Noah's Mill Small Batch Kentucky Bourbon

VITALS:
- $50
- 114.3 Proof
- NAS

This is one of those bottles I've been meaning to get around to purchasing (Lord knows I love Willett juice), and probably would have done so in the near future if it weren't for the fact that I received a bottle as a birthday present from my bourbon-loving neighbor. He certainly did right by me!

Noah's Mill is the higher end bourbon, so to speak, out of Willett Distillery's regular offerings, or at least the older brother to Rowan's Creek. It's usually pretty available, though for a couple months this past Summer it couldn't be found anywhere by me for some reason.

The nose is primarily cinnamon, telling me right away that this is a high-rye bourbon, that it's going to be good and spicy. There's also a lot of wood on the nose as well, which tells me it has some decent age to it, despite that the label doesn't tell you.

On the palate, that cinnamon carried over. In fact, it carried over a lot. I've written in the past about vanilla bombs in bourbon, but this is the first I've tried that I would describe as a cinnamon bomb. It's heavy, like Big Red in a bottle.

Don't get me wrong, other flavors are their, but they are all so intertwined in the cinnamon that it becomes a part of the flavor. There's a long-lasting cinnamon-vanilla throughout, and the flavor really sticks to the back of the throat long after the pour. That vanilla lends to a nice, creamy texture to the bourbon and really makes the cinnamon-heavy nature enjoyable.

On the back end, there's a cooling cinnamon-fresh mint flavor as well. This I found interesting, as it seemed to be trying to transform the flavor, but after I had swallowed. While it ultimately couldn't quite overpower the cinnamon, it, again, gave enough to make the heavy cinnamon flavor enjoyable and keep me coming back for more pours.

As the bourbon breathed a little, at times I found myself noticing a distinct gingerbread flavor. It wasn't readily present, but I caught the flavor time and time again as I enjoyed each glass. Perhaps it was just the vanilla and cinnamon coming together to create that familiar flavor, or perhaps it was something else altogether lurking in the background, but it really was good.

All in all, this bourbon is what I would expect from a $50 bottle--high proof, robust and complex flavors, its own, distinct character, and so tasty that it leaves me wanting more and more.

Grade: B+ / A-