Printable View
Guess what? I'm early! :shocked:
Evan Williams Single Barrel. It's been the topic of many discussions here on SB. It varies in taste from year to year, and the descriptors of its flavors from members here, are endless. (I'm not gonna say a word. :rolleyes: ) I know a lot of folks have their favorite years, so I won't limit this to the current bottling. Your thoughts and observations on any year will do. Just don't get too carried away. :smiley_acbt:
Have at it folks. Cheers! Joe
Curious to know what members think of the 2002 vintage...
DEPS selected 2002. I struggle with HH products, with the exception of PHC10. I not a fan of "minty" bourbons and many HH are heavy with mint. My Kahn's EC12 is frustrating between beautiful vanilla/caramel that I love, too woody, and minty. Each pour is a toss up between those three flavor profiles. It is tiring. So last week I purchased my first EWSB. First pour was beautiful, vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, just enough wood, great balance of sweet and spice, crazy good for any price, let alone $21.99.
Second pour tonight. Began with the vanilla/ caramel combo, but after 20-30 minutes in the glass I'm getting cherry Luden's cough drops. It is present in the flavor and aroma, but moreso in the aroma. The brown sugar is still there, but lingering in the mouth behind other flavors. Second pour differs greatly from the first. I'm not getting quite the same sweet/spice balance either, less spice, more heat. Now I'm looking forward to the third pour to see if it is my palate tonight or the bottle. My money is on my palate being just a bit off tonight, at least that's what I hope as pour one was wonderful.
Evan Williams Black Label was my introduction to bourbon, and I enjoyed it quite a bit with my friends. When we decided we wanted to try something that was, maybe, a "step up," if you will, the Single Barrel seemed a natural choice. The one we bought was a TPS barreled in 2000 version, and, to my inexperienced palate, at least, it was really, really good. EWSB is still something I enjoy, but the pours of it I've had since that first bottle have never really matched up with it. This is likely because I have tasted so many more whiskies since then, but whenever I have EWSB, I tend to find myself wanting something more.
I have to agree with the last post. I preferred the old EW Black Label in fact, i.e., when it was 7 years old. It had a rummy complexity I liked. Certainly EWSB is a respectable shot of whiskey, clean and upfront in the flavors, but I prefer (in that general age bracket) EC 12.
Gary
I have always preferred EC12 to any EWSB I have tried (I have had 3 of them).
I gave this a pour yesterday. I have EWSB Vintage 2000. The nose is light candy and some vanilla with some wood notes. The mouthfeel is surprisingly.oily considering it's 86 proof. I would have thought chill filtered, but maybe not. There is significant heat on arrival. Spice and cinnamon mid pallette. Not much caramel or vanilla as in the nose, but massive wood char notes. Finish was medium and it was mostly wood notes. I should clarify healthy woodnotes, almost smokey.
I added a drop or two of water and WoW! I wouldnt have expected it to improve but a very creamy, buttery note comes out. It was actually sweeter. Bizzare. The power of water is not to be under estimated :).
I know a place where I can get a bottle of vintage 1998. Any thoughts as to whether it should remain gathering dust or is there some merit to that year?
From what I can recall, the '97 was Beam distilled, '98 and '99 were Brown-Foreman distilled, and the rest have all been either DSP-KY-31 pre-'97, or DSP-KY-1 post '99.
I have and do enjoy the '98s and the '99s. Have yet to pop my '97, will have to pick up another before I do. The '99s I have tried have all been spectacular, but it's been too long to post a tasting note.
I also have an '01 that didn't sing for me, so I mingled it with some EWB to round out the flavors, and will have to get to it this month. So little time, so much bourbon!
Of the last five vintages, the 2001 and 2002 pale in comparison to the bottles of 2000 and 1998 that I've had. The 1999 is somewhere in the middle.
I'll be using the 2002 in juleps tomorrow. It's lighter and much less complex than the 1998 and 2000. My favorites are the 1994 and 1995 vintages.
I'm going to ask what might be a dumb question, so bear with me. And I'm not just directing it at Tucker, anyone can jump in, please.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tucker
Would you say that there is more variation from year to year than there is from barrel to barrel within the same year? Because my very limited experience is that even within the same vintage, different barrels show a fair amount of variation.