knob creek

 

Alc. 50%

Bottle:

Old school apothecary style of rectangle bottle. Looks like an old torn newspaper was used for a label.

Nose:

Wine Dijon, honeycomb and red licorice.

Palate:

Corn oil and molasses. Barley apples and nuts.

Long, smooth fading finish with rye desperately trying to hang on through a toffee end.

Please note:

Knob creek bourbon is an old school approach to bourbon. Its aged for 9 years, which was customary for pre-prohibition American whiskies. This extra aging provides a lot of those trait barrel flavors and mellows off the rough edges. Its also bottled at a high proof(100), which is how they used to do it back in the old days.

Curiously, this is run through a column still, rather than a pot still, so this bourbon truly benefits from longer aging in number four char barrels. Number four char is the heaviest char applied to barrels. The aging process takes part in 9 story high rickhouses. These tall buildings for holding barrels can get a lot of temperature fluctuations, so the blend for knob creek bourbon is a blend of barrels from all over the racks, to create a consistent flavor, which it is, bottle to bottle.

Overall score: 90

A rough and ready type of bourbon, which doesn’t flaunt a boutique style. Still ranks in the super premium category.