So, as you may or may not know, you can get a bottle of Buffalo Trace standard Bourbon at Total Wine Or BevMo or wherever for a scant 20 bones. EXCELLENT blue collar consideration. Here's the kicker; for a mere 5 extra dollars, you can get a single cask bourbon that is set aside SPECIFICALLY for K & L wines and has a unique flavor profile, and feel like your own special scintillating snowflake. For 5 dollars, its pretty tough to come by that kind of exclusivity. If you pay an extra 5 bucks when you go to a movie, what do you get? A cardboard box full of popcorn. By comparison, it's a pretty sweet deal.
This Whisky comes to us from Buffalo Trace, the same distillery that bears the name on this bottle, as well as the bottle i last reviewed, the Col E.H. Taylor Small Batch. This is the sort of bottom of the barrel (no pun intended) nothing special Whisky that is good enough to bear the distillery's namesake. Like i said, you can get this bottle any place, however, it wont be a single cask, hand picked by the good folks at K&L and readily available to be shipped to your front doorstep.
1st sip, neat: Light opening. Crisp, but no stingy alcohol wind-up. Leads into an earthy, carrot/carmel body, with a mellow albeit dry finish.
2nd sip: Opened up slightly, picking up more of a sugar cane in the opening, and more of a neutral, balanced mouth feel. Same slow, powder dry finish.
3rd sip with B.A.I.C: Slightly more peppery, and the mouth feel fell a tiny bit more flat, but made for a nice smooth sip, that if one were so inclined, could mow through and on to the next drink. Would be nice for pre-game cocktails or hors d'oeuvres accompaniment.
So, at this point, i did a little quick math. What's the number one whisky drink imbibed the world around? No idea. However, if'n i was a betting man, i would say it's probably a Jack and Coke, though i doubt most places serve it with a lime. A bottle of JD is what? 20 bucks? Bottle of BuffTrace? Same. Bottle of this super exclusive uptown-fancypants BuffTrace? 25. Why not put it to the test? And what better way to put it to the test, than to weigh it against JD Single Barrel?!?! I figure, its 2x the price, so it should at least be considerably better, right? Both "single cask/barrel" labeled, pretty straightforward stuff from my point of view.
The Buffalo Trace wins out... IF, and only if, you do not have a "money-is-no-object" view, OR you have the point of view that if you mix a bourbon and Coke, it must be Jack. I will say the Jack and Coke with the single barrel, tasted more like the standard Jack and Coke you can get just about any place, just hot-rodded a bit. However, i will say, as a refreshing cocktail, i preferred the BuffTrace version. And, for half the price for a fifth, and to know for sure, why wouldn't you? Now, if you have been drinking Jack and Coke one way for the last 25 years, and you'll be damned if it'll be beat by any other bourbon, let me save you the hassle, you're probably right. However, if you want to try a different spin on it, i'm willing to bet you'd prefer the Buffalo Trace in a blind taste test, just due to the complimentary flavor. Give it a shot. What could it hurt?
Based solely on the exclusivity, availability, cost and exceptional flavor, i give this 5 stars. Based on my scoring system, considering all the things i do, and based on me being located a short ride away, it is impossible not to. If i lived further than a stones throw, i'd give it a 4 star rating.
Now, if you'll excuse me, i have to go dry up 'til the next post.
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