BOTM 2/11: Old Rip Van Winkle 10 yr 107 proof

[T Comp]

I spent time last night tasting side by side, recent releases of ORVW 107 and OWA. Quite a lesson in their differences and I'll assume the role of age, barrel selection and brand profile. When compared OWA = sweeter, more citrus (orange/tropical) fruit, sweet candy, cream, higher heat in the mouth and shorter finish. ORVW = eucalyptus, ash, lead pencil, more caramel, more vanilla and more complexity with long dry finish. Both are so good in their own right but ORVW 107 is a top contender for my stranded on an island bourbon and worth the extra $15 to $20 price point.

I usually would not pick on someones taste and description but this. "ORVW = eucalyptus, ash, lead pencil". Lead Pencil! Ash. Really Lead Pencil. How would you know lead pencil. LoL my friend.

Lead pencil is quite a common descriptor used in many a wine review and is generally attributed to a heavier char in the oak barrel used. A little google searching shows it also used by Mr. Pacult in his description of both EC 18 and VWFR. Also my "taste and description purposefully blurs smells with tastes and though I actually never did suck on a lead pencil I surely know the smell and can imagine the taste. Having spent some time with smoking meats I do know both the smell and taste of ash. I also spent about 20 years learning and tasting as much as I could about wine so some terms just kinda stick with ya my friend.

Spirit Journal description (Van Winkle Family Reserve)
“The palate entry is spicy, piquant, prickly and raisiny; at midpalate the taste profile features lead pencil, slate, black pepper, brown butter, and deep-seared oak. Finishes with an ash-like, chewy, and oily aftertaste that’s smashingly luscious…. American whiskey doesn’t come any finer.”

Elijah Craig 18
"Deep amber hue. Opening nosing passes detect a no-nonsense bouquet laced with an astringent oakiness that???s crisp, clean and direct; later sniffings pick up layered scents of corn husk, buttered popcorn, resin, lead pencil and a hint of caramel. Flavor shows fat tastes of old oak, cream, almond butter, bacon fat, vanilla extract and smoke. Aftertaste is warming and semisweet."

- Paul Pacult

[squire]

It's the Blackbird syndrome some reviewers fall into. When one Blackbird lands on the wire a bunch land there and when one flys off the others follow. With all the descriptive words available one would think reviews could be original but apparently copying one another is easier.

What the Hell does slate taste like and I would like to meet the reviewer who first licked the rock.

[JB64]

I had been looking at this bottle of ORVW at my local liquor store for a few weeks but kept passing on buying it because of the $40 price. I knew my wife would grump but I bought it last Friday and I am glad I did. This is the only Van Winkle product I have had the pleasure to sample and it is without a doubt the best Bourbon I have ever tasted. I have tried about 15 other Bourbons and all of them but two have cost less than $25. The taste of this ORVW is in a different class. There is a bottle of PVW 23 at the store for $200 which I have always thought "you got to be kidding" but after trying the BOTM is see more grumping in my wifes future.


Jim

[edo]

What the Hell does slate taste like and I would like to meet the reviewer who first licked the rock.

Me. I was a mud logger in the Gulf Coast oil fields for a few years. We had to describe drill (rock) cuttings, mostly sandstone and shale. To tell the difference between fine grain, very fine grain, very very fine grain sandstone -finer grain than that was probably shale (slate not yet metamorphized) or clay -you had to grit it between your teeth.

I know the taste of these rocks, but thinking about it doesn't bring to mind any bourbon off hand.

I don't know pencil lead (graphite?), but I do know the taste of the No. 2 lead pencil. Chewed a few in grade school. Still brings to mind no bourbon.

... but that's for me. For another person, the nose on a bourbon might trigger "slate". I laid track one summer 3 decades ago and every time I have an Ardbeg, I get a whiff of creosote!

[White Dog]

I had been looking at this bottle of ORVW at my local liquor store for a few weeks but kept passing on buying it because of the $40 price. I knew my wife would grump but I bought it last Friday and I am glad I did. This is the only Van Winkle product I have had the pleasure to sample and it is without a doubt the best Bourbon I have ever tasted. I have tried about 15 other Bourbons and all of them but two have cost less than $25. The taste of this ORVW is in a different class. There is a bottle of PVW 23 at the store for $200 which I have always thought "you got to be kidding" but after trying the BOTM is see more grumping in my wifes future.


Jim

IMHO, if you're gonna upset the wife, try the 20 instead of the 23. I much prefer the 20 over the 23, and it's half the price, so she'll only be half as upset.

Although, you should have heard my wife when she just found a new stash of 4 15yrs, 3 20yrs, and 6 VWFRR. And yes, she knows just how much they cost.

[CaptainQ]

Although, you should have heard my wife when she just found a new stash of 4 15yrs, 3 20yrs, and 6 VWFRR. And yes, she knows just how much they cost.

Ouch, I bet your ears are still ringing!

Nice stash btw

[squire]

Woops, wife radar alert. It's either decant in empty bottles with cheap labels or take her shopping.

[DeanSheen]

"Although, you should have heard my wife when she just found a new stash of 4 15yrs, 3 20yrs, and 6 VWFRR. And yes, she knows just how much they cost."

Whoops. Mine does not even pay attention. Out of sight, out of mind.

[silverfish]

It's either decant in empty bottles with cheap labels or take her shopping.

It's a variation of Herb Tarlek on WKRP when asked what he was doing
pouring something from one bottle into another - "Aging Scotch."

[squire]

I believe it was Passport, his hand obscured the label, poured into an empty Chivas Regal bottle.