Straight Bourbon, 9 Years, 45% ABV, $20

I’m still playing catch up from the North Texas ice storm that somehow put a damper on my whiskey advent activities. Here is #7 – a familiar pour that I’ve been through several bottles of – Buffalo Trace.

With a medium amber color and viscosity that provides a nice coating on the glass, BT looks really nice. The nose is of vanilla, cherry, plum, honey, old cigar box, lemon drop, black pepper and a bit of charred oak. Sometimes I notice a bit if green grass and green pepper.

The initial taste is lemon, vanilla, caramel, cherry and honey, which gives way to a bit of white and black pepper on the way to a mildly wooded finish. Eventually, some grass and ginger join the fray between the initial burst and the finish. There’s also a bit of leathery cocoa… like cocoa powder just before the finish arrives. I continue to sip on this whiskey and a tobacco flavor develops on the background… not as forward as on the Eagle Rare 10 that I like, but a nice addition nonetheless.

This is a very solid whiskey at a great price and still one of my favorite bottom-shelf bourbons. I tend to step up to Eagle Rare 10 or Evan Williams Single Barrel for a few dollars more, but I like this for any mixing that I do since it’s available at a good price in 1.75l bottles.