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Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Evan Williams 9 year old 2000 Single Barrel

Look who's clearing out his old American whiskey samples!!! The week began with a surprisingly positive Weller Taste Off, which was followed by a hairy craft whiskey from Texas. Now the reviews progress to a Heaven Hill bourbon with some age on it.

This single barrel of Evan Williams was dumped three days before its tenth birthday, which was kinda young for EW SBs in 2011. They were usually 10+ years at the time. Then they became 9 year olds, then 8, then 7. I haven't seen one in two years, are they still legally bourbon?

This bourbon was matched up with the bourbon I'll be reviewing tomorrow, which also had some years in the barrel. You will probably believe what happened next.

Distiller: Heaven Hill
Brand: Evan Williams
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Region: Bardstown, Kentucky
Age: almost 10 years (12 November 2000 - 9 November 2010)
Mashbill: 75% Corn, 13% Rye, 12% Malted Barley (I think)
Alcohol by Volume: 43.3%
(thank you to Florin for the sample!)

NOTES

There's more pine than oak in the nose, and lots of it, to the point that it almost reads medicinal. Peanut shells, brine and Old Spice sit in the middle, green bananas in the back.

Medium sweetness and medium tannins on the palate. There are some oranges rolling around in salt and vanilla ice cream. It does get woodier with time.

A little less tannic than the palate, the finish also gets woodier after a while. Otherwise, it mostly matches the mouth.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This reaches the edge of my (so delicate) oak tolerance. The nose works better than the palate, probably because I prefer smelling oak to tasting it, but also because this whiskey's sniffer is more interesting, more complex than its mouth. As with Weller Special Reserve, this Evan Williams drinks better on ice, in a tumbler, than neat in a Glencairn. I will say, I like EW Black Label (and possibly even Green Label) better than this.

Availability - Current batches are at many American specialty liquor retailers
Pricing - $34.99 in Ohio
Rating - 79