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.
I personally enjoyed the 2022 and 2023 Gatsby releases a little more than this one. It’s still a very solid bourbon that drinks well above its age statement (more on that below), but it’s also quite different from previous releases.
I’ve tasted better Booker’s releases for my palate, but there isn’t much to nitpick with this one, especially if you’re a fan of Beam’s drier and more peppery barrel-proof bourbons. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love Jimmy Russell?
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.
If Preservation is already achieving that combination of rich fruit and ponderous dark notes at 6.5 years, that’s exciting. To enter the Preservation Wheated Bourbon’s flavor journey at the trailhead is a fun place to be, and now I look forward to every forthcoming release.
The palate leads with cedar, bitter chocolate, new oak, clove and black pepper. It leaves the tongue tingling more than burning, but either way, it’s spicy beyond what you normally encounter with 96 proof.
It’s truly dynamic on the palate, shifting from toasted oak to baked fruit then twisting sideways to toasted cinnamon bread and poached spiced apples. Every sip lays down another layer of dark flavors (tobacco, fig a little leather) to build up the rich finish.
There is zero, zip, nada to dislike about this whiskey except for the egregious price. If you’ve got the money to get it, get it. You’ll thank me for it.
When I first tasted all three, I thought they were “tight,” i.e. needing some head space in the bottle and time to loosen up a bit. After many weeks and revisits, they did round off nicely, so I set out to review all three.
