George Dickel Single Barrel 15 Year Old, Hazel's Beverage World Selection

Running a little late tonight. I was out trying to buy a new car. Buying a new car is weird right now. You might have heard that there is a shortage of new vehicles at the moment. And after tonight, I believe it. I’ve never seen a new car lot with no cars on it before. Basically, you walk in, take a test drive of a similar car to what you’d like to buy. And if it passes muster with you, you go look at the inventory that the dealer has already ordered, see what hasn’t yet been purchased, and then put a deposit on it.

If you’ve ever ordered a car to be built for you, it’s kind of like that in that you don’t actually see your vehicle in person when you put the deposit down and you get to wait a couple of months to get your car. But, it’s also kind of like picking one off the lot in that you don’t get to pick all the options you want and you are picking from “available” inventory. (Those are sarcastic quotes around available in case you were curious.) In other words, it is the absolute worst of both worlds. That said, we found one that we liked so we put down the deposit, and in late September or early October, we will be the proud owners of a new vehicle.

But all of that has nothing to do with tonight’s whiskey. I couldn’t possibly come up with a segue that could go from a weird car buying experience to a fantastic whiskey-drinking experience. Not one that would do justice to the whiskey we are looking at tonight anyway.

In late 2020, it was announced that a new single barrel would be coming out of Cascade Hollow. It was a 15-year-old George Dickel and it was available to retailers in select markets. Early in 2021, they expanded those markets to include Boulder, Colorado, where I bought this bottle at Hazel’s Beverage World.

George Dickel Single Barrel 15-year-old Tennessee Whisky is, as you may have guessed, a single barrel version of the standard George Dickel mash bill of 84% corn, 8% rye, and 8% malted barley that's been aged at least 15 years. My bottle was barreled in January of 2004 so, who knows, it might be over 15.

George Dickel Single Barrel 15-year-old, selected by Hazel's Beverage World

Purchase Info: $59.98 for a 750 mL bottle at Hazel’s Beverage World, Boulder, CO.

Price per Drink (50mL): $4.00

Details: Barrel #: 04A22-148. Barrel Date: January 22, 2004. 52.3% ABV.

Nose: Caramel, oak, cinnamon, gingersnap cookies

Mouth: Spicy with a nice, thick mouthfeel. Caramel, cinnamon, leather, and oak.

Finish: Long and warm. Notes of cinnamon, toffee, oak, and Flintstone's Vitamins.

Thoughts: Oh my goodness! I really, really like this. It is as close to a heart rating as one can get without getting one. The vitamin note knocks it out of the heart range for me. That said, this is in the conversation for the best whiskey I've bought this year. My only regret with this purchase is that I wish I had bought two.

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Orphan Barrel: Copper Tongue Bourbon

I’d like to thank the PR folks working for Diageo for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

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First things first. You all still have all of your fingers, right? I love Independence Day, but I do worry about folks. Pretty sure my neighbors spent their paycheck on illegal fireworks and combined their ignition with copious amounts of alcohol. And having had more than one close call before I liked to consume alcohol…well…I just hope everyone still has all their extremities.

But since multiple neighbors had such a large display of explosive celebration, I ended up spending my 4th inside with the curtains drawn and the music cranked. As you might know, one of my businesses is a dog sitting service. And after a few years of doing this, I’ve found that rock music inside the house helps camouflage the scary noises outside the house. Plus if you really like the songs you are playing, the singing along with the songs and the dancing with the pups allows them to be distracted.

Believe it or not, I had fun though. I may not have been able to see most of the displays, and I might have had a shaking sheepdog on my lap at times, but I had fun anyway. It just goes to show that you never really know what you will think of things until you experience them yourself. I was dreading having a bunch of scared pups, but it turned out to be a really fun night as we had ourselves a rockin’ party.

The same can be said for tonight’s whisky. I haven’t gotten an Orphan Barrel sample for three or four years now, mostly because I really didn’t care for the ones that I had gotten. But when I saw that the newest one was a 16-year-old bourbon coming out of Cascade Hollow Distillery, home of George Dickel, well you can believe that I very quickly shot off a note to see if I could get on the sample list.

Older Dickel is some of my favorite whiskey out there, a fact that I was reminded of in my Sample Roulette tastings while on vacation. Add in the fact that it is Cask Strength and was developed by Nicole Austin? Well, that was just icing on the cake. Ms. Austin is the force behind the delicious yearly George Dickel Bottled-in-Bond releases and the very exciting, just-announced George Dickel 8-year-old bourbon. Yes, bourbon. And she has been doing a great job as far as my taste buds are concerned.

One thing that surprised me about Copper Tongue is that, while it is cask strength, it is only 89.8° proof. I find that fascinating. It isn’t unheard of to find an old bourbon barrel that is of a lower proof, but it is pretty unusual to sell it. I can really only think of one other and that was the first edition of Wild Turkey Master’s Keep. But since I liked that one, I tried not to let the surprise bias my tasting.

Orphan Barrel: Copper Tongue Bourbon

Purchase Info: This sample was graciously sent by the producers for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $100 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50mL): $6.67

Details: Cask Strength at 44.9% ABV. 16 years old. Bourbon.

Nose: Brown sugar, clove, cinnamon, leather.

Mouth: Follows the nose with brown sugar, clove, cinnamon, leather and adds red fruits and melon.

Finish: Warm and sweet with lingering spice notes.

Thoughts: I really like this. The mouthfeel is a bit thinner than I expected, even at the low (for cask strength) proof, but the flavors make up for that. It is sweet and has just the right amount of spice to it. The press release describes it as “surprisingly delicate [and] sophisticated.” That sounds like an accurate description but it is working for me. For once, I think I'll be keeping my eyes open for an Orphan Barrel release. Though for the price, it’ll be going on the special shelf should I find it.

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Sample Roulette: The I'm Still Tired from Vacation Edition

As I said earlier this week, I didn’t have the time, opportunity, or desire to do much whiskey tasting while on vacation last week. The weather was hot. I really lucked out on the timing of the trip, having it land right in the middle of a very unusual and long-lasting heat wave. The first week had temps over 105 every day. Which meant getting up before dawn to visit Utah’s lovely National Parks before the heat became dangerous.

Let me tell you, I’ve seldom loved a hotel room’s cooling system more than I did during this trip.

Of course, we got to see beautiful sunrises this way. Sunrise at Arches National Park is a sight to behold. So was the one we watched from a hot air balloon 1000 feet over Moab. We didn’t see the sunrise in Lake Powell, but we did get to drive fast in a rented speed boat and go swimming in a couple hundred feet of flooded canyon. That helped beat the heat as well. Plus sleeping in until the sun came up gave us the time in the evening to sip on a few blind surprises while we watched the sun set from our hotel room.

As before, these samples were all laid down between 2011 and 2017. The labels were covered up in September of 2020. And they have lived in a box untouched since, except for the occasional adventuresome sip now and then. They made a fun vacation sip too. I mean you’re out on an adventure, it is only fitting that your nightly tipple be an adventure as well.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Delicate nose. Hints of caramel, vanilla, and mint.

Mouth: Mint, baking spices and fruit notes.

Finish: Medium in heat and length. Lingering notes of dried grain and cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is ok. Not great, not terrible, just kinda meh. I'll probably finish the pour, but probably won't be sad to see it go.

Reveal: Ezra Brooks

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Wow! Super shocked on this one. This has gotten so much better since I put this sample away!

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Caramel, cherry, pipe tobacco.

Mouth: Cinnamon, caramel, smoke, and floral fruit.

Finish: Smoky and spicy. Lingering warm notes.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is yummy. Going to have to fight my wife for the rest of this one. Lol.

Reveal: George Dickel 9-Year-old Private Selection from Ace Spirits (2014)

Post-Reveal Thoughts: It just goes to show how much our palates change over time. When I reviewed this back in 2014, I thought it was a bit too hot for my tastes. Now, though it had some heat on it, it was certainly within acceptable levels. I didn’t even think to add water as I finished it in the hotel. Of course, there are a lot more options for Barrel Strength whiskey out there these days to help build your tolerance.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Floral vanilla, caramel, and fruit.

Mouth: Spicy. Cinnamon, vanilla, black tea, and hints of fruit.

Finish: Warm and medium length. Lingering mint, black tea, and floral fruit.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is quite good. I'm really enjoying it. Nice floral fruitiness and vanilla.

Reveal: Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: Oh, do I miss the days when you could get a handle of 10-year-old whiskey for a decent price. Scratch that. I miss when you could get a 10-year-old whiskey from Buffalo Trace for a decent price, whether it came in a handle or not. This is a bourbon that was better than I remembered. Sadly, when this was put away we were spoiled with an abundance of aged bourbon. It was less good than other 10-year-old bourbons when it was discontinued, but is still a damn sight better than much of the bourbon on the shelf today. For that, I savored this pour after the reveal. Made me a bit nostalgic, as you can see.

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Sample Roulette: Vacation Edition

Well, I’m back.

We had an amazing trip. One that was far too full of fun to spend time doing whiskey tastings. Well, almost. I did happen to toss a few blind samples in my bag to try. I was on a fun adventure and these little bottles had the possibility of being very adventurous.

I mean, these were samples that I had poured from 2011 until 2017 during my “hoarding phase” of whiskey fandom. During that time, I kept samples of everything I bought. It didn’t matter if it was a limited edition or a $10 handle. All of them had a sample poured and stashed in a little box. Last year I realized I no longer wanted to keep them and started to drink them. I’d covered the original labels with painters tape in order to make them blind, just because it was more fun that way.

So while we sat in my room that overlooked the shores of Lake Powell, planning the next day’s adventure, we took a little time to have a little whiskey adventure as well. Let’s see what I brought with and if any of it was as good (or as bad) as I remember.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:

Nose: Corn, toffee, and a mineral note.

Mouth: Spicy, Cinnamon, Cardamom, and a delicate fruit note.

Finish: Hot and Spicy. Notes of cinnamon and cardamom.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: I really like the spice of this one. My wife doesn't like cardamom so she isn't as big of a fan. That means I will get the rest of this pour. Yay!

Reveal: George Dickel 14-year-old private Select

Post-Reveal Thoughts: The bottle that this sample came from was purchased at a grocery store near New Orleans back in 2014. I remember it being very good and I still found it so. This makes me very excited to crack into the bottle of the 15-year-old Dickel that I found in Colorado on this trip.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:

Nose: Floral mint, brown sugar, and cherry.

Mouth: Cherry, brown sugar, cocoa, and nutmeg

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of cherry, nutmeg, and mint.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is really good. I'm feeling like this might be a really good Canadian Whisky. It has a mouthfeel that, while not thin, is on the thinner side. Good sweetness.

Reveal: Jefferson's Presidential Select, 18-year-old

Post-Reveal Thoughts: When I first reviewed this, I wasn’t a fan. I found it too woody and stated I wasn’t a fan of bourbon with an emphasis on wood notes. I guess I have mellowed with age when it comes to that particular flavor note because it didn’t even show up in my notes seven years later when I did this tasting. Interesting.

Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:

Nose: Dried grain and spearmint

Mouth: Thin mouthfeel, dried grain, spearmint, lots of cinnamon, and sugar sweetness.

Finish: Warm, but not too warm. More dried grain and cinnamon.

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is pretty meh. Probably won't be finishing this one. Vacation is too short to spend time on meh whiskey.

Reveal: Old Fitzgerald Prime.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I don’t have much to add to that statement. I put this one away back in 2014 and gave it a meh then. I still think it’s pretty meh.

I always find this to be a fun exercise. You never know when you are going to put something truly terrible in your mouth and it makes every pour a little more exciting when the product is good. And this round we got two likes and a meh. Not bad for three shots in the dark.

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Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whisky: Distiller's Edition 92 Proof

I am so excited. Tomorrow I get to pick up my 10-year-old niece so that Wednesday we can head off on her “Yay! You are 10!” trip. My wife and I did this for my brother’s oldest child when he turned 10 and have plans to do it for his youngest too. But this time around we are taking his middle child, and only girl. Our goal with this is to take the kids someplace where their parents can’t or won’t take them. To broaden their experiences and get them out of the small town they live in (because the small town I grew up in, and that my family still lives in, has quite a “small town attitude” if you know what I mean). And aside from giving them valuable life experiences as they are finally old enough to begin to comprehend it, the trip makes them feel special and grown-up. Plus we spoil them, of course, because that is what Aunts and Uncles are for.

A couple years ago, we asked her to pick where she wanted to go. At first she wanted to go to the ocean. Then the mountains. Finally she settled on the desert. Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, she has no idea why a trip to the desert in summer isn’t the greatest plan. But if the point is to go somewhere to broaden your experiences, going from an overabundance of water to a scarcity of it will be a good experience. So we are taking a trip to Utah to experience the National Parks, National Monuments, and National Recreation Areas.

It will be our first vacation since 2019 and we are super excited about it. But what does that have to do with the Catoctin Creek Whiskey up in the photo above? Absolutely nothing. I’m too excited about vacation to process much else. But that said, here is what the distillery has to say about the product:

Only one in every ten barrels gets selected to be in the Roundstone Rye "92 Proof" whisky. This whisky is the culmination of several years of planning. "For a few years now, we've been putting whisky away for storage," remarked Becky Harris, Chief Distiller and President of Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. "We pulled some of the more interesting barrels from the back of the barn and decided to release these at a higher proof: a whisky specially curated for flavor, while still being remarkably smooth, as is our existing 80 proof Roundstone."

A few notes on it. This is a 100% Rye Mash whiskey. Usually, that means I won’t care for it as I’m not really a fan of the flavor that malted rye brings to a drink. This is non-chill filtered which seems to be a trend lately. One I am enjoying seeing. Also, this is a single barrel product so my notes and yours may differ.

Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whisky: Distiller's Edition 92 Proof

Purchase Info: $50.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN

Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.40

Details: 46% ABV. Non-chill filtered. 100% Rye Mash. Single Barrel # 1894

Nose: Cinnamon, mint, nutmeg, and red fruit.

Mouth: Spicy with strong notes of nutmeg and cinnamon. Herbal mint and red fruit.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Strong notes of spearmint and nutmeg.

Thoughts: If you are a fan of nutmeg, you will really like this one. I happen to be a nutmeg fan and was very pleasantly surprised to find nutmeg as the dominant note throughout the tasting experience. This worked well in a rye cocktail. I tried it in a Sazerac and it performed very nicely. I'm a fan and will probably be giving some of their other products a try in the near future.

Did you notice that this came out a day early? That is because BourbonGuy.com will be on vacation until June 28th. Regular posts will resume at that time. I’ll be traveling with a 10-year-old girl, who I adore. But she is still a 10-year-old girl so wish me luck.

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Old Overholt 114 proof

Old Overholt and Old GrandDad live in the same space in my mind. If you asked me to describe a hypothetical Old GrandDad Rye, it would be Old Overholt. They are both BeamSuntory brands that were purchased back when Beam swallowed National Distillers back in the 1980s. They were both pretty well ignored for a very long time with only sporadic marketing pushes. Both of the standard releases were 80 proof and bottom-shelf. Though Old GrandDad had a bonded release. Eventually, Old Overholt did as well. And for both of them, the Bonded was hands down better than the standard release.

Until very recently, one difference between the two was that Old GrandDad also had fan-favorite Old GrandDad 114. Something that until a couple of months ago, Old Overholt did not have. But now in addition to the new 114° proof release, Old Overholt Rye is getting a well-deserved push from owner BeamSuntory. The branding has been updated for the entire line. And even more exciting, the standard release got a proof bump from 80° proof to 86° proof.

Old Overholt used to be something that was easy to ignore. The 80 proof was a meh at best. After tasting all three over the weekend (114, Bonded, and the new 86° proof) I have to say I like where the brand is heading.

Old Overholt 114 proof

Purchase Info: $32.99 per bottle for a 750mL bottle, Ace Spirits, Hopkins, MN

Price per Drink (50mL): $2.20

Details: 4 years old. 57% ABV. Non-chill filtered.

Nose: Mint, savory herbs, vanilla, cherry.

Mouth: Starts with a nice spicy heat. Cinnamon, mint, weak black tea, and a touch of lemon zest.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium length. Lingering notes of cinnamon and mint.

Thoughts: I really like this one. It is warm and spicy with a nice finish. Sippable neat, even at 114° proof. I didn't care for it in rye cocktails, but it added a nice spice to traditional bourbon cocktails. All in all, this is a very tasty whiskey.

Comparison to Bonded: The noses are basically identical. 114 is hotter and spicier on the mouth, the Bonded is sweeter. Both very good though.

Comparison to 86 proof: The noses are similar with 114 just being "more so." There is a big difference on the mouths, as you might have guessed. 114 is thicker in mouthfeel. It is warmer and spicier in the mouth, with more concentrated flavors. The new 86° proof is better than I remember the old 80° proof being, but it doesn't hold a candle to its higher proof siblings.

UPDATE: This post originally stated that the new 86° proof version had received an age bump because I’m a dumbass who apparently overlooks big BOLD type stating the words “THREE YEARS OLD” while looking for tiny type that says 36 months. Lol. Anyway that’s been fixed now.

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Larceny Barrel Proof, B521

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

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I am smoking a couple Waygu Ribeye steaks tonight so you better believe that I’m going to be making this quick. They are on the smoker right now and I am keeping one eye on the probe temp as I type this. I got them online, the company had sponsored a barbecue YouTube channel I enjoy watching and I wanted to support him and I wanted to try these crazy expensive steaks.

I’ve found over the last couple years, that while I don’t mind splurging on the occasional overpriced whiskey (because they are almost always overpriced compared to how they taste), i’d much rather splurge on a novel food experience.

This may have contributed to my expanding waistline…

But in any case, I’d much rather sit down to a nice meal than I would sit down to a nice bourbon these days. Some of that is because I’m a pretty good cook so even a nice meal is usually cheaper because I’m making it at home. But most of the switch is my growing disillusionment with high-priced Limited Edition bourbons. If I ever give up this site, I’ll probably be hard pressed to justify the expense. Especially when there are things like Maker’s Mark 101, Knob Creek 12-year-old, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, and Larceny Barrel Proof that are available in my market from $35-$65. Even Booker’s is pushing the price limit of what I’d like to spend on bourbon these days.

And good for the companies that can get that kind of cash for their products. I wish them the best. But eventually I’ll give this up and will be voting with my dollar like the rest of you and I won’t feel like I need to buy these overpriced bottles to help others decide whether they should pass or splurge on them. I’ll be splurging on the best sub-$60/$70 bottles I can find, with most purchases coming in the $20 to $40 range.

Luckily, I’ll still be happy to buy bottles of tonight’s whiskey. At a suggested retail price of about $50, it has a pretty good price on it if you can find it.

Larceny Barrel Proof, B521

Purchase info: This was graciously provided by Heaven Hill for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $49.99.

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $3.33

Details: 60.5%

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, mint/eucalyptus, and a dusty cocoa note.

Mouth: Thick and rich with caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate.

Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Lingering notes of nutmeg, vanilla, and oak.

Comparison to A121: Very similar on the nose. These are both fairly spice forward, but A121 is a bit sweeter and hotter in the mouth. But, honestly, there are only minor differences between these two batches.

Thoughts: I really liked batch A121, so I'm pretty happy with this batch as well. There is a bit more caramel and a bit less chocolate, but I really like both of those flavor notes so I'd be hard-pressed to pick one over the other. In fact, when tasting notes were done, I just mixed them together. Spoiler alert: it was still really good.

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Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon, 90 proof

I’d like to thank Heaven Hill for providing this review sample with no strings attached.

I’ve been having a rare string of good luck when it comes to timing lately. I recently upgraded my tired 2015 MacBook Pro to one of the colorful new iMacs. In the process, I got a much larger internal hard drive, allowing me to free up an external hard drive. Not 30 minutes after that external drive was reformatted and freed up for use, I got a notification that my aging backup drive had just failed. I'll never be happy a drive failed, but the timing of that failure saved me days of waiting for an Amazon shipment to bring me a new hard drive. I’d been planning to fill the newly free drive with the contents of a different rickety old hard drive and usually, I’d have had the failure right after I’d spent hours copying that data over.

And the other example of my good timing is exemplified by tonight’s bourbon review. Quite a while ago, I got a reader request for an If You’ve Had… post centered around the various forms of Evan Williams. I started planning this post back in December, but one thing led to another and I finally had it scheduled to be published this week. 

Well, until this bottle of Evan Williams 1783 arrived on my doorstep from Heaven Hill. At first, I was pleased because I’d get updated packaging for the article’s photo. But then, as I read the press release, I noticed that the revamping extended to the whiskey inside the bottle as well. What used to be 86° proof was now 90° proof. I like seeing proof bumps for low-proof whiskeys so I figured a full review was in order. Especially since I haven’t done a full review on the expression since 2013. 

Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch Bourbon, 90 proof

Purchase Info: This bottle was supplied by the distillery for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50ml): $1.33

Details: 45% ABV.

Nose: Like the smell of the Angel's Share in a rick house. There is wood, caramel, vanilla, and nutmeg.

Mouth: Sweet and bursting with baking spices. Strong cinnamon and nutmeg notes hit first, followed by caramel, tangy fruit, and oak.

Finish: Medium length and warmth. Lingering notes of cinnamon candies, oak, and mint.

Comparison with the 86° proof it replaced: The 86° proof version shows a few more dried grain notes on the nose. The mouth is thinner on the 86° proof version and once again shows more grain at that dilution level.

Thoughts: This is a better bourbon at 90° proof than it was at 86° proof. The added dilution of the previous 86° proof (small as it is) really seems to have dropped the richness of the bourbon. The 90° proof is brighter and richer in flavor and shows much less grain in the mouth.

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