The Willett Distillery has gradually become a favorite of Bourbon enthusiasts, even creating some genuine fan boys of the distillery and Drew Kulsveen.  Unfortunately, the demand from Bourbon enthusiasts played right in to the existing secondary market where flippers (i.e., people who buy purely to profit on an immediate resale) buy as much Willett Family Estate as possible and then list it online for 2 or 3 times an already high retail price.  Willett has even had to take steps to counter this practice, such as limiting the number of bottles it releases at any given time.

Luckily, my timing was perfect at the Gift Shop on several occasions, and I was able to buy multiple bottles from two different 22-year old barrels, both with wheat as the secondary grain.  I tend to think that wheated Bourbons often take extra aging better, so I was very excited for these purchases, despite the retail price.  Were they worth it?

Distillery:  Undisclosed

Age:  22 years

Proof:  139.2 proof

Cost:  $315.00 (gift shop)

Barrel No.:  C14D

Total Bottles:  108

Distillery:  Undisclosed

Age:  22 years

Proof:  141.8 proof

Cost:  $315.00 (gift shop)

Barrel No.:  C17D

Total Bottles:  112

Both are age-appropriately dark, and for both that means silky brown with rich reddish hues.  C17D might be slightly darker, but they’re essentially the same color.

I could sit down and smell C14D all day long; it’s fantastic.  The high ABV is not distracting in the slightest, so you can enjoy polished wood, leather, old barn, dark chocolate, and dark plums.  It’s definitely oaky, but there’s also a rich sweetness (instead of candy sweetness, think about that triple-chocolate desert that is so rich you have to share it).

C17D has more heat evident in the nose; don’t inhale aggressively with this one.  The nose has a sharper oakiness, so instead of polished wood and old barn, it’s more of a peppery oak.  It’s also a bit sweeter, but otherwise, it’s very similar to C14D.

In previous Bourbons, I’ve certainly tasted flavors of cocoa, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate.  But with C14D, I was in for a surprise of an unmistakable specific cocoa flavor:  tootsie rolls.  It’s really incredible.  The tootsie roll flavor, along with other rich sweetness, adds a nice balance to the otherwise dominant oaky flavors.  There’s no discernable cherry (which I get in another older wheated Bourbon that shall remain nameless).  Water opens it nicely to lush caramel, buttery toffee, and increases the creaminess, although leather and oak are still the backbone.  Even neat, C14D is warm but not hot, never revealing that it’s 139.2 proof.  Still, after trying C14D neat, you need drink it with a splash or two of water, or better yet, a single large ice cube or ball in order to experience its progression with slow melt.

C17D doesn’t have as strong of cocoa notes when drank neat, but water brings out fantastic dark chocolate and rich salted caramel.  C17D also has plenty of oak, and even less dark fruit.  The oak reminds me of leather and an old library (mahogany walls and leather-bound books on hardwood shelves).  Additionally, whereas C14D masks its high ABV, the very slightly higher ABV of C17D slaps you in the face.  Proof this high is bound to make itself known, but it’s magical when it sooths instead of hits.  Air and adding a splash of water to C17D really helps tame the beast, so like C14D, take the proof down with water or ice, and be patient after a pour.

While oak characteristics should be expected in any extra-aged Bourbon, it’s rare after all these years to not have a one-dimensional “oak bomb” that causes a major drying pucker.  Those old barrels usually need the life filtered out of them before they can be concealed in a large batch.  So it’s unique here for Willett to have several barrels offered as non-chill filtered barrel strength single barrels; there’s absolutely no hiding here.

C14D has a fantastic, long oaky, dry finish, with some nice remnants of the tootsie rolls and dark fruit.  Surprisingly, the finish seemed to last longer with a few drops of water.  C17D was long in a slightly different way, leaving a lasting impression of heat, while still delivering robust flavor (again, especially oak, but not overbearing).  A little water cut the oakiness of the finish in both, and helped bring out black tea, cinnamon, caramel apples, and dark chocolate, so again, take the proof down.

A valid question here is “why review bottles that most people are unlikely to ever be able to try?”  As opposed to many of my reviews, which in the best case scenario might actually help people decide to try a new Bourbon, or might help people choose between two similarly-priced Bourbons, I hope that my occasional reviews of hard or impossible to find Bourbons can help narrow the hunt for some people, help others decide if they’re really tempted to spend this kind of time or money, or at least give credit where credit is due.

Additionally, tasting single barrels is fascinating to me.  I’ve had private barrels that were from the same distillation run and were aged literally right next to each other for the same amount of time, that turned out pretty different.  And now with Willett, some lucky people have been able to get C14D, C16D, C17D, and C18D, which have all been 22-year wheated Single Barrel Bourbons with typical similarities and differences.

Buying and reviewing these types of Bourbons reminded me of another lesson:  price and hype won’t always give me a Bourbon that I subjectively believe was worth the cost.  That’s C17D for me; it’s a fantastic Bourbon that I’m excited to have, and which I don’t have any regrets for purchasing, but I would not pay $315 for a second bottle, much less the $650 I’ve seen demanded on the secondary market.  At north of $300, both C14D and C17D should get dinged on any “value” analysis, but these both have so much more character and depth when compared to many of the $100+ limited releases over the past few years, so it starts getting harder to argue with Willett’s pricing.

For me and my money, I expect any Bourbon over $100 to absolutely blow my socks off, and that’s what C14D did for me.  I know that all 108 bottles are long gone and that I’ll never have the chance to stock up, but this experience will keep me looking for the next outstanding Bourbon.  Even if I’m not quite as captivated with other single barrels along the way, I know that my perfect Bourbon is out there, so I’ll keep trying.  Visit the Willett Gift Shop and who knows, maybe Drew will have just set out a few bottles of magic.

1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.

2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.

3 – Glad to include this in my bar.

4 – Excellent Bourbon and even worth its high price.

5 – Wow.  I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.

Kentucky Vintage is the least expensive brand member of Willett’s “Small Batch Boutique Bourbon Collection,” with Pure Kentucky, Rowan’s Creek, and Noah’s Mill rounding out the line.  The bottle states that it is bottled by “Kentucky Vintage Distillery” in Bardstown, Kentucky, although that distillery only exists on paper.  It’s really Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd., which of course is now better known as Willett Distillery (another assumed name of KBD).  They’re doing great things at Willett, but does this moderate / low-priced brand keep pace?

Light amber.

Major corn sweetness, but overall subtle in all respects.  There’s slight walnut, ginger, and light fruit, but it’s all very faint.

Lots of corn sweetness and not much rye balance, but rye spice does show eventually.  It has decent warmth, but also some bitterness and it seemed a little thin instead of creaminess that I enjoy.  It really does not have any complexity or much character, but it’s inoffensive.  In order to check my impressions, I arranged a double blind tasting and three out of four guessed that this was corn whiskey.

Short and unremarkable with drying pepper spice.

Even for Bourbon in this moderate price range, you can do better.  Kentucky Vintage has an attractive bottle and label, and a high-end implying wax stamp and black wax dipped closure (screw top, however).  Options that spend less on appearances but are better choices at similar prices include Four Roses Yellow Label and Old Weller Antique 107.  And for about $8.00 dollars more, you’d be in the range of some of my “price performers” like Elijah Craig 12, Elmer T. Lee and Four Roses Single Barrel.

Kentucky Vintage is still more-or-less fairly-priced, but with so many other options, this one is likely to get lost in the shuffle.  While I don’t plan on buying another bottle, I know that I will be tempted by future batches, based solely on Willett’s reputation.

Kentucky Vintage:  2.0

1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.

2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.

3 – Glad to include this in my bar.

4 – Excellent bourbon.  Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.

Blood Oath Pact No. 1 is one of the latest self-declared premium Bourbons to hit the market, complete with a marketing story, artful and attractive bottle, wooden box, and limited bottling run of 15,000.  At an MSRP of $89.99, the price is premium as well, making Blood Oath the first foray into this Bourbon market segment for St. Louis-based Luxco Inc., a non-distiller producer (“NDP”) which owns many existing spirits brands, including the moderately-priced Rebel Yell and Ezra Brooks lines.  Luxco plans on following up with “Pact No. 2” in 2016 as well as future new “Pacts” with different blends.

Perhaps anticipating some level of pushback because it is an NDP, Luxco released a preemptive video (link here) called “Q&A with John Rempe,” who is Director of Corporate Research & Development at Luxco.  Mr. Rempe answers questions like “Why release a new bourbon now?” and “Should Luxco be releasing a super premium bourbon as an NDP?”  He also argues the case for why it’s better to be an NDP.

Although Mr. Rempe and Luxco have not identified any more than the ages and secondary grains of the Bourbons used in Blood Oath Pact No. 1, those reported ages and mash bills match up with brands mentioned above already owned by Luxco.  If we can assume that Luxco is using stock that would have been destined for its existing brands, then Blood Oath is likely a blend of Ezra Brook 12, Ezra Brooks 7, and Rebel Reserve.

Heaven Hill produces those brands for Luxco, and in addition, Heaven Hill has its own popular labels that match the Luxco brands in age and mash bills:  Elijah Craig 12, Evan Williams Black Label, and Larceny.

Because I was intrigued by Luxco’s idea for its blend, and I because owned all of the Heaven Hill brands that I needed for ingredients, I created a homemade blend with 12 oz. Elijah Craig 12 (94 proof), 4 oz. Elijah Craig 12 Barrel Proof (134.8 proof), 4 oz. Evan Williams Black Label (86 proof), and 5 oz. Larceny (92 proof).  I hated to use my Elijah Craig Barrel Proof on an experiment, but I needed to use it in order to approximate the proof of Blood Oath, and I came surprisingly close at an estimated 98.8 proof.  (As a disclaimer, I have no idea whether my percentages of these brands match up with the percentages of the three Bourbons used by Luxco in Blood Oath.)

After trying Blood Oath Pact No. 1 on its own a few times, I compared it side-by-side on more occasions with my “Blood Oath Approximation.”  As a check on my impressions, I also conducted double blind tests with fellow enthusiasts to compare Blood Oath; my “Blood Oath Approximation;” a 90 proof Bourbon with rye as the secondary grain, which I think is heavy on corn flavors; and a 9-year old 101 proof Bourbon using rye as the secondary grain, which emphasizes more of the rye flavors.

That’s a long lead-in, but here are the results:

Medium amber.  Elijah Craig 12 is darker, and so is my “Approximation,” so this could indicate a higher usage rate of the younger components.

Vanilla, tea, honey and light, summery floral notes.

I sensed the taste of younger wheated Bourbon, which I know some people have loved, for example in Contradiction, but which isn’t my personal favorite.  (I reviewed Rebel Reserve last year and was not a fan.)  Still, there’s a lot more going on, like vanilla, honey, and some rye spice along with cinnamon.  I didn’t get some of the other flavors that I identify with well-aged wheated Bourbon, nor did I find much oak, which struck me as further indication of higher use of the younger components.  The heat of the alcohol is more evident than I expected, even at nearly 100 proof.  With a Bourbon at this price and proof, I’d usually caution against adding ice, but the chill of an ice cube added some creaminess and opened some caramel flavors that I didn’t find initially.

Overall a short to medium finish that starts sweet but loses that flavor pretty quickly, ending with faint cinnamon spice and some bitterness.

Kudos to Luxco for trying something new and innovative.  Many Bourbon enthusiasts have been blending different brands for years, oftentimes choosing to blend rye and wheated Bourbons together.  On the other hand, the only regularly-produced labels I’ve had that blend rye and wheated Bourbons are Noah’s Mill and Smooth Ambler Contradiction.  Maybe Luxco is onto the next big idea in Bourbon, and thankfully they presented this new brand with transparency.

While the innovation is there, the cost is too high.  The components of my “Blood Oath Approximation” cost about $35.00, so presumably Blood Oath could have entered the market in the ever-increasing $40.00 range.  I suppose that Luxco would have had to jettison the wooden box at that lower price-point, but it still could have kept the bottle and marketing strategy, and maybe built some momentum.

As Mr. Rempe’s video shows, Luxco anticipated some criticism, but I think that they could have misjudged why enthusiasts might be critical.  There’s no problem being an NDP when it’s coupled with transparency and when the NDP avoids outlandish “historical” stories or claims.  There’s also no problem bringing a new Bourbon into the market, especially something that is unique when compared to most other options.  The source of any pushback might instead be on pricing when we don’t know why the component Bourbons are so special as to warrant a price commensurate with limited edition releases that have proven track records:  what is the provenance of the Bourbon?; is it unique?; is it rare?; was it selected by a name we know and trust?

In sum, great idea, good Bourbon, but overpriced.

1 – Wouldn’t even accept a free drink of it.

2 – Would gladly drink it if someone else was buying.

3 – Glad to include this in my bar.

4 – Excellent bourbon.  Worth the price and I’m sure to always have it in my bar.

5 – Wow.  I’ll search high and low to get another bottle of this.