Woodford Reserve

Nose: strong spices, anise, pepper. A pretty harsh note of varnish. Not as unpleasant as that sounds, but not a nose that you want want to just bury yourself in all night, it inspires you to just drink it.

Palate: smooth but hot grain, a hint of that varnish, and a fair amount of acidity and sweetness. A decent tang to it, but not terribly strong or offensive in most manners. Has that certain something to it, dare I say Jack without the ash? Yeah, that's probably the best phrase for it.

Finish: increasing in heat, a little bitter.  Not too long, but not too short, either. Seems a bit engineered for blandness, but that could be my preconceived notions getting in the way of my taste buds.  Probably is, but this is my writing, so we'll go with that for now.

Now a note for me... Woodford is one of my daily drinkers.  I haven't bought a bottle of it myself in years.  Probably about ten years, really. BUT, it is a fantastic gift bourbon.  Due to the branding, it is available everywhere, the gift giver feels good that they bought something top shelf and great, and it looks like a great bottle for the shelf.  So, I have it on my list for people to give me for gifts.  I tried being a little trickier on that list with some Elmer T. Lee a couple of years ago... that frustrated some people and they felt like they needed to drive all around town for a silly gift bottle.  I don't want friends and non-drinking family to do that.  It is the thought that counts, after all.  Besides, the drink is just lovely and works well in most any mixer.  Perfect for something that you can pour every day.  It took all of two days for me to crack open this bottle, and that was only because I was sick yesterday.

More on gifting: if you are a non-geek, you're not going to impress a geek with anything you can find on a shelf anywhere.  Particularly not for <$40.  You might make them very happy with the perfect selection of a hidden gem from a well stocked shelf if you have a lot of help and some luck.  However, you can choose something that lets them know that you care and that you like to buy well.  Woodford accomplishes that quite nicely.  Sure, there are some other readily available drinks which might do just as well, say maybe a Blanton's..  Nobody should be shelling out the $60 for that as my gift.  Just crosses into that next price point, if you know what I mean.

Cheers,

Andy