Eagle Rare Liquor 'n' Wine Single Barrel Select Barrel No. 116 Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $30 (375 ml)

- 90 Proof

- 10 Years

- Barrel No. 116

- Kentucky

I don't get there frequently, but every so often I make it a point to visit a couple of the local Liquor 'n' Wine liquor stores that are near me. They're not big stores, each one seems to be independently owned, and they can have a slight mark-up at times (and a BIG mark-up on the Pappy and BTAC lines). But, At times I find stuff that is worth grabbing, such as the Willett Family Estate bottles I found a while back, and most recently, this Eagle Rare pick.

Not everyone is getting Eagle Rare picks in, and when they do, they seem to get snapped up. I've started to amass a collection of Eagle Rare store picks, and so, even at $30 for the half-sized bottle, I was quick to grab this one off the shelf. I haven't had enough picks from this store to know if their tastes are in line with mine, but given how much I enjoyed this bottle, they just might be.

On the nose I immediately got a lot of toffee and chocolate notes. It reminded me a lot of a Heath bar (something I seemingly only eat when rummaging through my kids' Halloween haul).  I also got a sweet cereal type note that somewhat reminded me of Honey Nut Cheerios.  I even got a sweet peach tea note that I really enjoyed. 

As for flavor, it was full of caramel, as would be expected, but it didn't come with the expected sweetness. It was a bit downplayed in this, which for me really worked. The caramel mixed well with the coffee notes, which also weren't sweet but were more along the lines of dark chocolate or cacao.  

There was something nutty to it, kind of like walnut, even with that light bitterness that I always get from walnut. That was offset, however, by a toasted marshmallow note that really kind of brought everything together into one cohesive dessert, yet without making anything too sweet. At times I even got a cotton candy note, but again, it was never enough to make this overly sweet. It just added that additional layer of flavor.

The finish was probably my favorite part of this bourbon.  I got chocolate and caramel that seemed to linger forever. It reminded me of really good chocolates, like those Ghirardelli chocolate caramel squares. It was absolutely delicious and I found myself just enjoying that finish for quite a while before going for my next sip. 

I wish I had a bigger bottle of this. It seemed to go way too fast, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, and I'll absolutely be keeping an eye out for future picks from them!

Grade: A-