Here it is. Round 2 of the 2019 BourbonGuy.com Bottom Shelf Brackets. This is where we meet our last contestants and see if they deserved that first round bye. Let’s start at the top with Division 1 Number 1 seed Fighting Cock versus the advancing Number 5 seed Old Grand-Dad Bonded.
We’ve already met Old Grand-Dad, but to recap, it uses the “other” Beam bourbon recipe. The higher rye recipe. This is the Bottled in Bond version. The “newcomer” is Fighting Cock. It is a product of Heaven Hill Brands. I put newcomer in quotes because Fighting Cock has competed twice before. Once, when it had a 6-year age statement, it won the whole damn thing. The very next year it had lost the age statement, gained a very grainy flavor and got knocked out of the first round. But you guys wanted to see it come back and here it is, the number one vote getter in the nomination process. Let’s see who comes out on top.
These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.
Old Grand-Dad Bonded
Purchase Info: $23.99 for a 1 liter bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN
Details: 50% ABV. DSP-KY-230.
Nose: Spearmint, cinnamon gum, caramel and ginger.
Mouth: Sweet and spicy with mint, ginger and green tea.
Finish: On the longer side of medium with lingering spicy ginger and a hint of molasses.
Fighting Cock
Purchase Info: $15.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Total Wine, Burnsville, MN
Details: 51.5% ABV.
Nose: Caramel, mint and allspice.
Mouth: Caramel, vanilla, oak and dried grain.
Finish: Dry and spicy with a medium length.
Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 1 is the hands-down winner. Both are good, but Whiskey 1 seems to have brought a little something extra to the party.
Post Reveal Thoughts: I’m actually a bit surprised with how much of a fight Fighting Cock put up. The last time it competed, it was not very good at all. It got beaten out by a Total Wine private label. It was a grain-forward mess that was downright unpleasant. The other surprise is how much ginger the pairing bought out in Old Grand-Dad. I got none of that when it was paired with its cousin. It just goes to show how much effect the things you taste alongside a bourbon have on the notes that you find in the bourbon.
It looks like Old Grand-Dad Bonded is moving on to face the winner of the matchup below.
And it seems once again we have a matchup of corporate cousins. Moving on to our second matchup of the night, we have Division 1 Number 3 seed Evan Williams Single Barrel versus Number 2 seed Larceny.
I think this one is an interesting matchup. It features Larceny, Heaven Hill’s reasonably priced wheater (now that Old Fitzgerald has been discontinued and turned into a $100+ limited release) versus Evan Williams Single Barrel, one of Heaven Hill’s bourbons that uses the standard rye as the flavor grain. It is also one of Heaven Hill’s few remaining bourbons that still tells you how old it is.
These were tasted blind in the following order. Tasting notes are from before the reveal.
Evan Williams Single Barrel (2011 vintage)
Purchase Info: $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Viking Liquor Barrel, Prior Lake, MN
Details: 7 years 10 months old. 43.3% ABV.
Nose: Caramel, wintergreen, black tea.
Mouth: Soft in the mouth with caramel, cinnamon red hots, vanilla, oak, and mint.
Finish: Medium length with lingering caramel, vanilla and oak.
Larceny
Purchase Info: $19.99 for a 750 mL bottle, Blue Max, Burnsville, MN
Details: 46% ABV.
Nose: Cocoa powder, hazelnut, and hints of cinnamon and oak.
Mouth: Allspice, cocoa powder, cinnamon.
Finish: Medium length with lingering oak and cinnamon.
Pre-reveal Thoughts: Whiskey 2 reminds me of a baked chocolate cookie. It is delicious. Whiskey 1 bring more of a “classic” bourbon flavor along. It is also delicious. That said, there is a “brightness” and “vitality” to Whiskey 2 that pushes me in that direction.
Post Reveal Thoughts: Higher proof beat stated age in this case. Close one, but Larceny advances.
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