Every so often, I feel the need to dig into my box of goodies and pull out some old samples that I put away back in my whiskey hoarding days. Those of you who were part of the whiskey scene in the early 2010s probably remember the days of the falling age-statements and rising prices. You could get a 10 year old bourbon for $25. And it was good bourbon too. But as supplies of aged whiskey started to run low, prices went up and age-statements went away. And so, because I never knew if the last pour in a bottle was going to be the last pour of something that I’d ever have, I started pouring the first couple of pours from a bottle into a small sample bottle and putting it away so that I could go back to it anytime I wanted.
I did that for 6 years. For every bottle I bought. Eventually I ran out of room. I decided which bottles I really wanted to keep and drank or dumped the rest. Then, I did that again a couple years later. In September of 2020 I put painters tape over the original labels so that I could taste them blind. And shortly after that, I decided that writing about it every once in a while would be fun. And here we are.
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.
Blind Whiskey Sample # 1:
Nose: Caramel, dried grain, black tea, cedar, and dusty oak.
Mouth: Spicier than I'd have expected from the nose. Notes of black tea, cinnamon, butterscotch and oak.
Finish: Warm and on the longer end of medium length. Notes of black tea and cinnamon.
Thoughts: I like this one. Lots of caramel/ butterscotch and tannic black tea notes. If I had to guess, I'd guess this is Canadian.
Reveal: Border Bourbon from 45th Parallel Distillery in New Richmond, WI.
Post-Reveal Thoughts: Welp. I got that one wrong. I haven't had this since shortly after it was released but it is better than I remember. Might have to grab a recent bottling to see how it is today.
Blind Whiskey Sample # 2:
Nose: Strawberry jam and dried fruits.
Mouth: Caramel, strawberry jam, and baking spice.
Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Follows the mouth (caramel, strawberry jam, baking spice) and adds some mint.
Thoughts: After I got over the initial shock on the fruitiness of this one, I like this one too. But wow! was that a shock. I'm going to guess this is a brandy of some sort.
Reveal: Collingwood 21 year old Canadian Rye.
Post-Reveal Thoughts: Wow! Whiffed again. My guesses are so far off as to be laughable. I remember this one being floral, but not nearly this fruity. This is a walk down memory lane for sure.
Blind Whiskey Sample # 3:
Nose: Delicate on the nose. Brown sugar and floral cereal grains.
Mouth: Grain-forward. Notes of cereal grains, Cola, red fruit, and cinnamon.
Finish: Gentle and medium length. Notes of almond, cooked cereal, red fruit and caramel.
Thoughts: I have no idea what this is. It's good but I don't think it is a bourbon...pretty sure it is a whiskey though. With my track record on guesses today, I'm nervous to throw one out, but I'm going to say this is a Willett bourbon along the lines of Noah's Mill.
Reveal: Redbreast 12 year old.
Post-Reveal Thoughts: OK. I give up. This is just not my day for guesses. Noah's Mill is the only grain-forward bourbon that I remember liking so I guessed that but after reveal it is so obviously Redbreast 12. The sherry notes are right there for me to see, I just didn’t connect them with sherry.
But that is part of the fun of doing this blind. Sometimes you guess things correctly and other times you have no idea what you are drinking. Today was the latter. I’m just glad they were all good. Sometimes we get bottom-shelf stuff in these and those are much less fun than tasty Craft, Irish, and Canadian whiskeys.
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