Some quick impressions of recent tastes. Mostly going off memory, thus brief blurbs.
Maker’s Mark Blueprint Private Select, Recipe: 13141 (French Mocha); 55.3%
Woody and flavorful, this private recipe pick that’s heavy with French Mocha staves is delicious, with mocca bitterness contrasting well with inherent sweetness and flowery profile of Maker’s Mark. Not to mention that Maker’s uses wheated mashbill. Their private select casks are underrated and can get quite good… There are 1001 stave combinations available for Makers Private Cask Finishes… Personally, I would advise to look for bottles/recipes that are heavy into mocca staves (4+) out of all the other variants as evidenced by my liking of this particular bottling.
Score: B+
Maker’s Mark SFWBSS Pick, Recipe: 02215 (French Cuvee); 54.5%
Late addendum to this page… SF Whiskey bourbon group selection, yet another recipe out of 1001. Nose is very flowery and perfume driven, rather reminding me of something from old school Chanel. Palate is an okay mix of bittersweet with sweet caramel mocha flavors dominating. It really does remind me of an overly sweet caramel macchiato from Starbucks. The aftertaste is long with wood and spices finally bringing something interesting to the palate. Overall: Drinkable, but I’m not a fan. Taken in blindly… Tastes like any other bourbon out there that’s not bottom shelf. Value: Same as every other Private Select bottle of Maker’s… Average.
Score: C+
Clyde May’s Alabama Style Whiskey
Decently tasty offering if a little peanutty with a distinct note of dried apples on the back, which is unsurprising because dried apples are used in the process somewhere. Worth trying once.
Score: C
Clyde May’s Straight Rye
Boring rye with a very slight touch of bitterness in the back of the aftertaste. Much better ryes abound. This bottling isn’t my thing.
Score: C-
Clyde May’s Straight Bourbon
Do you like that rubber smell/taste? If yes, then this is for you. Not for me. Wife didn’t find anything offensive but I’m overwhelmed, so perhaps a palate difference or some weird association I have with that specific flavor. It’s less offensive than Glyph whiskey as I was able to force few swallows in from the bottle. The rubber is unbearable in glencairn.
Score: D
Clyde May’s Straight Bourbon Ledger’s SP
The Store Pick variations seem to differ from Straight Bourbon regular bottling (or I got a REALLY bad sample somehow). Little woody, sweet and quite pleasant drinking. This is the second SP that i’m enjoying from this distillery. Considering that they run ~$40 this is a solid deal and solid drinking without being extra special.
Score: B
Clyde May’s Full Proof
This is tasty and sweet, sporting mash bill of 99% corn and 1% malted barley. Interesting enough and is quite drinkable, even if a little fiery. The age varies by bottling between 9 and 11 years. With my sample being 9 years old. Also not my cup of booze to commit to a bottle. These are a little expensive for the taste proposition they offer.
Score: B-
McKenzie Wheated Bourbon KnL SP #1284
A 70% Corn, 20% Wheat and 10% Malted barley mash bill, bottled at 55.1% abv and aged for 6.5 years. This is one of the first bourbons I bought from KnL. On the nose, woody cologne with a healthy dose of alcohol but still decently balanced behind the wood. Sweet red apple-forward flavors on the palate, together with burnt brown sugar caramel, some spices and wood. Notable apple skins flavor lingers forever in the aftertaste. It’s fantastically underrated bourbon and a real surprise for a wheated variant. Well worth trying and extremely good drinker, provided one enjoys apples. Although from other folks comments single cask disclaimer firmly apples(ies) here, as McKenzie distilling produces plenty of single casks and experimental mashbills.
As usual, Mark does an amazing write up of this here: https://the-right-sp … rel-wheated-bourbon/
Score: B+
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Scoring Breakdown: https://www.aerin.or … age=scores_breakdown