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Russell’s Reserve Straight Rye Whiskey 6 Year Old
Kicking off July 4th weekend with some new rye reviews. Today we will be sipping a Russell’s Reserve Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey aged for 6 years. As the namesake brand of father/son master distiller duo, Jimmy and Eddie Russell from Wild Turkey, I am expecting great things from this release. Will it live up to the expectations?
Trader Joe’s Kentucky Bourbon
Private labeled Buffalo Trace or 1792 Bourbon? Or just another internet tinfoil hat theory? Today we sip the very affordable Trader Joe’s Kentucky Bourbon to see if what people are saying is too good to be true or not.
Weller Special Reserve
After quite a bit of a hiatus, Nice Sipper is back with a review of the much hyped (and price inflated) Weller Special Reserve. Is it worth all the fuss? If so, at what cost?
Old Forester 100 Proof Bourbon
Not only will we be talking about the Old Forester 100 proof today, but we also have a special Halloween video titled “The Sipper: The Death of Value Bourbon” that was a lot of fun to make, so we hope you enjoy it!
Buffalo Trace Bourbon
Buffalo Trace Bourbon is a staple bourbon for many people. It used to be readily available at nearly every liquor store that sold any other bourbon besides Jim and Jack, but then demand spiked ahead of the supply build up and this little gem got put allocation. Let’s see if this old faithful holds up.
Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel
Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel is a limited release which puts the base Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon into a second barrel for additional aging, except this one is a toasted barrel instead of the Level 3 char used for the Small Batch. A lot of distilleries have a Toasted Oak release these days, but are they worth the extra money?
Thomas S. Moore Bourbon Finished in Cabernet Sauvignon Casks
We will be tasting another release from Thomas S. Moore, this time the Cabernet Sauvignon finish. These bourbons were first aged for 5-6 years in the traditional American Oak casks and then underwent an “extended cask finish” for up to 4 additional years, making the unofficial age statement in the 9-10 range (plus or minus). I liked the Chardonnay Cask Finish, but thought it was a little overpriced, let’s see how the big bold Napa Cab interacted with the core 1792 bourbon.
Maker’s Mark Private Selection
Next up is Maker’s Mark Private Selection by @TheWhiskyGuys of Gordon’s Wine. The private selection program at Maker’s allows you to pick a combination of 10 staves from 5 different stave groups. This creates 1,001 possible combinations of staves….click to read more about this alchemy….
Knob Creek 9 Year
Knob Creek 9 is, what I would refer to, the higher end entry level bottle for the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection. At 100 proof, it’s a also affordable. But does it taste good? Let’s find out….
Woodford Reserve Bourbon
Our next review stars an up-and-coming young talent, Joey the Horse. Joey and I hung out the other week and decided to crack open a bottle of Woodford Reserve Bourbon. He had read that this was the preferred bourbon of the Kentucky Derby and while he never had what it takes to make it to The Run for the Roses, a horse can have its dreams….
Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
Bourbon shot to punish your friends while you were in your early 20’s? Or a great value bourbon sipper to enjoy in adulthood?
Old Overholt Straight Rye
Today’s review, in celebration of “World Whiskey Day”, is Old Overholt Rye. Yes, that dusty bottle on the bottom of your local store’s shelf……
1792 Single Barrel Bourbon
The 1792 Single Barrel Bourbon is a “Limited Edition”, not to say that these are one-time releases, they’re just not as readily available as their staple, the Small Batch Bourbon. All of the 1792 bourbons have a nice little color coded band on the neck of the bottle to help you easily identify them, which I am thankful for as it can be hard to distinguish which is which when you have multiple types way back in the old booze cabinet. The Single Barrel is an off-white/cream color. …
Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey
Another cheap-but-great whiskey is the Sazerac Straight Rye, colloquially known as “Baby Sazerac” to distinguish it from its older sibling, the 18 year old BTAC annual release.
It is commonly believed (via the whiskey diehards on the internet) that this is a 6 year old Rye with a mash bill of 51% Rye, 39% corn and 10% malted barley. What we do know is that it is labeled as a “Straight Rye” without a specific age statement so it is at least 4 years old. I don’t believe anyone has ever confirmed the mash bill, but people seem to believe that this is the one rye mash bill that Buffalo Trace makes (Sazerac is made by Buffalo Trace, who is in fact owned by Sazerac, confusing? Sure). Let’s see how this one fared…
1792 Small Batch Bourbon
Apologies dear reader, I inadvertently have been reviewing some higher priced bottles, so I will focus my next few reviews on lower price point whiskeys as while I enjoy nice bottles, I love finding undervalued gems even more.
1792 Small Batch Bourbon is made by the Barton distillery which is owned by Sazerac who also owns Buffalo Trace and all of their great whiskeys. The Small Batch Bourbon is the core product for 1792, but they also have a slew of other “Limited Edition Expressions” including Sweet Wheat (I’ll be reviewing that in the near future), Single Barrel (same), and Full Proof (same), as well as Bottled in Bond, 12 Year Old, High Rye, and Port Finish, each of which I would love to review once I get my hands on them.
Four Roses Small Batch Select
Four Roses Small Batch Select is a bourbon made from 6-7 year old barrels using both of Four Roses’ mash bills and three of their proprietary yeast strains (V, F, and K), making this a blend of 6 different flavor profiles. Look through the pictures with this post to see a breakdown of the mash bills and yeast strains and the target flavor profiles for each.