Eagle Rare Warehouse Liquors Single Barrel Select "Sky" Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- 40

- 90 Proof

- 10 Years

- Barrel No. 004

- Kentucky

I've got a little bit of a back-stock of Eagle Rare store picks, including a few from Warehouse Liquors, which is a good thing because Eagle Rare picks seem to have dried up a bit. I can't remember the last time I heard of any of my shops getting one in. For that reason, I've been hesitant to open the ones I have.

However, about a month ago I did the obligatory Yellowstone road-trip with the kids, and we stayed in Idaho with family friends, one of which is my old drinking buddy before we both moved. So, I figured vacation is as good of a reason as any to grab one of my Eagle Rare store picks, among a few other bottles, to open and enjoy with good company.  While I identified this as "Sky" in the title, this is not the original "Sky" (Barrel No. 196) that has the almost cult following. This one was released in 2019.

The nose was more or less what I expect from Eagle Rare. I got rich notes of caramel along with a warm cinnamon spice. It also had some dark chocolate notes, adding some richness and even just a touch of bitterness.  I also got notes of peanut and orange peel, which was interesting. It also had a bit of a yeasty quality, like bread dough.

The flavor was very cinnamon forward. It definitely had that spice that I noticed immediately on the tip of my tongue and that lingered at the back of my throat.  Along with that cinnamon spice, I also got a rich amaretto liqueur note. The two worked really well together, along with a nutty hazelnut note that worked very well with the dark chocolate.  It was like a rich, nutty, boozy bonbon.

There was a sort of fruit-forward quality to it as well, though I got a light amount of Maraschino cherry, along with a kind of sweet plum note. On later pours the cherry note seemed to come forward even more, and it became more of a fresh cherry note that I really enjoyed.

On the finish the cinnamon really seemed to dominate. That spicy finished seemed to linger at the back of my throat for quite some time. I also got a really tasty blackberry note that accompanied it. This combo was absolutely delicious, and, despite the low proof, the flavor seemed to stick around forever.

At first this came across as somewhat one-dimensional. But, just a couple pours in, all these fruit notes came in to complement the caramel and cinnamon notes in a way that just worked. And the finish was by far my favorite part, as that cinnamon and blackberry combination was do delicious. I may have to make it a point to get around to opening my other bottles.

Grade: A-