillers High Proof

What the Distillery Says

Breckenridge A Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskeys

Preserving the essence of our raw barrel character by bottling at a gripping 105 proof, our Distiller’s High Proof Blend represents the whiskey as our master blenders experience it (for the true experience sip 20 samples at 8:00 AM, before coffee). Deep burnt umber hue with aromas of rich butter caramel and toasted almond paste. Medium body with a luscious vanilla sugar flavor and a long balanced finish.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Musty oak, salted caramel, cinnamon, vanilla wafers.
Palate:  Warm, sharp sweetness, caramel corn, oak with pepper spice and hints of orange zest.
Finish:  Moderately long, drying with caramel and cinnamon.
Comments:  A bit oaky, but not excessive to the point where it is offputting. Appreciate the higher proof, but it doesn’t hold up well to water; thins out very quickly. After making my notes, I tried this side-by-side with Jim Beam’s Distiller’s Cut (100 proof), and I preferred that easily.

Rating: Average

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Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey

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Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey

43% ABV
$40 – $45
Website

What the Distillery Says

Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey A Blend
Deep honey-amber hue with warm, pronounced aromas of under-ripe banana and brown sugar, with spicy notes of white pepper and toasted sesame. Light body with warm texture and long sweet oak, vanilla finish with a touch of bitterness to balance. Reminiscent of a slice of toasted rye bread with honey drizzled on it.

We mash, ferment and distill a lot of Bourbon in house. Our blend of Bourbon Whiskeys also consists of Barrels selected from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana chosen for their unique qualities, heritage, and ability to marry in our blend, always made from a high-rye mash bill.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Freshly baked and buttered cornbread with honey drizzled atop, vanilla, oak with pine trees.
Palate: Starts sweet, thin mouthfeel of cornflakes, vanilla and honey that sharpens with some oak and spice.
Finish:  Short and fleeting, with drying oak notes.
Comments:  This tastes like young bourbon to me, not that there is anything offputting about it – but nothing that would leave me wanting another pour. After making my notes, I decided to try this blind against Old Forester 86 proof, and it was no contest for me preferring the Old Forester. While not offputting, at this price point I can’t in good conscious consider it even average.

Rating: Probably Pass

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Noble Oak Double Oak Bourbon

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Noble Oak Double Oak Bourbon
Bourbon Whiskey Finished with Sherry Oak Staves

45% ABV
$30-$37
Website
Noble Oak Double Oak Bourbon

What the Producer Says

A GREAT BOURBON WITH A NOBLE HEART.
NOBLE OAK is a unique award winning bourbon with a worthy purpose. We at Noble Oak are fanatics about wood. That’s because 70% of a bourbon’s flavor comes from the wood. With Noble Oak, we elegantly marry two of the world’s most coveted types of oak used in whiskey making: American White Oak and Spanish Sherry Oak. We use time honored methods and our patented Compression Finishing™ process to create an unrivaled bourbon with body, deep color, and richness of flavor from some of the finest sherry oak staves. The result is a Great Bourbon with a Noble Heart.

FIRST, we traditionally rest our bourbon in Charred New American White Oak barrels for a minimum of one year, developing sweet vanilla notes and a deep caramel tone.

THEN, through our patented Compression Finishing™ process, we add complexity and flavor using Spanish Sherry Oak Staves, the same wood used to craft the world’s finest and rarest whiskies. This process uses cycles of heat and pressure to maximize the interaction of wood and spirit. The resulting whiskey is full of richness and flavor with notes of dried fruit, cherry, vanilla and spice.

THE RESULT is Noble Oak: a Great Bourbon with a Noble Heart.
A Bourbon with a Purpose
In partnership with onetreeplanted.org, we help save our planet and restore our forests by replanting trees in deforested areas.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Heavy oak, vanilla flan with freshly grated nutmeg and toasted orange zest; notes of raisins with corn syrup.
Palate:  Soft oaky vanilla with caramel corn, raisins, and a touch of pepper spice.
Finish:  Short to moderate in length with oak and dried fruit notes.
Comments:  While nothing offputting, it is a bit on the oaky side and clearly a young bourbon. I’m not a big fan of many ‘double-oak’ products, and this is no exception. The sherry stave finishing is well done – not too heavy handed, which I appreciate. I don’t care to pay this much for young bourbon, but considering their noble cause (and unique offering, not a lot of sherry-stave finished bourbons out there), it isn’t outrageous.

Rating: Stands Out

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Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival

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Wild Turkey Master’s Keep Revival

50.5% ABV
$150 – $160
Website

What the Distillery Says

Master’s Keep Revival is made from a blend of Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon aged 12-15 years before finishing in at least 20-year-old Oloroso Sherry casks, hand-selected by Master Distiller Eddie Russell. The result is a one-of-a-kind, 101 proof sipping whiskey with aromas of cherry pie, raisins, citrus, nuts and a touch of oak. It delivers soft and creamy hints of spice and sweet tropical fruits on the palate and a long and lingering finish of dried apricots, honey and subtle spice. An homage to a bourbon pioneered by Jimmy Russell, it’s a must own for the serious whiskey collector.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Like stepping into a rickhouse on a warm summer morning; musty oak, vanilla custard with salted caramel, raisins and dark cherries with nutmeg and allspice.
Palate:  Rich caramel flan topped with raisins that were soaked in vanilla extract, then sharpens to a cinnamon pepper spice.
Finish:  Long, drying with tannic oak, honey and a nutty spice.
Comments:  This is delicious, and is fine example of where I think a finish with bourbon really shines – and by that I mean it isn’t dominating. It is adding a little extra to what would be an otherwise lovely bourbon without the finish; not trying to upstage it or ‘improve’ average whiskey. While at 101 proof it doesn’t scream for water, I’d throw a few drops in as it really opens up nicely and rounds out the edges (although us Turkey fans dream of those spicy edges).

Rating: Must Try

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Blood Oath Pact No. 5

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Blood Oath Pact No. 5 Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Finished in Caribbean Rum Casks

49.3% ABV
$100
Website

We would like to thank Luxco and Common Ground PR for sending us samples to review.

What the Blender Says

A masterful union of three well-bred bourbons. One, a 13-year mahogany bourbon, un‑apologetically peppery with shavings of dark chocolate. Two, an 11-year silky, wheated bourbon rich with vanilla and honey. And three, an 8-year find, finished in Caribbean rum barrels to impart orange, brown sugar and warm island spice. Every sip, an uncharted, sensory adventure.

This year’s release returns to its original fire-branded wooden display box. Like its predecessors, the bottle is topped with a custom, eco-friendly natural cork, sealed and hand-labeled with certificate-style paper stock, including Rempe’s signature, and bottled at 98.6 proof. Pact No. 5 is available globally in 750ml bottles, with a suggested retail price of $99.99.
Pact No. 5 is a limited release, with only 15,000 cases (3-packs) created; this bourbon will never be made again. The Blood Oath series launched in 2015 with Pact No. 1, and will highlight a different variant, or Pact, each year.
“This series, and the creativity it allows, is something I am passionate about and always looking for new combinations and ideas,” says Rempe.

TASTING NOTES
APPEARANCE: Deep dark amber with long legs.
AROMA: Sweet, vanilla and brown sugar, hints of dark rum.
PALATE: Sweet dark rum notes, vanilla, carmalized sugar, dark fruit.
FINISH: A long finish with hints of brown sugar and raisins.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Vanilla icing with light caramel drizzled over Jamaican rum cake, hints of molasses and banana.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel, raisin bread w/ dark rum vanilla icing, notes of cinnamon and clove.
Finish:  Moderate in length, rum raisin ice cream.
Comments:  The rum cask finish is clear on all fronts, and this is definitely on the sweet side of whiskey – but not excessively so. In fact the palate is quite well balanced. Fans of both whiskey and rum (and of rum cask finishing) aren’t likely to be disappointed.

Rating: Stands Out

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