The New Woodford Reserves Master's Collection Is...

[cowdery]

"Seasoned Oak Finish." What's that? The oak for whiskey barrels is typically seasoned for three to five months. Seasoning just means the cut stave and head pieces are stacked up, either outside or in a huge shed, and allowed to naturally dry. For this experiment, the Brown-Forman Cooperage let a batch of wood age this way for three to five years. They made barrels from it, but they just toasted them, they weren't charred.

Then they took mature Woodford Reserve bourbon, aged the usual seven or eight years, and put it in these special barrels for about 8 months. The result is a whiskey that tastes like it has been aged for maybe 15 years, but with only the good parts of long aging. The bad parts that make you say "too woody" aren't there. It's also the darkest bourbon you've ever seen.

(The actual TTB-approved descriptor is "Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in Seasons Oak Barrels.")

All of the Masters Collection releases have been interesting, but often not so tasty that you want a second glass, let alone a second bottle. This stuff is awesome. It's really good, especially if you like a 12-years plus bourbon.

It should be out soon, at about $90 a bottle.

[indyrider]

Very Interesting....Just finished my one and only WRMC bottle I've ever purchased-the Four Grain. Never thought I'd try another, until now....Guess it deserves a taste!

[Lost Pollito]

Great news Chuck. I've enjoyed every experiment that I've tasted, and look forward to trying another. Some haven't enjoyed previous efforts, but the nice thing that is happening is evolution. We all have a solid base for what we prefer, and I can only hope such efforts will lead to an expansion of flavor appreciation. :cool:

[Josh]

Sounds like they've finally hit on something worth while. But, chuck, is it $90 good?

[cowdery]

You've never tasted anything quite like it before and it tastes really good, but you'll have to decide if it's worth the price. In a world where so many "special" bottlings amount to little more than a fancy bottle, this is genuinely unique and special.

[Bourbon Geek]

"Seasoned Oak" is not a new thing ... Several distillers use seasoned oak ... in fact, Maker's Mark ages all of it's bourbon in seasoned oak. They have it all cut and stacked in the yard and then left for about a year ... this does a few things:

1. White oak lignin breaks down to form, among other things, 6 vanilla-like compounds ... one of which is actual vanilla ... By seasoning the wood, more vanilla is available for extract when the whiskey is finally put in the barrels.

2. The action of the weather on the wood ... and some bacterial attack, as well ... bleaches a lot of the tannin out of the wood ... when the whiskey is put in the barrel, there is less extractable tannin to make the bourbon bitter and sour.

3. By seasoning the wood, the moisture level is drawn down naturally ... and the month or so in the pre-drier can be totally avoided. This means less cellular damage and less warping and twisting of the staves ... which means the barrels tend to be more mechanically sound, and less prone to leaking.

[George]

This sounds really interesting. I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.

[cowdery]

Dave is right, of course, that every distiller has seasoning specifications, but what Woodford has done is extreme. The wood for a typical bourbon barrel is seasoned for three to five months. For a Maker's barrel it's a year. For one of these barrels, it's three to five years. The fact that these barrels are used for finishing is unique.

We tasted it right out of the barrel, at 110 proof. The release will be 100 proof.

[IronHead]

Very Interesting....Just finished my one and only WRMC bottle I've ever purchased-the Four Grain. Never thought I'd try another, until now....Guess it deserves a taste!

You finished a bottle? Hell, I still have a bottle in the cabinet missing only the two pours my bro-in-law and I had xmas of 2006. As fate would have it, someone gave me another bottle of it that year for xmas.

This one sounds interesting, though.

[indyrider]

You finished a bottle?

Didn't say how.

Couldn't pass it on to unsuspecting friends and family in time to make way for my recent JPS and Weller 12 collections.

So it's now in the sewer system of the greater Dayton area, right where it belongs. I couldn't even get past the pungent copper nose to even say goodbye

[shoshani]

We tasted it right out of the barrel, at 110 proof. The release will be 100 proof.

[cowdery]

Whoa. What was it when it entered the barrel, do you know? It had to have been pretty low. This can only be good news. In fact, pot stilled bourbon entered at low proof into aged barrels, sold at 100 proof, and distilled to the OF mashbill may be the best high-end expression to hit the shelves this year.

Woodford's proof-of-entry has always been 110. Because they manage their warehouses so carefully, they don't get much proof change, either up or down.

[bourbonv]

Chuck,

It is actually just the opposite of what you just said - The heated warehouses at woodford and Brown-Forman Shively have a larger angel's share with corresponding higher increase in proof. Most woodford comes out of the barrel at the 125 to 130 proof range and with as much as a 50% or more loss in the barrel. I was talking with Chris yesterday at the Birthday Bourbon event at Proof and he was saying the 12 years in the wood for the Birthday bourbon caused an average barrel to have only 18 gallon yield out of the original 53 gallons.

Mike Veach

[cas]

Must be some happy angels!

Craig

[cowdery]

At any event, the finish in the seasoned oak is just 8 months, so there's unlikely to be much of a proof change, even in the hottest part of the warehouse.

[DukeB]

Maybe I'll have to give one a shot...after the Four Grain I've been afraid to buy another Master Collection bottle. I absolutely hated the Four Grain! But I hear the next two MC's were better.

[cowdery]

Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Seasoned Oak Finish will be released on November 1. Here are some excerpts from the press release.

It is the fourth in the series of limited edition bottlings and continues Woodford Reserve’s tradition of crafting rare whiskeys that extend the category in bold new directions.

Seasoned Oak Finish features bourbon finish-aged in unique barrels crafted with wood that has been seasoned longer than any previously used in the industry.

"Of all the distillers in our industry, we are the only bourbon company that crafts its own barrels, giving us unique knowledge and control of the process," said Woodford Reserve Master Distiller Chris Morris. "As the rough oak staves are exposed to seasonal weather changes and subsequently dried, this natural cycle develops a new range of flavors in the wood."

This seasoning progression changes the wood by reducing tannins and ultimately creates a new range of flavor compounds. The staves for most bourbon barrels are seasoned for three to five months; however, Seasoned Oak Finish combines fully-matured Woodford Reserve with barrels crafted from wood that has been exposed to the outdoors for three to five years -- the longest seasoning known in the bourbon industry.

Released periodically at the master distiller’s discretion, the Master’s Collection whiskeys are extremely limited in quantity and bottled only once in a proprietary package inspired by the copper pot stills of The Woodford Reserve Distillery.

Woodford Reserve Seasoned Oak Finish will be sold in 44 U.S. markets, and a limited quantity will be available in Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. Each bottle is individually hand-numbered and presented at 100.4 proof. Available in major metro markets, only 1,337 cases are available with a suggested retail price of $89.99 for a 750ml bottle.

[whgaunce@alltel.]

Had my first tasting yesterday. It is truly outstanding IMHO. The nose is wonderful and the color is darker than any Woodford Reserve I have seen.:cool:

[George]

Looking forward to this one. I hope I can find a bottle of it locally. I happen to like WR, and this sounds really interesting to me.

[IronHead]

Looking forward to this one. I hope I can find a bottle of it locally. I happen to like WR, and this sounds really interesting to me.

WR was probably the first bourbon I started drinking after Maker's. I was geeked when the 4 grain was released but hated it. I too, have avoided the WRMC releases like the plague. But Chuck's initial post piqued my interest. I may have to give this one a shot.

Incidentally, if anyone really liked the 4 grain and wanted a bottle I might know where they could find one...

[funknik]

Oh, yeah . . . this does sound good . . . for some perverse reason, though I've never bought any WR (which seems crazy considering the disstances I've traveled and money I've spent to try different stuff). I just haven't been interested, but this intrigues me . . . still, I have yet to spend that much on any one bottle.

[cowdery]

Ironhead: With 4-grain, you have to tell people if it's first or second bottling. Big difference.

Andy: Part of the way I judge experiments is I ask, "could a whiskey like this actually catch on?" As opposed to it being just a novelty where you say, at best, "that's interesting," and move on. Seasoned Oak passes that test.

[JohnHansell]

IronHead, I agree with Chuck re: Four Grain. There were two bottlings and I liked the second bottling more than the first one.

[funknik]

Andy: Part of the way I judge experiments is I ask, "could a whiskey like this actually catch on?" As opposed to it being just a novelty where you say, at best, "that's interesting," and move on. Seasoned Oak passes that test.

I know exactly what you're talking about, Chuck . . . thanks for the reassurance & expert opinion. :cool:

[jburlowski]

Ironhead: With 4-grain, you have to tell people if it's first or second bottling. Big difference.

Yeah... the difference between absolutely horrible and merely bad.