Tasting With Mike And Matt – Yellowstone Hand-Picked Collection

This post sponsored by the Glencairn Whisky Glass

Westport Whiskey & Wine has done a private selection from Limestone Branch Distillery. They have created a special label for the private selection barrels of Yellowstone. It includes a bottle design that reflects back to the bottle used by Yellowstone, starting in the 1930s when they opened the distillery in Shively. The label also pays homage to the label used before Prohibition with the Yellowstone waterfall front and center. It is an attractive package.

Westport Whiskey & Wine always does a fine job of picking great barrels of whiskey for their store and this is no exception. Matt and I both enjoyed this Bourbon quite a lot. We both decided that we may want to purchase another bottle or two while it is still available. It is bottled at barrel proof of 102 and was made on December 3, 2014, and bottled in December 2020.

Yellowstone Handpicked Collection – Westport Whiskey & Wine

Proof: 102

Age: Six Years Old

Nose:

Mike: Corn, apricots, toffee and sweet oak wood.
Matt: Sweet toffee, brown sugar and oak char – maybe a little smoky.

Taste:

Mike: Corn, vanilla, apricots and spices – ginger and black pepper, with just a hint of sweet oak. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the fruit becomes dates and the pepper overpowers the ginger spice. Tasted with a pecan and a hint of chocolate comes out to join the party.
Matt: Lemon zest and a hint of cherry with leather and black pepper. The dried cranberry made the pepper stronger but added a note of honey sweetness. The pecan enhanced the oak wood.

Finish:

Mike: Long and dry with oak wood and lots of black pepper spice. The dried cranberry reduced the oak and enhanced the black pepper. The pecan made the finish even longer with a hint of chocolate and oak and much less black pepper.
Matt: Lots of black pepper and oak wood. The dried cranberry enhanced the black pepper and made the oak a sweet oak sawdust. The pecan brought out a hint of leather with the oak and pepper.

I would pair this Bourbon with an Opus X cigar from Arturo Fuente. I find that the smoke from the Opus X is full of cedar spiciness that I think would pair well with the spiciness of the Bourbon.