Hello again, my friends! Let’s continue with the brackets, shall we?
If you’ve been following along, you know that these were tasted in an order only known to my wife, which was another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2024 BourbonGuy.com Brackets finishes up with Division 2’s Number 2 seed, Wheel Horse Bourbon, taking on Number 3 seed George Dickel Bourbon.
Wheel Horse Bourbon is a new one to me. It was suggested by a reader in the last giveaway. I don’t know too much about it, but I know that it was distilled at the Green River Distilling Company in Owensboro, Kentucky. This property has been distilling whiskey off and on since the late 1800s. It was the home of “The Whiskey Without A Headache” until Prohibition. After Prohibition, it was run by the Medley Family until the 1980s. The property was briefly the OZ Tyler Distillery, making some truly terrible whiskey, before being renamed to Green River in 2019 and deciding to stop using the TerrePure process for the future whiskeys they were making there. I was thrilled to read this, which made me decide to take another chance on the whiskey produced there. I bought this bottle at Top Ten Liquors in Chanhassen, MN. It costs $25.96 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.73 per pour.
Their opponent is another bourbon that doesn’t come from a traditional Kentucky Bourbon background. In this case, it is because it is made in Tennessee instead of Kentucky. George Dickel Bourbon is eight years old and is one of the most inexpensive age-stated eight-year-old bourbons on the shelf. Other bourbons include eight-year-old juice in that price range, but they don’t age state it. That gives them the flexibility to swap in younger bourbons as needed, but there is something reassuring about a bourbon willing to tell you it’s age. This bottle cost $24.99 for a 750 mL bottle at France44 in Minneapolis, MN or $1.67 per pour.
All of the competitions this year were tasted blind and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all from before we knew what was what. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were being tasted at the same time and probably influenced the perceptions of one another.
Whiskey A (Wheel Horse Bourbon)
Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.73
Details: 50.5% ABV.
Nose: Cinnamon, vanilla, mint, and oak.
Mouth: Spicy cinnamon, mint, a hint of black tea, and some caramel.
Finish: Hot and medium length. Notes of Cinnamon, honey, and tannic oak.
Whiskey B (George Dickel Bourbon)
Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.67
Details: 45% ABV.
Nose: Black tea, honey, and oak.
Mouth: Honey, caramel, cinnamon and citrus.
Finish: Warm and on the longer side of medium. Notes of oak, caramel, and cinnamon.
Thoughts:
Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is the first competition this year with a clear winner. Don't get me wrong, both of these are tasty. But “B” has a more "stereotypical bourbon" sort of flavor profile. Which is what I like, as you might have guessed by the fact that I've been excited by bourbon for well over a decade. “A” is just a bit too hot relative to the more balanced “B.”
Post-Reveal Thoughts: When I set up the brackets, this was the one competition where I had no clue what was going to happen. It’s a new-to-me bourbon versus a Tennessee bourbon. I like Dickel, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t do much in the competition. Of course, with me not really knowing much about its opponent, it was impossible to predict the outcome. And though I was initially surprised, after some thought, it makes sense. I like Dickel, and I like bourbon in the six- to eight-year-old range.
Winner: George Dickel Bourbon is advancing to round 2.
Next time we will cover round two and the Championship round to find out who wins. Let me know your guesses down in the comment section below.
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