Pappy van Winkle 15, Family Reserve Rye 13 & Sazerac 18 Bot.2000 [Road to #1000, Reviews #985-#987]

Hi everyone,

Today I have more generosity from the guys at JVS and ImpEx, this time some American whiskies.

Near the start of my whisky journey, I was given 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die and I’ve been desperately trying to complete it. One of the more difficult ones to get a hold of was the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye and when I mentioned it to Chris Uhde, he said that he had a bottle open.

Anyway, many thanks go to him for the last two as he also let me taste some of his Sazerac 18 collection (he seemed to have them all!) but I only made notes on the oldest, bottled back in the year 2000.

Just to complete my line up of notes on the Pappy range (still haven’t had the 12), I also tasted the 15 at the Whisky Exchange Show this year.

Pappy van Winkle 15 53.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Great nose. Fruity, red apple and orange, a slightly woody smoke, quite fresh though actually, brandy soaked raisins, buttery with popcorn coming out. Chocolate orange and cherry.

Taste: Dry and fruity, raisin and red apple, orange, a flat-ish spice note of ginger and pepper, quite flat in the mid-palate.

Finish: Long length. Dry wood, light tingling spice.

Love the nose, taste lets it down more and more. I’d heard that this was some people’s favourite from the Winkle line up but I prefer the 20.

75/100

 

Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 47.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Nicely leathery, coffee and chocolate in addition to the usual caramel, toffee and vanilla that I find in American whiskies.

Taste: Quite dry, nice leather and chocolate but flatter in other parts. Not much spice for a rye either.

Finish: Medium length. Not too spicy but not too impressive here IMO.

Lovely nose on this but again it gets quite flat and there’s plenty of average notes in here too. Still, it’s nice but you wouldn’t catch me paying $2000 for a bottle.

78/100

Sazerac 18 1981, Bottled 2000 45%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Complex and great richness, real sense of the grains, the rye is very clear but there’s a more earthy malt note here too which is as fascinating as it is delicious. Great nose.

Taste: So soft and supple. There’s something really restrained about this that I love, it isn’t super in your face but enough power and interesting spices to carry it through.

Finish: Medium length. Again soft but rich oak, complex with a darker chocolateyness. Not over oaked at all.

One of my favourite American whiskies I’ve had the pleasure to try and definitely the best rye I’ve tried.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

American Reviews #64-#66

Whisky Network Reviews #985-#987

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

4x Bourbon Reviews: Willet, FEW, Blanton's Original & Gold

Hi everyone,

Haven’t reviewed much American whiskey recently but I had a great chance to try some in Spain back in May, along with a certain infamous whisky reviewer whose name will remain anonymous for the moment.

This reputable, irrefutable reviewer is quite the fan of American whisky and claims to have tasted more rye whiskey than any other human on earth, so it was interesting to see him at work and taste some of the following with or in close proximity to him.

Willet Bourbon 47%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Corn, lots of it, oak, lots of it, old crystallised honey, toffee apple, sweeter as it opens up, some nutty pistachio coming through?

Taste: Oaky hit then caramel, green apple and honey before darker notes of coffee and dark chocolate, pretty oaky all the way.

Finish: Long. Still quite oaky here, very dry, more floral oak.

I do quite like this one, despite all the oak.

74/100

 

FEW Bourbon 46.5%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: A better balance than I remember the rye having. Dark caramel, marshmallow, deep oak, clove, quite rye forward.

Taste: Soft, quite oily mouthfeel, rye, clove, liquorice root, lots of oaky spice coming in with some marshmallow, tannins.

Finish: Long. Spicy but a bit flat here, flat tannins.

Not bad but any stretch for craft American, the nose in particular is pleasant.

69/100

 

Blanton's Original 46.5%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Fragrant and full bodied, orange peel, lots of oak, dark caramel, quite nutty with Brazil nuts, floral oak, cherry lip gloss. Very good nose.

Taste: Soft arrival, builds well with fresh orange citrus and good oak, eucalyptus, oily mouthfeel, plenty of spice, red and black liquorice, mixed peppercorns.

Finish: Long. Very oaky here, but good and dark, very strong black Americano.

Single barrel. Good nose but a bit too much oak to taste, still, one of those Bourbons I like. My companion loved this one in particular and I wonder if a certain award might be swinging the way of Buffalo Trace this year…?

75/100

 

Blanton's Gold 51.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Pretty bloody good, lovely balance of fresh citrus-y orange, fragrant floral oak and clove and liquorice spice. Dark chocolate with walnuts, a little sugary almond paste, and a single apple pastry.

Taste: Soft arrival, quite delicate in the mouth (in a really lovely way) before developing more power, dark chocolate, coffee bean, tobacco leaf, dry great quality oak coming in then very lovely dark chocolate powder into the finish. Did I mention mouthfeel is spot on too?

Finish: Long length. Very great here too. Dark chocolate powder, soft oak whispering away,

One of my favourite ever Bourbon's. What I love here is the balance and effortlessness, which, in my book, puts it above the Pappies 20 & 23. Barrel 187 was clearly a very, very good one.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #56-#59

Whisky Network Review #779-#782

Network Average: 75.0

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Quick-fire Pappy (10, 20 & 23) Reviews [London has Fallen]

Hi everyone,

I got hugely lucky at The Whisky Exchange Show in London this year, in that I got to try a shit tonne of amazing whisky.

The first day had been pretty amazing but I only had a few hours the second day as I was off to Rome, so wanting to make the most of it I wander over to the Buffalo Trace stand before the show starts (otherwise these would have been gone) and managed to take some very, very quickfire notes on some of these legendary Bourbon’s I never really thought I’d actually get to try.

 

Old Pappy van Winkle 10 53.5%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Sharp wood and soft caramel, quite ethereal and teasing.

Taste: Intense, perfumed, sharp wood, caramel, toffee apple, good balance.

Finish: Medium length. More caramel.

This was the one I got the most time with but it was a bit of a disappointment. Nothing too special about it.

73/100

 

Pappy van Winkle 20 45.2%

Colour: Light Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Oooo, interesting. Popcorn, popcorn everywhere. Corn, caramel popcorn.

Taste: Soft, corn, amazing caramel, toffee, sweet and dry, some sour complexity, oak but not too much.

Finish: Long length. Like chewing salted unpopped popcorn.

Very good stuff. The popcorn notes are cool but really take over the whole whiskey. Despite that, it’s still seriously good Bourbon.

81/100

 

Pappy van Winkle 23 47.8%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Deeper and darker than the 20.

Taste: Soft, great balance but then this perfumed oakiness that's a bit too much.

Finish: Long length. Oaky perfume.

The big’un and the oldest Bourbon I’ve ever tried. The guys on the stand were right though, not as good as the 20 though.

79/100

Right, with those out the way it was onto the new Antique Collection. I tried last year’s Stagg and that had been my favourite Bourbon so far, so I was keen to try some of the others in the set.

 

Eagle Rare 17 2017 Release 45%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Oak, caramel, nice complexity. DEEP.

Taste: Oak, spice, a little bite. More oak.

Finish: Long length. Oaky.

A deep oaky one. This was the only one where I’d tried a previous edition but this wasn’t as good as last year’s in my opinion.

74/100

Thomas H. Handy 2017 Release 63.6%

Colour: Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Ethereal spices and a slight fruitiness.

Taste: Intense, good arrival but then a very spicy development. Loads of clove, ginger and black pepper.

Finish: Long length. Caramel and rye spice.

6 year old I've heard. A little too spicy for my tastes.

74/100

William Larue Weller 2017 Release 64.1%

Colour: Dark Bronze

Body: Full

Nose: Complex amazing caramel and honey waves.

Taste: Soft and amazing, hot in a great way, chilli chocolate, caramel, honey, oak. Lovely.

Finish: Long length. Soft and lovely.

Best Bourbon I've tried so far. Complex nose, nice balance to it and really cool juxtaposition of the softness and heat. Lovely. 12 years old I heard.

83/100

Thanks for reading!

American Reviews #30-#35

Whisky Network Reviews #550-#555

American Average: 70.7

Network Average: 74.5

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?