The Smooth Ambler Distillery is located in Maxwelton, West Virginia. They created this brand several years ago when they started the distillery using sourced Bourbon mixed with Bourbon they distilled themselves. It has proved to be very popular and they continue to source whiskey for the brand. It is all straight whiskey of at least four years old. The Bourbons are sourced from Tennessee and Indiana. I received a bottle of this whiskey earlier this year and Matt and I sat down and tasted it. Here are our tasting notes.
Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon
Proof: 92
Age: No Age Statement
Nose:
- Mike: Corn, caramel, milk chocolate, nutmeg and oak wood.
- Matt: Caramel, nutmeg, peanuts, honey and oak wood.
Taste:
- Mike: Caramel, apricots, nutmeg, cinnamon and oak wood. Tasted with a dried cranberry and the apricots and cinnamon are enhanced. Tasted with a pecan and the caramel is enhanced and the milk chocolate from the nose comes out.
- Matt: Caramel, strawberry cream, honeysuckle and oak wood. The dried cranberry added a little white pepper spice. The pecan brought out notes of buttered corn and peanuts.
Finish:
- Mike: Medium long with oak and nutmeg spice. The dried cranberry made the finish shorter and sweeter with oak and lingering apricot fruit. The pecan made the finish very long with oak and pepper spice with lingering milk chocolate.
- Matt: Medium long with oak, caramel, honey and a nice buttery mouth feel. The dried cranberry brought out strawberry fruit to the finish. The pecan made the finish very long with oak and lingering butterscotch.
I would pair this Bourbon with a cigar that has a lot of vanilla and caramel in the smoke. I would reach for a My Father Don Pepin Garcia cigar.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller