For some reason or another, I've never really tried a lot of the non-single barrel, non-"Willett Family Estate Bottled" products put out by Willett. It's not like I don't like Willett. I like them quite a bit. I've gone on record as stating that you should go into the gift shop with a budget, buy the most expensive one that is within that budget and you will never regret that purchase. And I've had a glass of the Willett Pot Still here and there and given bottles of it as gifts to people that are impressed by pretty bottles.

But for the products that don't bear the Willett name on the label? I've just never gotten around to it. I've decided that it is time to remedy that. Last month I reviewed the 80 proof Johnny Drum Green label. It was fine, but nothing special It was enough to make me want to take a look at it's higher proof label-mate the Johnny Drum Private Stock as the next step in my exploration of all things Willett.

Johnny Drum Private Stock

Purchase Info: $27.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Total Wine, Burnsville, MN.

Details: 50.5% ABV

Nose: Mint, grain, honeydew melon and allspice

Mouth: Dry and fairly grain-forward with mint, brown sugar, oak and spice baking that up.

Finish: Warm and spicy with a decent length.

Thoughts: While I normally don't like grain-forward bourbons, this is one I'm ok with. There are nice flavors of spice and mint that help it to present itself as a well-integrated whole. I like this and would recommend it to people who prefer bourbons that aren't oak bombs.

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Johnny Drum. Not actually Kentucky's finest bourbon.

My wife and I were sitting in a bar in Louisville. We’d been there once before, earlier in the week. On that earlier visit, we’d been made to feel so welcome and appreciated that we’d decided to stop back in on our last day in town to give the place a little more business.

Behind the bar was the same welcoming person we’d met earlier in the week. We chatted with him for quite a while. He was a fairly young man, not from Louisville originally, but loving living so close to the center of all things bourbon. While we chatted, he decided to perfect his bourbon sour recipe. There were very few people in the place, it being mid-afternoon, so as he tried different variations he would pour a little in a glass for us to taste in order to get another set of opinions. We obligingly told him which ones we liked, which we didn’t and why.

That was my first experience with Johnny Drum. The bartender chose it because he didn’t care for it and was looking for something else to do with it that he could recommend. Because he was so emphatic about not liking it, I didn’t question him on it. Knowing there were plenty of bourbons out there, I decided to take the advice and pass it by.

Recently I was doing my yearly late-winter tour of liquor stores looking for inexpensive bourbon when I happened to notice a small green-labeled bottle of Johnny Drum. It was only 80 proof but I decided that, since it less than $20, the time had come to see if that bartender was correct in his judgement of the product or not.

Johnny Drum Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 80 proof

Purchase Info: $15.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Tart Apples, caramel and oak

Mouth: Sweet and gentle with just a slight tingle. Caramel/vanilla, wet rock and a good hit of oak.

Finish: Short and gentle as befits its proof with lingering sweetness and oak.

Thoughts: Contrary to what I was told, this is not terrible. That doesn’t mean it is particularly good, but I’m now more than willing to pick up a bottle of it’s higher proof sibling.

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Johnny Drum Private Stock

Johnny Drum Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 80 proof