Month: December 2019

We are already, unbelievably, on our 4th iteration of this Top 10 and as you can imagine it has been a very lively debate. We’ve been locked away in Bourbon Gents Headquarters with only shelves of bourbons to quench our thirst as we try to pick our favourite bourbons of 2019.

As per usual, the debate has been recorded, so if you wish you can listen in on what goes on behind the scenes and see how we’ve made these tough decisions – click here to listen.

For those of you who don’t want to hear the Bourbon Gents raw and unedited, then the full list can be found below.

But… before you dive in, here is a reminder of the rules that govern our choices for bourbons of the year;

The Rules

1. The list is open to any bourbon, no matter when it was released or when we tasted it. i.e. It is NOT exclusive to bourbons from 2019 or that we have tried in 2019.

2. Either Mav or Mr Pie must have actually tasted the bourbon for it to be in consideration.

3. The list does not have to reflect the Gents previous review scores.

4. This list is our list. You don't have to like it.

Sometimes the fates align and the Gents get very very lucky. This was one of those times as Mav was gifted this amazing bourbon and we had our first visit to the Parker’s Heritage Heaven Hill collection. It certainly wasn’t a disappointment.

Released in September 2018, this bourbon is between 7-8 years of age and bottled at 55% ABV then finished in Orange Curacao barrels. It did take us a while to really get into this one as the nose is, as you can probably imagine, way off the norm with huge amounts of chocolate orange overwhelming the bourbon notes. However, what awaits you on the palate is an absolute belter. Gone are the Orange flavours and instead, you get that well-known bourbon combo of oak, caramel and spice. This is a masterful display in craftmanship and we are at a loss as to how it was done. We can only stand and admire the art and salute them with a dram. Cheers!

The small batch is still the only E.H. Taylor entry in our Top 10. From start to finish, this is an absolute joy. There is a huge amount of complexity with this bourbon, tons of apple on the nose and a lovely baked hot apple pie aroma. Our review recommends stopping reading the review immediately and go and find a bottle now, nothing has changed, so seriously what are you waiting for? Go!

It is still here! Hanging on by a thread. If its current trajectory continues, Noah’s Mill will be out of the Top 10 in year 5. It is now the only bourbon which has made a showing in all of our Bourbon of the Year lists. The nose on this bourbon is to die for with a multitude of aromas fighting to reach your nostrils first. Toffee, caramel, raisins, chocolate and cashew are all in the mix. Each year, Mav fights to the bitter end to get this in the Top 10.

There are times when Mr Pie thinks he is sponsored by the Kentucky Bourbons Distillers to keep fighting its cause or could it be that it is just damned fine bourbon?

Our 2nd new entry this year, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is not for the fainthearted. Move over everyday bourbons, this is uncut, unfiltered, and a straight from the barrel powerhouse bourbon. There are 3 releases each calendar year, the one which gets into our Top 10 is from September 2016 and is rich with butterscotch, dark chocolate and coffee and if you happen to be wearing any socks when trying it, they will soon be blown off. There is a very apt quote from Jim Murray on Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, “this is bourbon for bourbon lovers with hairy chests, male or female”.

Retains its place in the Top 10 but drops down 3 places. Officially listed as our 2018 nose of the year for the Gents, the nose is full of buttered corn, mint, brown sugar, apple and tons of oak and it continues to be a favourite. A tad over 50% ABV but is such an easy everyday sipping bourbon for you to enjoy. Mr Pie most definitely was the flag-waver in keeping this in the Top 10 and even provided a 6-word review in our full version – Nose, tick! Palate, tick! Finish!

This is a very limited edition single barrel bourbon from Maker’s Mark exclusive to the Whisky Shop (UK) and uses a similar process that is used for the making of Maker’s 46. The whisky is finished in barrels containing a selection of flavoured staves. The staves used for this private select offering are listed as:

Seared French Cuvee

Maker’s 46

Roasted French Mocha

Toasted French Spice

We have a full review of this coming out very soon but to enter straight in the Top 5 of this list, you can guess what we thought of it. If you love chocolate caramel and coffee this is for you. When we say limited release, we mean it. There were only ever 252 bottles available of this but if you’re quick there are still a handful left in the country. Good luck!

Soaring into the Top 10 at number 4 (on another day it could have easily gone higher); this was always going to be a contender from the first time this bourbon hit our taste buds. This is our first and probably only bourbon that we have reviewed which comes with a money-back guarantee! That’s right if you buy this and don’t love it, we will return your money in full*

This Blanton’s hits that unique balance right between sweet and spice, between the corn and the rye. This is the one, from the first sniff to the first sip and then that super long finish it just oozes class. It’s complex, it’s beautiful, it’s rich, and it sticks around for so long that you can take your time in between each sip and just savour it.

*We won’t actually do this.

Mr Pie had to go and have a lay down after realising that Wild Turkey Decades had actually fallen one place from last year. However, staying in the Top 3 is still a very impressive achievement. Hand-selected barrels between 10 and 20 years of age, provides the whiskey which offers all the unmistakable notes that Wild Turkey brings to the glass, the way it walks the line between sweet and spice is sublime, the Gents can only applaud this show of skill and craftsmanship. Wild Turkey, the Gents salute you!

They say never meet your heroes because they’re sure to disappoint you, well this is the exception to the rule!

Henry McKenna Single Barrel has been on our wish list since 2017 and Mr Pie had long forgotten about signing up to be notified when this became available to buy again in the UK. One dark November evening, it happened, the email came in and all hell broke loose at Bourbon Gents HQ. A bourbon purists delight, it is bottled in bond, single barrel and 10 years of age. It ticks all the right boxes, what is there not to like here? With regards to the tasting notes (full review coming soon), there are caramel notes throughout with a near-perfect hit of rye grain spice. We’ve been following the hype with this whiskey for a long time now and we are absolutely delighted to have been able to join the party.

It’s happened again, for the third consecutive year Stagg takes the coveted number 1 spot.

Each year we start again with everything on a clean slate, we try as many different whiskies as we can (and our wallets allow) and endeavour to give each whiskey that we try a fair crack of the whip and judge them all equally. George T Stagg seems to unbeatable in our eyes and more importantly in our mouths.

The viscosity of the liquid in the bottle has to be seen to be believed and leaves treacle-like legs in the glass when swirled around. It has probably the finest nose the Gents have ever experienced and the sheer numbers of descriptors are almost infinite.

George T Stagg is the complete American Whiskey experience, and not that we need to justify its achievement, but it has achieved the highest combined score on our website and has also been awarded our first-ever (and so far only) 10 out of 10 score. Congratulations to Buffalo Trace, our hats are well and truly doffed.

Top 10 Posted - December 2019

The older you get, the faster the years seem to pass. We are already nearing the end of 2019 and it’s time for another of our Top 10 Wish lists.  All of our other previous Wishlist’s and all of our other Top 10 lists can all be found here

We only reached the 20% mark when looking back at what we had managed to try from last year’s list (we really must do better). The two we did purchase were the Maker’s Mark Private Select (The Whisky Shop Batch 002) and the now easily obtainable Wild Turkey Longbranch. Reviews are imminent for both.

As our whiskey wishes are personal, we don’t usually contrive this list together. So, like previous years we have the difficult task of choosing our own 5 before we sit down and decide on where they sit within the Top 10.

So, without further delay here is our Wish List of 2019.

For anyone who follows bourbon through social media, the name Pinhook should not be a new one to you. The social media exposure is working its magic on the Bourbon Gents as we are now very eager to try one of their whiskeys. The USP for this whiskey is that each year Pinhook will release a new bourbon and rye, each of which is connected to a promising young thoroughbred horse! Each whiskey (150 bourbon barrels and 50 rye barrels from MGP we imagine) is blended and proofed to be as unique as the horse on the label. There are too many releases to list here so visit Pinhook for the complete low down. We would be happy to sample their latest 4-year-old bourbon from the Vertical Series.

Only introduced as recently as 2017, this bourbon is from Master Distiller Freddie Noe. The name ‘Little Book’ comes from Freddie’s own childhood nickname that was bestowed upon him by the late, great, Booker Noe.

Currently, on its 3rd release (chapter 3), this one is the first to be label ‘Kentucky Straight Whiskey’ and is made up of a blend of - Booker’s, Knob Creek, Baker’s & Basil Hayden.  We are really excited to try this one but our hopes of finding it in the bars of the UK are rather low.

Probably the rarest whiskey we have ever wished for. This really is a legend of a whiskey with a complicated background (sorry, wonderful story). We are not even going to explicitly list which bourbon or rye we wish for, any one of them would suffice.

These are very rare Kentucky straight bourbons and rye whiskeys of varying ages between 8 and 25 years. They were produced and exported to the Japanese market where originally the demand for older whiskey was far greater than in the US. Where they are sourced from is very difficult to say for certain, Van Winkle? Willet? Heaven Hill? Unfortunately, we don’t have a scooby, no matter how many times we google it. If anyone can point us in the right direction, then please let us know.

The Gents were lucky enough to receive one of the heritage releases earlier this year (Orange Curacao review coming soon) and would very much enjoy trying this rye edition too.

The Heritage Collection, which honors the late (and also great) Parker Beam, is released yearly and, as well as the above mentioned Orange Curacao edition, it has also seen a cask strength wheat whiskey and a malt whiskey aged 8 years.

The Gents are very interested to see what else springs from this series in the future.

A little bit of a cop-out here we will grant you. However, as it’s not been on our wish list before, please forgive us. We’ve never been close to getting hold of this or even trying it out in the wild. One of the famous five members of the yearly Buffalo Trace Antique Collection release. This is an uncut and unfiltered straight rye whiskey. The 2019 offering was distilled in the Spring of 2013, 6 years and 2 months old and bottled at a whopping 125.7 proof. Review notes we’ve read describe it as raisin notes throughout with butterscotch and vanilla! Want!

New Riff describes this bourbon as a high-rye, full-bodied whiskey offering a savory, spicy character, bottled at Barrel Proof without Chill Filtration. Featuring a mash bill of non-GMO grains at 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley. Which sounds pretty damn good to us. Of course, they could have just said “look at our bottle it’s fricking awesome” and that would have made us want it too.

This one really doesn’t need much of an explanation. The single barrel expression really surprised the Gents when we first tried it, so a full proof version of that sounds like heaven in a glass to us. This is one on the list that we actually likely to experience in the next 12 months and for that we are glad.

Sometimes it’s easier to just let the marketing men speak - Barrell Craft Spirits, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is an independent blender and bottler of unique aged, cask-strength sourced whiskey, that is increasingly being recognized for its blending expertise. We conceive of, design, launch, and talk about Spirits with a focus on what people want now and not what has been successful in the past. This affords us access to some of the most interesting and delicious spirits in the world.

Well, it worked on us.

This bourbon was on our drafted wish list long before Jim Murray named it World Whiskey of the Year for 2020 (we checked with our Compliance Department and have received full clearance to mention Jim Murray). We’ve dabbled previously with a couple of 1792’s offerings and have also reviewed the small batch fully. Reviews of the Full Proof are laden with burnt sugar, toffee, and smoky descriptors. Bottled at its original 125-barrel entry proof, this will hopefully be worth the chase. Let’s hope it’s worth it, especially the extra pounds which it will now no doubt have assigned to the purchase price.

Let’s not forget, dreams do come true. When this site first started, not only could you read our inane ramblings, but you could also listen to those same inane ramblings through our regular podcasts. Many times, we would pontificate that we would probably never get the opportunity to try any of the Pappy Van Winkle range. Move forward 3 years and we only have 1 left on the list to try which is Pappy’s very limited release of their Rye Whiskey. Now we’re not fussy, we’d be happy to try any of these yearly rye releases. This years 13 year old at 45.2% ABV will do nicely.

Top 10 Posted - December 2019