Evan Williams No. 10 Brand 1783 ?

[MJL]

I was looming in one of my new haunts when my eye turned to a bottle of Evan Williams I had never spied in SoFla before. I picked this up but it has generated a lot of questions. What is this stuff? Is this ten year old whiskey? I assume it is better than the regular Evan Williams as it cost me a few bucks more for the 1.75l bottle.

[barturtle]

It used to be a 10yo, but they removed the age statement...

This is my least favorite of the Evan Williams labels.

[cowdery]

Back when it was 10-years-old and very cheap, some of the people at Heaven Hill said they thought it was their best bourbon value. They talked about promoting it as such, never did, and then the shortage came along and they dropped the age statement and raised the price. So it goes. Dropping the age statement only happened a couple of years ago, so in the scheme of things that's a very recent bottling. I can't explain why it suddenly appeared in South Florida, except that it has never been widely distributed or particularly popular, so it may have been there all along but in such tiny quantities that you never noticed it.

Heaven Hill has matured as a marketer but in the past they didn't worry about things like brand proliferation. If the distributor or a big retailer said, "you know, you should do a 10-year-old Evan Williams," they would do it.

[polyamnesia]

i may have my own tasting notes somewhere on the site...i know i did some in my notebook.

it wasn't 'bad' at all...but i remember it just being a sort of ghost...kind of there...but then not there at all. i guess that's better than a ghoul!

do a search if you haven't already. still, it was bought on closeout for $8.99 here in PA. i didn't feel it was a waste of money. an inexpensive education of sorts. always good to try lower shelf stuff!


__________________________EDIT ADD

i found the thread...as i said on the second page, it really opened up once it got some air in it. anyways, here it is:

http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...+williams+1783

[ThomasH]

I have seen stray bottles of this with the 10yr. age statement in Florida. This brand also was plentiful in Ohio and Pa. at one time. I think I bought my 10yr. bottle for 9.99+tax. It definitely wasn't bad bourbon for the money!

Thomas

[Gillman]

I always wondered how HH obtains the profile of this whiskey, which is unusual and has been described as asparagus-like or cauliflower-like. I think perhaps it is from a specific part of one of their warehouses, i.e., where the barrels naturally acquire this character. Maybe there is lots of clover growing nearby or something. It can't be just a younger HH taste because, i) it is not that young, ii) younger HH bourbon has its own grassy character which is different. The palate is such too that I'd have thought barrels aren't mingled from hither and yon to attain the profile, although I might be wrong. An interesting flavor which I'd think makes an excellent mint julep and other whiskey cocktails.

Gary

[BourbonJoe]

An interesting flavor which I'd think makes an excellent mint julep and other whiskey cocktails.

Gary

Not to mention it's value as a critical component of "Ron's Four Grain".
Joe

[felthove]

I've had 4 or so bottles and never noticed the aparagus flavor some have noticed. I'm not sure what it says about my palate but I have always liked the flavor profile of the bourbon, although it is a little light for my taste. I think Wine Enthusiast gave it some really high score (like 97 or something?) so I know somebody likes it...

[smokinjoe]

I almost started a thread on the 1783 a couple of weeks ago, myself. We rented a cabin in the North Georgia Mountains for the weekend a couple of weeks ago, for Oktoberfest. When we got to the town of Helen, I stopped in a store and picked up a bottle of 1783 10 yr. It was one of the most enjoyable bottles I've had in recent memory. Quintessential Heaven Hill. Vegetal (though not asparagus--more like freshly cut wet grass), minty, eucalyptus. It just went perfectly with the cool mountain air. I like the HH taste profile when it has that vegetal tinge to it. It's what sets it apart from the other distilleries, but unfortunately I don't get it much from the recent bottlings of HH juice. I've yet to try the No. 10 Brand, but if it is close to the 10 yr. in it's taste profile, then I'm sure I would like it. I hope you do.

[MJL]

We cracked this open over the holidays and it turns out to be excellent. I would buy this again and intend to pick up a replacement bottle when this one runs dry. I checked for a replacement at Total Wine a few times (where I go the bottle shown) and they seem to be out of stock of this all the time. Nice stuff.