Well 2020 was certainly a year. I'll leave the superlative recaps of the year to other commentaries, but I do hope all have coped as well as can be expected in what was a remarkable year. As for me, while our extracurricular activities were greatly curbed, there was still a fair amount of hooch consumed in the household. Over the course of the following week or two, I'll post some quick blurbs on some of the pours that stuck out for me over the course of the year.
I'll open with what some might consider an unlikely standout, but throughout the year, this seemingly 'ordinary' bourbon consistently reminded me that being rare and/or expensive guarantees hype, but not quality. If you were to scour many of the whiskey-centric corners of the Internet, you'd discover that Woodford Reserve is unlikely to garner any significant hype. Perhaps a victim of its early success being regarded as a 'boutique' bourbon or perhaps being widely available wherever spirits are sold, Woodford tends not to wake up the echoes of the whiskey enthusiast world. Owned and produced by Brown Forman, Woodford Reserve was first helmed by master distiller Lincoln Henderson who sought to create a bourbon that satisfied all tastes and had no emphasis in any one area. Woodford Reserve's website proudly shows a flavor wheel that highlights their bourbon touching every area of the wheel, with no single attribute dominating the experience.
It had been some time since I had a pour of Woodford, the bottle sitting in a distant, infrequently visited corner of the whiskey stash. But then the quarantine-centric days of the summer inspired a bout of cleaning and organizing which brought the bottle of Woodford out of hiding and into the glass. Sip after sip left me rather amazed at how tasty the bourbon was. Intrigued, I decided to taste Woodford alongside a handful of other favorite bourbons to determine if my enjoyment of Woodford was due to absence making the heart grow fonder or if Woodford really was bringing a gun to a knife fight. Time and again, I kept coming back to the Woodford - it really held its own against the competition for me. Side note: a silver lining to the quarantine was eliminating the need to drive anywhere which simultaneously opened up plenty of time to sample hooch.
Bottled at 45.2% ABV, Woodford is easily enjoyable neat, in fact, I don't even bother adding water. To me, Woodford sips perfectly just as it pours from the bottle. One secret to Woodford's success, to my palate at least, is just how well it tames the charred oak and wood astringency that is found in a lot of bourbons. The oak is really well controlled, which allows so many other flavors to emerge from the glass. All the classic bourbon hallmarks are there - brown sugar, caramel, vanilla. But there is so much more - oranges, cocoa powder, dried fruits (apple, raisins, apricots), and baking spices (clove and cinnamon).
Because nothing in life is perfect, Woodford does have a handful of shortcomings for me. Foremost, the finish is a tad too short. I would describe the finish as medium in length, it lingers for a bit, but oh how I would love it to linger longer. The second criticism is probably related to the first - the bottling strength. 45.2% ABV is good, but I'd personally prefer an even 50% bottling strength. While 45.2% ABV is perfect for sipping neat, the downside is there is not much room to play with when using in any application that will dilute the whiskey. A bit more proof would ensure robustness in cocktails and allow neat drinkers to adjust how they see fit. In recent years, Woodford has produced a 'batch proof' version of their bourbon bottled undiluted (typically in the 60 - 65% ABV range) which has earned heaps of praise on the Internet, but sadly, I've never sampled the batch proof personally. Perhaps one day...
Woodford Reserve
Country: United States of America
Region: Kentucky (Versailles: 38.125°N -84.854°W)
Mash Bill: 72% Corn, 18% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
Strength: 45.2% ABV (90.4° Proof)
Color: Natural Color
Filtration: Non-chill Filtered
Maturation: Unknown age in 100% new charred oak
Price: $29.99 (pretty much everywhere spirits are sold)
A few final footnotes for Woodford - The Woodford Reserve Distillery uses only traditional copper pot stills rather than the more-common column stills used at most bourbon distilleries. The finished bourbon however is actually a combination of this pot-distilled whiskey and column-distilled whiskey from Brown Forman's Old Forester/Early Times distillery in Shively, Kentucky. If you ever happen to be remotely close to Versailles, Kentucky it is absolutely worth the time and effort to visit Woodford Reserve. They offer a number of different tours, each easily worth the price of admission, and the grounds are truly spectacular.
No comments:
Post a Comment