Current Evan Williams 7 year old

[Gillman]

A friend bought this in Ohio and I sampled it tonight with him. It was a big litre bottle and the stock looked very new with freshly applied labels. The label states 7 years, I heard some distillers are taking the age statements off some of their whiskey due to an apparent shortage of some aged stocks, but this bottle states 7 years as traditionally.

I found this particular bottle the best Evan Williams 7 years old I ever had. The whiskey was soft to the palate, with a soft spring water-like taste backdropping the whiskey. The texture of the whiskey was fine, elegant, there was little alcohol burn, no "graininess" and no "camphor-like" taste which some Evan Williams has. All the true flavour of corn, wood and some rye came through untrammelled, in perfect balance. It was a marked improvement on the bottles I've tried in the last few years. It was better than any VS Cognac I know and than most VSOPs I know. I wonder if this is all-Bernheim stock and whether that may have improved the whiskey. Whatever the explanation, this is a remarkable value, I think I was told the litre cost 12 dollars! This is silky flavorful well-aged whiskey, as good as many whiskeys that cost much more, in fact better than most no matter what their price.

Hurrah for Heaven Hill, it goes from strength to strength.

Gary

[JeffRenner]

A friend bought this in Ohio and I sampled it tonight with him. ... The label states 7 years ....

I found this particular bottle the best Evan Williams 7 years old I ever had.

Considering that we've read here that HH has taken off the age statement, I wonder how old this particular bottle is. Does it have a year embossed on the bottom of the bottle?

I am afraid that I have always found this whiskey to be rather simple - a "one trick pony," as I think I have stated elsewhere here. I.e., oak richness overlying ... hmm, not much else.

I'd love to think that things are looking up with the Bernheim production coming on line.

Jeff

[Joe_Blowe]

The link below is hot off the press! Just grabbed two 1.75L bottles of EWBL that I have on hand, and took a picture:

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34819565280.jpg&s=x11

To tell you the truth, I can barely taste any difference at all between the newer NAS (on the right) and the older "7 year old." But, I should also point out that a lifetime of allergies (and meds) have taken their toll on the ol' palate.

Anyway, I'm a big fan EWBL and always have a bottle on hand. I'll tell anybody that'll listen it's one of the best bang-for-the-buck whiskeys on the market, it mixes well, tastes great on the rocks, etc. I could go on...

[Gillman]

I can only agree. It doesn't taste "the same" though consistently (nor should it), but current bottlings are tops. The one I tasted looks like the one on the left. I did check for a bottling year on the base of the bottle but couldn't understand the code. I don't find it simple, no, au contraire.

Gary

[brian12069]

The link below is hot off the press! Just grabbed two 1.75L bottles of EWBL that I have on hand, and took a picture:

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=12/34819565280.jpg&s=x11

To tell you the truth, I can barely taste any difference at all between the newer NAS (on the right) and the older "7 year old." But, I should also point out that a lifetime of allergies (and meds) have taken their toll on the ol' palate.

Anyway, I'm a big fan EWBL and always have a bottle on hand. I'll tell anybody that'll listen it's one of the best bang-for-the-buck whiskeys on the market, it mixes well, tastes great on the rocks, etc. I could go on...

I agree...It is almost under-rated. It has kind of a plain label and is priced well so you don't really think of it as one of the better bourbons, but I enjoy it too...and yes...as you say....good bang for the buck.

[cowdery]

Ohio is a control state and it is apparently very difficult to get new listings there. I think a label change requires a new listing. I'm speculating here, but that could explain why they haven't changed the label for Ohio, even though they have changed it for the rest of the U.S.

Heaven Hill has not said anything publicly about the label change and dropping the age statement, at least to my knowledge. I do know stocks of extra aged whiskey are tight right now and likely to stay that way for some time.

When Wild Turkey took the age statement off its flagship 101 proof product, they said it was for flexibility. They weren't going to suddenly start putting out a 4-year-old, but they wanted the flexibility to use some well-matured six year old whiskey in appropriate situations. We have pretty much seen age statements removed from all "standard" bourbons, with age statements being reserved for premium expressions, typically 8 years and older.

I believe Very Old Barton still touts its 6-years, but I have heard that is being changed as well.

My defense of the distillers is to point out that age and maturity aren't the same thing. It's true of people and also of whiskey. We now have distillers deliberately putting barrels in slow-aging parts of the warehouse so they can age-label them, say, 12-years but they won't be too woody. There's no magic in drinking a 12-year-old that has the maturity of a 6-year-old, is there?

I guess I'm saying judge a whiskey by what's in the bottle, not by what's on the label.

[lakegz]

you know i just bought the 15 year old Evan Williams the other day and i find the 7 year old just about as easy to drink. sure the 15 year has a higher proof (101) but the 7 year old really holds its own when it comes to drinkability.

[kbuzbee]

Ohio is a control state and it is apparently very difficult to get new listings there. I think a label change requires a new listing. I'm speculating here, but that could explain why they haven't changed the label for Ohio, even though they have changed it for the rest of the U.S.

Well Chuck, I doubt it based on the recent WTRR. When it changed from 101 to 90 proof it kept the same UPC and wasn't relisted. Half the shops didn't even know it had changed.

Ken

[cowdery]

Then it probably was old warehouse stock. The change is pretty recent so there probably is a lot of the old label still in the pipeline.