Sam Houston 15 Year Old Bourbon (Release 7: Batch MA-2)
Sam Houston Release 7 Batch MA-2
For our second of our two-part comparison of aged bourbons, we are tasting the Sam Houston 15 Year Old, which, to be specific, is Batch MA-2. In the last review, we tasted the Remus Repeal Reserve V (I just noticed the alliteration for the first time), which, much like the plot line from a Rom-Com, it wasn’t love at first sight but by the end, I was interested in pursuing a future with the Remus Repeal series. As I mentioned in the last review, the Sam Houston 15 (going forward, the “Sam”) has a similar age profile as the Remus with similar proofs as well (103° for the Sam, 100° for the Remus). Now that we have isolated two variables, that only leaves about 30 others, but sometimes you gotta take what you can get. While the Remus hails from the Hoosier State, the Sam is from the bluegrass country. That said, the Sam Houston is also decently more expensive, running at $125 versus $86 for Remus, so that will certainly be a major factor in our quest for value.
Who and what is Sam Houston? The who is easy, Sam Houston was a soldier and former President of the Republic of Texas, back before Texas was admitted into the Union. How a historical figure in Texas got his name on the brand of a Kentucky bourbon is a whole other question, but the “what is Sam Houston” is worth spending a few minutes on.
Sam Houston is one of the brands owned by Western Spirits. Western’s other bourbon brands include Calumet Farms, Lexington Bourbon, and Bird Dog Whiskey. In all honestly, I haven’t had any of these brands before and this will be my first Sam Houston. I have seen a lot of these bottles on the shelves lately and I have been reticent to explore many of them as my focus for many years has been on bottles produced by distilleries who created the juice themselves, not folks who purchased barrels that are then bottled under some fancy brand and marketing story (say, about a former president of Texas?). Not to go on an aside, but early in my bourbon journey I purchased a lot of the craft distillery products, mostly by folks that were actually distilling their own spirits, as this was before a lot of the brands who sourced bourbon came to the market in force. Yada yada yada, some were good and some were very young, expensive bourbon (and ryes), so I refocused my bourbon journey on the big boys who had been making bourbons for decades. That was until I started buying some of the bourbon and ryes from folks like High West and Barrell Craft Spirits, the latter of which produces some remarkable and innovative blends. Since then, I’m more open to trying some of the pure-brands out so I finally broke down and bought a bottle of the Sam Houston 15.
One thing I will say about this bottle, I love how much information they put on the label. This is a 15 years and 6 months old bourbon made from a mash bill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley. The bourbon was distilled and aged in Bardstown, KY (most likely by the Bardstown Bourbon Company as Bardstown produces the Calumet Farms bourbon) and bottled by Three Springs Bottling Company in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They used a #4 Char Level on the barrel and my bottle comes from Batch # MA-2. Each release is state-specific and made from very small batches, in this case only 3 barrels in the batch, which were barreled in April of 2006. Given the small batch size, there were only 528 bottles of the bourbon I’m tasting, my bottle being #19. Oh boy, that’s a lot of information.
Ok…enough preamble, let’s get on with the tasting.
ABV: 51.5%
Release: #7 from 2021
State Batch: MA-2
Batch Size: 3 Barrels
Bottle: #19 of 528
Barreled on Date: 04/2006
Age: 15 years, 6 months
Mash Bill: 74% Corn, 18% Rye, 8% Malted Barley
Char: #4
Price: $125 (I have seen prices up and down from $120 to $150 on this, I purchased mine for $125, after looking around at a few shops, so I will evaluate it at this price point)
How it smells….the vanilla is pronounced but it is much sweeter with some sugary marshmallows as well. You get a little of that mustiness from the age, in a good way. There’s also some stone fruit and a bit of the rye haystacks towards the end. Very pleasant overall.
How it tastes….concentrated vanilla and caramel kick it off, but it’s kept in check by a bit of that mustiness that we got on the nose. The oak makes an entrance at the end, but it’s not overpowering, and then the rye spice does a hit and run in your mouth, leaving a warm, drying cinnamon flavor and finishing with a malty semi-sweet chocolate note. Very smooth from start to finish.
Final thoughts….While I equated the Remus to a Rom-Com, the Sam was certainly love at first sight. The sip was very smooth from start to finish. The oak hints around the middle but never punches you in the face. The age shines through with that slight musty flavor, but a mustiness more akin to a well-aged earthy wine (my wife and I are fond of Brunello) than to an over-oaked bourbon. Sweet vanilla notes from the oak and corn dominate, but you also get flashes of baking spices and rye spice towards the end, particularly the cinnamon, before your mouth is left mulling over a semi-sweet chocolate inviting you back for another sip.
Compared to the Remus, I found the Sam more cohesive start to finish and a bit smoother. The Remus was a bit more rambunctious and feistier, but it was also a higher-rye profile in the mash bill with, by my math, around 30% on average versus only 18% with the Sam. I think both have a place on your shelf from a flavor perspective, as both elicit different experiences.
From a value perspective, things get a bit trickier when comparing it to the Remus. As I mentioned before, I was less impressed with my first sip of the Remus, but that bottle grew on me, and in the end, I think the experience is worth the ~$90 price tag. Head-to-head on taste alone though, I’m choosing Sam Houston all day long. I am really enjoying this one. When you factor in that the Sam only uses three barrels in their batch, that’s impressive. That means that all the barrels were good, and they weren’t sliding in some subpar barrels to fill out the required volume, hoping that the overall blend would cover up any single blemish. I couldn’t find any information on how many barrels or how many bottles of the Remus V was produced, but it’s MGP and they don’t do anything small as it just wouldn’t move the needle for them (financially). On the other side of the coin, you will have more consistency among the Remus bottles versus the Sam as the latter will be dependent on what that batch number is. Within Release No. 7 (which is what I am tasting) my Batch MA-2 may be significantly different from the AZ-4 or the CA-3. I can’t speak for the other batches, but I find Batch MA-2 to be a great sip. It is very smooth and easy sip, but at the same time it has a lot of interesting notes. The leathery and musty notes show the age, but it’s the rye spiciness and the warm baking spice notes that tie it all together.
The price tag is really the only thing holding back the Sam. At the $120 I paid for it, it’s 33% more expensive than the Remus and at 20% more expensive than a comparable bottle of Knob Creek 15 year ($100 price tag). I haven’t had Knob Creek 15 yet, but I’m going to have to pick one up and do a tasting to see how it compares to these two bottles. All things considered, at a minimum, the Sam Houston 15 Year MA-2 is a 3x 🥃 where I put the flavor at 4x 🥃 but knocking it down a peg due to the price premium. It is certainly an enjoyable bottle, even at $120, but like the Remus, I’m not going to buy a backup bottle, but I will still buy Release No. 8 when it comes to market in my area.
Nice Sipper Ratings Reminder…
All ratings are done on a scale between 1x 🥃 and 5x 🥃 according to the following criteria
1x 🥃 = I don't like this at all and/or not worth the cost by a mile.
2x 🥃🥃 = This is "meh" and/or slightly overpriced.
3x 🥃🥃🥃 = This is good stuff and/or the price is right.
4x 🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is wonderful and I'm always keeping it in stock especially at this price.
5x 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃 = This is amazing and/or this is way underpriced for the quality of the experience.
