A first sip serves up fruit and spice: golden apples, ripe banana, cinnamon, cocoa and a bit of black pepper. Keep after it and you get a bourbon toddy that, given its high corn and wheat mashbill, needs no warming or honey; it’s sweet and subtle enough on its own.
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.
The product development team at Chattanooga is a prolific bunch, churning out endless experiments with–based on those I’ve tasted–terrific outcomes.
The 2024 Buffalo Trace Antique Collection is back, and yeah, we know—it’s been talked about more than your buddy’s “secret” bourbon stash. So, we’re flipping the script.
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.
Campari could have easily made this another three-figure limited edition like Generations, but they didn’t. I’m not sure who we thank for that, but I’d like to think Jimmy had some input.
The whiskey is light on the nose and not overly complex, which belies its high rye content. Still, there are pleasant aromas to savor. Honey, cherry blossom, maple syrup and toasted oak lead the way with some pleasant powdered donut notes bringing up the rear.
The nose is surprisingly sweet with notes of sweet corn and cherry pie filling dominating the glass. Think of a Hostess Cherry Pie. I was blown away by how sweet this was. This is not your typical craft bourbon.
Where long-aged Scotches deliver abundant delicate fruit and flowers, this intense KoK is like breathing in the aromas of a fresh box of Russell Stover candy while walking through a cigar shop downwind from a BBQ joint.
On the nose comes ripe apple, fresh raspberries, cooked cherries, pipe tobacco, dried roses and charred oak. Cinnamon stick, clove and espresso join forces to deliver complexity. Collectively, the aroma is that of a cool, and humid rickhouse; heavenly.
