Evan Williams Master Blend Kentucky Straight Bourbon (Gift Shop Exclusive)

VITALS:

- $60

- 90 Proof

- NAS

- Kentucky

Whenever I go to Kentucky, I always feel like I have to come back with something special, something that I can't get in Illinois. Of course, it's always easy to go the route of a local store pick, but it's the stuff that's only available at the distillery gift shops that I really want to try to bring home. Luckily for me, during my last trip to Louisville I had a brief moment to swing through the Evan Williams Experience, and I was able to snag a couple bottles of this Master Blend (I passed on the over-priced Evan Williams 12-year).

This is a blend of five different Evan Williams products, including their Signature Black, the Bottled-in-Bond, 1783 and Evan Williams Single Barrel, as well as some of the 23-year-old! Of course, how much of the 23-year-old is in this blend is not disclosed, but I think it's a fair assumption that it represents a very small percentage of the blend. Nonetheless, this came highly recommended to me, and I was eager to give it a try.

The nose came across as sweet but earthy. My first note was sweet tea. It had that honey sweetness to it, but also a light bitter and dry note from the tea leaves. I also got some sweet oak as well. In that sense the nose was interesting in that it had a balance of bitter and sweet, though it did lean a bit more to the sweeter end, so perhaps "balance" wasn't the correct word.

Despite the lower proof, there was a certain unexpected richness to this whiskey. It still had that sweet wood note I got off the nose, but it was more of a mix of dark molasses and rich oak notes. The combination worked fairly well.  

There was also a bright and bitter note, kind of like an orange peel note, that I really enjoyed. It seemed to cut through the rich notes while adding further depth of flavor. It also had the tea leaf note from the nose, but it didn't come across so much as a sweet tea. Rather, the unsweetened tea note seemed to stand on its own.

On the finish I got a nice cinnamon spice that seemed to almost appear out of nowhere.  That was a pleasant surprise. That and the orange peel note seemed to stick around the longest, while the oak and molasses notes seemed to fade away a bit. The finish wasn't very long and it didn't exactly coat my mouth, but that's to be expected given the proof.

If you're in Kentucky and are looking to bring something back that you can't get in your home state, this is a good grab. At $60, it's far more accessible than many other gift shop exclusives (though, for Evan Williams products, a bit on the higher end), and it was quite tasty.

Grade: B

Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:
- $11
- 100 Proof
- NAS

This is another one of the bottom-shelf bourbons that I just can't find anywhere in Illinois (though I understand it is available), so I grabbed a bottle while I was in Louisville last month. I'm quickly running short on my stash that I had built up during that trip. Though I hadn't planned on grabbing a bottle of the Evan Williams BIB, at only $11 it was hardly a gamble.

That being said, I'm glad that $11 is all I spent. This bourbon really comes across as a sub-par example of bourbon, something that I would really only use as a mixer, and, quite frankly, that's predominantly what this bottle was used for.

The nose gives off the traditional vanilla and caramel flavors, and leans more toward the caramel end. After getting that first sniff, I was hoping that I had found myself a gem on the lower shelf.

However, upon tasting it, the bourbon just comes across as watery and simple. Sure, it has the typical vanilla, but it lacked in the sweetness that I drew me to bourbon in the first place. Beyond that, it came across as dry and woody. Rather than mix with the wood and develop complex flavors, it simply took on the wood flavor and not much else.

This bourbon is also very watery in texture, and I just didn't really enjoy it as a sipper. As noted above, it just came across as a below-average bourbon, not like the Heaven Hill BIB which is a steal at this price point.

I ultimately ended up using this bourbon for making Old Fashioned's whenever the mood hit me. Even for this purpose, though, I think a sweeter, more robust bourbon would have made for a better cocktail.

Again, at the price point, it was worth the gamble, and I'm not exactly disappointed. However, knowing that there are quality bourbons, even sipping bourbons to be had at this price point, the Evan Williams BIB just doesn't stack up.

Grade: C-

Evan Williams Single Barrel 2006 Vintage Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

VITALS:
- $30
- 86 Proof
- 11 years

Evan Williams Single Barrel is one of those bottles that I've seen on the shelves over and over again, but for one reason or another have grabbed something else.  Maybe the label just doesn't sell me well enough, or perhaps my mood just never moved me to grab it.  Whatever the reason, for some time it has been one of those bourbons that I knew was out there and I wanted to try, but kept putting off.

Well, it finally made it into my basket, home to my cabinet, and eventually into my glass.  Now don't get me wrong, I did not go into thinking that this is the next great bourbon or that it is something rare and special. As I noted, I've seen it everywhere.  What I was expecting, though, was a good, traditional bourbon, well-made and consistent through the last drop.  In that respect, I got exactly what I was expecting.

The nose is very soft, with no alcohol burn on the nostrils, but also with mild scents of caramel and vanilla.  There was nothing overpowering here, and I hoped that the bourbon itself would not come across as weak.

Luckily, there was nothing to be feared here. This is a very sweet bourbon, following the normal palate of flavors one would expect from a Kentucky Bourbon.  If anything, this one is heavier on the brown sugar notes than others, but still had those traditional vanilla and caramel flavors.  The vanilla, however, reminded me more of natural vanilla bean than usual, kind of like the difference between regular vanilla ice cream and vanilla bean ice cream.  Although subtle, the difference is noticeable and very enjoyable.

In my first few pours of this bourbon I noted on the back end a sour, acidic note that unfortunately followed the up-front sweetness and then lingered on the palate for a bit.  Because of how sweet this bourbon is on the front end, I was a bit surprised by the flavor on the back end.

However, about half-way through the bottle that sour, acidic note completely disappeared, allowing me to enjoy the bourbon flavors in full without the disappointment. The vanilla flavor seemed to grow stronger with each glass as well, but it never got to the point that it ruined the flavor. It just took on a different shade is all.

All in all, this is a good-but-not-great bourbon.  It is certainly well-above average, but doesn't do anything to stand out among the crowd, and my grade leaves it right there in that crowd of bourbons I've reviewed.

Grade: B