Vintage Bourbon 17 Review

I first came across the Vintage Bourbon 17 Year at a favorite local bar of mine just about 2 years ago. It was love at first sip. As soon as I tried it I was on the hunt for some bottles. Sadly, my search began in vain as it is not sold in Michigan (a painfully re-occurring theme for certain bottles). Over the course of the next 6 months I was able to find a mere 2 bottles. If I had found 10 I would have bought all of them. Needless to say, I am going into this review with a bit of bias.

As far as info on the juice itself goes, there isn't a whole lot out there. The label claims it is chosen from the rarest of barrels and the bottlings are limited (amongst other things to boost the confidence of any potential buyer). From what I have been able to find, this is a wheated bourbon and a non-distiller product from our friends at KBD (Kentucky Bourbon Distillers). There are also 21 and 23 year old versions of this bourbon, though I've never seen them on a store shelf and only once in a bar.

Vintage Bourbon 17 Year Old - Tasting Notes

Vintage Bourbon 17

Nose: Very sweet nose. Candied dark fruits with caramel and vanilla present as well. A little bit of oak if you look for it but the sweetness really overpowers everything else.

Palate: Light mouthfeel, but not too light as it gives a brief coating. The initial taste mirrors the nose, with a sweet start followed by dark chocolate... and my mouth is literally watering. This mixes with a little cinnamon spice and a bit of oak towards the end. The combination of these flavors is absolutely TNT (dynamite!).

Finish: Nice and smooth, annnnnd my mouth is still watering from the palate. The candied fruits stick around for a long time and any spice from the palate dissipates quickly. The lingering notes are caramel and vanilla and these two stick around for a good minute or so. Solid overall finish

Proof: 94 (47% ABV)
Price: ~$70-100

I tried to be impartial, but this stuff might be my favorite bourbon on the market. I may have to put it up in a blind taste against some Jefferson's 18, Pappy 15 & Pappy 20 to see which wheater I like the best (might even throw the Very Old Scout 19-year or Elmer T. Lee in the mix too). Regardless of how the tasting turns out, this will definitely be a bottle that I'm always on the lookout for
.

Vintage Bourbon 17 Rating: 9.7/10

Review: Jefferson's Straight Rye - 10 Year

Jefferson's Rye Whiskey appears to be sourced from Canada, which when looking at other reviews appears to be a bit of a concern at first. However, I can nearly see Canada when I look out my window and have always been fond of our neighbors in the Great White North. So I decided to give it a shot anyways, eh? (If you want some detail on where this rye whiskey comes from there is a good write-ups about it at Whiskey Obsessive.)

So how did I come upon the Jefferson's Rye? Well I was recently in Maine, celebrating America's birthday with some friends and eating 4 lobsters in two days. (quick sidebar - I had NO IDEA how cheap lobsters are in Maine. Like, 2 cooked lobsters for $18 cheap... great stuff. Ok, back to business...) When we got into town, I wanted to check out a liquor shop to see if I could find any bottles that were tough to get in MI. I spotted an Evan Williams Single Barrel (barreled in 2001) and then noticed that Jefferson's Rye was on sale for $30. It's usually $35 in my state and my buddy and I both like whiskey enough that I figured we could get through the bottle (spoiler alert... we did). Let's see how it tasted...

Jefferson's Rye 10 Year Old - Tasting Notes

Jefferson's Straight Rye Whiskey
(apologies for the stock photo... drank it all
before I was able to take a photo)

Nose: A little sweet, a little spice and a lot pleasant. For some reason the overall scent that I got was pink bubble gum. I tried picking it apart a bit more, but then decided if I was getting pink bubble gum on the nose and I liked it, why keep digging?

Palate: The mouthfeel isn't thick or thin... sort of like the baby bear's porridge. The flavors here are vanilla, cinnamon, honey, rye (obvi) and of course that pink bubble gum flavor which I couldn't shake from my head. Sweeter than many other ryes but it still has plenty of spice in tow.

Finish: This is where you know the Jefferson's Rye is 100% rye in the mashbill. A little warming burn at first and the spice from the palate takes over. Flavors of mint & cinnamon linger quite pleasantly for a good couple of minutes once it's gone down the hatch.

Proof: 94 (47% ABV)
Price: ~$35

Well Mr. Jefferson, I'm sold. At a price under $40 for a 10-year rye, this is a great whiskey. I enjoyed it more than the bottle of Whistlepig that I had and it only cost me half as much. This can be used as a really good sipper, or if you're feeling cocktail-y you could use it to make something that would most likely wind up being delicious. Needless to say, I plan on picking up another bottle of this sooner than later.

Jefferson's Straight Rye Whiskey (10-Year) Rating: 8.9/10

Jim Beam White Label Review

Jim Beam White Label is one of the best-selling bourbons globally. It is aged 4 years and is the primary offering from Beam, which has a handful of other whiskeys as well. While some experts and enthusiasts may thumb their noses at the standard Beam offering, there has to be a reason this is stocked at every liquor store and well-received globally other than marketing and low cost, right? Well at a party this weekend I got my chance to find out. The whiskey options were Beam White Label, or Dewar's White Label. Since I wasn't in the mood for scotch or a mixed drink, I grabbed a pour of my old friend Jim to get the night started.

Jim Beam White Label Bourbon - Tasting Notes

Nose: Light vanilla and oak with some corn. Fairly straight-forward and simple.

Palate: Some corn sweetness with very light spice towards the end. A fairly thin mouth-feel with just a hint of oak.

Finish: Fairly short finish. A bit of heat is present at the start but it quickly dissipates and you are left with some light oak and vanilla.

Proof: 80 (40% ABV)
Price: ~$18

Jim Beam White Label
4 year Bourbon

Overall, most of the flavor notes are fairly timid. This bourbon doesn't have large, robust flavor that pops you in the mouth and at a mere 40% ABV, that's understandable.

JB White Label is like a solid backup catcher who will hit .250 for you without much power. He's typically underrated by the fan-base and will bounce around the league for about a dozen seasons, but there's always a team in need of his services. I know this doesn't sound like a compliment, but it is. Most baseball fans know how valuable a solid backup catcher can be over the course of a full season. And yes Jim Beam, you are the backup catcher in this baseball bourbon analogy. You are reliable, readily available, and while I wouldn't put you in the lineup every day, I don't have any reservations about penciling you in when the starters need a day off.

Jim Beam Bourbon White Label Rating: 7.2/10