I’m a Bulleit fan. I love its barrel strength releases, I’ve done single barrel picks there and I love its 10-year products. But all of those came from elsewhere, and I was ready to see what the home team could do this time.
This whiskey is all about toasted aromas and flavors being superbly integrated. I’ll take this whiskey over any purposely “toasted” release I can think of because those notes aren’t all barrel and new lumber.
This high-proof release is in my sweet spot for wheated bourbon. Below 100 proof, wheated bourbon is unassertive and short on spice for my palate. As Maker’s Mark Cask Strength proved years ago, magic happens in wheated bourbon proofed well past the century mark.
The nose is laden with honey, caramel, spring flowers and a little ripe banana. Hints of white pepper and cinnamon come next with a whiff of mint thrown in. Those same aromas become flavors that form the backbone of this this middleweight spirit.
While all three are solid tequilas, the price-to-value equation doesn’t work out compared to so many other excellent bottles available for much less. The gorgeous packaging and the premium, celebrity-backed market positioning surely pushes prices northward.
What surprises me is the finish, which doesn’t linger, is not all that warm and is neither immediately tannic nor drying–attributes I expected from such lengthy oak interaction.
Tasting this for the first time is like meeting your grandfather before you ever met your father, and by virtue of his age, his stature is immediately more meaningful.
This liquid is its own animal, a whiskey that, tasted blind, might fool a few folks into thinking it’s a low-rye bourbon. Get a bottle and let the fun begin.
If someone can find flaws in this, you’re either a freak of nature who’s going to teach us all something we didn’t know or you’re nuts and making things up.
No one ever regrets buying a bottle of ECBP because it always delivers, never disappoints and always makes people smile when you pour them some.
