Charleston Distilling Co. Vesey's Liquor 'n' Wine Single Barrel Select Straight Bourbon Whiskey

VITALS:

- $50

- 94 Proof

- 4 Years

- Barrel No. 52

- South Carolina

This is one of those bottles where I had never even heard of Charleston Distilling Co., let alone considered trying their products, prior to seeing it on the shelf. Even on the shelf it wasn't something that stuck out to me, and if it weren't for the clerk behind the counter handing me a sample as I perused the shelves, I probably would have never given it a thought.

But, as I stood in that bourbon aisle, I tried that sample he gave me, and it was pretty good. It wasn't great, and it didn't knock my socks off or anything. But, here was this single barrel bourbon, aged at least four years, distilled by the same company bottling it, and it was a private pick. So, for the $50 price tag, I figured this was worth giving a chance.

The aroma carried many of those traditional bourbon notes, including caramel and brown sugar. There was a rich dark fruit note, kind of like a cherry but without the tartness. It also had a nutty note, like walnuts. Altogether, it all made for a surprisingly great nose!

Right up front I got that traditional caramel note, but this was immediately followed by a note that caught me off-guard a bit. At first I thought it was something vegetal, and then it hit me that what I was getting was a coffee note. It wasn't bitter, but it definitely had that flavor.  I was also getting notes of walnut and baked apple, and a whole lot of corn, kind of like corn bread.

On later pours, the apple note took on more of a Granny Smith apple note. It did develop not only some tartness, but also some brightness in the flavor. The caramel persisted, though, which was a nice complement to that Granny Smith note.  It was different, but it was a good different.  With young whiskeys I often get an over-ripe apple note, and that's not what this was. Rather, it was just a good, tart Granny Smith with some caramel.

I didn't get any apple notes on the nose. Rather, the focus there was sweet caramel on the finish, and something that reminded me of sandalwood.  Not that I've spent any time in a workshop cutting sandalwood, but if I did, I'd imagine that the taste of the air is the flavor I was getting here. The cornbread note also stuck around a bit, making for a kind of an odd, disjointed finish.

Overall, I left this bottle thinking I'd like to try more of what Charleston Distilling has to offer. While it seemed to stray from traditional bourbon notes, it was still quite tasty, and I found myself enjoying pour after pour.

Grade: B

Ezra Brooks Distiller's Collection Liquor 'n' Wine Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $30

- 107 Proof

- 4 1/2 years

- Barrel No. 7415603

- Kentucky

Much like Buffalo Trace and Knob Creek, these Ezra Brooks store picks are quickly becoming must-buys when I find them. The price is great, and certainly free of any concerns over potential buyer's remorse. For $30, what's the worst that can happen?? Plus the proof adds to that value at 107 proof. Add to that the age statement (even it it is a bit young), and the result is a value whiskey.

Plus, what I've had of these has been really good!  Young age aside, Lux Row has been putting out some solid products with their Ezra Brooks line, as well as their Rebel line. And the fact that these are part of their barrel pick program just makes them that much better!! I've had a number of whiskeys picked by the folks at Liquor 'n' Wine, and while I won't necessarily go so far as to say their palate lines up with mine completely, I will go so far as to say I've never been let down by one of their picks. Again . . . value!!

The nose on this one was great! I immediately got notes of graham cracker and chocolate, very dessert like in this respect. I also got a peanut note, with a little bit of salt to go with. On top of that, though, there was something bright to the aroma, like a fresh peach or melon. While melon, peanuts, chocolate and graham cracker don't sound on paper like a great combo, here I couldn't get enough of it. 

The flavor mostly followed suit, as again the first thing I noticed was that graham cracker note. However, the chocolate note was nowhere to be found. Instead I got the salty peanut note as well as a black pepper note that hit the tip of my tongue immediately with each sip.

From there, it seemed to develop into a bit of a Luxardo cherry note, rich and deep, teetering on sweet but not quite getting there. Unfortunately, I enjoyed this note much more on the earlier pours. As I made my way through this bottle, that great Luxardo cherry note seemed to develop into a fake, cough syrup-like cherry note, and that flavor is consistently a turn off for me. It reminded me of Woodford Reserve in that respect, and unfortunately, once I hone in on that note, I just can't seem to get past it.

The finish was interesting, as it reminded me of a cinnamon liqueur, hearkening back to my high school days of shooting Goldschlager and wondering if it'd make me pee gold.  Those are somewhat bittersweet memories for me. I also got a sort of pencil shaving note. I know it seems like a weird tasting note, but I feel that anybody that had classrooms with those hand-crank sharpeners mounted to the wall knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

If only this bourbon drank the way it smelled, I would have absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and the fake cherry note just really didn't work for me. Plus the finish was simply weird. Not horrible, just weird. That said, I'm not walking away from this thinking I overpaid, and the next time I see an Ezra Brooks store pick on the shelf, I'll most certainly be bringing it home.

Grade: C+

Yellowstone Liquor 'n' Wine Private Barrel Select Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:

- $35

- 93 Proof

- 4 Years

- Kentucky

I'm a sucker for store picks.  And I'm even more of a sucker for very affordable store picks. That's why my whiskey closet is always stocked with at least one Buffalo Trace, Elijah Craig, Eagle Rare and Knob Creek pick at any given moment. They are all solid bourbons on their own, and I love the possibility and hope of getting something phenomenal at a great price. While it doesn't happen every time, it happens often enough to make it well worth the spend.

I don't come across Yellowstone picks nearly as frequently. But, when I was meandering through the aisles of my local Liquor 'n' Wine a couple months back, this one caught my eye, and for $35, it was an easy decision to buy it. Generally speaking, to me regular Yellowstone has been good but not necessarily great. But, I figure the odds were in my favor that whatever was in this bottle was not likely to be any worse, and there was a good chance I'd get something better and at a great price.

On the nose I got a lot of brown sugar and caramel. It was certainly sweet, but that richer sweet. Interestingly, I got a light bitter note, almost a tannic note, which was surprising given the relatively young age of the whiskey. It also had a light black pepper and cinnamon spice to it, as well as a touch of almond.

My initial impressions of the flavor were that the sweetness was there, but it came across as muted. It was almost as though it had the caramel flavor but without the caramel sweetness. It was kind of odd in this respect.

I also got some funky flavors as well. I noted at one point that I got a bit of mustiness, and from time to time that mustiness came across as a leathery flavor. Either way it had an earthiness to it that, if this were a sweeter bourbon, would have been fine. Here, however, I wasn't a big fan.

Throughout the bottle, at least up until the last couple pours, the flavor remained a bit muted. I did get some more interesting notes, like a bright, citrusy orange note as well as a toasted almond type note. I even got a sort of a coffee note, perhaps that bitterness I was getting on the nose. It reminded me of a macchiato.  I really felt like this drank like an older bourbon, one with 15+ years, given the amount of wood and bitterness I was getting. 

Interestingly, ad I've had this happen before, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise, but the last two pours from the bottom of this bottle were absolutely outstanding. They were sweeter, had a bit more cinnamon spice, and were absolute caramel bombs. A lot of the bitterness completely subsided.  If the entire bottle struck me the way these last two pours did, this would have easily been an A+ bottle. They were that good! I only wish every other pour could have been as good. That said, funky notes aside, I'll still be keeping my eye out for more Yellowstone picks, even if just to relive the experience of those last two pours.

Grade: B

Buffalo Trace Liquor 'n' Wine Single Barrel Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon

VITALS:
- $25

- 90 Proof

- NAS

- Kentucky

As far as my whiskey hobby goes, I feel like I'm pretty lucky living where I live. Not only do I have a Binny's just minutes from my home, but I can spend 20 minutes driving from my house and back and hit up five different liquor stores other than Binny's, all of which have decent to very good whiskey selections, all of which get their own store picks from time to time, and nearly all have great craft beer selections. It's even the envy of some of my friends who live a bit farther away.

This is just another such example.  Liquor 'n' Wine is a local chain here in the Western Suburbs of Chicago with I believe five different locations. They do get the highly sought after allocated stuff like BTAC and Pappy, and they do sell those bottles at a hefty mark-up (sold in packages with 6-7 other bottles that most people looking for these things would otherwise not be interested in). But, I still pop in from time to time, without even glancing at what's on the shelves behind the counter, and go straight to the bourbon wall just for bottles like this where, for $25, I know I'm getting a solid if not really good whiskey.

The nose was interesting.  I've come to expect a certain profile from Buffalo Trace, and this one was just slightly off.  Sometimes with store picks that's a good thing, sometimes its bad.  Here, I wasn't really sure which way this one fell. It had that caramel note I expected, but there were also some spices and bitterness. I got pumpkin pie notes, as well as a rich espresso note on the nose. Don't get me wrong, it smelled sweet, and I even got some delicious chocolate caramel notes at times, but it definitely had some more earthy spices and bitterness to offset.

As to flavor, the brown sugar and caramel that I expected to be there was certainly front and center. It immediately struck me as a sweeter bourbon, as I got minimal spice up front. That brown sugar and caramel eventually seemed to turn into a cola note, and then in later pours into a cherry cola note. I actually really enjoyed these notes.

However, somewhere in the middle of each taste other flavors seemed to pop in, some good and some not so great. As to the good, I got a root beer note, not like the super sugary root beer you get off the shelves at the grocery store, but one of those more flavorful specialty root beers that derive their flavor from something other than a cup of sugar per 12 ounces. 

However, I the cherry notes I was getting at times leaned towards anise flavor, and when they did this it seemed to come on a bit strong. Some people might like this. I, however, did not.  Also, throughout this bottle I got this really weird note that I likened to wet cardboard. Now, I certainly don't hang out on my couch eating cardboard every night while watching Food Network. But, I've certainly tasted cardboard before, as have most people I'm pretty sure, and this is what I was reminded me of.  Not my favorite of tasting notes I've ever had. 

The wet carboard note aside, this was still a very solid pour, especially for $25, and I won't ever stop buying these when I see them.

Grade: B-