Sweetest Bourbon?

[RedVette]

The title says it all. Which Bourbon do you think of as the sweetest. Sweet as in opposite of sour, not as yet another juvenile synonym for good.

For me, WT Rare Breed is a sweet whiskey, how about you?

[camduncan]

For me, it's probably Old Rip Van Winkle 12yo Lot B.

I typically look for it as an 'after desert' pour.

[bourbonmed]

If you can find it: Benchmark XO Single Barrel.

Delicious.

Omar

[Geo]

The sweetest are the wheat bourbons.

My favorates are Old Rip Van Winkle 10yr old 107 and Old Weller Antique 107.

[jeff]

I think definitely Fighting Cock.

[RedVette]

For me, it's probably Old Rip Van Winkle 12yo Lot B.

I typically look for it as an 'after desert' pour.

Wow, I guess that says a lot about our taste buds. To me this is one of the most "unsweet" Bourbons in my locker. For me, Lot B is all leather and tobacco and oak, fascinating.

[BrbnBorderline]

The sweetest bourbon I ever had was Bulleitt Frontier Bourbon. In fact, IIRC, it was very sweet with little if nothing else as far as a taste profile was concerned. YMMV.

[camduncan]

Wow, I guess that says a lot about our taste buds. To me this is one of the most "unsweet" Bourbons in my locker. For me, Lot B is all leather and tobacco and oak, fascinating

It really is fascinating - to me Rare Breed is very unsweet - and a lot of alcohol burn.

I guess it just shows how different peoples tastes are, well, different

Oh, and I'd definately agree that Bulleit is sweet. I've been out of stock of this for a while and had almost forgotten it

[mbanu]

Well, the problem with that question is that it depends mostly on the barrel.

Since by U.S. law you can't add any sugar or caramel to straight bourbon, and fresh off the still all bourbon is dry as a bone, all of the sweetness comes from the wood sugars you get from the new barrels.

If you compare bourbons of the same proof and one sort consistently comes out sweeter than the other, I'm not quite sure what the cause could be. Things like char level of the barrel or mashbill might affect perceived sweetness, but that's getting beyond my level of knowledge.

[ratcheer]

I will say Woodford Reserve. I always described it as "candy"!

Tim

[Joe_Blowe]

I'll second Woodford Reserve. It's quickly becoming my "dessert" bourbon. I'm halfway through my first bottle, and I find that I enjoy it much more after dinner than at any other time.

Regarding Bulleit, I'll second the tastebuds sentiment -- I only pick up spice, not sweet. For me, this is the most fascinating aspect of tasting: one individuals tastebuds vs. another...

[TNbourbon]

I think definitely Fighting Cock.

I've referred to Fighting Cock before as 'bourbon syrup'. . I also have referred to ORVW 15/107 as 'dessert bourbon'. And, I currently have open a 1985 bottling of Wild Turkey 12yo which also is reminiscent of candied apples.

The first is plain sweetness. The latter two have some complexity and are memorable.

[wadewood]

Elmer T Lee comes to mind.

[nysquire]

Weller Centenial from the Louisville distillery

Weller Antique 107

VanWinkle lot B

Rowen's Creek

[nysquire]

We actually labeled our bottle of Weller Centenial from the

Louisville distillery "Breakfast Bourbon". Always wanted to try it on french toast....

We haven't been able to find another from that distillery, but we're always lookin......

[Hedmans Brorsa]

To me, Four Roses immediately springs to mind. I have not tried the black label or the American SB version but the yellow label and the European SB version are definite contenders for the "dessert bourbon" championship title.

Interestingly, in a recent thread at the Whisky Magazine forum (much more entertaining than the magazine itself, actually.) a lot of non-bourbon drinkers listed over-sweetness as a prime obstacle in their way of becoming bourbon devotees. This has never been an issue with me.

[matthew0715]

If you can find it: Benchmark XO Single Barrel.

Delicious.

Omar

Is that a recommendation? (Assuming I like sweet bourbon) I've seen this one in the liquor store closest to my apartment, but found no real info here about it. I'm guessing it's from BT since they make Mcafees Benchmark, but perhaps that's incorrect?

Is it worth $30 or so? Especially since BT & ERSB are only $20 and many other great bourbons are under $30.

Matt

[Bamber]

Well, the problem with that question is that it depends mostly on the barrel.

There's been some chat over at the whiskymag webisite about what makes particular whiskies sweet. Thought this might interest you:

http://www.whiskymag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2503

[Chaz7]

Mount Union Flavored. Just Kidding!(never touched the stuff) Woodford Reserve, and Pappy Van Winkle 20yr, which is complicated, but sweet to me.

[bourbonmed]

Matt, regarding the Benchmark XO Single Barrel:

Yes, it is a BT product. It's not widely distributed and it used to cost around $22-25. I like it, so I'd pay $30.

Omar

[squire]

The wheated Bourbons are the "sweetest" to me in that they lack the rye bitterness while still maintaining the barrel notes of caramel and vanilla. My favorite all time Bourbon was the Very,Very,Very Old Fitzgerald available back in the late 1960's.

Having said that my choices for daily use are the 100 proof expressions of Forrester and Barton.

Regards,

Squire

[CrispyCritter]

This probably belongs more in the "wheat vs. rye" category, but I've noticed that spiciness doesn't necessarily indicate rye. ORVW 15/107 is, to my taste buds, at least as spicy to me as OGD 114, yet the ORVW is a wheater and the OGD is ryed. Perhaps some of the spiciness is coming from the wood?

Having been mostly a Scotch drinker until recently, I find that all of the bourbons I've tried are sweet - and I don't consider that to be a bad thing, it's just different. The corn sweetness in bourbon is quite different from that which comes from sherry casks - and that's very different from the sweetness I find in peated malts.

[Gillman]

In my opinion, what people are tasting in the way of sweet in straight whiskey is sugars leached from the wood into the spirit. Sugar cannot volatilise - the components of congeners are aldehydes, acids, esters, higher alcohols. Of these, some give body to drinks and together with fruity esters that may seem to give a sweet taste. But as anyone knows who has tasted the unaged "white alcohols" of the Alsace region in France ("alcools blanc"), many of which are made from sweet juicy fruits such as pears and apples, they are stone dry. (Straight corn whiskey is fairly dry too, because aged in reused wood from which the sugars have been extracted by a previous fill of whiskey, just as most scotch is aged). I believe in France, drinks like Calvados (Norman apple brandy) and Cognac are sweetish because some sugar is added and also they are aged in some new charred wood like bourbon is. What people identify as "corn sweetness" in bourbon seems to me to be congeners associated with corn spirit influenced by red layer sugars from the oak in which boubon is aged. Rye congeners are probably more obtrusive than corn's, to use an imprecise term, just as those associated with raw grains added to the mash are. Scotch whiskies are almost never aged in new wood much less new charred oak and therefore the crucial additional sweetness in bourbon from the wood never enters those worthy whiskies. Note though how sherry cask whiskies are prized in the Auld Sod - and why is that, well because it adds a measure of sweet and extra flavor to the whiskey! So, Britons like sweetness too, but it is imparted to the (best of) their whisky in a way different than in the U.S.. Sherry cask whisky, or whisky in Scotland in which a good percentage of the bottle is derived from sherry or port wood whisky, fetches a higher price than whisky aged in reused bourbon barrels (which, having given up most of their sugars to good American whiskey, are considered in Scotland as plain wood). So one might view American straight whiskey as a better value than Scotch because all of it (by law) is processed in a way to offer a rich palate. A bottle of all-sherry cask Macallan is running in Canada now about $75 - Woodford Reserve, one of the best bourbons, is some $30 cheaper here and ditto Buffalo Trace, etc. But many people do not favour a sweet palate and so they have the full range of scotches which offer a dry taste (especially blended whisky where the grain element tends to add a crisp dry effect). And there are relatively dry Bourbons and ryes too, as has often been noted here.

Gary

[halpap]

I am surprised noone else said it, so it must be me, but I thought George Stagg was the sweetest bourbon I had ever tasted.

[doubleblank]

I'll second the ET Lee as being one of the sweetest.

PS......That's what Mr. Lee likes in a bourbon....his words.

Randy