First time doing a review on here! What better way to start doing reviews than going through one of the sample advent calendars my local bourbon society is putting on? I thought it’d be a good way to get into writing formal bourbon/whiskey reviews as well as trying more products blindly.

To explain how this will work, each advent calendar done by my local club is member-driven and is named after a Christmas movie/media (hence the name ‘Bad Santa’). Each of us chose a bottle to pull 1 oz samples of for one day of December leading up to Christmas. We will all blind it and find out what the sample was later in the day. Here’s to day 1!

Color: tawny (1.4 per Whiskey Magazine chart)

Nose: Vanilla and caramel prominent on the nose. Nice cinnamon undertone with some cherry developing as it sits in the glass

Palate: Chocolate covered cherries dominate the palate. Cinnamon more present than what was on the nose.

Finish: Cocoa powder and cherry fade into cinnamon and oak for a medium, well-balanced finish.

Score: 7.2/10

Day 1 Sample: Weller Antique 107

Overall thoughts: What a good pour to start off the month! I have had OWA before and even own a bottle of it, but have not visited it in a while for a pour. This one is well-balanced and an easy drinker. I really enjoyed the chocolate cherry palate that developed more to show the cinnamon note as I sipped on the pour. From what I remember of my own bottle, there was more of a prominent cinnamon note similar to Red Hots candies throughout the pour. Regardless, I’m happy with this one and can’t wait to see what the the next 24 samples have to offer!

This is the weekly recommendations and discussion thread, for all of your questions or comments: what pour to buy at a bar, what bottle to try next, or what gift to get; and for some banter and discussions that don't fit as standalone posts.

While the "low-effort" rules are relaxed for this thread, please note that the rules for standalone posts haven't changed, and there is absolutely no buying, selling, or trading here or anywhere else on the sub.

This post will be refreshed every Sunday afternoon. Previous threads can be seen here.

I’m getting ready to start a shelfie series, and while smoke wagon doesn’t fit that description, it’s close enough. At least in my area. So I thought this would be a good lead in before I start that actual series of reviews.

Proof: 100

Age:NAS

Nose: sweet corn, cinnamon, orange peel, oak

Palate: dusty corn, orange, vanilla, cinnamon, oak, a hint of ginger. Slight ethanol heat.

Finish: the ginger and ethanol heat linger for a minute, tailing off into a cinnamon spice heat and prickliness. The orange and vanilla return to close things out.

Overall: It’s not deep or complex, but it’s not bad. If I remember correctly, I paid $50 for this bottle. It’s not the worst deal, but you’ll find better buys at the same price point and even lower. A cool bottle to buy once. Maybe a decent bottle to have around if you find it on sale into the lower $40’s and below.

Experience: 6/10

Value: 4/10

Another bottle I received last year in my bourbon secret Santa exchange. Let’s get to it!

Proof: 100

Age: NAS

Nose: honey drizzled caramel apples. Orange and vanilla. Fresh mint and a bit of ethanol burn.

Palate: light caramel and sweet floral notes lead into honey and dried fruits. Finishes off with sweet cherry pie.

Finish: vanilla and baking spices linger with a slight warmth for a decent amount of time. But otherwise fairly tame.

Overall: solid pour. More complexity than I’ve come to expect with the proof. Definitely a decent buy at a ~$40 price tag.

Experience: 6.5/10

Value: 7.5/10

Pick: Bulleit 

Color: Honey brown, no real legs on the glass. 

Aroma: Smooth but mostly ethanol forward. Not strong though, it’s a very pleasant and warm scent. 

Taste: A little tingle on the front of the tongue but goes down so easy. Too easy, in fact. You can sip this all day. There’s no real burn that sets in. It’[s really pleasant. Honey notes, floral and evenly balanced. 

Final Thoughts: This is likely the best option in the $30 range. It’s not harsh or unpleasant, as a matter of fact it’s basically honey going down. I didn’t even detect the alcohol on the back of the palate. This one is a keeper on any bar. I am looking to try the 10 year next and compare it to “orange” label. 

Pretty new into the whiskey and bourbon world after doing some tastings and tours around TN. This bottle really spoke to me and made me want to leave a review after reading this sub for a while! Tasted this neat in a glencairn. 130.4 proof bottle.

Nose: Surprisingly sweet, hints of vanilla and caramel with a slight ethanol punch.

Palate: Oaky and smooth. Some of the vanilla and caramel coming through followed by an almost leathery note.

Finish: Sweet and satisfying with the warmth of the proof showing up here. Balances the heat with a taste that is reminiscent of banana pudding and molasses.

Overall: 8.7/10

This is possibly my favorite whiskey I’ve tried so far in my short time in this world. Punches way below the 130.4 proof and is almost a dessert like pour compared to some others.

My other current favorites are Chattanooga Fall 20’ BIB and Redbreast, with Knob Creek 120 proof reserve and Buffalo trace as my favorite KY bourbons I’ve had. If anyone has recommendations based on this, I’d love to try some new ones! I’ve been really chasing Stagg after having a pour recently, but can never find a bottle around my area.

Remember the time you posted and great review but forgot to put the word "review" in the title and said review was deleted by a mod? Yeah, that was me 20 hrs ago. Goes without saying I was a bit tight, but hey rules are rules right?

Anyways, I'll do my best to repeat the feat and tell you about this rather wonderful whiskey. So what exactly do we have here?

Well, we have a blend of a Woodford Rye, Bourbon and Wheat Whiskey all finished for an undisclosed amount of time in the delicious Portuguese Madeira Casks. It's then blended with fully matured Woodford Wheat Whiskey. So a Wheated Finished 4 Grain Whiskey? Ve Want the Whiskey Lebow.. uhh Woodford.

So how do these components tie the Whiskey together? Let's dive in...

Entry: Rich, dense and creamy and bursting with caramel drenched candied cherries... Tobacco, mature oak and cinnamon dusted walnuts in the background... Decadent...

Mid Palate: Creamy dark chocolate adds to the decadent experience with a sprinkling of clove and cinnamon.... Leather and mature oak continue in the background... The Whiskey Abides...

Finish: Long.... With oak continuing to star with tobacco and red fruit notes.... Spice tingles as the taste lingers... Wonderful.

Conclusion: This amount of viscosity and body should be illegal at this proof point. More often than not I find this release to be underwhelming and over priced. Woodford knew they had a banger with this release and priced accordingly. Good thing everyones favorite membership warehouse store got some at well below SRP. Either way, strong buy recommendation. This one does live up to the "special" label.

https://preview.redd.it/8pequ4y3a54e1.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fac9e5283622b67615d1bc9dd313f99464b5892a

I found this bottle at a bar and got the last pour. I was just checking out the this bar/store combo place, and saw that they had a bottle of Found North Batch 10 for $180, so I picked that up and then a pour of this too. I wanted the bottle mostly, because it looks so nice, but also never tried the Old Fitz stuff before. They were nice enough to give me the pour for free because it had a hair under 1 oz left.

Price: $40/oz (but I paid $0)

Nose: Sweet wheat nose. Oaky, but not overoaked. Strong nose of vanilla, and softer notes of caramel. Kind of reminds me of a WLW or Pappy 15 nose.

Palate: Initial sweet vanilla oak. Pretty pleasant. You also get a strong dark chocolate note. Good viscosity overall, but not a very complex palate. It's definitely enjoyable. Has red fruit kind of sweetness too. Nice and balanced palate.

Finish: Medium length, sweet oak, dark chocolate.

Rating: 7.5/10

Good wheated bourbon, but the "worst" of the 4 I've tried (Pappy 15, Pappy 10, WLW, and this). It has good balance and it's not over oaked even at 17 years. I wish there was a little more complexity on the palate. That would probably bump up this to a 8 or even possibly 8.5. Definitely worth a try though, but not even close to being worth what the secondary value is. Even hard for me to see the value of it at MSRP ($250 or so I believe). I'm also slightly lower than others on wheated bourbons I think so for people who are bigger fans of wheated stuff, they might like it more than me, but by no means is this a bad bourbon. Still quite nice.