So this is my first review and I would consider myself a bourbon newb. I’m about a year into my bourbon journey but have built a decent selection and have worked out mostly what I like. I generally go for pours with a fair bit of sweetness, not a huge amount of spice and the smoother the better, my current favourite being a Blantons gold bottle I was given.

My pallet isn’t the best when it comes to picking up distinct flavours but I have been a chef for 20 plus years so I’m not completely useless but have a long way to go.

In saying that a bit about this bottle, this is my first BIB as they are not the easiest to find at a decent price in South Africa and this particular bottle is a barrel pick from a company called whiskey brothers who also have a blantons barrel pick that they sell but I haven’t had the opportunity to try that. This bottle normally retails for R1200 but I managed to get it at a whiskey show for R980 ($55 us) not cheap but about average for a specialty bourbon, for comparison a mitchers is R1350 and my bottle of blantons gold was R1500 and a standard Elijah Craig was R680.

Nose: caramel, dry fruit ( raisin specifically, maybe a bit of plum too) light wood shavings, honeycomb, candied citrus.

Flavour: a lot of fruit, almost marmalade so again with the citrus but imagine making marmalade with dried citrus. A bit of an alcohol punch similar to what I would expect from a beam product like a knob creek 9. A bit of spice on the finish but it doesn’t linger for long.

Mouth feel: starts off nice and smooth but ends with a bit of a bang when swallowed. Not sticky or clingy at all. Hangs around on the pallet briefly then fades into a nice warmth.

Overall a very nice pour that I would definitely buy again for the discounted rate not the standard price (there are too many bottles I want to taste to be rebuying bottles)

I don’t like the idea of giving numbered ratings on anything (years of checking trip advisor reviews has given me PTSD) but I would say this is an above average pour that is perfect to sip on during a cold winters night during the summer break (I’m also an f1 fanatic)

Hope that all makes sense, apologies if the formatting is off I’m typing on my phone. Please let me know what you think about how I can improve my review process.

Cheers